J Reg 944S2

[nikisporsche]

Its a very sad day, my beautiful porsche is no longer repairable. In Guard Red, all in great condition with good service history. Took it to the Porsche garage to get the Head Gasket replaced only to find all the cylinders have been heavily scored, cost of total repair £8800. I am distraught. I have told them not to repair anything as I can't afford the repair. Therefore the car at present cannot move as just the cost of the head gasket repair would be over £3000. Does anyone want this beautiful car for parts, or to have as their own hobby to love and rebuild. Get in touch. Niki

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Hi Niki.

You should get a used engine fitted for less than the head gasket price....

Where are you, what is the condition of the bodywork, and where are these prices from?

 

[MartinRS2K]

Agree, a second hand engine won't cost much and if the rest of the car is good then it is worth doing.

 

[zcacogp]

Thirded; don't break an otherwise good car for the sake of a few scored bores. Another S2 should be able to offer up it's engine to keep the old girl on the road.

BUT (and it's a big 'but') check the bodywork carefully as the later cars were made of lesser-quality steel and J-plate cars seem to be more troubled by rust than earlier ones. Bad rust can put these cars off the road, whereas a bad engine shouldn't.


Oli

 

[944Scott]

A guy on the other site had an accident damaged S2 part stripped that still had the engine in it. I think he wanted around £400 for it.

 

[bmnelsc]

which is the other site? please email if naming is not allowed in the forum.
Thanks

 

[nikisporsche]

The rest of my car is beautiful, it is in excellent condition, may need some suspension work to get through the MOT which expired Aug 16th, hence its at the garage whilst I'm away. And it has a couple of rust spots about an inch long and half an inch high, good service history and very loved by me for the last two years. You guys have given me such hope yesterday I was distraught, I face today with a reprieve. So now I have two questions, where can I find an engine and where can I get it fitted.
At the moment the car is in a Porsche garage in Portsmouth. I've told them to do no more and I will get it towed. I am prepared to pay to have it towed anywhere to get it fixed, but would only be prepared to have it fixed by someone you guys trust. So please any information would be very very gratefully received.

 

[zcacogp]

Bruce,

I expect that 'the other place' is TIPEC. I'm sure there is n o harm in posting a link here:

http://www.tipec.net/_forums/viewforum.php?f=25

Niki, where are those rust spots? If they are on the sills then it's well worth a good poke at them with a sharp pointy thing and a rub with a wire brush; sills rust from the inside out and you wouldn't be the first person to see 'a couple of rust spots' turn into some very rusty sills within ten minutes of investigation. However if the car is as sound as you say it is then you will need to buy and organise the delivery of a new engine to the Porsche garage and pay them to fit it. What sort of garage is it in at the moment - a Porsche dealer or a Porsche specialist? If it's the former then they will be very expensive for the sort of engine swap you need to have done so you'll need to move it to somewhere cheaper (is it drivable?) Paul Smiffy (Diver944 on here) speaks highly of JMG Porsche (http://www.jmgporsche.co.uk/) who are near Bournemouth - you could do a lot worse than call them up and explain the situation as they would be able to collect your car from where it is and take it to their workshops and would be able to help with the engine collection as well.

I've had a very quick hunt around on TIPEC for a thread about an S2 such as 944Scott mentioned but couldn't see it, although here is a guy selling an S2's running gear:

http://www.tipec.net/_forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=18194


Oli.

 

[944Scott]

PM sent []

 

[sgl1966]

Hi Niki, sorry to hear about your car. I was in Porsche Portsmouth last week and if it was the j reg 944 out front I can vouch for what good condition it is in. I have bought and sold four s2 engines in the last year and a half, ranging from 99p from ebay (really) to £600, two of these had scored bores a common problem, but the other two were good so a much cheaper alternative than Porsche. As for fitting , I have a freelance engineer who has built both my engines at very reasonable price (day rate) pm if you need his number. If not I would be intrested in buying your car.

 

[Ewan]

Call Jon at JMG Porsche in Ferndown. He will be able to source and check/service a suitable engine and then fit it correctly. He'll probably arrange to collect your car also.

 

[Chrishazle]

I'd guess you could also consider an upgrade to a second hand 968 engine, and get the extra horses!![][]

 

[edh]

I've got a bottom end in good order if you're interested - high mileage block but looks OK & bores are clean. I might split it if you just want the block. I'm in Derby so not exactly convenient I'm afraid.

Those prices you have are crazy, although a complete engine rebuild isn't going to be cheap. The cheapest option is probably to source a complete working engine (that's what I did), but it's also more risky

 

[Paul190H]

What was it driving like prior to head gasket work?

Mine had some head work following cam chain guide failure and was noted to have some minor scoring on 2 and 3.

I made a phone call to EMC in Birmingham who are Porsche tuning specialists, they said bolt the head back on and enjoy it unless you want to spend £5K. That is what i did and it still drives very well.

 

[sgl1966]

Hi Niki, I was collecting some parts for my car from Portsmouth this morning and took the opportunity to have a closer look at your car. On reflection although your it looks good, I do not think it would be financially wise to repair. I have attached a photo showing my car just after I bought it in a similar condition but what was lurking underneath.
I noticed that both front wings have quite heavy corrosion, the paint is begining to bubble on the sills although these are original sills with the indent and the usual rust begining around the number plate lights. To me ,this with the engine rebuild required would put it beyond saving, but its your car and your choice. Looking back at the work on my car, I should have done the same

 

[944Scott]

ORIGINAL: sgl1966

Hi Niki, I was collecting some parts for my car from Portsmouth this morning and took the opportunity to have a closer look at your car. On reflection although your it looks good, I do not think it would be financially wise to repair. I have attached a photo showing my car just after I bought it in a similar condition but what was lurking underneath.
I noticed that both front wings have quite heavy corrosion, the paint is begining to bubble on the sills although these are original sills with the indent and the usual rust begining around the number plate lights. To me ,this with the engine rebuild required would put it beyond saving, but its your car and your choice. Looking back at the work on my car, I should have done the same

Im sure you say this with the best of intentions but surely its down to the owner to make this decision, we all have a certain amount of financial/emotional attachments to our cars. It would be good to see another saved especially as its a later car. Hopefully the owners reaction to the original estimate is a knee jerk reaction and with the help of the community spirit these clubs provide between us we could keep another 944 on the road.

 

[Diver944]

speak to Kevin Eacock at http://www.emcmotorsport.co.uk/ they rebuild many 944 engines for racecars and can slip a liner into each of your scored cylinders. I would imagine the cost will be well under half the cost of Porsche Portsmouth including the cost of a recovery truck to their premises in Birmingham.

 

[MarkK]

Yup talk to Kevin at EMC ,he will fix it economically,if anything needs welding he will sort it,small bit of bodywork he will sort it.
That's good advice from Paul.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Im sure you say this with the best of intentions but surely its down to the owner to make this decision

Hi Scott,

I think the guy in the post you refer to (he doesn't supply a real name []) had a good point.

If the car needs attention to the sills, wings, and a general tidy-up it's realistically a couple of grand at least. Add that to the engine needing at best some work, at worst replacing, and you are looking at a lot of money.

If the car's had most of the other regular 944 jobs done recently then that's a plus: brakes, fuel lines, clutch etc. If it's got low miles and perfect history then again, it's adding value to a car that has an intrinsic value. Otherwise, you might be throwing far more at the car than it's worth, and if you're going to do that then start with a car that's got a better future value? [8|]

 

[sgl1966]

No offence was meant by my comments and I did say in my post the choice is the owners, all I was trying to relay was my experience. In the past 18 months my car has had 2x wings, 2x rear quarters, inner and outer sills, rear badge panel and a respray. This cost approx £5000 without the engine rebuild I have had done . This has been a hobby of mine on a second car and I have enjoyed putting it back together, but does not make financial sense. I was just trying to make the owner aware how expensive the bodywork can be to repair on these cars on top of his engine rebuild/replacement from my own experiences.
simon