kyle robert moore

was wondering how amny miles are on your 911. i have heard of 200 and 300k miles on the "bullet proof" sc cars. my 83 sc has about 125k on her and nothing but maintenance and a tranny rebuild. we aloso put a clutch in the car while the tranny was down, but it looked to be in fairly good condition. i also had to replace the alternator.

so how mny miles on your car and what parts have you replaced?

kyle

BER

Bruce Anderson states that the 3.0 liter engine in the 911SC is a long-lasting engine, provided routine preventative maintanence is performed. He cites cars personal knowledge of SC's with 200k+ miles and still going strong.

I have 2 911's (1977 Euro spec and an '84 Carrera). Both are under 75k miles and the engines have never been opened. The '77 had the 915 gearbox opened about 14 years ago for some work. Both have had clutches replaced, but I consider that periodic maintenance and not the sign of problems.

Bruce

J-McDonald

Yesterday, I saw a 3.2 Carrera cab parked on the street in downtown Washington, DC with 216,000 miles. I watched it pull away - it sounded great.

I guy in my parking garage has an SC Targa with 208,000 miles - it runs great. I think it had a top-end rebuild somewhere around 150,000 miles.

willwest

78 Targa, chain tensioners, clutch, valve spring, TIG welding to re-enforce cracking rear suspension, new airbox w/popoff, 90K miles.
78 Targa S/N +1100 from above. 179K miles, lots of oil leaks, runs perfect, purchased at 165k.
79 Targa, 90K miles, purchased at 80k miles, replaced alternator.

Doug&Julie

88 911 Carrera with 112,600 miles. Dry as a bone and still running like a champ. I would expect another 100k before any serious work needs to be done to it. Original transmission. I don't even think the clutch has been replaced. (can't find any receipt for that in the records) Shifts smooth and easy.

I also had an 88 944 n/a that I bought with 43k miles. Five years later I sold it with 156k miles. Same trans. I replaced the clutch to sell it, not that it really needed it! Another solid car, typical of Porsche engineering.

Douglas_T

Interesting topic. Any more imput?

Rick986

I have an '83 SC with 101K. It's a daily driver. Bought from PO with 77K. Only one minor problem (replaced bad coil).
Turbo ties rods in the box waiting for install over the MLKII holiday.
Recent SSI and Monty upgrade...wow what a sound!
Late model tensioner upgrade
Pop-off valve
930s wheel
Spring centered clutch
Factory Short Shift
Shifts great
Drilled rotors
Runs great
Drives great
Original paint 9.5
Original interior 8.5
What a raw wonderful car.

Any recomendations on what the next upgrade should be? I want a daily driver that I can autocross...if I want to.
Strut brace or
9" Fuchs on rear (move 7"s up front)or
New leather Sparco Milanos or

Mr Michael B

Heck,

ImagineAuto.com Biz Partner Stephen & I both have had 200K +++ 911SC's. He even supercharged one of the 200K mile jobs.

I had an SC that I drove for 9 years, it had 70K or so on it at purchase. I sold it with about 50K more on the clock & it was in better shape than when I 1st bought it. The Gent I sold it too still owns it & I know its still going strong.

Bet he see's 200K easy w/o hassle.

They are GREAT cars.

gerry100

'86 coupe with 91K - bought 8/01 with 83K

- original owner replaced clutch, alternator, shocks.

- shifting not perfect but new bushings helped a lot and I think tweaking the adjustment will fix it completely.

- I've replaced DME relay, and CH temp sensor (PITA but cheap), but that's almost routine maintenance with these. ( another DME in the glove box).

= No drips and no consumption except for minor on track days.

Rouxzy

I have a '77 with almost 140k on it. Never opened up and without a leak. Quick and oil useage is real low. Luckily for me the original owner did ALL updates for this engine.

Speedraser

The highest mileage car I've ever seen was an '80 SC Targa, parked at Lime Rock during Vintage Fall Festival several years ago with 486,000 miles on the odometer. It looked very nice, but unfortunately I never found the owner so I don't know what work had been done. I spoke to a man with a 330,000 mile '84 3.2 Carrera who had just done the top end for the first time "as a precaution." I also spoke to a man with an '86 3.2 Cab with 261,000 miles -- the engine had never been apart.

Bruce Anderson says he knows of one SC with 455,000 with no engine work.

My SC is a baby -- 67,000 miles. My 993 has 50,000.

1980SC

They don't all last that long...

The 3.0 in my 1980SC with just over 120K miles is worn out. Uses a quart of oil every 170 miles. I've read about many 3.0's and 3.2's needing rebuilds with less than 100K miles.

Rob
1980SC

Mr Michael B

Holy Moly!

A Qt. every 170 miles???

Wow.

You of course are correct, not every car will go forever.

Those cars that have never had the oil changed, or were treated poorly by non-car people who have no clue about maintainance (I have met people who have said "valve adjustment?.. Is that something I need to do?" - This after 80,000 miles without doing a valve adjust in a 911 - from a Lawyer who thought of himself as a "Porsche guy").

So yes... I can see how some 911's DONT go forever. But when that does happen, in 99% of the cases, its NO fault of the product IMHO.

1980SC

Yup, 170 miles/Quart. I'm assuming I have a few broken oil control rings. Lots of blue smoke at full throttle.

It is indeed sad that many people neglect these motors, but I've read about plenty of low milage engine rebuilds here or at the Pelican board because of worn valve guides and broken dilavar studs.

I wish they'd all last for hundreds of thousands of miles, but those 300-400K mile motors that have never been opened are rare.

Rob
1980SC

86Coupe

I have 116K miles on my 86 Coupe. I have had the car for 2.5 years and the engine has never been opened. The recent leakdown test showed 1 - 2%. Car runs great, no smoke.

I've been wondering myself how long these things can go without major engine work. I've also been re thinking my concern about the rather high mileage and maybe not driving it so much (5,000+ mils per year) or buying a lower mileage car.

Does anyone know about 911 engine wear patterns? If an engine gets this far with minimal engine wear will wear continue at current rate, accelerate or decrease because most of it tends to come earlier?

While I haven't had to spend anything on the engine in my 14,000 miles of ownership here are some major expenses incurred:

* Rebuild transmission ("as long as I was in there for clutch")
* New clutch
* New fuel line
* New sunroof cables

Upgrades were limited to:

* Turbo tie rods
* New tires (Dunlops)
* New Bilstein HDs
* H5 headlamps

There have also been miscellaneous others to make the car problem and annoyance free on long trips. These can add up to a lot of money.

The car feels like it can go another 116K miles without major investment. The rebuilt transmission and upgraded clutch components make this 915 more pleasant to use than the G50s I've drive which feel somewhat isolated in shift and clutch feel.

Here is my current thinking on 911 engine wear based on what I've read and on my own experience:

* Some 3.2s need a top end rebuild to replace prematurely worn guides. Haven't heard of any that needed bottom end work.
* Things that might have contributed to low engine wear in my car -- mature older owners before me (no abuse), regular oil changes (stamps every 5K), proper warm up
* There is no significant difference between SCs and 3.2s in terms of robustness, SCs seem to need more work probably just because they are older
* 3.6s are a different car and require much more expense for upgrades and maintance

Dilemma for me in moving from this car is that I risk getting a "bad" year, having to make the same expensive upgrades all over again, getting a car that somewhere in its history was not well maintained or abused. And then there's the long search -- I can't believe how many dogs I had to look at before finding this car!

On the otherhand car will have 130 - 135K miles in 3 years and there could be an even more expensive surprise at that point. For those of you who were fine at around 115K what happened between there and 150K?

Look forward to any information / opinions on the engine wear issue and on my dilemma.

Thanks.
Pete
86 Coupe