Stock certainly helps. MAF, cv delete, and on down the line is totally different story if you are daily driving. The truth is that you won't find many cars of this age by any other manufacturer on the road - a testament to quality.

If you hope to have a reliable daily driver, go for normally aspirated. This coming from a 951 fanatic. There are way too many variables in the turbo to rely on it. You will chase your tail on vacuum leaks, exhaust leaks, sensor issues, wiring issues, grounding issues, and any combination of the above.

For a second fun car, the 951 can't be beat. But expect it will spend a lot of time up on your ramps or on your mechanic's unless it is bone stock and doesn't have a history of deferred maintenance.

 

Agreed with voith. If you buy a neglected car or are modding the car you will have similar experience to mister quickie, however a properly taken care of car will not be like that.

 

Honestly for a properly maintained car none of the things you lost should be an issue. The 951 isn't some crazy complicated mystery machine. Just take care of it and it will run fine.

All cars this old should have all the vacuum lines replaced. If you just wait for leaks to occur then of course you are going to have a headache of a time chasing one leak at a time. Pony up $30 for the Lindsey kit and replace them all according to their nicely done diagram. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two.

All exhausts rot. But a few hours at any decent exhaust shop and you should have a tip-top exhaust again. Probably only needs done once every 15-20 years or so depending on where you live.

An engine bay that has been properly cleaned over time shouldn't have corrosion or ground issues.. If it does then just clean them all and keep things tidy moving forward.

Wiring shouldn't be a big issue unless someone has been hacking away at your harness.

 

Disagree. It's a ~30 y.o. car and like any ~30 y.o. car, parts are going to be failing left and right. I had a full PPI on this and the only mod was a turbo upgrade from stock to vitesse. Previously I had a 944 NA (simpler) bought from a local indy shop whose nuts are hugged by 99% of the rennlisters, same thing parts failing left and right.

Listen, a car is composed of parts, a PPI can tell you that the parts are ok today but not tomorrow and with a 30 y.o. car tomorrow comes sooner.

99% uptime is a fantasy, if you hit 66.6% uptime you're doing very well

 

A 30 year old car, if maintained properly, shouldn't be failing you, ever.

Hell, most the commercial airplanes are older than this, as are most of the private planes.

Look around at how many 200-300k mile cars there are!! Lots!! I know of three 951s myself that have around 300k on them and are still daily drivers!!

Those cars didn't get that way running 60% of the time!

My own heavily modified 951 (unknown real mileage, at least 130k) has been 99.9% over the last seven years of street and track use.

 

Turbo is a major modification. Maintaining means replacing parts before they reach their end-of-life time. If your parts are failing left and right, somebody didnt change them when the time was due.

There are 50 years old airplanes still flying around with much more than 99.9% reliability. How is that possible?

 

My rear-view mirror fell off the windshield. Should I have changed it when the "time was due"? If so, what is the expected maintenance interval for a rear-view mirror?

Same question for my outside mirror. The mirror came completely off the backing and fell to the ground. What's the expected maintenance interval?

How about my CV joints? Temperature gauge? Shocks? Exhaust connector piece? Rubber-centered clutch? Peeling window tint? Fading paint? Leaking radiator? What is the time due for all these that I should have changed them before they all failed?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preventive_maintenance

Imagine if it was an airplane and you would die if it fell out of the sky. What would you do?

Maybe inspect it and change it after the life time expectancy period?

Grab a mirror, pull it hard. When you rip it off, glue it back on. This way it will never fall off by itself.

CV joints, shocks? Seriously?

There are hundreds of mig 21 fighters still in active duty and those planes are from the end of 1950s.

How is it possible to keep this hunk of stuff that likes to fail 99.99%+ reliable for 50 years?

 

Really? You are using the mirror adhesive on a 30 year old car as a measure of reliability?

Based on the rest of your list this car has obviously sat out in the Texas sun for 30 years. So not exactly taken care of.

Then there is the issue of the windshield. If it's the original stock glass and in good condition then bitching about the 30 year old sun baked mirror adhesive letting go is absolute ludacrisy. I'd imagine it's not the original glass. Which means your beef isn't with Porsche but whoever made and/or installed the glass!


Same car that has been baking in the sun for 30 years? Original mirror? Ever disassembled?

All normal maintenance stuff. If you are going through CVs more than every 130-180k then it's an install/lack of proper line error, not Porsches.


Letting these sit for long periods of time will also let the grease dry up as its not being constantly circulated, also allowing corrosion to start on the bearing surfaces, causing a failure.


Yep, 30 year old rubber. Replace with spring center.

ALL. Clutches should probably be replaced at left once in 30 years


Peeling window tint? That is not a factory Porsche option! Blame the crap *** installer!

Fading paint only happens to paint the is not maintained! Take care of your stuff!

Leaky radiator? Yeah.....old car dude! Seals dry up and shrink if they are neglected. Hoses loose their grip! These are things that should hve been easy to maintain!


So far you haven't listed a single reliability issue, not one! Even trying to pass off non factory work as a problem with the car

 

My s2 goes into the shop before every season (I don't drive it in the winter) for a checkup from my trusted mechanic. It gets what it needs and has been super reliable. I have never been stranded... Or stuck anywhere in it.

Never owned a turbocharged car but I imagine there is more to fail.

 

Sorta, but not really. The turbo system in its stock form is rock solid reliable. The big problem is that it's easy and cheap to get more power by turning up the boost. So people tinker with them in a half baked sorta way and create reliability issues.

There is a reason so many modern cars, trucks and planes are turbo charged!

 

All that does is give me a broken rear-view mirror, and possibly a broken windshield if I pull too hard. I could have waited for the mirror to fall off, and gotten the same result. So pulling hard on the mirror is not preventative maintenance. And I'm still waiting for you to tell me, when I should have changed the mirror when it's "time was due". What is the maintenance interval for a rear-view mirror?

 

Ahhhh my friend there is no need to apologize for that not everybody is perfect.

s2 0-120mph

944 turbo 500cc & 8 valves short.

 

my mirror fell off and I reglued it. Cheapest thing to fail I have had. Don't have tint. Use wax. Drivers door mirror came off when I shut it one hot day, replaced it for about $50 and took ten minutes, could have repaired for less by getting a mirror cut at a glass shop but was more hassle.

Anyway back to subject at hand, motor and spares could be sold to Lart as a package deal. Will get you less than selling seperately but a lot easier. Car looks solid and you have other cars if you need to get some work done. Drive it and I have no doubt you will buy it. If this doesn't float your boat, check your pulse as you may have passed over and not noticed. The spare motor and parts can reduce the price easily, and if you trust mechanic then it all sounds pretty good to me.
Good luck with what ever you decide.

 

I based my advice on the OP stating:

Everything stated in the recent post about fixing a part before it fails etc ... how does one know a part is going to fail! Yes if you're one of those guys that knows the 944, reviews it periodically, and can recognize potential problems then sure it's a great car but what if you don't have that ability? Indy shop ... $