Gotcha. I'm going to look at a red&black 86 turbo with 100k miles, fuchs wheels and factory alarm on friday.

 

I debated on a Turbo vs NA.. and in the end, I simply went with the nicest example I could afford, admittedly I was put off by concerns of 951 maintenance and worries about "turbo" related affairs. The WP/Belts/Rollers is a common concern to ALL 944 series cars since, when one fails, it tends to eat the motor for lunch.

iirc, the factory interval was 45K miles. Heck, my car doesn't even have 45K miles, but the belts/wp have been done at least once before.

Also consider on an enthusiast board, the owners tend to drive "spiritedly".. and be more concerned about maintenance, so, banging around at 5-6K rpm often, one would want to ensure the belts are in good shape.

 

Keep in mind the belt change intervals were based upon 1986 belt technology. There are kevlar reinforced belts out there today that no doubt will last you longer than 30k or 3 years. Whether or not you want to take the chance, is up to you. Knock on wood, I have never had an issue with a timing belt in 13 years of 944 ownership.

 

+1___ well said ,to the op don't forget that your looking at early turbo which is now 25 years old ,all rubber parts specially under the hood ( gaz lines -cooling systeme hoses -vacum hoses ect ect) has been subject to a lot of heat produce by the turbo and if not in need to be change it will be pretty soon,so I will take a close look at those before handing down my hard earn money.Charlie has mention going to an independent mechanic for a PPI best piece of advice until now I suggest you follow it ,you migth think that what I mention are not important & can be done easily.But you'll find out that those will keep the car ground & migth take days to fixe since like mention above 951 are a little more complex to work on than the NA.When buying a car one tend to get all excited over it & you did the rigth thing by coming on this forum asking ???? lot of peoples here with lot of knowledge & don't be affraid to road test it in different driving condition ,not only on nice flat pave road but bumpy -twisty one at low & higth speed.Have fun

 

thanks for the input guys! i am going to have everything checked out at the dealer, as they are really the only ones around where the car is and they do a good job. the car has always been probably OVER serviced there. i'm sure all the hoses have been changed at least once. and like i said the belts probably only have 1000 miles on them but they are three years old.

i've driven the car a lot, probably 20k miles because it's been in the family since new. i know it pretty well. i just don't want to be putting $5,000 a year into this thing in maintenance. i might as well buy a nice low mile 996 and have a payment at that point.

another thing i noticed the last time i drove it is the steering felt a bit 'floaty' compared to normal. i'm guessing steering rack and the ball joints.

thanks

 

Compression leak down test. If cylinder compression is ok, more or less everything else is bolt on/off.

If compression is bad, you need to pull engine out and that - with all while in there parts - is expensive.

 

good point, i'll definitely get a compression test. can the clutch be inspected without opening things up?

thanks!

 

um.. yeah.. rethink that one too.. M96 motors are growing a bad rap for complete failure, without notice... and replacement motors are spendy.

A proven 944 isn't $5k/year in maintenance. A dedicated racer or extra "boosted" version might become that.

 

i don't know...my last car was a 1999 996 and it was bulletproof. normal maintenance, new coolant tank, etc... i know they can have issues, usually with bearings but it's really not as common as people think.

i've been around this 951 since it was new and i can definitely say there is more maintenance on this than a normal 996. it's just more high strung performance wise. i also think the 951 is more fun to drive, handles better, and love the way it pulls on the highway with the turbo wound up.

i mean in 100k miles it's had 3 complete clutch jobs and who knows how many timing belt changes. and now it's recommended to change belts every three years no matter what mileage or fear a catastrophe. it's a great car, but it truly is a lot of maintenance.

 

not to mention a stack of maintenance performed consistently over it's life... i think i'm gonna buy it!

i'll let you know how the inspection goes.

thanks everyone!

 

Hello,

IMO, the engine seems fine. It has been well maintained, you know the service history, etc. The engines are very strong on the 944 line, so don't worry about that, or the turbo, etc.

You have not mentioned the brakes or suspension at all. Has the brake fluid been changed? What about the brake lines? What about the calipers? Have they ever been rebuilt? Have you checked the control arms and other suspension bushings? After 25 years the rubber tends to be shot. Any idea about the shocks and struts? They don't last forever.

Lastly, where are you located? I have to believe there are good independent shops near by that would be a lot cheaper than the dealer. I bet your car is older than many of the workers at the dealership!

good luck,
Barry

 

shocks have been changed once at about 75000 miles. i was planning on doing koni's probably anyway. i know i'm going to need to do some work with the control arms and steering rack. i'll check service records to see what's been performed with the brakes.

i'm located in atlanta and there are plenty of indy shops here but the car is not here yet. so the the dealer is the best bet. they have almost always maintained the car anyway and they do a good job for the most part.

thanks!

 

hey guys, i got my 951 and having a great time with it! i had it taken to a great shop up in maine, performance plus. they're in old orchard beach. the timing belt and balance shaft belt along with rollers and water pump were all just changed. i had them checked and re-tensioned. i also had a tune up done and everything else gone through and checked out.

i picked up the car and headed from maine to atlanta last saturday, headed for marietta, NY to pick up some wheels at chris white's place. what a great shop and a great guy. he was like "lets bolt these things up"! so we bolted up the new (to me) 16x8 and 16x9 fuchs with new (100 miles) bridgestone RE750's and off i went from marietta, ny to atlanta, ga and arrived sunday at about 6pm.

monday i took it over to gran turismo tire shop in atlanta (can't say enough about those guys). i got the tires indexed and balanced then balanced on the car. perfectly smooth now. put it up on the hunter 4 wheel alignment machine but it was pretty much perfect so didn't touch it. i'm planning on doing the shocks and springs soon so i can fine tune then.

since i got home these are the little things i've noticed that need some attention. i'm pretty picky, so i'm nit picking! plus i remember how the car drove/sounded new and i like to keep my stuff real nice.

motor mounts- they're not that bad after it gets warmed up but there's some good vibration at idle and they've never been done.

wheel bearings- these have never been done either but now that i got the tires balance i can hear a little 'wherrrring' noise from the rears.

rough idle- the idle fluctuates quite a bit when the car gets warmed up. sometimes you come to a light and it's at about 900rpm where it's supposed to be, and sometimes it's at 1100, or sometimes it changes from 900 to 1100 back and forth. the rpms also come down very slowly between gear changes. and if your in gear driving around 3k to 4k rpm and let off the gas with it in gear you can feel a little 'gas on gas off' surges. i'm sure it's something simple but i'd like to figure that out.

fixing random rubber trim, cleaning carpets, and generally making it as good as possible. i'd like to change all the door/sunroof rubbers. paint the doorhandles where they've been faded by the sun. replace the rubber trim rings around the door handles and do some small touch up work.

as far as performance, i don't want to do much. i called john vitesse the other day and talked to him about a light upgrade package. test pipe, chip, and possibly a k26/8. but i really don't want to do more than that. and those are last. other maintenance first!

thanks for all the input on checking everything. here are some pictures.

 

Thats a nice car.

You will however ADD to that maintenance stack - I assure you.

That's not to wish anything bad on you, its just how it is with 25 year old car, and especially one that runs with a lot of heat generated. Ask me how I know.
But these cars arent for everybody. They are special - yeah special

I was going through mine for a different reason - but every last rubber item, gasket, seal, and wear item will come up. I saw that in the older records too - and in reading here on the board. So I replaced them while I was there. If you dont do the maintenance items first the performance upgrades will find any problems that are there quick.

The 911 guys tell me they arent REAL Porsches. I tell them they COST like a real Porsche!

 

Thats a nice 951!

I love to inform them that they weren't developed from vw bug either.