bob_

Hey folks - looking at buying a 3.2 Carrera and wanting some opinions on the longevity on the engine. How do you feel about 270k miles if it’s had a top end rebuild 40k ago? What should I be looking for?

Thanks in advance

Spyerx

This 100% depends on the history and maintenance of the car. If the car is at 270k miles and has never had a bottom end... it's likely getting time for that. How are the cosmetics and chassis?

bob_

Thanks, and makes sense. Cosmetics look very good, chassis seems solid… wish I had further service records on the engine

darylbowden

Will the seller tell you who did the engine work? Most likely whoever did the work is someone who knows the engine/car well. If they're willing to talk, that would be the first place I would go. I would assume (hope) that when the top end was done at 230k, they looked at the bottom end and had a good reason for not doing it while they already had the engine on the bench. That POV would ve great to have too,

Spyerx

You could go into the deal assuming it needs a bottom end, or, if it had a recent top end, a leak down and compression test will give you some sense of cylinder and head health. I've paid for these several times when buying older cars. They are not too difficult to perform on a 911. An engine rebuild on these is expensive, so this could give you some information to help with the decision if you like the rest of the car. Also, there is a test you can do on these to check for valve guide wear which is an issue on the 3.2 cars, but hopefully solved when they did the head work. Basically, you get car hot, run it up to redline in 2ndgear, let off throttle keeping it in gear. If the guides are in rough shape y you'll see a large cloud of smoke. Also, letting car sit hot idle and watching for smoke.

bob_

Great tips - thanks guys. This is what I love about Rennlist. Great to see it hasn’t changed in the ~15 years since I was last on here regularly.

SheepShagger

Sounds like you are looking at that lagoon green G50 eBay that’s not sold for quite a number of months. As others have said, go into it knowing the bottom end will need work soon, and don’t forget the gearbox will need work at some point if it doesn’t already.

bob_

I was, but I’ve moved on. The seller didn’t respond to two separate messages asking for more details, video, etc so I assume he doesn’t want to provide more information - not a good sign either way.

wildcat077

Good move , i would be leary of someone trying to unload a 911 on Ebay rather than a dedicated Porsche member forum like Rennlist
or Pelican.
Lots of great sellers on Panorama but those cars usually demand a hefty premium.
Be patient, a good one will come along eventually , rather than hastily buying one and having to dump tons of money into it afterwards !

Cheers
Phil

theiceman

or worse.. ultimately spending a lot of money on ebay and owning vaporware.