Josh B

Figured I would post a thread with pictures and numbers as a reference for 944 owners who decide to part their own car or come across a parts car. I am not offering anything for sale in this thread - ebay is truly the best place to do that.

So the story begins - searching on craigslist first thing out of bed this morning around 6:30 and see this ad....

***
1986 Porsche 944 parts car lots of good parts $50

Date 2008 02 22,10:49PM EST

I have a 944 parts car that I have used for parts for 2 other 944s that I have. It is an 86 regular model. It is guards red, manual, and has a beige interior. I have already removed the following parts for my own use (everything else should be on the car still)starter, front seats, front windshield, rear lock mechanism, floor mats, one rear wheel. The engine had overheated before and though the car would still run, I decided to use it for parts as I needed many parts at the time. Almost all the body parts are in great shape. The hood is not perfect, but could be used with a little bondo. There are many parts sitting loose in the car some of them brand new and in the box. Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions. Wesley (404) xxx-xxxx
***

I sent over an email right away saying that I want to buy the car and then wait until a decent hour of 8:00 AM and call Wesley. He explains that the $50 is a price for parts off the car but he would be interested in moving the whole car for $250. I agree to that and arrange to meet him at his house later on in the day. I went and picked up a truck and tow dolly and headed out. Wesley was about an hour way from me and I got there right around 12:15 pm.



It always takes a lot longer than you think to buy a car no matter what the situation. I had brought the two polished phone dials as he said a couple of his wheels were not holding air and the spare was on the car as well. We bolted on my wheels and rolled the car out. He had the original title and so he signed that over and we did a bill of sale and chatted about 944s. Didn't get back to my place until around 2:45. Ate some lunch and then went to work on the car.





more to follow....

Josh B

I unloaded it off the tow dolly and then cleared out the garage and pushed it in there...











The VIN is WP0AA0946GN455827 and the paint code is of course LM3A and option codes are C02 158 418 431 454 456 650 946. Odometer reads 166K - but I don't know if the gear is shot and that number is irrelevant. Pulled out the trusty shop vac and started cleaning



after all the stuff came out but before using the shop vac







AFter using the shop vac - not much change - pretty dirty carpet...





More to come....

Josh B

Next step was address the aftermarket alarm installation. Even if a car is a parts car I still like to clean it up and definetly remove alarm systems and cell phone installations.




Now I started to get a real feel for what all was going on with the car. In his ad and over the phone Wesley noted the following things.

No starter
No front seats
No windshield (turns out this car did have that - he was mistaken)
No rear lock mechanism
No floor mats
Missing one wheel
No rear cv axles or stub axles
Catalytic converter was cut out and stolen
Passenger side front caliper and rotor gone

As I looked over the car I noticed

No driver's mirror and the harness was cut deep in the door
No brake master cyclinder or reservoir or vacuum assembly - hard lines cut
No spark plug wires
No radiator
Obviously no headlight cover
One of the timing belt covers was missing
AC compressor was not mounted - may have broken taps at the top
No sunroof gear boxes
Driver's side door speaker gone
No battery
Control arm ball joints look shot and power steering rack looks pretty bad as well

I hooked up the truck's battery to the cables and started testing out the systems.




The AC panel lit up and the buttons worked. Of course there was no way to kick on the ac compressor - I guess I could have hooked a volt meter up to the lead on it but did not do that.
Clock did not work
Headlight motor seemed to have some sort of problems - not sure if it is with the motor or the wiring
Turn signal stalk - ok
Brights - ok
Power mirror on the passenger side would not respond to the switch - didn't get to check this out closer - might be the harness for the door isn't connected because the window motor on that side didn't work either.
Power windows - just the driver's side worked
Wipers worked
Rear hatch motor worked
Guage cluster lights came on - registers no gas - that is nice.
One foglight that is hooked up came on.
Sunroof motor worked
I poked through the fuse box a little doing an audit to make sure the right fuses where in the right places.

Put the hood back on the car, loaded all the bits into some boxes in the hatch area and parked it outside to play with later. I plan to update this thread with more pictures and real numbers for how this investment turns out.

potent951turbo

Doesn't look too bad for only $250.

rickb20

....if that sunroof is made of glass (hard to tell if it's painted black or if it's glass) then you've already tripled your money.

Keithr726

Awesome steal, You just paid for two of them if you sell that saratoga top. Kinda strange to see silver rose seats in there.

AND those look like turbo phone dials!

It was your lucky day.

Voith

strange seat combination. I like your garage and how clean it is mine never gets to be as clean as that :>

xsboost90

i dont think thats a saratoga top i think its burgundy like the hood. NIce find.

J Berk

Having trouble seeing the 'bondo' in the photogs but the body seems pretty straight....nice find for $250!

Josh B

Woulda been nice but no - that is just a burgundy top - actually with another coat of paint on it and the seal.

Rear phone dials I had to bring with me to get the car rolling - just got three 15x7 phone dials with the car.

Here is a spreadsheet for tracking the parts on the car and where I end up with it. I usually don't track my labor but figured it would be interesting this time around to see what was involved.

Link for spreadsheet here

Jay W

Sounds like you are tempted to put it back together to make a driving car. I bought a wrecked 944S as a parts car to sell off the head and other S parts and ended up driving it for 3 years. I still have that car. Good luck.

75ohm

I've been champing at the bit to find a car like this... there was a local car for 300 with a blown headgasket... two of us collaboratively contacted the seller via e-mail (no # listed) and said we'd be there with cash in hand immediatley... already sold. Any rennlister pick it up? It was the local "brandon" ad...

Josh B

Well - this is an interesting idea to talk about. I really was not tempted to put this car back together but a clear title does leave that option open. Just for the heck of it though I put together a spreadsheet to show approximately what it would cost to re-assemble the car into decent shape - probably a 7.5/10 on the exterior/interior and an 8.5/10 for mechanicals. This is assuming that I would not discover more issues as I dug into the car and that I could find super cheap parts on ebay and rennlist and pelican. There is probably some give and take on this spreadsheet - didn't figure in anything for clutch issues/worn brakes/carpet cleaning...

Analysis spreadsheet

Once you figure in something for my time or even more expensive a shop's time you probably have a figure of at least $6000 for a car that KBB values pretty accurately at $3600.

potent951turbo

Josh if you had any thoughts of putting it back together I probably have a lot of the little things that you would need and some of the big stuff. I even have 3 15" phone dials. Just an option for you.

Jay W

Yes that really does add up. I suppose if you found yet another parts car on the cheap that had most of the things you need you could put it together for a realistic price. My 944S is nowhere near perfect in any way but it sure did make a great driver that I was not overly worried about scratches dents or dings happening. From the looks of that car it could be a good driver with cheaply found parts, and a fun project.

When I did my car I was just pulling out the frame and sticking parts back on it so I could get it running to test out the engine and transmission. Then when I had it ready for a test drive, I looked at it and thought, I cant take apart a car I can drive down the street...