stuntman

My grandfather is looking into buying a 1976 930 from an old acquaintance of his.

It has been recommended by many people to have the car checked out by a Porsche shop familiar with older P-cars before buying it. My grandfather wanted me to take a look at it and see what I thought about it to determine if it was worth taking it to a shop to be further inspected.

Any advice on what to look for or be aware of (typical rust areas, bushing degredation, oil leaks, turbo problems, transmission problems, expected rebuild mileage, etc...) would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,


Billy

nosub

Check this link out and get his book!

The Pre-Purchase Inspection by Peter Zimmermann

brutus143

My father has a 79 930 for about 10 years now and it has been more reliable that the POS 2008 Malibu in my driveway!! (company car)

When my brother first bought the car he had an electrical problem, I dont remember exactly but it was very minor. That was about 10 years ago, and this Porsche has NEVER not started and performed flawlessly since that day!!

Good luck if he get his.

justinsrx7

What a cool grandfather!

stuntman

That's great to hear. From what i've gathered, the 76-77 dosn't have the 3.3L intercooled motor your father's 79 has but a non-intercooled 3.0L with smaller brakes. Hopefully the different engine is as reliable as your father's 79. Either way, if he gets it I might have an intercooler retro-fitted to it.

Haha, he tends to own 8 cars at any given time with only 1/2 of them functional. I thought it was a huge step when he got a early 90's SL500, but when he found out it was slower than my E36 M3, he got a '00 SL600. After realizing the 600 still wasn't as fast (at least to 60), he called me up about this 930. I wonder what's next...

stuntman

New question: Do all 1976 930's have black trim panels? The photos of this car has chrome trim panels.


Also the car has an aftermarket Momo steering wheel, Recaro seats, aftermarket wheels, and was said to be repainted (didn't specify the whole car or just a sand-blasted bumper).


I've been told to check the front frame rails under the front hood/trunk carpet for buckling near the firewall to identify signs of damage, as well as make sure the VIN starts with "930" and not "911". I was also advised to look into the perforated VIN panel to see what the original color of the car was. It was also recommended to start the car cold and 30 minutes after a drive to make sure the 'crappy' fuel injection design is still functioning properly.

Any additional advice on specific areas to look for damage or rust would be greatly appreciated.

pu911rsr

Check the rails at rear of car, a lot of these got wrecked when fairly new. Also check the rear shock area for any signs of buckling. The Vin tag won't designate color there will be a plate on drivers A pillar with color code. Have motor leaked down, check valve adjustment to make sure there are no broken head studs. I would check to see if thermal reactor HE have been replaced, these ran hot and burned valves fairly quickly. Rust shouldn't be too big of problem as chassis is galvanized, if these are driven in winter it's pretty obivious.
Phil

stuntman

From what I was told, there are holes on or near the VIN number on the door kick panel and you can see the original color of the car by looking into that/those holes.


Did some '76 930's come with chrome trim?

DDD

Black trim fades to that chrome color over time because the black was painted on. Most porsche owners really enjoy the flashy chrome look, but you can also repaint the chrome or simply get new black window trim if you don't like it.

The sun fades the trim quicker than anything else on the car. It is a perfectly acceptable look and many people prefer it on their car. That is definitely not something that should bother you unless you want it black.

As far as the 'crappy' fuel injection, it is old school but if you keep the fuel injection system clean and free of air leaks it is very reliable for stock cars. My fuel injection system starts the car after sitting six months with about five seconds of cranking from a low power race battery.

The 3.0 litre engine was the best, most solid engine ever built by Porsche. The 3.3 is also great but when people want the best of the best bottom end and heads and everything, the 3.0 litre is the strongest engine porsche made. We are talking semantics here, because all the porsche engines are overdesigned for stock applications.

The achilles heel of the 3.0 litre is whether somebody has run too much boost through the non-intercooled engine, so the 3.0 litre can suffer premature valve wear and such from excess heat DUE TO NOT HAVING AN INTERCOOLER, not due to the engine itself because it is built like a brick sh#thouse.

JFairman

Take the battery out and look for rust under or behind it.
The galvanizing will keep most of the car from rusting for a long time but if the battery leaks acid it will eat a rust hole through it.
Also around the fuel tank seal and the front suspension pan there can be hard to see rust, especially next to the battery.

I thought the aluminum trim and window frames were anodized satin black and I'm not sure if there is also satin black paint on them.

DDD

yes they are anodized but that fades in the sun is what I meant and you can paint them satin black to restore them.

stuntman

Where is the fuel tank seal and what is the front suspension pan?

Noah930

Fuel tank, front suspension pan, battery tray--all of that is in the front trunk.