David J. Harrington

Batwoman gives good advice.

Welcome to the board Charlane. <img src="graemlins/xyxwave.gif" border="0" alt="[bigbye]" />

Bill

[quote]The car is worth it and when everything has been ironed out, it's paid for! This car isn't made anymore and it's just one of a kind. <hr></blockquote>

Well said Charlane!

I too feel as you do. In fact I plan to be that 70 year old guy, driving the 86 944T down the road saying "Holy Schmoly" to the latest generation Porsche.

Danno

"My '88 951S has some sort of composite material that is also pretty tough. It got hit with a foul baseball once and didn't get dented. It fell a good hundred feet straight on it."

Fiberglass...

Hey mouse[CTY], the would be a perfect opportunity to learn how to maintain your car. Sure, it's not as simple as doing one job at a time over the course of several years, but now you can do all the jobs in a row in a couple of months! It's not any tougher than what you would've been doing anyway. Take it one step at a time, one page from the manual at a time and you'll have a new car in no time! Good luck!

MAS

I agree with the others, even in a worst case scenario (bent valves, etc.), I think you'll still likely come out a bit ahead, since you paid so little for the 944S.

However, one thing puzzles me. Why did the dealer let the 944S go for so cheap in the first place? I'm assuming that the dealer would not have known about the state of the timing belt (if it is that, and it probably is).

Another possibility is a seized water pump that could have stripped the timing belt. The dealer may have known about this... since you can usually see/hear waterpumps before they go.

Anyway, good luck with the car.

-MAS

mouse

Thanks for all the suggestions-- MAS maybe I'm just ignorant but the guy that sold me the car seemed like an honest guy, he owns a small dealership where space is an issue, and he said he could have spent the time to fix up the car and sell it for 6-7 grand, but his mechanic is busy working on much more expensive cars...in fact the 944 was the cheapest thing on his lot, he just wanted to sell it to make room for more profitable cars. Atleast, thats what he told me. We test drived it and even when I drove it it was great, I don't know how you could be aware something is going to break but know that it would be okay to test drive. Oh man i just hope this doesn't cost me an arm and a leg...i'm getting impatient, i just want to drive my baby!

David J. Harrington

Whoops, I was thinking all along that the car was a turbo s, not a NA S. Well, unfortunately, the higher compression almost certainly means bent valves at the least. I think that if you have the manuals, you can slowly start taking her apart. You have all of us to help you out on the board, and I am sure there are some rennlisters in the denver area that could be willing to stop by and take a look if you got stuck.

Once again, good luck, and weare here to help.
Dave

triscadek

bump

jaibeiber

alright now my timeline for my 88 944 S.

bought in mid june for 4000.

drove two days, clutch went out.(at 180,000 miles that factory clutch has lasted a while)
$1300

driving home from mechanic the engine stoped.

the chain tenshioner broke of, the chain broke, and some bent valves. the shop said bare min. i would be looking at $1500.

took the engine apart myself, which is really easy has long has you keep everything organized.

bought new chain $30
bought 4 valves(only three bent) $120
one spring was bent $15
head gasget set $160
head work $150

well i got the engine back together and i was excited has hell to get it back from getting timed. but rather i got a phone call saying on tooth on my my intake cam was broken off. man i **** my pants.

intake camshaft $460

plus it will be about $200 for the timing labor.

but i believe that will be it and monday or tuesday i will be driving it again

so i still made out better then what the shop thought i would be spending.

yeah its alot of work but its worth it. plus how many cars make it exciting to return a movie at 11:50 when it has to be back by 12:00. im sure many of you know the, ohh **** gotta return the movie feeling.

RedS2

I just finished fixing my 944S that I purchased with the dreaded cam tensioner failure. The head was severely cracked, three exhaust valves were bent, and the driven cam had six teeth stripped.

I spend about $400 to have the head re-welded and the fixit parts machined for the tensioner mount. The weled fix is much stronger than the original. I spent $900 on the valve job since I replaced the guides, seals, three valves, bead blasting, washing a few times, new oil plugs, seats re-ground, valves polished, etc. I spent about $250 in miscellaneous gaskets and seals and the new timing belt. I spent $250 for a good used cam.

My S is a high mileage car, 188K, that the previous owner had new tires, clutch, air conditioner, alternator done within the last 10K miles. The interior is excellent with black leather and no dash cracks.

I do have a pair of S4 heads that bolt on for broken S heads. I originally bought them for spare S2 heads but the front water passage would require welding and machining.

If you need a new head, I can help you or if the car is close to Sunnyvale, CA, I will buy the car.

Don't give up yet; I know the feeling

944S (very nice and I may sell it soon)
944 TS (waiting re-assmebly of jet coated turbo sysem)
944 S2 x 2 (my Red up-cammed car with P script sport seats, very nice handling with camber plates from Paragon and M030 front struts)