4.5k porsche turbo

[Ellisd]

Like the title suggest i've got an absolute maximum of £4500 and am lookinf for a 944 turbo. Am i dreaming or is it a posibbility? I'm not scared of getting my hands dirty but the most adventerous i've done is remove and re-tap a cylinder head so things like gearboxs and clutches i consider out of my league. I realise this has been asked so many taimes, but i've always wanted a 944 ever since my grandad took me for a drive in his 944S

 

[jason]

You could have picked one up for £1500 yesterday on Pistonheads...was going for it myself but too slow....[&o]

 

[Ellisd]

yeah i saw the ad this morning, i was considering the car at £3500 but i'm scared of problems with bodywork ever since i bought a Saab Carlsson with "slight rust on the arch", which turned out to be an absolute nightmare

 

[sawood12]

£4500 is a keen budget for a turbo but if you are not shy with rolling up your sleeves it is doable. First and foremost make sure you get one with the best bodywork as possible. Things mechanical can be fixed and parts sourced at reasonable prices from many places with 2nd hand parts quite readily available, however dodgy bodywork will be very costly to put right even if you do it yourself. Just a word of warning. Before getting my 944 I was a keen and enthusiastic DIY machanic, but I find that things under the bonnet of a turbo are so difficult to get access to I often just take it to a specialist for the sake of an hours or two labour. I attempted to replace my alternator, a job i've done in 30 mins on other cars, but after an hour and a half stripping bits out of the engine bay simply to get access before coming across a stubborn bolt that I couldn't shift I gave up, put it all back together again and took it down to my specialist!! I felt a bit of a wuss but when I looked his face when I asked him to replace my alternator on a turbo with A/C I realised it was a job he didn't relish either, so I felt a bit better! I'm sure you've got way more staying power than me though so you should be OK.

You might even consider a Cat C or D right off. I know there are mental alarm bells that start ringing whenever you hear the phrase right off, but due to the cost of bodywork alot of these cars are written off on a financial (i.e. Cat C & D as opposed to A or B) rather than a technical basis and can be perfectly fine and repairable cars. Just make sure you understand exactly what the damage was and how it was fixed and who by and you should be OK. I was looking at a cat C right off before I got mine, it had been repaired, looked spotless and drove fine and was going for around the £4500 mark, however when I did an HPI check on it I found the car had been clocked (not by the place I was going to buy the car from hasten to add) so I steered well clear, but it would have been a good buy for someone willing to take a risk.

 

[ross255]

Have you seen this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130080643253&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:UK:11

nothing todo with me, but if that milage is genuine then your onto a good start.

In fact if it wasnt so far away, I would go up there to look at it, take some jump leads with you and ask if you can do a compression check. If compression checks out then at least you know something, but dont try too many things as you dont want to get the car to start!

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Hmm, sold on behalf of a friend and laid up for four years?[8|]

Is it really worth the risk, when by the time you've spent the inevitable shedload of money to get it back to even roadworthy you could have bought a car that was at least vaguely genuine?

JMHO

 

[John Sims]

While it might seem cheap a lot can go pair shaped on a car standing for four years (in Scotland []).

Good point on the compression check.........I wonder how many others have done compression checks on this car, with the bores not having seen oil for 4 years []. A car like that needs bringing back to life gently not "Lets plug in a battery and see if it starts."

And why did it fall in to disuse? Because the battery was dead? Yeah right! 944's can be a sod to start if the computer says no []. Not the best way to start 944 ownership.

I agree with Scott's comments entirely. Mechanical things can be fixed or replaced (with enough money) but rust is a cancer; it can be sent into remission but never cured. There is nothing more disheartening than replacing a panel then seeing the welds rusting through in 18 months. []