951and944S

Thanks for responding in that way, I kinda figured you would.

Sometimes, deals are just too good to pass up.

I had a buddy working at CoParts, where insurance cars go to be auctioned.
He called me up to come take a look a "some kind of Porsche" that just came in with a small engine fire.
Before I could make it there, the manager placed the car on Ebay bidding at around $1000 when opened.
I rushed there.
I was dreading looking at another fuel line fire.
Turns out it had a pin hole in the PS return line to the reservoir that sprayed on the header and made a lot of smoke.
The driver freaked out and forced the car to the side of the road and dinged the RR 1/4 panel (1 hour dent)
Low and behold, mint condition 1987 944T, perfect Guards paint, sports seats (not a scratch on them), central locking, and Clubsport wheels, 70k miles.
My friend takes me to the manager.
"What do you expect this car to go for..?"
"I don't know, we are afraid to start it"
"I will give you $2500 to take it off Ebay right now"
"Deal".

I had to sand a 1' x 1' area around the PS reservoir with soap/water and a red scotchbrite and respray that area, replace PS hoses and 1 side hood foam and of course, repair the dent and respray the 1/4 panel.

I kept that car for 10 years and eventually was my first DE car.

I let a buddy track it in sessions with my son and I both in race spec SP2s while practicing 3 way passing and he wasn't checking the oil between sessions.
Blew a rod out the crankcase.
I sold the car on the spot for $2500 (what I paid) with blown engine to another friend that wanted to make an NA SP2 car out of it.

The sports seats went to a RL Scott Rink here on the forum.

The car is still racing SP2 today. That is it in my avatar that I am lining up for a pass in the gray SP2.

This isn't even my best "buy otherwise unrepairable car" story....

You can see why "shy away from this kind of deal" is a touchy subject for me.

T

951and944S

You just have to be patient and not rush.

Somebody could blow a transmission or a head gasket on a decent car today that will show up for sale in the upcoming weeks.

T

951and944S

https://www.copart.com/vehicleFinder...Zip%22:null%7D

Mr. Toasty

Wow, thanks for sharing this! Too bad the only S on there right now has a bit of a bent frame. This will be a great source to watch

Gage

Hey Toasty, Enjoying following along with your quest and suddenly realize I have a car that I think might check most of the boxes on your wish list. It's an 87 S that I purchased from it's second owner 10+ years ago. Like in many of these stories, it would crank but not run. It had gone 150k miles at that point so I gave it all the attention necessary to make it a reliable three season driver. All the things you've been reading about like the clutch, related hydraulics, axles, water pump, belts and rollers, tensioner pads, wheel bearings, speed and reference sensors (cause of the non run), dme and other relays, fan and dme temp sensors, etc, etc. all replaced. Proceeded to then drive it for about 8 years and 50k miles, to work and on road trip vacations with the wife to Nova Scotia and Kentucky. It returned on the hook (flatbed) exactly once when the alternator failed and the battery went flat 2 miles from home. Good car. It got retired to a storage building when my interests wandered into 951 and 928 territory. I pulled the cover back in the fall, connected the battery, and it started like always. I hadn't thought about selling it but realistically, since I work from home now and drive a lot less, combined with having a lot more cars it may end up spending a long time in storage. That doesn't help any of us.
I don't have other photos but will certainly get them if you're interested. The interior condition is well above average. It's black with factory option leather power sport seats, all stock including the fully functioning Blaupunkt Reno. Unfortunately, those options, along with the factory limited slip cause the value to be well beyond the 2,000 goal. Let me know if you have interest or if I can answer any questions for you.

Mr. Toasty

I'm certainly interested! I'd trust a PCA or Rennlist car over a Craigslist special any day. My super-low budget for initial purchase was intended to leave lots of room for rebuilding a neglected car. Now for another newbie question: how to proceed? PM/email?

-Toasty

Gage

Okay, great. I hear you on the CL thing although I've had mostly good experiences but yeah... eyes wide open! I am a New England Region PCA member as well (still... eyes wide open!;-).
Best to PM me with your email, I'll follow up with further description and my phone contact so we can have a chat when you're ready.

Mr. Toasty

True, always good to be careful. I've learned my lesson the hard way!

PM sent.

joseph mitro

why are you looking specifically for a 944S as opposed to a normally aspirated 8valve 944?
and are you looking specifically for a project car to rebuild?

this car was mine about 15 years ago. https://forums.pelicanparts.com/pors...et-de-car.html

Really neat to see it on the pelican forums for sale and I seriously thought about buying it, but I need another car like a hole in the head.

when the motor spun a rod bearing 15 years ago, I tore it down and rebuilt the engine. cool experience

Mr. Toasty

Honestly, I'm looking specifically for an S because I'm weird. I like the idea of more power from a Turbo and more aftermarket options for a NA 8v, but something about 16 valves and a couple added quirks is somehow more appealing. Like I said, I'm weird. Ideally, I'd like a car that's at least something of a project, ie will need a good amount of work in the next couple years. As much fun as it would be to have a car that just works, I'd prefer to have a car that hasn't had all the rubber bits replaced and hasn't had most of its components upgraded so I can do all that myself. So as nice as your previous S is, it's not my ideal because it probably doesn't need a whole lot and (more importantly) has already been nicely upgraded. I like the idea of starting with something that's mostly stock so I can personalize it a little at a time.

Rebuilding an engine is a dream of mine, so I'm glad to hear someone else say it's a fun experience!

benchod

Gage: Of course toasty has "first dibs" on the car. But I am also in the market for a 944 and this would also be my first ownership experience. I would love some more information if you are no longer dealing with Mr.Toasty anymore.
Also if anyone has any advise on what in particular to look for when going through your own PPI before a real PPI. I know making sure there are records for a recent timing belt replacement is a very important one, I also read that these models constantly leak power steering fluid and a clutch replacement is quite expensive.
I would love to snag a 944 Turbo however it seems I cant find any for less than 12k here in the NJ NY PA area. Granted those cars seem to have less than 150k miles on them, in fact I think most were less than 100k.
This car would be to compliment my 1990 Miata which is the weekend warrior, I would want to daily drive the 944 for 3 seasons and I have a 2002 honda civic with over 280k miles on it for my winter running around and down time for when hunting for parts.
I hope that my first dip into the Porsche world will be as enjoyable as I have always imagined it being and I hope I find and excellent platform to start this new journey!

Mr. Toasty

I'm sure there will be more complete answers to this, but I feel it is my duty to implore you to treat the fuel lines in the engine bay as you would a timing belt: if there is no record of replacement, replace them before driving. If the lines have been replaced within the last 5 years (even 10 years is probably fine), then you should be ok. If you can't verify that they've been replaced within that window, though, I cannot stress enough the importance of replacing them to avoid repeating my situation.

A couple things I've learned both first-hand and from others while going through this process:
-plan on replacing nearly every piece of rubber on the car. Fuel hoses, suspension bushings (causing the rear to sag and alignment to be off), door and hatch gaskets, hydraulics for steering and clutch, brake hoses... the list goes on. Any part that can cause problems as it ages will likely need to be replaced. This is why I came up with the idea of buying an undamaged project and rebuilding it from the ground up. That's not for everyone, though, and there are some very nice cars to be had.
-PS leaks are somewhat common, and can be caused by the use of power steering fluid rather than the specified automatic transmission fluid
-clutch jobs are expensive if done at a shop, but plan on it if the original rubber-centered clutch hasn't been replaced.
-I'm not too familiar with the Miata world, but as a Subaru owner, coming to the 944 world was eye-opening. A 944 can be an excellent daily driver, but plan a decent budget to update aged rubber and take care of preventive maintenance before relying on it. My numbers suggest that the parts needed to rebuild the engine, reseal the transaxle, replace PS and clutch hoses, ignition cap/coil/wires, brake lines and fluid, fuel delivery system (pump, filter, hoses), major body gaskets, and suspension bushings (granted, these are solid bushings from Lindsey Racing) would cost about $5700. Please don't take this to mean that you will absolutely need to replace all of those parts right away, but I hope this will give you a very general estimate of what an aged 944 could need to make it reliable as a DD. It sounds like you're looking at lower-mileage cars, which is probably a better bet for a DD. Either way, it's bound to be a lot of fun along the way as you make it into your dream Porsche!

Gage

Benchod, in response to your interest, the 944 S pictured herein has been sold. I do however have some other 8 valve 944s, both na and turbocharged that we can discuss once you have a direction in mind. I don't typically recommend the turbo cars as an entry into the 944 platform as I think it wise to become familiar with the breed and it's idiosyncrasies prior to taking on the additional complexities and costs of turbocharging.