avainio

I bought my 1986 951 on 8/2/02 with 107,000 miles. It's a beautiful car, ungodly fast, and my first Porsche. The PO hadn't changed the belts or water pump and didn't know the history. I found a slip for a tire rotation under the seat with the prior owner's name and phone number. I called him, he also hadn't changed the belts or pump, but said he wished he hadn't sold the car. He has a Boxter now and misses the power and speed of this one. He gave me a number to contact the guy he bought it from. Again, no belt or pump change, but "my fastest top speed ever was in that car-158 mph. I wish I still had it". He gave me the number of the prior owner, no belt or pump change, but "I always thought that car was faster than it should have been, maybe the way it was broken in". All spent a long time talking to me on the phone, were happy the car was being taken care of, all have had multiple Porsches and said this one was the fastest, hands down. I guess I'm in for a complete belts, rollers, seals,pump... but it made me feel good to hear that my car was so well remembered and otherwise appreciated. I tried to tell my wife this story, she was "happy" for me. My muscle car buddies don't understand my Porsche craziness (but haven't had a ride yet). No one at work gets it, either. I HAD to tell you guys, thanks for listening.
Arne.

Jeremy Martin

congratulations.
and for the love of god, dont turn that engine over again till you take it to get the belt changed

avainio

Thanks Jeremy. I'm going to be doing the work myself this winter. I live in Minnesota, so the car has been in my heated shop since the end of October. I took a week off work in mid February so I can tackle this job. I'm actually looking forward to it. I'll be doing my GURU Racing and SFR upgrades when I actually start driving it again in May.

Arne.

jimbo1111

congrads change the water pump along with the belts. good luck

IceShark

Arne,

when you change out the water pump get a brand new one not a rebuilt. People have been having rebuilt ones go bad too frequently to take a chance as that job is sort of time consuming to do twice.

avainio

Thanks Dan.
Actually I WAS going to use a rebuilt pump, but maybe I will go with a new one. I called Paragon, Vertex and Sunset for advice and prices. Bob at Sunset was great, very much knew exactly what I needed. The total price was slightly higher than Paragon, and quite a bit higher than Vertex. Vertex was kind of blunt with me and seemed to resent my many questions, wouldn't say who made the belts, only that they were German. Jason at Paragon was very helpful, but overall I was most impressed with Sunset. Bob was the one suggesting I go with a rebuilt, stated they've never had a failure and they're rebuilt by Porsche. The fact that Sunset has factory parts makes a difference to me also, the actual price spread wasn't that great. I will be doing my own work, so the labor savings should allow me to do everything with the best parts. I've watched the timing belt section of the 944-924S Porsche Maintenance and Tune-up video as many times as my son has watched "Scooby Doo Meets Batman and Robin". I'm ready.

Arne.

PorscheG96

[quote]Originally posted by Jeremy Martin:
<strong>congratulations.
and for the love of god, dont turn that engine over again till you take it to get the belt changed</strong><hr></blockquote>
DITTO!