Porsche 944 engine swap?
 

I am confused; very confused. You are talking about a non-conventional engine swap in a Porsche and worried about fuel economy? Any unorthodox engine swap is going to cost you big bucks. Fabrication of just one adapter could cost far more then what you would spend in fuel if you were to go with a drop-in kit adapter for a V8. But of course, this is not what you want to hear.

That said, let's try to make sense of this. To keep the install as easy as possible and ford vcm 2 keep your neutral weight distribution, drop in the 3.0L I4 out of the 968. This was the successor to the 944; manufactured from 1992-1995. Since the 968 and 944 chassis' were identical, it will slip right in. It produced 236hp and although not a fuel efficient engine, it won't be as thirsty as a V-8. This will make adaption of the trans, motor mounts and wiring MUCH MUCH easier and easier means cheaper. You can even add the 6-speed out of the 968 without much headaches either.

Now if you are hell-bent on going with some off the wall V6 installation, think about the Ford SHO 3.0L V6 made by Yamaha Motor Corp. They are readily available and are dynomite compact engines. The SHO V6 was a high-tech and revolutionary design when it debuted in 1989. Displacing 3.0L (2986 cc/182 cu in), it was an iron block, aluminum head 24-valve DOHC engine with an innovative variable length intake manifold. Its oversquare and symmetrical design, which sported an 89 mm (3.5 in) bore and 80 mm (3.1 in) stroke, gave the high-revving engine an output of 220 bhp (164 kW) @ 6200 rpm and 200 ft·lbf (270 N·m) of torque (271 Nm) @ 4800 rpm at the flywheel, and the added luxury of being able to be used in rear-drive applications. When in production, the redline was established by the limitations of the accessories at 7000RPMs. If the accessories are underdriven or removed, then the engine could be run VCM II up to its potential of just over 8500 RPMs. Remind you that this is in stock form. Minor mods let the engine turn at 9000 and just over 300hp. One problem is trying to get a trans to work with your setup as the engine was only available with the Ford MTX IV transaxle. Since the bellhousing from the Vulcan V6 (RWD) is the same as the SHO V6 (FWD), you might be able to build a gearbox out of a Ranger to make the application work.