Barn Find 1998 Boxster Opinions??
03-31-2017, 12:14 PM
#1
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Barn Find 1998 Boxster Opinions??
Hi Guys,
I found a 1998 2.5 5 spd Boxster at a local paint shop and it's been tucked away full of sanding dust for about 5 years. They have cleaned it once or twice. and the car looks with no body damage and interiors need just an intensive cleaning due to the paint sanding dust.
They say the car is dead due to a bad ECM. Personally I dont think its that.
The question is... how far can you go on this if you would buy it. What are the common engine failures of these motors....
I offered 1,000$ but they refused. They want 2k$
I found a 1998 2.5 5 spd Boxster at a local paint shop and it's been tucked away full of sanding dust for about 5 years. They have cleaned it once or twice. and the car looks with no body damage and interiors need just an intensive cleaning due to the paint sanding dust.
They say the car is dead due to a bad ECM. Personally I dont think its that.
The question is... how far can you go on this if you would buy it. What are the common engine failures of these motors....
I offered 1,000$ but they refused. They want 2k$
03-31-2017, 02:13 PM
#2
Rennlist Member
I say stand firm on your offer. Some day they will want to sell & either fix it or just take your offer for fast cash. Either way you win.
03-31-2017, 02:27 PM
#3
Three Wheelin'
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I just bought an immaculate recently serviced 99 with a perfect top, perfect interior, perfect paint, BBS wheels and 100K miles. Paid $5900. Can you get THAT car into that description for $4900? And how many hours of personal time?
03-31-2017, 08:47 PM
#4
Race Director
I found a 1998 2.5 5 spd Boxster at a local paint shop and it's been tucked away full of sanding dust for about 5 years. They have cleaned it once or twice. and the car looks with no body damage and interiors need just an intensive cleaning due to the paint sanding dust.
They say the car is dead due to a bad ECM. Personally I dont think its that.
The question is... how far can you go on this if you would buy it. What are the common engine failures of these motors....
I offered 1,000$ but they refused. They want 2k$
FLT951 I think said it best.
Personally, I would *not* take the car as a gift. In fact I wouldn't take the car if the owner offered me $1000 to take it off his hands.
Unless you can start and run the engine, road test the car, you don't know what's wrong. The shop may not know either.
A car that has sat that long may have been visited by mice (or rats). If so the bill to put the car right can run into the thousands of dollars. (In every case of mice or rats being at a car I have come upon the owner had to resort to using his homeowners insurance to cover the cost of repairing the car.)
My 2nd hand experience is a Porsche that has sat even fewer years is the fuel system is toast due to the gasoline that goes bad, turns to jelly or worse. Fuel tank has to be cleaned out (maybe replaced if the stuff's real bad), and the fuel pump, fuel lines, fuel filter, fuel injectors have to be replaced.
The seals/o-rings have almost certainly dried out and shrunk so once you get the engine running and the car on the road get ready to deal with leaks. RMS. Water pump. Diff/transmission seals. Etc.
Radiator hoses don't like to sit. Budget for new ones.
Brake fluid has been attracting water since the day the car was parked. Odds are the brakes will need more than a fluid flush and bleed.
The top is probably toast. You'll find it leaking.
Tires are probably due to be replaced based on time.
If the DME is indeed bad that's an expensive item to replace. If the DME is not bad the engine could have been suffering from some serious internal problem and that is why it ended up parked for so long.
As for engine failures, one common engine failure mode is the IMSB (intermediate shaft bearing). The early examples are less prone to this failure but an engine that has sat unused for this long is probably going to have an IMSB with very bad seals. If the ***** or races have experienced any rust/corrosion you can expect the bearing to fail in short order.
Another problem is without regular use rust spots could have developed on the rods, crank, cam lobes, lifter buckets, valve springs, cam chain, and if so any one of these rust spots can be a point of failure (the start of a stress fracture) once the engine is running again.
Cam chain tensioners are probably shot -- their o-rings dried out -- and this could have a cam jump time if a chain is not kept under proper tension.
I seriously doubt you can bring the car into reasonable shape for anything less than it would cost you to buy a comparable model one that has received regular use and service and reasonable care.
The car given its condition is not even worthy of roller money, what ever that is now for an early Boxster.
I think you should consider yourself lucky the shop turned down your $1000 offer.
They say the car is dead due to a bad ECM. Personally I dont think its that.
The question is... how far can you go on this if you would buy it. What are the common engine failures of these motors....
I offered 1,000$ but they refused. They want 2k$
FLT951 I think said it best.
Personally, I would *not* take the car as a gift. In fact I wouldn't take the car if the owner offered me $1000 to take it off his hands.
Unless you can start and run the engine, road test the car, you don't know what's wrong. The shop may not know either.
A car that has sat that long may have been visited by mice (or rats). If so the bill to put the car right can run into the thousands of dollars. (In every case of mice or rats being at a car I have come upon the owner had to resort to using his homeowners insurance to cover the cost of repairing the car.)
My 2nd hand experience is a Porsche that has sat even fewer years is the fuel system is toast due to the gasoline that goes bad, turns to jelly or worse. Fuel tank has to be cleaned out (maybe replaced if the stuff's real bad), and the fuel pump, fuel lines, fuel filter, fuel injectors have to be replaced.
The seals/o-rings have almost certainly dried out and shrunk so once you get the engine running and the car on the road get ready to deal with leaks. RMS. Water pump. Diff/transmission seals. Etc.
Radiator hoses don't like to sit. Budget for new ones.
Brake fluid has been attracting water since the day the car was parked. Odds are the brakes will need more than a fluid flush and bleed.
The top is probably toast. You'll find it leaking.
Tires are probably due to be replaced based on time.
If the DME is indeed bad that's an expensive item to replace. If the DME is not bad the engine could have been suffering from some serious internal problem and that is why it ended up parked for so long.
As for engine failures, one common engine failure mode is the IMSB (intermediate shaft bearing). The early examples are less prone to this failure but an engine that has sat unused for this long is probably going to have an IMSB with very bad seals. If the ***** or races have experienced any rust/corrosion you can expect the bearing to fail in short order.
Another problem is without regular use rust spots could have developed on the rods, crank, cam lobes, lifter buckets, valve springs, cam chain, and if so any one of these rust spots can be a point of failure (the start of a stress fracture) once the engine is running again.
Cam chain tensioners are probably shot -- their o-rings dried out -- and this could have a cam jump time if a chain is not kept under proper tension.
I seriously doubt you can bring the car into reasonable shape for anything less than it would cost you to buy a comparable model one that has received regular use and service and reasonable care.
The car given its condition is not even worthy of roller money, what ever that is now for an early Boxster.
I think you should consider yourself lucky the shop turned down your $1000 offer.
Last edited by Macster; 03-31-2017 at 08:48 PM. Reason: Added: "*not*".
04-02-2017, 01:38 PM
#7
I am in a boxster project right now myself...Supposed to have saved a bunch of money but ended up costing my over 3X what I thought and 2X over the cost of a running boxster :-)