A few question from a prospective buyer

[Hallsy]

Hi guys, new here.

For a long while I have fancied owning a 944, everytime one drives by I turn my head.

I currently own a '96 Toyota Celica SS-II and a '92 Nissan 200SX. As well as my load lugging Mitsi Sigma!

I have had my S13 (200SX) for around 6 years now but the last 15 months it has been off the road as I uprated various components, and then decided it was due a respray, so started prepping it for that, but myfriend who offered to paint it has been less than motivational, and it has sat on my driveway for a number of months.

I am now a bit fed up of with it, and thinking of moving it on in favour of a 944.

I have read many guides, and realistically I would probably spend up to £2.5k. I would really like an early Turbo but I gather they are harder to come by, and probably not realistic at my budget.

With that in mind (and I need to get out and drive one) a post '85 Lux is probably what I'd be after, I thought about the 944S but heard horror stories about the timing tensioner, and also being a 16V unit, it needed to be thrashed, and so maybe not any better than a 2.5 Lux under 'normal' driving.

My questions are around how low I should go on price for one that may need a 'little' work. I realise the advice is to buy on condition, but being an engineer by trade I am always happy to tinker. I have always worked on my own cars, whether that be mechanical or cosmetic.
I think I would prefer to have the timing/balance belts done by a specialist due to the specifics of the tensioning tool, so how much should I budget for that? I'm in the south east.

Other than that, is everything this else quite DIYable for the average spanner wielder? I have heard that the sills can rot, can replacement sills be bought? Is it an OK job to weld the new ones in?

You seem to see many post '85 Lux's go for between £1-2k, but will they still be dogs within that budget, even with the credit crunch? I have also seen a few S2's go for £2.5k, again, if the car seems straight and there is generous history, is it worth a look at that price or still best avoided?

I haven't bought a lemon yet, and often get a good deal, but I don't want to start losing now!!

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: Hallsy

I have read many guides, and realistically I would probably spend up to £2.5k. I would really like an early Turbo but I gather they are harder to come by, and probably not realistic at my budget.

At that price you are realistically looking at an average Lux but you should still allow £1000 a year to keep it running in reglar use

The S is much better with a very revvy 16v head but the horror stories simply come from a car not looked after. The chain in the head needs to be changed every 50k miles (£200-300 from a specialist) but Porsche never sepcified this so it's taken a number of years for people not in the know to learn this.

Rusty sills seem to be more common in the later Turbos and S2 but new sills are available from Porsche at £130 a side plus welding and painting so allow a £1000 in total unless you are skilled in bodywork. DIY maintenance is within the realms of the competent enthusiast and the factory manuals and many online guides are available to help.

We always say that in the long run it is cheaper to spend more on a good car now than trying to fix up a cheap dog, though I fully accept the other argument that if you buy a cheap wreck and do it up yourself you know that everything has been done. Trouble is most Porsche parts are still pretty expensive so you only need to fit new disks and pads all round, new shocks and a water pump and you can easily kiss £1000 goodbye and that's just in parts. If the clutch wears out that is another £800-£1000 depending on model

These cars were £30-£40K brand new 20 years ago and the reason was the build quality and excellent parts used to make them. If the same excellent parts are used as they wear out the cars will go on forever. Unfortunatley I think that most cars I see nowadays are pretty scruffy and getting on to be dogs as people buy them cheaply and can't afford to look after them [&o] If you look back through the forum over the past few years you see many people looking for cars at the bottom end of the pricerange, they spend a while looking and eventually buy one. Very often it is for sale again six months later or they start asking how to fix broken belts/water pumps/ camchains etc

The brightside is there is always an exception to the rule [], and we often hear of lucky people that have bough an excellent car for very cheap money, merely because the owner has priced it incorrectly with all the cheap wrecks out there. You need to find one of those............but you should be prepared to look for a while.

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks for that, so the 944S is worth considering then? I thought it was the tensioner itself that caused problems, rather than the chains?

I have no problem working on the car myself, but for piece of mind/history, I would likely get belts/water pump done by a specialist.

You mention new discs/pads, shocks, etc mounting to £1000, is that Porsche parts? Are pattern parts a no-no with the 944? I think on a car with good history, if there is no mention of new shocks/bushes, etc then they would be one of the first things on my list.

Didn't realise the rusty sills were a later problem, so an earlier model may just have the odd bit of superficial rust due to stonechips, etc? Again, I have a bit of bodywork experience and have a friend who is a paint sprayer so have no real worries there.

One other thing, is the colour of the interior dictated by the body colour, or was it totally down to the buyer to choose what interior he/she wanted?

 

[Diver944]

It's a combination of three things with the cam chain - the chain itself stretches slightly, the pads on the tensioner can wear or split and finally the tensioner itself can break (rarely though). It's the chain and the tensioner pads that should be replaced regularly, there's some more info and pics here:

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/cam-04.htm

I am talking about good quality pattern parts (my knowledge is S2 and Turbo so Lux will be a bit cheaper).

Disks and pads are circa £60 each so that's £180 per axle or £360 the whole car. Shocks are £200 each front and £100 each rear so that's £600 for the whole car. Waterpumps are currently circa £300 and a clutchkit is about the same (but takes 10-15 hours to fit) . All these prices are excluding VAT and they can be pretty fluid depending on supply - prices go up and down. Always check the dealer for genuine parts first as they are not always more expensive.

Aftermarket parts suppliers to check are:

www.partsforporsche.co.uk
www.design911.co.uk
www.type911.co.uk
www.gsfcarparts.com
www.eurocarparts.com

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks for that, brakes/suspension parts seem similar prices to our import Celica so no real problem there. Water pump seems expensive though.

I realise it is a good idea to replace the water pump when the belts are done, but what sort of interval should it be replaced after that? Again with the belts, I have read 28k between changes, but others say 50k?

Would a 944S feel noticeably quicker than a lux then?

 

[poprock]

Generally speaking, you don't buy a Lux for outright speed (although they are pretty quick off the mark, especially through the first 30""40 mph). It's main appeal is the balance and poise through corners. The weight distribution on a 944 is amongst the best ever achieved by any car manufacturer. Out on a racetrack other cars will leave you for dead on the straights, but you can eat up the corners almost as though you're driving an open-wheeled trackday special!

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks Sc0tty, I will indeed

Poprock, I realise theLux isn't out & out fast, which is why I wanted a Turbo really, but I could forsake that as long as it was still a nice drivers car with at least some pace, which I'm lead to believe it has. Only a Turbo will be as quick as my S13 but that's not all I'm worried about.

Hopefully this weekend I can find the time to take on for a test drive.

 

[Hallsy]

Thanks again Sc0tty, I will indeed take my time, I have to sell (finish) my S13 first, and that could be a bit of a hard task when it actually comes down to it!!