It does sound like a solid car, just a little polishing and a few odds and ends. Make your offer, and make it contingent on getting the leak checked closely. Chck the tranny fluid level to see how bad this leak really is, if there's fluid in there at a reasonable level, and it's not oiling down your clutch, then I wouldn't worry about it. A bit of weeping out of the seals they will do. As long as it's not puddling as you park, should be OK.

rjp

 

Mada, 6-8% leakdown wouldn't scare me off...no way. I would bet you there aren't many SCs out there with under 6%.

NOT to challenge anyone that thinks theirs is under 6% - I just don't think there's many out there.

When I went to sell my SC, it had a strong running 3.0l and had 8-12% leakdown. After going through it and putting 500mi. on it before shipping it to the new owner...I read about 6-8% across the board and it ran a <bit> better than before.

 

You can skip the chain tensioners on an '83. They have the updated levers and ramps, which were the real culprits. Buy the car, and do the tensioners a year from now, or so.

Leak down numbers, like compression figures, can be misleading, because there are so many variables in test conditions, gauge calibration, etc. IMHO, the thing that counts, when you're doing a PPI, is that compression is reasonable, and even across cylinders. Check the specs. Porsche only specifies a percentage variation on compression, and nothing about leak down. This car passes.

I think that Kelly is useless for older Porsches. Dealers can't get involved with these cars, because they're way too old. If they do get involved, they've got to low ball to buy, and jack up the price to sell, in order to have some protection. I've never seen a good 911 at a dealer for under $15,000. Remember, Kelly is a service to the auto dealer community, not the consumer or private seller.

Also, on price, I think that your friend is trying to be helpful, which is good, but he's not being realistic. I think that I can understand why the seller is a little aggravated.

 

The 2nd owner had the tensioners replaced at approx 80,000 miles. It's now at 125000. They were replaced with reg. tensioners (why did they do that, I have no idea) and not the carrera upgrade. Am I good to go with this, or should I still upgrade?

 

I think the tensioner replacement with stock SC 3.0 liter units at 80k means you're good to go for awhile. The Carrera units can fail too. They probably changed the units out with stock ones (not Carrera tensioners) to save some money.

Keep in mind that the earlier tensioners can fail, but they had been in use in one form or another since 1965, so they can't be that bad of a design. Yes, the Carrera ones are better...

You can skip worrying about the tensioners for now. My brother recently had his tensioners replaced with Carrera units at 115,000 miles when he had the motor out for other work and his still looked good yet (1983 SC).

Good luck on this SC!

Jay
90 964

 

I'll try to get you pics by the weekend. Where would you like me to send them?

 

I have some pics (80SC)if you want to see them. Let me know where to e-mail.