RedDragon951

Hello all.
I've been researching all the performance parts manufacturers and their products. It seems that modding a 951 is a "Coke or Pepsi" thing, so to say. I thought I could build the car I envisioned for $20k in upgrades, but now know that amount of money can quickly be absorbed just under the hood. The car I wanted to build would require an investment of approximately $100K. In my opinion, that's simply not logical. I'm willing to spend $25K on mods. How about some advice from you seasoned enthusiasts? My 1986 951 is bone stock, no previous damage of any kind. Also, what's the most amount of money you've seen invested in building the ultimate 951/968? Thanks for taking time to read my post and sharing your knowledge.

alxdgr8

You could spend $25k in the engine alone if you wanted.
I've would guess there are some hardcore race cars with $100k+in them (parts + labor).

As with any car, the sky is the limit.

Dougs951

100k?

If you dont mind, what do you want to do that would cost that?

sweanders

Take a look at some of the threads in the Racing forum, just converting a street car into a spec series can easily cost upwards $50k.

Doesn't matter much if you start with a 5k or 50k car. Heck, a friend of mine spent over 20k euros on a 1370 cc Mini engine..

Darwantae951

I can tell you from experience that 25k is easily surpassed. It all depends on what you intend to do to the car, and how far you want to go.

RedDragon951

550 BHP, Ohlins suspension, $6k for wheels and tires, custom bodywork and paint.

I'm going to focus on the engine for now. Everything else can wait. The car won't see the street for quite a while anyway.

roman944

well, first - moding the car for what purpose, exactly? really you can spend as much money as you want and always find something else to spend the $$$ on

first step is - figure out what you want out of the car and how far you are willing to go to get it

for example, some of the people buy $5k/seats while others simply can't justify paying a price like that ...

edit: lol took me a while, thx ModdedEverything

Dougs951

I guess its like any car. Its just how extreme you want to go.

I mean how many muscle cars out there have 100k into them, just to be stock.

gt37vgt

I think it does make a big difference where you start i would start with a car that only has is made up of mostly parts i want to keep things are differnt where i am as there is simply no market to sell parts here

well i think the best way to get that kind of animal is spend 15-25 on a modified one then then same again on it .

i think its realy sad to try and convert a nice road car to a track car and vice versa there seems to be a lot of waste involved

Ski

You can easily spend big money (if you have it) if you have it all done by pros. Give a 944T stock car to Gomes, tell him to outfit it to win and then see your bill. It will be first class, I mean the JME intake, on the engine alone was what, $35k by Milledge?

We were very fortunate building our car that I was parting and selling items for a friend. I recovered him $25k off ebay but I bet he had $60k in the car, which Chris Cervilli did most of the work, the rest done by Sam Shelala(sp?) in Houston. This was an F class car that was rolled at Road America.

George D

First, what do you want out of your car? Have you driven a well sorted 2.5 with 300hp and 320wt that gets full boost by 3500rpm? I'll state I had this about 8 years ago, and I sold it. I went through about six sports cars since then, and decided to build another 951 with much more power with better braking and handling. It costs more than just the parts to have a factory reliable 500whp 951. It requires engineering, money, and patience. I learned that you can't have reliability on a high output 3.0 motor without addressing more than was scrivined into the original platform.

Since you have a stock car, I would begin with upgraded suspension and brakes. Then call a good vendor like Vitesse to get a package that will be reliable for years of enjoyment. I've purchased parts from most of the vendors that participate on Rennlist helping us 951 guys. I've also talked with owners, and their experience with vendors.

Trust me, a 300 to 350whp 2.5 with good tq below 4K is a blast to drive. But a 951 with 150hp and tq above this is an ablolute hoot. No other car has been as much fun to me. It's a personal thing, as I enjoy driving my modded 951 better than most, no all, cars I've owned or driven.

With 25K, you can have a killer 2.5 951. I may get in trouble here, but I've never known anyone in my circle of 951 friends regretting using Vitesse and their packaged products. His stuff just works, and works well. You have to have someone to call when things are not working as they should, and I know Vitesse takes care of his customers. If I didn't have stand alone, my car would have Vitesse goodies making sure that my car was reliable. I have a few masters engineering students at the U of A and one at MIT that helps me with my car, and are friends. They use Vitesse software in their 951's. I'm not a Vitesse customer, but John has always been helpful when I've asked for advise.

PM me if you want specifics. I've owned these cars since 1992, and have learned from past mistakes. Glad to share my past despair, and help you get what you want out of your car.

My intention here is to help a fellow Rennlister. Many of the parts in my car come from SFR, TEC GT from Chris White, exhaust, motor mounts, steam vent and trans mount from LR, fixed lights, hood vents, and splitter from Deutsche, and much else.

If he really wants to spend this on his car, most vendors here will participate in the end result.

gt37vgt

yeh many of us in OZ are sitting on 20k piles of parts we can't sell and I've spent about 10k on shipping and one of my mates I'm guessing has spent over 30k on shipping ..
i think these cars are nice up to about 40 k I think in the genius of hindsight a clubman or cobra is heaps more cost effective .
Or just save your money like crazy for 3 years .. have a look what can be bought for 50k heaps of crazy stuff.

gt37vgt

Also i would send an email to a hanfull of them tell them tel them your are serous about spending 10 to 15k in the next few months and see what kind of package they are willing to put together .
i think anything over 5k in one spend is pretty reasonable leverage ..
many of them will have a few good second hand parts around also.

George D

After my long post, know you can purchase a 996TT for about 40K with a short service history.....Times like these are a car guy's wet dream...

JohnKoaWood

as long as he has money...

Try asking Rolex what he has in his car... And I don't believe he is driving it yet BTW... but when he does...