Money pit, is it worth carrying on???!

[Guest]

Hi there need some advice, my little 2.5 Lux has had the following work, and today, I got some very depressing news in regards to the MOT, which to be fair I knew was coming, However I bought the car last year knowing that work would need to be completed, todate the following has been done.

Full Gearbox rebuild
Head rebuild, new belts rollers ect,
new CV joints
Sachs Shocks all round,
Wheel bearings all round,
Full Geometry setup, which totally changed the car, recomended!
New tyres Pilots all round,

So far I have spent thousands, however MOT time reulted in mega failure due to the seals being completely shoot, in fact the MOT guy found it extremely funny how bad they are. I knew that this would have to be done, however I can not believe how expensive body work is, I have had quotes of £1000's at proper body shops, however I have also had a quote of £200, from a guy that will not spray them in but will cut the old ones out and welds in new ones, however I can not locate any seals other than dealer ones, does anyone know of any companies that stock them, also I am barking mad in actually getting this done, as I will need a respray in the future as well, so would it be better to find a new 944, ah so confused!

Chris

 

[Guest]

By seals do you mean door/hatch seals etc?

If so, try forest fine. They are pretty good prices

 

[ad2015]

door seals = MOT failure?? surely some mistake

 

[Helen Goff]

feel for you. [&o] at least you bought it knowing it would need this work doing.

my 944S2 problems came as a nasty suprise. so far it has cost me more than the price i will ever get back from selling the car... so the cheque books is still open [].

if your planing to keep the car then spend the money. if you are thinking of getting shot of the car within the next year or two, then don't. [&o]


i always try to look on the bright side and in the 14 months i've had the car i've lost a lot less money then i did owning a brand new Bogster for 6 months... now that was a real money pit []

 

[PRJ]

'Sills' I suspect...

 

[944turboS]

Porscheshop have them listed at £170 each side.

http://www.porscheshop.co.uk/acatalog/porsche_944_body_panels.html

 

[db@944s.co.uk]

Hi,

If you mean sills, I found them cheaper at the Edinburgh OPC than at www.porscheshop.com

Seems they buy them from Porsche and sell them on at more money .... nice work if you can get it!

 

[John Sims]

Chris,

'88 was a great year for the Lux with lots of the Turbo bits having been incorporated.

Trying to decide if an old car is worth persevering with is always a difficult question. You could blow it out, and get another one, but then you have no idea what the next one is likely to be like. The advantage in getting things done is that you then know that bit shouldn't give you any grief for a few years.

You have to accept that, with a car coming toward its 20th birthday, it isn't going to get better by its self. Things are going to break (unless you replace them first) and when they do they aren't going to be cheap.

Any old car is going to provide a roller coaster of emotions you've just got to weigh up if the highs are greater than the lows.

944's are generally very good at resisting the rust worm but, once it takes hold, like any car, it can be almost impossible to eradicate. You need to take a good hard look at how much rust the car really has. If it is bad you may be better of getting a mechanical dog with a better body and swapping your good bits over. This means scrapping your current car but this could be better than trying to chase the rust around.

You could do a tart up job, blow the car out to some poor unsuspecting sucker, and then look for what might be a better one.

If you decide that the car is worth keeping then I wouldn't cut corners on replacing the cills. Unless you get them done properly they will deteriorate almost as soon as you get them fitted and will need looking at again within a handful of years at the best.

 

[Guest]

If it was me, I'd be looking for a basket case of a car with a good body, then swap all of the good bits from your current car onto it.

Of course, that assumes that you have the skills and time to do it, as paying somebody to do all this would be a bit expensive.

There comes a point when you are throwing good money after bad, and you always end up justifying it to yourself because the car has already cost you X thousands, so it's only a small percentage of it. Before you know it you've spent 10 grand fixing up a car that's worth 4.

If you had a time machine, I'd suggest getting in it and not buying a car with a list of jobs that need to be done, unless you are after a project. The cost of fixing up a car like this is always going to be high. When you look around, you can get an excellent example (depending on model) for 4-5 grand, so why buy something that needs work for 3. As you've discovered, it's very easy to spend a lot more than the difference in rectifying the issues.

 

[Diver944]

I say get them done and enjoy the car, at the end of the day a Porsche (however cheap to buy) is still made up from Porsche parts and some of them are pricey. Genuine galvanised cills will last a further 20 years once fitted and painted properly.

Whereabouts are you situated and maybe one of us can recommend a good bosyshop to do the work at a fair price?

 

[944cabby]

Have a look here, they've got repair panels for 944 sills at 30quid plus vat - http://www.porscha.co.uk/944boxsills.htm

 

[sawood12]

From the list of work done so far alot of it looks like routine maintenance items such as shocks, wheel alignment, tyres etc. so as expensive as they are I don't think you can let the cost of these items reflect badly on the car. I suspect the gearbox rebuild and head rebuild is fairly rare. Contrary to your current perception the engines are pretty robust and can stand upto a significant amount of abuse - but like any engine if poorly maintained and exposed to excess abuse it will take it's toll. Sill corrosion is a biggy though and pretty pricey to get fixed so my heart goes out to you, I know if mine had that problem I would have some serious questions to ask about what I should do with the car. My advice would be to see if you can find someone who would take cash for the work to keep the labour costs down to a minimum.

Having said that if you bought the car a couple of grand cheaper than a pukka one knowing it needed some TLC lavishing on it the money you have saved on the purchase price can contribute to these repair costs so your net position should be fairly representative of average running costs of 944s.

Good luck with it, I hope you find a way through this that means you keep the car and enjoy it for many trouble free years to come!!

 

[Guest]

Sorry, it is the Outer box sills, along the bottom of the car, they have completely perished and have large fist size holes in them, as mentioned I have had a quote from a very cheap welding guy, that will cut the old ones out and weld in new ones, for £200 (labour)however, I really will need to ascertain how much other rust there is on the car, according to AutoStrasse, the rust appears to be on the sills and brake lines, there are no other holes on the underneath of the car. and the body work, is generally in ok condition considering the age, the rust does stretch basically along the bottom edge of the car to the rear wheels,

I think I will look around to see if there are any blown engine examples around, and look at a engine and gearbox transplant, either way I will certainly be keeping a 944, it really is a fantastic car, and I love driving it as my daily driver and work car, and it still kills me that it drives better than many modern cars that I have driven,

I will keep you posted!

Many thanks
Chris

 

[John Sims]

If you are going to Autostrasse (good bunch of guys) then you should be joining the hard core 944 contingent @ R11 meetings - well Rick and I at least.

Looking for a car with a good body is definitely the best long term solution.

 

[Fen]

My indie's Mum had a 944 that was rotten on one side and mint on the other. He got it fixed and it was all mint - there doesn't seem to be correlation between a sill being shocking and the rest of the car being bad. Hopefully for you it's just 2 sills.

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: John Sims

If you are going to Autostrasse (good bunch of guys) then you should be joining the hard core 944 contingent @ R11 meetings - well Rick and I at least.

Looking for a car with a good body is definitely the best long term solution.

So when are your meets?

They are a great garage, always more expensive that what they quote!!!!! But they said all bar the Sills, nuts and bolts fuel lines the car is solid, so I will have a decent check and scrutinies the car, and go from there, however I may be in the market for a solid car with a blown engine if the worse comes to the worse, as I will not be able to afford a S2, or Cab, [] maybe in a few years!

 

[ad2015]

i'll vouch for Autostrasse too .. i was heading up the A12 to see family on xmas day & the water pump went on my 1989 S2. i managed to limp on to my destination which fortunately was 2 miles form Autstrasse. they picked it up a couple of days later, did the pump & belts (which needed doing) within a week. only downside was £940. ouch

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Kel944

.....So when are your meets?

Regiment Way Golf Club - off Regiment Way Chelmsford (A130)

8:00 pm on 2nd Tuesday of the month

 

[944turboS]

Chris,
Your lucky day has arrived.

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=185393&mpage=1&key=&#185393