I'm going to look at this 86 944 tomorrow in vancouver, 4300, the guy says that the original seats are cloth and have porsche script on them, sounds strange. He says he is repainting the car next week forgot which place but it obviously will be a cheap paintjob maybe it's the $300 in the 4300. He says that it wasn't crashed but had scratches. He says that the belts and rollers were done and has receipts and I asked him were he had it done and it wasn't a porsche shop also I forgot to ask him if he had changed the water pump but I don't think he has. If the belts are new can I just get them tensioned properly and then just drive the car until the water pump leaks or is that too risky?

I don't care that much about paint as long as it looks decent but do you guys think the repaint will ruin the car? I have never painted a car so I have no idea how bad cheap repaints will be, will the car look like total crap in one year or even 3 years?

If the paint right now doesn't look too horrible I can ask him to lower the price instead of getting that paint job, this is if the rest of the car looks good. I think a cheap paint job will be worse than a scratched up paint job.

 

STOP HIM FROM PAINTING IT. I had my mom's 944 painted at a cheapo shop, and it started chipping in 2 weeks. Now (a year later) it's flaking off everywhere. 944s are hard to paint, so it should only be done professionally, or by yourself taking your time.

I just had my own 944 painted. I did all the prep work myself, it took me a couple weeks of slow paced work. Then I took it to a medium-quality shop. All they did was spray on the paint, and then I put the car back together, and it came out almost perfect. The idiots that work at these places will tape it up poorly, spray onto all the gaskets and seals, and I SWEAR they don't sand their cars before they paint.

Don't run with an old waterpump. They usually start leaking as they break, but sometimes they can just seize up. A seizure will cause the timing belt to burn up, which would lead to a blown engine. A timing belt job is something you can do by yourself if you find someone near you who can loan you 3 special tools (flywheel lock, timing belt tensioner wrench, belt tension gauge).

The Porsche script seats are a common thing. They get dirty more easily than leather, but they hardly EVER rip or tear, and they are very cushiony. They are great for long trips or daily commuting. I have them in my red 944.

I assume the price of 4300 is in Canadian dollars, because for 4300 USD you can get a 1986 944 in great shape.

 

yeah canadian dollars. If the paint doesn't look horrible which I will assume it does if he is repainting it before selling I will tell him not to repaint it and reduce the price instead.

that's what I think also they are just going to spray a few coats of chepa paint with no prep just so the car looks nicer when sold.

I"m too scared to do the tiiming belt and waterpump myself I know a guy that can do it for me but he is not a professional mechanic and I'm kind of scared that I'll wreck the motor.

If the paint looks horrible without the repaint I doubt they took good care of the car so it's proabably a good Idea to walk away.

 

You didn't mention mileage, but I'm assuming your up near 100,000miles/160,000km if you're talking waterpump. Unless there is clear documentation of the belt change, I'd assume it wasn't done . Better safe than sorry there.

 

I agree that it would probably be better to look at it before paint and then buy it as-is if the rest checks out. Nothing looks worse than cheap paint job where the masking was done poorly. I would ask about the clutch too. If it's original then you'll need to factor in a new clutch sooner than later.

 

I would also ask if the oil cooler seals have ever been replaced. When the coolant and oil mix then you can say goodbye to your bearings. $4300 is very cheap in Vancouver for a 944. Just remember that there is no such thing as a cheap Porsche. Good luck.

 

DO NOT LET HIM PAINT!!! (Sorry for shouting)

A cheap paint job is a huge liability in my opinion. It will look like crap in short order and then when you want a good paint job done, all that paint will make for a poor base and thus require lots of extra work to remove.

 

I bought the car for 4100, he says that it was keyed and the insurance company painted it, the whole car is already painted, the same colour but the sunroof has cips etc and will get painted this week.

the milliage is 240,000 kms.... yeah it's pretty high milliage now I'm worried. the interior looks great, its 85.5 and the dash has no crack seats are good carpet looks good, the engine looks clean. He claims that the cluch was replaced one year ago didn't show me receipts though. Also he claims that he has the receipts for the timing belt and other belts but he said he has to find them......

I'll probably just get the timing belt and water pump replaced I can't rely on him saying it was done. Also probably get the oil cooler seals done aswell and then it should be good....

he also said he uses 20w50 is this right?

can I use synthetic oil in a high milliage engine 240k or is this a bad idea? also how much more can I expect this engine to go before it needs a rebuild asuming it's maintained well. If I drive it as a daily drive for 3 years it'll probably reach 300,000kms.


anyone know of a good place with good prices to get the front engine sercive/ oil cooler seals done? what should I expect to pay for this?

also would it be okay if I buy my own parts, like from ebay and bring it to the shop?

 

thats a great price, the engine is just broke in I have 250,000 on mine and it runs better than new and that oil is too thick for a canadian summer I run 10-40

 

oh and paragon parts is a good place to buy parts... ship them usps or u will be paying handleing fees of over 100 dollars with UPS

 

thanks, paragon looks like the best place to order. I was thinking of ordering the timing belt kits and other parts I may need in the future off of ebay, even though I won't be doing much of the work myself.

I'm too paranoid to try and attempt to do a timing belt job on this car, I'm not a mechanic like a lot of people here, but I have done some minor work on my previous 78 924 but that's a much easier car to work on and the engine is not interference.

 

you need to find the shop who is doing the work for you and ask them about bringing your own parts. A lot of shops will not install parts you bring in, they want to get the parts themselves, and yes charge more.