drumcan

Hi all,

I'm new here and am looking to buy my first 951. I have a pretty tight budget and can't go over 20K, which in these times, may have priced me out of these once affordable cars. However, I do see a 951 every now and then around 20k, but it's usually very high mileage and/or has a lot of non-stock parts. I found a particularly clean one that has 160K miles on it, and here are the upgrades listed:

The picture of the engine looks great, but my concern is that getting this thing fixed will be a nightmare because i'll have to track down the upgraded versions of the parts, and I also worry that many mechanics won't want to work on it. Are these reasonable concerns, or is this actually a steal considering the upgrade. They claims to be a mechanic, and again, the car looks perfect, but I suppose I figure buying something that is more stock is generally safe. Also, to be clear, I am not particularly handy with car repairs, so I don't think I can work on this myself. Any advice is appreciated!

MAGK944

There is nothing unusual there and the upgrades are from known and respectable companies and brands who understand the marque. Even the separate clutch reservoir, while not a common mod, was fitted to the rare 968TRS and I think all RHD 944’s too.

Glue Guy

Agreed. I would be more concerned about who owned the car, how it was driven (track vs weekend) and the maintenance that was done.

better to have a car with new hoses and wiring that has been well maintained. Otherwise you’ll spend a lot of time with the car on jackstands.

notny41

What are they asking for the car?

Seattle 993

If you aren’t mechanically inclined and won’t be working on your 944 turbo, you’ll need to find someone who knows these cars (not a lot around) and have a bank account to support that maintenance. I think the most important issue, as mentioned earlier, is how the vehicle was used and whether it was ridden hard and put away wet or carefully maintained. The engine/transmission/clutch are key…I’d have that checked pretty throughly. Just be sure that you do your due diligence and have funds to support the car. Parts and labor can be expensive…front end reseal/water pump/timing belt is over $2000, oil pan gasket is a 20 hour job for a shop…you get the idea.

Mike Goebel

Trying to make a small fortune in used cars?

Mike G.

Seattle 993

Ha, good one MikeG. I’m not, but a Porsche independent shop does…those are real costs…check it out sometime. I do my own work because I really enjoy it but I know that it’s not for everyone. That’s how a lot of 944s end up…low entry price, high maintenance costs…anyway OP take my observations as just that and good luck on whatever you decide.

Mike Goebel

My statement was misread by you Seattle 993. I was meaning that the OP was going to start with a large fortune and make a small fortune out if it. The old joke. Want to know how to make a small fortune in racing? Oops!

Mike G.

Black51

Upgrades are subjective, maintenance is objective.

If you like the upgrades the previous owner did , that's all good and fine. Things can be changed out to your liking anyhow. The most important part of buying a used car is the condition it is in, and whether or not you can afford to pay for any issues that need to be taken care of when you get it. When you go to look at the car, make sure to look at things like wheel bearings, oil leaks, timing belt/water pump maintenance, vacuum leaks, compression/leak down, rust(should be none), clutch, misaligned panels, electrical gremlins, etc... At 160k miles, if the engine bottom end has never been redone, you're going to be facing that soon. Don't let shiny upgrades fool you into thinking the car must be in great condition because it's got shiny things put on it. Too many times on here through the years guys have run into trouble and ended up with huge bills trying to fix their 944.

I'd say if the car is in good shape maintenance-wise and you like the stuff done to it, go for it.

Millermatic

I'll chime in... as I bought my 951 three years ago... with 160K miles. For much, much less than 20K.

I probably have close to 20K into it now... and I do all of my own work.

Major engine overhaul (rebuilt head, rod bearings and everything in between), rebuilt turbo, new clutch, rebuilt TT, rebuilt trans (OK... I didn't do the labor on that... but I did drop it), gutted interior. And on and on. And on.

Funny thing was... only the transmission was really in need of repair (make sure you test it at highway speeds... my ring and pinion were fine until 60 mph. Lessons learned).

There was very little documentation of maintenance on my car. I was OK with that because of the low price and my desire to work on the car. The mods you list are pretty minor, all things considered. Getting a feel for "what's coming up" and how comfortable you are with that is key.

jmj951

Generally speaking, if the engine management system (DME/ECU, chips, AFM/MAF, ignition system) have not been touched, and it's still running a stock turbo (or some small modification of an original part from that era) and no physical/structural mods have been made, then getting a modded 951 is not a big deal at all. Where you start to run into trouble with maintaining customized/modded cars is when the previous owner(s) have made significant modifications to the way it runs that you don't fully understand. If the engine mods are commercially-available off-the-shelf kits (i.e. Vitesse), it's not such a big deal and I wouldn't necessarily warn you against it.

The mods listed in your post are nothing to worry about. There are some nice upgrades there, but I don't see any serious modifications at all. There was a caveat though ("much more to list"), so we'd need to see the full list to know if there's anything to be aware of.

drumcan

Thanks to everyone that chimed in. I checked out the car, but decided to go with an 86 NA instead, as I have read they are easier to work on (I plan to learn how to do a lot of this myself), and slightly less to maintain.

They were asking for 20K, the sunroof didn't work, and the AC was removed. Both would have needed quite a lot of work to get back working, and there really wasn't anywhere to put the AC compressor back.

thom4782

My 2 cents. Saw you went with a NA so this comment is mainly for others.

There is nothing inherently wrong with purchasing an upgraded 951. The issue the should concern you is the cost of repairs. Parts can be expensive for both original and upgraded versions so in this sense the cost of parts should not drive your decision. The issue is how much work you can do yourself and how much you would need to send out to a shop. Labor can be a substantial cost of any maintenance job.

I bought a low mileage well maintained low mileage 951 several years ago. Given my skill set and availability of space to work, I've shopped most of the work out so far. At this point, I've put in about 2/3 rds of the purchase price rebuilding the turbo and doing a lot of 'while you're in there' things. So far, labor overall is north of $7K.

Porsche-noob-91

TBH in my experience, most cars at that price point that are actually upgraded have suffered accidents in one way or another. Went to a very nice car in France that had the LR 350 kit... pained me to see it had been in a crash.

MM951

I would absolutely buy one with known quality mods. Done right you can save a bundle. I can't believe what some 80s and 90's cars are going for these days - I mean I love my 951 and have owned it since 2003...but I paid $1500 for it with a ton of high dollar mods... different world..