Tomorrow, I will be mostly driving a S2!

[944psi]

[FONT=arial"]Pick up my first 944 S2 tomorrow .... can't wait - got a 3hr drive back from North Wales so should be a nice intro into my new car. fingers crossed.

Got the insurance sorted out today too - interesting that I tried all of the places recommended on these pages - coming out with prices in excess of £650 (32yr old, 3pints, 10+yrs NCB,driveway) whereas First Alternative and Norwich Union came out at around £450. NU were quoting a £720 excess though - ouch. Went with First Alternative in the end.

Phil

 

[944s2]

Good to hear hope you enjoy it daily like I do mine - maybe you'll stumble across one of the other forums []

 

[juliany27]

Phil

All the best with the new car. But 3 pints is dangerously close to the drink drive limit!

Have lots of fun and many happy miles.

 

[Helen Goff]

wow. enjoy your drive hope it dosn't rain on you..

 

[Diver944]

Superb Phil [8D]

That'll be a good long drive to get used to the car. We await a list of questions from approx 3pm onwards [] (and yes the starter motor probably does seem very slow to turn over)

I recently switched to First Alternative too. I think they are targeting Porsche at the moment as their prices seem VERY competitive (until one of us claims for a written off GT3 [] )

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Diver944

......I recently switched to First Alternative too. I think they are targeting Porsche at the moment as their prices seem VERY competitive (until one of us claims for a written off GT3 [] )

S2 or Turbot (Turbot = A tuned Turbo - most notable feature: almost impossible to insure)

Back on thread - Well done Phil, I hope it all went well for you. The first long drive in any car can be a bit unnerving (all sorts of new noises become apparent) but in a new car this can be even more stressfull.....

Is the temperature gauge meant to be there?........Wasn't it cooler previously?.........What is the oil pressure meant to read?........Why is it dropping now the engine is hot?.............Why have I only got 3/4s of a tank of petrol, I only filled up 10 miles ago? Happy days [&:]

 

[Fen]

John, have you ever tried Adrian Flux? They took a few days to digest the A4 page of mods mine has but then came back with a quote very similar to what I was paying for the cab. OK it's limited mileage but how many miles does Beaky cover in a year?

 

[chrisr]

All the best Phil , the drive back from North Wales is superb especially in a 944 , I use my S2 daily - Im sure you'll love it

Chris

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Fen
......how many miles does Beaky cover in a year?

Lots! 2K on the Scotland trip alone. [] I did have a limited mileage policy (7.5K) but I ran out after 8 months and the so'n'sos (who ever it was) wouldn't re insure me until the 12 months had expired []. I might be doing less miles these days but I hate to be considering budgeting my mileage. If I want to drive the car I want to drive it, not worry if that will leave me enough miles for next weekends South Coast meet.

 

[mik_ok]

ORIGINAL: John Sims

[The first long drive in any car can be a bit unnerving

I'll second that. Mr SlimBoyFat came took me in his Turbot to do the "I'm an expert in these cars you know.... and..... ooooh (sucks air through teeth and shakes head slowly)" to assist with final negotiations. []

Part of said haggling concerned the rear tyres, which I'd noticed resembled Duncan Goodhue. This became aparent on the drive home when (following slim) I had a rather unplanned oversteery moment on a damp roundabout. Had only gone 3 miles or so too. I was therefore a little more cautious for the remaining 40 to get it home [&:] []

 

[carlmthompson]

ORIGINAL: John Sims

Lots! 2K on the Scotland trip alone. [] I did have a limited mileage policy (7.5K) but I ran out after 8 months and the so'n'sos (who ever it was) wouldn't re insure me until the 12 months had expired []. I might be doing less miles these days but I hate to be considering budgeting my mileage. If I want to drive the car I want to drive it, not worry if that will leave me enough miles for next weekends South Coast meet.

You could buy some off me John. Circumstances beyond my control mean I'm very unliky to use even half of my 3K this year[].

To be fair though, if I renew through AON, they said I can carry over the unused[].

Of course now I have a baby on the way (okay so my wife has, my contributions' done!) I should consider selling like everybody else seams to do....

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: carlmthompson

.......Of course now I have a baby on the way (okay so my wife has, my contributions' done!) I should consider selling like everybody else seams to do....

Yes, but you would be more sensible than that wouldn't you.

Back on thread......How did the first drive go then?

 

[944psi]

[FONT=arial"]First drive was good, seems very capable and I arrived back home at about 11.30pm. Felt a bit light and vague on the front end (maybe explained further down). Car looks very smart outside my house and my kids thought the pop-up headlights were very funny!

Now for the bad news.......

It is MOT'd until January but I thought I'd do the sensible thing and give it an MOT now, plus it gives me the chance for a good look around underneath (perhaps something I should have done before......).

Failed on the following items

N/S lower balljoint needs replacing
2 Brake flexis hoses corroded + a brake pipe on the rear pitted and corroded
N/S Outer sill holed and corroded
N/S Sill to floor holed and corroded
O/S Inner rear sill (drop sill?) holed and corroded

Also needs a new front tyre (which I knew about) and advisories on the front shockers. Obviously I didn't get an inspection beforehand otherwise I might have hesitated about buying this one. The chap selling it had it MOT'd in January at which point the O/S sill was repaired - they also cleaned down the N/S sill, sealing it and painting it over with black underseal - so I thought the sills were sorted.

Having been shocked by the MOT - I started looking at the SH in more detail. No service book, but lots of receipts for services, repairs etc - seller said he never had the service book. 2 engineers reports from a respected Porsche specialist - the last one when my seller bought it in 2000. Mileage reading on the report shows two figures, the second in brackets is approx 18k more than the first. I have now phoned the specialist who says that the speedo was replaced and this was recorded in the service book which was with the car when it was last sold.

So all in all, I've bought a nice looking 944 S2, very shiny, nice black leather - seems to go well enough. But it has 18k more miles than advertised, and needs the repaired sills replacing properly along with some additional under body welding doing, shockers, wishbones, brake hoses etc.

I didn't pay a great deal for it (3.6k) but I'm wondering what else has been skimped on given the bodge job on the repaired sills plus I suspect the seller has knowingly misdescribed with regards to the mileage. OK, 18k is nothing to these cars, but I'm still feeling a bit cheesed that I didn't twig all this before hand

(Sorry for the novel)

 

[John Sims]

Car buying is always a roller coaster ride of emotions. I have little confidence in the AA type pre-purchase inspection but, perhaps, it might have helped on this occasion.

944's aren't renown for problems with rust, if anything they are considered very good, but, as they get older, it is something we need to pay more attention to. I am aware of several cars now that have needed attention as a result of rampant rust worm.

Getting a car checked is a scary thing. You have the, "at least I know what I am dealing with" side offset by the thought of ignorance is bliss.

All said and done, you paid a Lux price for an S2 so you could still be quids in once all the work is completed.

 

[Fen]

Hmm, I did immediately think the sills looked dodgy and had you posted a pic before committing to buy I'd have been much more vocal on it. You got it quite cheap but you will be looking at that again to fix it (unfortunately I'm serious) unless you can do a lot yourself or find a very understanding independent. That makes it a very expensive S2 and you've only seen the stuff an MoT test pics up so far. What about giving it a quick tart up and outing it?

 

[Diver944]

That is pretty cheap for an S2 so I think you have plenty of scope to get those items fixed:

A new wishbone will be circa £400 but you can have your balljoint rebuilt by www.hartech.org.uk for £150. Get a full alignment afterwards and then you'll really feel how an S2 should handle

The brake hoses can be pretty expensive to get replaced, especially at the rear as you have to drop the suspension to get the hoses in. Alternatively many people now fit nylon systems like modern cars, and I've heard of the whole car being done for under £200. Failing that get yourself a brake pipe flaring tool, a box of fitments and a roll of brake pipe and do it yourself. www.frost.co.uk sell everything you'll need.

Personally I would replace all the sills with genuine Porsche galvanised items. On forums, we hear they are starting to be a problem on a few cars so I wouldn't mess around repeatedly patching them up. I 'think' I've heard a figure around £180 a side for the actual sill panel, but of course most of the cost will be the fitting and painting properly.

I wouldn't worry about the mileometer reading. No-one with any sense buys a car this old with an eye on what the mileometer reads so I doubt it will affect the resale

It's too late to worry about a full inspection now but with the absence of documented history I would take it to a good independant specialist and get them to service it and check it over providing a planned list of maintenance to keep it running sweetly

 

[John Sims]

IIRC PSH paid IRO £1200 to have one of his cills done. That did include the outer panel running to the rear wheel arch which had to be cut out off a full quarter panel though.

Once you start chasing rust it is pretty soul destroying unless you cut it out completely but even then you can have issues with the welds on the new panels corroding. I agree with Fen in that I had reservations about the underseal on the outer cills. I wish I'd said something as well.

Mechanical issues, while frustrating, can always be resolved with time and money. Rust can be a little more difficult to control. Get a quote on the cills and see how that pans out; otherwise, as hard as it may seem, I might again agree with Fen and consider ditching the car.

 

[944psi]

I'm still kicking myself for not spotting the obviously corroded sills and for believing the guy that sold it to me for believing him when he said they'd been sorted![]

I've just been to Zentrum and AMB with it to try and work some prices out. The guy at Hartec I spoke to earlier quoted £190 + vat per side for exchange wishbones (fitted) plus £60 to reset the alignment. Ball parks for sills were in the region of 1k - I didn't dare ask if that was for both sides.

For the hoses and brake pipes my local garage who mot'd it came up some reasonable figures for sorting out the brake pipes and hoses, but as you say Fen, who knows what else is lurking.

I don't see how I can tart up a crumbly sill - any ideas? - I did think of ebaying it warts and all. If I got 2.5k for it I would think myself lucky.

 

[mik_ok]

I wouldn't bother with new wishbones - go with the balljoint replacement on the one side only. as Paul noted above (circa £150 via Hartech, and I know somewhere up here in Glasgow area does them for around £140 inc VAT).

Front shocks aren't expensive - you can get new std units for both sides for a total of around £150 inc vat and deliv.

If the local garage has given you a good quote for the brake pipes - go for it. You can save money doing DIY, but wear eye protection (I know from experience that brake fluid in the eye is quite sore [&:].

And that just leaves the sills. Not recommending it, but they can probably be patched up with a bit of plate and a welder if you are desparate. []

If you are planning to just punt it on to some other poor sod, I'd do none of the above. []

 

[944psi]

Thanks for the advice you guys. I'm now kicking myself for not fully digesting what Fen said in reply to my previous post

" Looks nice, but I'd be slightly wary of what's under that black stuff on the sills"

[]

I'm inclined to move it on, however I feel I have quite a good case for returning it to the seller so must pursue that first.

This is the second shed I've bought this week, the first one being 10ft x 8ft and having t&g sides and I do not intend losing money on the second shiny red one parked on the drive.

Phil