From VW Camper to 911....

[SirCarlsworth]

Hi everyone, having owning 2 Beetles and 1 VW Camper since the age of 16, I am now 24 and own a 1985 Porsche Carrera (yes, the insurance does sting a bit!!). I bought the car for £10,000 last weekend and including the drive home from Glasgow to Sheffield I have already clocked up a good 500 miles in it! They're great cars and sound beautiful on accelleration.

All seems well, although I find selecting gear 2 sometimes needs a bit of strength to get it into gear. But the more I've got used to it I've found pushing the clutch down very firmly then doing a quick shift it selects the gear a lot easier. It's done 114,000 miles and drives very smoothely and sounds really healthy, although the other day following a 50 mile steady 70mph drive it was smoking blue smoke quite badly, but oddly after taking a friend's Dad out for a spin and opening it up a bit it then stopped and was fine.

I've also noticed that in the book it says to check the oil level when the engine has warmed up and is on tickover, but when I remove the oil cap it cuts the engine out so and appears to be sucking air from here because when I put my hand over it the engine returns to normal tickover speed.

If anyone has any experience of these problems it will be a great help []

Here's some pictures....

 

[davidcross]

I gotta say that looks a lovely car for 10k and oddly enough I recognize it from somewhere. Where u buy it from??

 

[SirCarlsworth]

Thanks davidcross, I bought it from a private seller in Glasgow

Cheers phillipps44, I will keep an eye on the blue smoke as that was the only time it did it so bad. It's strange how it would then stop and be ok. Could it be that there was too much oil in the engine? I did top it up as it was reading low but I have found it difficult to get an accurate reading as I've been told 3 different ways of checking it.

When it was smoking, using the gauge inside the car it was on the maximum and the Druck Press would be up to 5 when on the motorway. Now that it's not smoking anywhere near as bad the oil gauge is about 3/4 and the Druck Press is between 3-4 when doing 3000rmp at 70mph. How does this sound??

 

[h_____]

Only one way to check it. Car warm, on level ground, engine running, check it then. If the car cuts out doing this, something is wrong. Get it fixed, as you cant reliably check the oil level without. Dont check the oil with the engine off, as its a dry sumped engine, so the pumps need to be running.

They are great cars and it looks lovely. A leakdown test by a reliable indi will sort out if the engine is healthy and cheap to.

 

[dereksharpuk]

Looks a great car!. But I would be worried about the fact that the engine cuts when the oil filler cap is removed. Worn piston rings? Get it fixed before it costs you heaps!

ps: I had a VW Camper at your age... brand new!

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

I think I saw the car for sale on 911UK a while ago and thought it looked a bit of a bargain. I recall that the chap had just had the kidney bowls and inner sills replaced. My memory isn't too clever, but I thought it had a top end rebuild too. The background in the photos look like Buchanan Motors though. This was one they had I was tempted by: http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C183847/ (note the background).

Nice looking car - great colour (but I would say that [] )

 

[turbo jonny]

Great cars , specially in red ! Drive them smoothly , slow in fast out , and never forget there is no ABS.

 

[Melv]

Verra nice! The logical step up from Dubs......IMNVHO!

 

[zwhitea]

Nice car..
Engine stopping when checking the oil is more common than you think... basically there is a restrictor in the breather system, and over the years if pipes are replaced etc, the restrictor can be forgotten or installed the wrong way round.

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=401028&mpage=1&key=restrictor񡺄

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=380932&mpage=1&key=restrictor񝱸

Read the posts above.

Adam.

Oh and we have just bought an VW Early Bay for our collection.... [8|]

 

[SirCarlsworth]

Wow thanks everyone for all of your help!! After reading all of your comments I think I am going to take it in for a service and mention them restrictors when it goes in. Purely for my own peace of mind I'm going to choose an independant Porsche garage that has been recommended to me and get them to do a leakdown test and check the oil system as I think it's pulling oil into the engine... reason being it was smoking very badly on tickover then went to no blue smoke at all so it suggests to me that something may be getting blocked.

dereksharpuk and zwhitea I had a 1972 cross-over bay window Camper in metallic blue with silver bumpers Richard Hamilton it is the one that has had the kidney bowls and sills replaced but I had no mention of the top end rebuild. I topped it up with 10/40 after reading the book phillipps44

Once again thanks for all of your comments on my car and your help!

 

[carreraboy]

Did it the opposite way round ... started with a 911 and then got a VW Camper as well []

 

[SirCarlsworth]

I am so grateful for the help regarding checking for the restrictor... I read through them other threads and had a look after work. If I pinch the breather hose it doesn't cut out and noticed the restrictor wasn't there, mine has an after-market air filter on so I bed they removed it when that was fitted. I'm going to order one today []

I checked the oil and it was in between the 2 lines. I think it may have had 1-2 more litres of oil in it than it should, is there a chance this was getting sucked into the engine hence the clouds of blue smoke on tickover. She's as clear as a whistle now!

 

[SirCarlsworth]

Hmmm, where would you say is the best place to buy parts from for these Porsches?? I could say the best place to buy anything from with aircooled VW's but this is all new to me!

 

[kitchens]

Euro Parts ..Design 911 ..and dont forget the OPC can do you a deal as well with a club discount off at least 10%.No doubt others will post more suppliers
Buchanan Motors same as Pure Performance Cars..... sell some interesting stuff selling a 968 at present The place your car was photographed at looks like the same place as in there ads . but your car has a totally different interior but looks like the same car and reg number is different of course as the one in the link is a 87 car How long had the guy had it that sold it to you .Good luck with it looks a stunning car used to have one way back in 1993 it was my first Porsche

 

[chrishak]

ORIGINAL: kitchens

and dont forget the OPC can do you a deal as well with a club discount off at least 10%.No doubt others will post more suppliers

Agreed - don't automatically assume that OPC prices are more expensive than the indy's, they are usually competitive and often cheaper, especially when taking the discount into account.

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

I only put the link in my post to show the background was the same. I expect the owner put it with Buchanan on a SoR basis at some point. I saw it advertised on 911UK for a while. With all the structural stuff sorted, it seemed like a good buy.

 

[hukent]

ORIGINAL: phillipps44

ORIGINAL: SirCarlsworth

Hmmm, where would you say is the best place to buy parts from for these Porsches?? I could say the best place to buy anything from with aircooled VW's but this is all new to me!

Type911.co.uk is the only place I buy from. Also, you should be getting yourself over to impactbumpers.com if you are going to start messing around. Have a look at the forum and you will see what I mean.

He's been told, he'll wise up eventually!

 

[SirCarlsworth]

impactbumpers.com is in my favourites list to check out... []

it's interesting to know that the car is known within the club! i'll have a look on type911.co.uk to see if i can find the part if not i'll pop into an opc, by which i'm guessing you mean a main porsche showroom/dealer... the previous owner didn't own the car long at all and needed a quick sale for personal financial reasons which is why i managed to get it down from £11,000 to £10,000

 

[jasonld]

A Very nice looking car! Have fun and enjoy. []

J.