I have looked for a few months at SC's and 3.2's. Today I drove an 86 Turbo, 60kmiles and mid-thirties asking. It was pleasantly easy to drive.

Besides Peter Zimmermann's and Peter Morgan's books, I've spent zillions of hours on the web getting up to 911-speed (pun intended).

Beyond known if infrequent SC/3.2 issues, e.g. head studs, what are things to look out for in the Turbo? From what I can tell, other than the powertrain and heavier suspension and brakes, Turbos are essentially 3.2 Carreras--a very good thing for reliability.

 

The biggest areas of issue are similar as you state. Headstuds, syncros, but also the turbo. When you find a car you like have a PPI done, pull the valve covers and check the studs, do a compression test and leak down. These things will tell the health of the motor. Also check the rear trailing arm. They are known to have the adjustment holes around the eccentrics break. Other than that it is business as usual and check all the normal points.

 

I was able to look under the car. The engine's had a recent valve adjustment and numerous littles things done; older service records are unfortunately skimpy. One oil line was clearly dripping; other than that nothing was. However, the overall under-engine area had seveal "damp" areas. Assuming no rebuild in 20 years and fairly light driving, a) is this normal and b) I'm probably facing seal issues going forward?

The AC's been recharged recently, but--surprise, surprise--the air only blow kind of cool: Could be leaky hoses, leaky o-rings, etc. However, I noticed that because of the intercooler, the rear condenser is half-width. Is this right and would an auxiliary condenser help a turbo AC?

 

I personally wouldn't worry to much about damp areas. 911 alway seem to have some dampness around the valve covers. Unless the dampness was from the parting line on the case, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

I have to agree with Colin totally.

 

Also test drive the car to see if it goes straight, look for rust, any accidents.