JackOlsen

the more picky 915 tranny

A 915 in good shape should shift well. It will never be a fast shifter, but you should not need to double-clutch in order to shift a syncromesh transmission.

Rust, didn't see much of any, when I asked the owner about it, he said he knew of 2 spots... ok apparently porsche ppl are as picky as bmw people as his idea of rust isn't even something I'd notice on an american car :P Was a line of surface rust maybe an inch long and a 1/4 inch thick in the door jam and similar around the passenger side strut tower, was all completely surface.

Get this thoroughly checked out in the PPI. Rust on a 911 is like a cockroach in the kitchen. If you see one, there's usually plenty more.

Tranny/Clutch, engaged good and fine, but 2nd gear was a bit picky, if not double clutched 2nd wasn't one to want you to get into it. Longer I drove more this became 2nd nature again.

Make sure you get an opinion on this in the PPI. It is not normal. Figure a couple of grand for a rebuild, and figure that if the transaxle doesn't need a rebuild now, it'll need one before too long. The motor it's mated to is much torquier than it was designed for.

Are power window motors expensive for this year? The windows are a tad slow, I would assume either wiring not providing enough juice or just dying window motors.

You probably just need to take off the inner door panel and lube up the mechanism. You can also replace the felt liners on the window frame.

How much is a headliner? (where to source), as it's currently white and rest of interior is black, so I'd want a lightweight black headliner / sun visors.

A headliner is cheap -- $50. Putting it in can cost as much as $500. All the windows need to come out. Unless it's severely damaged, you can get the same result by using flexible upholstery paint from a parts supply store, and paint it black. Some people consider installing a headliner in a 911 on par with rebuilding the motor, in terms of difficulty.

He's using 1" spacers on the back wheels right now, I worry of those possibly causing issues? Everything I've ever heard about spacers was that they were a bad idea.

I wouldn't worry about that. As was mentioned, Porsche used spacers on its widebodies for many years.

Is that torsion bar suspension cost effective to replace since it feels in good shape or keep it till it dies? Seems like a coil over conversion is like $4k.

There is no meaningful difference between the two unless you're building a track car, and need a higher spring rate than torsion bars can create. A spring is a spring. It doesn't care if it's coiled or not.

No matter how excited you get, do not fail to get a PPI. And ask the shop doing the PPI what they think the car is worth before you tell them what you're thinking about paying.

Stuttgart951

Sorry - been away for a few days.

The number for Dougherty is 610.692.6039. If you dont mind driving a little while up to Philly, give a call to Mike Tillson Motorcars at 215.473.6400 - Tillson is who I take my cars too - great shop (and Ive been through more than a few).

PPI should run you between $150-$300 depending on what the shop checks. When I have PPI's done, I usually get the usual "go over everything" routine and I will also request a compression and leakdown test.

'Gruppe B' is a club of sorts of members on this board and over on the other P-car board with 'bastard' cars. 69's with SC engines, 85's with 993 engines, supercharged Carerras, early widebodies - its the hot rod group (looks like alot of fun too). Youd fit right in.

Either way - subject to the PPI, the car sounds pretty good - I cant comment on the price though - I dunno what a 3.6L engine swap is worth on the used market.

Good luck!

RANDY P

at $19K if it checks out, well, time to play.

rjp

notbob

Having trouble finding financing, who will finance a car of this age? Any recommendations? My bank has no interest in the idea.

RJay

19K?!?!?! That is a fabulous deal. An early 993 conversion with motor parts and install will easily will cost you that. Believe me I know, I just completed mine this winter. This guy sounds desperate, I wouldn't part with mine for that. As to your question about a Quaife, the answer is yes. I put one of those in to my 915 trans (TBD, not LSD). works well.

notbob

How much did it cost you to get the quaife installed? I think I'm going to buy this car if I can just get financing arranged Nobody seems to have much interest in it.

kach22i

1. Use cash, savings.

2. Make sure your credit cards are paid off.

3. Have another car for daily driving or winter.

These cars have high operating cost, I can not imagine making payments and having repair costs on top of that. You need to do a little more research on the forums before diving into this.

I bought a $7,000 car worth $10,000 (what I though at the time) and put $8,000 into it. Had I bought a true $15,000 car I would of been better off, but eventualy even that would need costly repairs/maintenance.

I have read that the average yearly dumping of cash into a Porsche is $2,500. Think about it. Can you have an extra $2,000 or $3,000 put away each year for this? Keep saving and dreaming, it will make the purchase all the better, and for goodness sake always get a PPI.

notbob

I have no other debt currently besides my house, so yeah I can afford a payment and most maintenance, I have 4 other vehicles that are paid off currently, looking to liquidate, it's just hard to find a lender to finance an older vehicle anymore, especially for higher dollar marks

$2,500/yr isn't much, i'm assuming thats excluding tires

JP911

I would think that PeopleFirst.com (now CapitolOne auto finance) would give you a loan.

notbob

peoplefirst.com before they became capitalone were a great option, I had a guy who bought my M3 look into using them and it wasn't such a clean solution, we ended up letting BMW finance do it, and it was still a major pain.

I don't understand financial institutions, they move soo slow it's ridiculous to push some silly paperwork, I swear sometimes talking to them you feel like you're talking to the most elitest group ever... only because they think they're better then everyone and their time is more valuable. I don't have a lot of respect left for bankers after all the screwups I've seen at the closings on 2 houses I've bought.

PCA should open a bank to fund Porsche car purchase loans

JBH

Advice:
This car is worth $13-15K. No more. There are very rarely fantastic values on eBay. Thousands of people are looking at this car and if not one is willing to put up more than 13K, then that's a pretty reasonable estimate of its market value.

Yes, to take a '77 and put a 993 motor in it would cost a lot more than that, but modifications are never valued at cost and in many cases, decrease value. That said, with a 1977, there is hardly any modification could further decrease their value.

This car was driven hard and put away wet. Look at the dust and dirt under the front hood, the engine, and interior. This is not the pride of joy of an enthusist. If this car was owned by a fanatic, I could believe attention was paid to every detail and the conversion was done right, but that's not the case here. Just recognize there will be surprises and hope none are too unpleasant.

If you are thinking $2500/year you may want to think higher. One engine or tranny problem and that budget can be consumed. You are dealing with a hybrid vehicle - a frankenstein of sorts - with matched and mismatched parts from cars that differ by 20 years! Electrical and mechanical gremlins are a real possibility in this vehicle.

One more thing - Porsches have an ummm...delicate balance about them. Generally you don't just toss them into corners and powerslide out. The changes in this car demand some attention to it's setup and weight distribution. Find out if/when the car was aligned and cornerbalanced.

Bottom line: thorough PPI by a qualified Porsche race shop is a must. If it were me, I would walk away and find that fanatical owner who can't stand have the slightest mechanical or cosmetic flaw.

Doug&Julie

I've gotten two loans from these people. They make it really quite easy, as long as you have decent credit.

As for the car, I'm feeling a bit like Jeff...this car just doesn't scream good deal to me. Now, there's nothing wrong with a running project, but the buying price should reflect it. I would think with a little patience, if you really want this car, keep your offers low and wait until he gets too itchy and "has to" sell it. I don't see anybody paying what he wants for it.

RJay

Actually hard to say as I had the trans rebuilt at the same time + everything was already out of the car for the engine swap so my figures really wouldn't apply. My guess would be that the cost over the quaife itself is non-trivial, a completely uneducated quess would be that its at least a 10 hour job. Frankly, though whatever it costs you should do it. I would think that the car could be pretty mean with that much power and an open diff.

notbob

hows everyone else's opinion tie in line with JBH's on the 13~15k? As thats about what I initially offered him and got a big no way in hell back

notbob

The owner emailed me an interesting possibility, of financing out a portion of the car himself to me, anyone ever done anything like that? Sounds like a pro/con thing, pro is if the car is problematic I have less out of pocket and more of a reason to fight with him on the cost of repairs, con is possible more headaches of tracking payments / costs with a private individual. I don't need the credit boost in the least for paying a loan so I don't care about that, I think i'm one of the few young persons keeping my credit clear these days after seeing some of my friends mistakes.