L8 APEKS

EDIT: Looks like it's gonna be car #2. Owner of car #1 says a woman in Wisonsin (we are in CA) wants his white car for $4000. I told him he wouldn't get that much from me, so go ahead and sell it. He is trying to get me to look at another '87 that he has, 195k miles, Automatic trans. I could get it for around 2500 is my guess, he says it's cleaner than the manual was. BUT, that means down the road I'd have to spend the time to swap to a manual gearbox, and I'm not looking forward to that. Car #2 may need some stuff, but a tranny swap/conversion is beyond me right now. I also have an '88S in my garage with a near mint interior so I can swap parts over. It has no engine or trans, but I do have everything else. Look for a "new car" post next week.


Hey gang,

Alright, so I'm back again, and I plan to buy one of two 944's I'm looking at. I'm not sure which would be the wiser choice. Could you guys assist really quick?

CAR #1:
'87 944 - 203,XXX on the odometer.
White/black, NEW paint a couple days ago (white respray), pretty good job.
Current owner is a hobbyist restorer/reseller. Says he bought the car with a snapped timing belt and some dead valves, replaced head with a lower mile used head. No record of clutch or H20 pump replacement, but claims PO mentioned "something about the clutch." Swears the car runs EXCELLENT, I will not get a chance to drive it until tomorrow. Seats are good, no tears in the stitching. Hood shocks OK. Sunroof dead. Dash cracked with carpet cover. No missing buttons/switches.

Was asking 3500 (too much). Willing to go down to 3000. I don't want to pay more than 2.750 for the "mystery car." Owner is business oriented and trying to make a buck, likes to haggle. What would you pay?

CAR #2:
'88 944 - 98,XXX on the odometer, * odo has not worked in AT LEAST 2 years, owner says he lives close to work and estimates no more than 12k miles/year in the last 2 years.*
Black/black. Respray looks like it was within the last 4 years or so, not bad. No record of clutch or H20 pump. However, BIG receipt from a couple months ago timing belt, balance shaft belt, rollers, cam tower seal, speed and reference sensors, OE dist cap and rotor, ball joints. Receipt totals $5,900 from a Porsche specialist in the area. Also, 4 brand new tires (Potenza G009 or something...all seasons, nothing special, but they are new).

I drove this car tonight. Shifter is a little sloppy/vague. Power felt good, but there was some hesitation in the powerband...it wasn't smooth. Nothing major, it didnt' jerk violently or anything, but you could feel power was "intermittent" when you stomped on it (O2 sensor? Fuel injector?). Slight "whining" noise from the back end, most prominent when coasting (almost sounded like a racing transmission, only quieter), and a slight metallic rattle at WOT from under the car (heat shield?). Tranny and clutch felt good otherwise.

Drivers seat bolsters cracking and badly worn (on the top portion of seat, not the bottom). Dash cracked with OE carpet cover. Hood shocks dead. Sunroof dead. Dashboard seems to have faded from black, to an almost "brownish" color. Is this common? Not the top of the dash, but the sides and front look discolored a little. Is there a way to bring this back to black? I do have an almost perfect dash I could swap in, but I'd rather recondition/recolor this one if possible.

Minor damage to FR fender and airdam.

Asking price was $3000. Pretty sure he'll take $2400 for it. Owner is not business oriented, and a new baby (who I met), along with his wife, forces the sale to get something more practical. Owner seemed honest, and didn ot pressure me at all. Car seemed solid and reliable, but certainly not perfect.


...so there you have it. Which one should I buy? Any advice is appreciated. I'll update my description of car #1 after I drive it tomorrow. Thanks so much!

Curt911

#1

shmucklebuckle

If it was my money? Keep looking. But...if you hold a gun to my head, the lesser of two evils is...dun dun nun dun! #1.

(Anyone listen to "Tales of Suspense" from the Brak Show? That was funny stuff.)

L8 APEKS

Well, unfortunately, I'm without a car all together at the moment. So I need one of these for transpo. I don't mind a minor project, as long as the car is solid enough to get from A to B, and is not a total $hitbox.

10-4 on the lesser evil. Anything in particular scaring you away from Car #2?

I am leaning toward #1 myself, it just depends on how "car-salesman-esque" the guy gets if I decide to make him an offer tomorrow!

Something I didn't mention...the owner of Car #1 will trade my 944S rolling chassis (with excellent interior) for a $450 trade value. I had it in the paper for $600. Soooo...that helps with the price. If he takes $2750, I'll really only be paying $2300 out of pocket. Which is all I can really afford anyway. lol.

Clint's 944

Have you thought of buying a $500 junker and taking the rest of the money and buy a new motor for your roller? $1500 can get you a really nice low mileage motor. After you get the motor swapped in sell the junker for $500!

josephsc

Welcome back!

If you want to be in the sub $3K market -- the first thing on my mind will be how recent was the clutch (since a clutch job alone can almost double the price...) "PO said something about the clutch" might mean something about the clutch being almost gone.... I wouldn't touch #1 until you've had a chance to test-drive it.

Being able to get rid of that chassis is a good deal, though -- what do you still have left?

Run a carfax on #2 -- to get a better sense of the miles. The rear noise might just be CV joints. Sounds like interior needs a little care though -- so instead of selling the chassis, you can transfer the interior (it was black, wasn't it?)

If I had to choose, I'd choose #2, but there are plenty of cars around right now (look at NorCal craigslist and ebay cars). I would not be in a rush.

Now, had you said, you don't mind a $hitbox, I got a turbo project to talk to you about in that price range....

L8 APEKS

Joe...does said $hitbox run? PM me! haha! And thank you, I'll keep you posted!

My '88S is as you last saw it...complete sans motor/trans/exhaust. But swapping a dash doesn't particularly sound fun!

I'm also wondering...how much does a decent racing seat cost?

I'll drive Car#1 tomorrow afternoon, and I'll update this post. I'd appreciate you all checking back to see if the test drive changes things at all!

The white one was pretty fugly on the inside when I saw it, as bad or even worse than the black one, but I saw it BEFORE the guy re-conditioned it. He says it's an 8 to 8.5/10 now. I'll see tomorrow. Thanks again!

josephsc

I'll PM you re: $hitbox (but it's not a vehicle I'd recommend)

That chassis of yours probably has a few hundred bucks left in it -- but we're talking many hours of ripping stuff out. How were the seats and rear carpet?

BTW, one more plus of an '88 car -- you get a little extra HP.

L8 APEKS

Stitching starting to come apart on the driver's seat bottom in 2 places, but the sections were small. Little to no wear on the bolsters. Pass. side was similar, but not as bad as the drivers...I think it had one section about 3/4" where the stitching was starting to come apart.

Seatbacks and rear seats (top and bottom) are excellent. Carpet is very good. Dash is very good. 15" PD's are pretty clean.

If you want any of this stuff, let me know before I hock it to this other guy! Selling it to the other guy would mean I have to use one of my extended service AAA tows to deliver the chassis to him.

I hear you about the extra HP, but I think that was only due to the compression bump right? 9.7 to 10.2 I think in '88? I will MORE than make up for that with what I have planned, so nothing really lost there if I end up with the '87. The head in either car will certainly be getting ported and rebuilt, with a Millegde cam.

Eyal 951

I like #2 better... Though you should look around a bit more. Maybe find a turbo project. For thr price of head work and milledge cam, you can upgrade to turbo stock and still have more power, more brakes, more suspension... add $300 for a chip set and theres another 30 hp np.
~Eyal

josephsc

Hmmm.... so if #2 would take $2400, then I personally like idea of going with #2 car (unless #1 turns out to be pretty good or #2 has incredible miles or really bad clutch), spending a day swapping out seats and other easy to take interiors from your parts car (maybe dash if you feel ambitious...), swap out for good PDs at a local Wal-mart (or whereever is cheap to mount/dismount tires) donate the parts car as a tax-write off (if you can find someone who'll take it).

Plus, #2 sounds like a better PO than #1.

BTW, yea, so the 88 got higher compressions.

RMills944

#1 is too high for the mileage and wear on the car for that price.
#2 is just not well recorded maintenance.
I'd keep looking, but lean toward #1

icat

Less than $3k to spend and it's your only source of transportation? Based on that I think you should be looking for a Honda. Not saying I wouldn't have bought one or the other when I was younger - but now that I've got a few years under my belt I know better than to buy an high maintenance sports car when I've only got X to spend and nothing left over for repairs OR a second car.

AndyK

NEITHER!! Both seem like time bombs that will wind up costing you WAY more. And, like Keith said, get a used Civic or Accord coupe!

Tom R.

Once again I agree with Andy. Must be because we grew up less than 20 miles from each other.

The value of a porsche is not how many miles are on the car, but what was done to it. With 5900 invested recently at least you have the $ you would lay out for parts in the car, and are essentially getting the car for free.

If my only choices were the lesser of those two evils, I would go for number 2, only because of the receipt.