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I think I reported earlier that I registered my Targa for the first time in over 10 years and ran a Carfax. This generated an email indicating the car had an open recall notice. One Porsche dealer said the part for the recall was not available (essentially"no" to my inquiry about performing the recall). Several people speculated that factory recalls sunset after a certain number of years. However, the dealer from which I obtained my last "store bought" Porsche looked into it. This is the kind of service I've gotten from Porsche of Orland Park (Rizza Porsche) and probably why I travel so far to do business with them. Probably the smallest Porsche dealer in the Chicago area but friendly people and a great service manager. So - sure enough the recall exist but the part is not available in the USA. They ordered the part from Germany and currently have the car in for the recall while I drive a new Panamera. Kudos to Porsche of Orland Park for providing great service and performing a recall on a 30 year old Porsche.
I just finished reading this entire thread. Kudos to you for rescuing this piece of automotive history. Please post the update on the recall and what part it is for the benefit of the community. As to you and this 964 Targa, can only wish many more years of enjoyment and companionship on the road. What a story! Also if you don't mind noting if you were able to stay in budget or what the over/under was would be interesting to know as well. You should send this story to the editors at Panorama magazine, it is worthy of making print. All the best..
^^^ Thanks. As for the recall - it hit a hopefully minor snag. The part came in from Germany but the protocol for the recall procedure requires testing the steering column coupling with a special tool from Porsche. Turns out the tool is NLA so the dealer is waiting to hear from Porsche about how to proceed. In the meantime I picked up my car so I could attend the event I posted about in the Ultimate Targa Thread. The recall is a part of the steering column that contains a u-joint type couple. I think the reason the recall was open on my car is because the car hadn't been registered for over 10 years.
As for the budget on my "barn find" - my goal was to see if I could have the car presentable and comparable to a 1990 Targa I sold about 8 years ago for what I sold that car for 8 years ago - $23,000 (including some spares I sold separately). That meant the initial purchase price of the car plus the repairs, reconditioning, etc. would need to come in at $23k or less. I did not consider my time to be value for these calculations. I also netted out of the costs anything I sold that came off the car and any parts I bought that need to be returned or resold. As the car sits I'm currently just a little under budget I think. As you saw in the thread above - I got pretty lucky on numerous items. I also did some of the non critical stuff on the cheap (like painting a rocker panel and the Targa bar myself) - which means I may have to do some things later or have them professionally done if I decide to take the car to a higher level. What is included in that total is the price paid the prior owner for the car, a storage and repair bill I paid his mechanic, towing, engine rebuild with updated cylinders and 1 camshaft, factory Cup 1 wheels and refinishing, new tires, front and rear interior parts (glove box, rear seats, rear finishing panel), custom fuel lines, rear bumper repair, Bilstein B6 shocks with Vogtland lowering springs, motor mounts, engine bay insulation replaced, power steering pump rebuilt, muffler bypass, clear side markers, axles rebuilt/rebooted, oil lines at tank and thermostat replaced, AC repaired, carbon fiber air tube, fuel injectors, gas tank cleaning, fuel pump, slave cylinder and hose, distributor rebuild, speedo rebuild, wheel spacers, longer wheel studs installed, alignment and suspension set up. I sold a set of Design 90 wheels to offset the cost of the Cup 1's and have some other extra bit to get rid of. I'm sure there are some small hardware and small parts that add up to put me at budget - maybe even a few dollars over.
John--That's a remarkable achievement. I'm pretty certain no one else has bought a 964 in the past couple years, then brought it back to life--including a fresh motor!--for $23k. I've read all of your thread from the last April when you started it and it's been a fun journey. Great work.
^^^ Thanks. As for the recall - it hit a hopefully minor snag. The part came in from Germany but the protocol for the recall procedure requires testing the steering column coupling with a special tool from Porsche. Turns out the tool is NLA so the dealer is waiting to hear from Porsche about how to proceed. In the meantime I picked up my car so I could attend the event I posted about in the Ultimate Targa Thread. The recall is a part of the steering column that contains a u-joint type couple. I think the reason the recall was open on my car is because the car hadn't been registered for over 10 years.
As for the budget on my "barn find" - my goal was to see if I could have the car presentable and comparable to a 1990 Targa I sold about 8 years ago for what I sold that car for 8 years ago - $23,000 (including some spares I sold separately). That meant the initial purchase price of the car plus the repairs, reconditioning, etc. would need to come in at $23k or less. I did not consider my time to be value for these calculations. I also netted out of the costs anything I sold that came off the car and any parts I bought that need to be returned or resold. As the car sits I'm currently just a little under budget I think. As you saw in the thread above - I got pretty lucky on numerous items. I also did some of the non critical stuff on the cheap (like painting a rocker panel and the Targa bar myself) - which means I may have to do some things later or have them professionally done if I decide to take the car to a higher level. What is included in that total is the price paid the prior owner for the car, a storage and repair bill I paid his mechanic, towing, engine rebuild with updated cylinders and 1 camshaft, factory Cup 1 wheels and refinishing, new tires, front and rear interior parts (glove box, rear seats, rear finishing panel), custom fuel lines, rear bumper repair, Bilstein B6 shocks with Vogtland lowering springs, motor mounts, engine bay insulation replaced, power steering pump rebuilt, muffler bypass, clear side markers, axles rebuilt/rebooted, oil lines at tank and thermostat replaced, AC repaired, carbon fiber air tube, fuel injectors, gas tank cleaning, fuel pump, slave cylinder and hose, distributor rebuild, speedo rebuild, wheel spacers, longer wheel studs installed, alignment and suspension set up. I sold a set of Design 90 wheels to offset the cost of the Cup 1's and have some other extra bit to get rid of. I'm sure there are some small hardware and small parts that add up to put me at budget - maybe even a few dollars over.
Honestly, this story should make the pages of the Porsche Club Magazines. Impressive! Look forward to additional update posts!
Thanks. Full disclosure for those who don't want to read the whole story - I bought the car 6 years ago and put it in my garage for 5 years. I tinkered here and there over the years and got the engine to turn over by hand. I removed a 5 gallon bucket full of '90's tech and leftover wire from the old stereo. I found a pair of classic Blue Blocker sun glasses under the passenger seat along with about $1.89 in loose change. Oops forgot to deduct that from the total cost of the car. The used parts and lucky finds on this car saved me about $15,000 in the build (thanks to Mike at Autobahn Dismantling). In addition - the guys at Eurosport were exceedingly fair with the rebuild. Tony and Brian at Eurosport and Warren at Wellis Wheels and the guys at Batavia Body Werx all treated this project like a kind of joint effort to bring back a car that looked pretty hopeless when it was loaded on the flat bed. The first time my wife saw it in the garage she said nothing . . . and spoke volumes.
There's a fair volume of done it myself here. It really helped to have the car while the engine work was being completed. Some of the things I did myself are glance good but would not stand up to serious judging. I painted one rocker and the targa bar myself and did lots of the light lifting mechanical stuff like brakes, shocks, bumper r&r, interior, some electrical, oil lines, AC, fuel pump, etc. Big thanks to the guys on Rennlist whose threads I read and followed to complete many of the listed tasks.
Not sure of the original source of the problem but my Targa bar paint was chipping off when I got the car. I suspect a professional repaint is in order.
Paint was chipping off in the same location on both sides of the Targa bar.
I didn't have time to get the car in for a proper Targa bar repaint but thought I might be able to quickly improve the appearance myself. A little masking* and then I feathered the chipped edges with wet sand paper used dry with my fingers - not a sanding block. Then I went over the entire bar with a random orbital sander with a fine grit paper. Followed that by vacuuming the bar (especially around the Targa emblem - yes I left it on) and wiping down the bar with mineral spirits (several times) and tacked it with UPS label pouch. Spray with flat black paint. Two light coats on the bare metal followed by a few light coats all over (just waited about 5 minutes between coats). Let dry. I got too impatient and removed the tape when the bar was dry but there was still a bit of wet paint pooled in the tape due to the dip in the tape over the rubber Targa bar gasket. It left a mark on the newly painted bar . No worries as I can repeat the process if I want it to look better before I have it done properly by a pro.
*NOTE - COVER THE ENTIRE CAR TO AVOID ANY OVERSPRAY FROM GETTING ON YOUR PAINT OR INTERIOR. Attempt at your own risk. Results may vary.
Nice results, it definitely looks better. It’s fairly common to see the bars repainted at some point, the original paint oxidizes over time and the targa top also wears through the paint at the leading edge.
Mine has the wear on the leading edge but everything else was just lightly oxidized. I decided to try buffing the paint and if that didn’t work I could have it professionally resprayed. The buffing worked shockingly well and brought the paint back to its original finish without leveling the light texture. I touched up some of the leading edges and left the rest as I know it would wear off again. This has held up well thus far.
My quicky Targa bar paint job was an effort to make the car a little less Cinderella before looking for an event called Zuffengruppe 3 - a collection of air cooled Porsches in the midwest. There were many spectacular cars present from meticulous restorations to expensive restomods to impressive survivors. My revived but largely unrestored Targa was looking quite pedestrian to me in this company but it didn't embarrass me when I realized there were no other 964 Targas in the group. Still - I was reminded how much more can be done just to elevate this car without going crazy with money. I'm still finding corners to clean, and I believe the paint can be improved on most of the panels except the hood and front bumper. The hood has pitting that might go all the way through the remaining paint. Someone apparently buffed the hood too aggressively in the past and really burned the paint thin. The front bumper has a few deep scratches that will require sanding and a coat of paint. I think the guys at Batavia Body Werx will do a nice job when the time comes. Until then - the old car looked alright for a casual glance on a walk by and caught the eye of a few 964 Targa fans who noted it as the only example on the grass. The event was really nicely done and it was a perfect day to drive 150 miles in the last version of traditional Targa cars.
Humble "parking lot" Targa in pretty lofty company.
...the old car looked alright for a casual glance on a walk by and caught the eye of a few 964 Targa fans who noted it as the only example on the grass. The event was really nicely done and it was a perfect day to drive 150 miles in the last version of traditional Targa cars...
It's always a treat to see another 964 at an event. Sounds like a great day out after a lot of behind the scenes work.
You’re a model of innovative thinking, a deft touch, and courage. It inspires me to do more little things, like cleaning and adjusting—no cost stuff that makes a difference. I’ll bet your car fit into that forum better than you thought.
Funny but 964's - especailly coupes - are becoming the bells of the ball at many events. At this event a primary center of attention was a Singer. I attended a Porsche and Pastries event this past weekend and the most crowded spot was the location of 2 more 964 based restomods. I admire the restomods and the guys who undertake the work to complete them and the guys with the ability to fund them (sometime the same person - sometimes not) doesn't matter to me). I have neither the skill set nor the cash to do a proper restomod or an extensive restoration. So, I set out to do the kinds of things that anyone could do while having some cost conscious heavy lifting performed by my professional mechanic with an eye toward economy. Ski - one of the luxuries of starting with a humble car is getting to play a little Dr. Frankenstein (after all his "barn find" was a corpse). I do a fair amount of head and butt scratching before hand but figure the worst case is I have to have my mistakes professionally corrected. As long as that doesn't raise a safety issue I'm game to try. The nice thing about the 964 is it's a great looking car and mechanically the best traditional looking 911 ever built. The stuff I'm doing is extremely modest by today's standards but the car shows better than what you'd expect from the investment in terms on money or time. It hasn't really been properly clean, waxed or detailed yet (the beauty of camera phones). Lots of things you wouldn't notice unless they hadn't been done like removing small screws in the interior, cleaning and painting them make the interior look less tired even before I get to the point of replacing or repairing stuff that needs greater effort or expense.
[QUOTE=jpoint;16568497]I'm encouraged by others in this Forum to start a thread on my Targa rebuild while simultaneously intimidated and impressed by the phenomenal restorations I've read about here. I'll say two things about this thread for those who want to follow or not:
1. This is a kind of barn find story without the barn. I bought the car after it sat for 3 years outside in a parking lot.
2. I bought this car with the intent of restoring on a budget and driving it.
I bought this car 6 years ago and moved it from outside to my garage with the original thought that my son and I would work on it together during breaks and after he finished college. The deal was he would have to work on it if he wanted to drive it when finished. No sad story here - the kid decided to go to grad and then med school. Time to work on the car doesn't exist so it sat. [/QUOTEWell, if it helps you like a 1990 targa, along with an m491 and I'm doing a complete restoration, I have spent a lot of money on parts that I have saved and the car has been disassembled a year ago, sometimes I think I should have used my car like that how it was and enjoy it so as not to tire you the story I just gave 6k for the top, which was destroyed and did not appear
]
Hi Guido - there are several things happening with the engine that make it look newer. It's a mix of new parts and cleaned parts and painted parts. The new stuff includes the bolts on the fan shroud, the rubber boots and clamps on the intake, the fan shroud boot, and the fuel lines. The painted parts include the tin and motor carrier, the fan, and the valve covers. The fuel rails I clean with a wire brush mounted on a drill to polish them up and then sprayed them with clear to keep them from oxidizing (but that also removed much of the zink coating). I did something similar with the intake. After it was carefully cleaned with a power washer I took the same wire brush and drill to the aluminum intake to polish it up and then sprayed it with clear. NOTE: the intake was not disassembled so I had to be careful not to hit any of the rubber or other parts like springs and linkage with the wire brush. I lightly hit the brightwork and clamps with the wire brush. For the hoses and other parts I used an old tooth brush (or you can get cheap tooth brushes new). I get an empty plastic water bottle and put a non solvent cleaner in it - filling it just to to where the bottle has ridges for holding the bottle. I use those ridges to clean the brush as it gets dirty. I just scrub and wipe the hoses with the tooth brush and a rag. I may stuff the rag inside or underneath the hoses and linkage to catch the cleaning fluid and keep it from dripping into the parts of the intake that I can't reach. I also scrubbed the corners of the air box to get the grit out and then used a clean brush and vinyl treatment to get the air box looking black and shiny. You can use the same basic processes on the rubber hoses and ignition wires. As for the engine - that was cleaned by my mechanic during the rebuild. They also did the blasting and painting of the tin.
I apologize if this next post comes across as self promotion. It's intended to be an answer to several questions I've received about my jack stands that are pictured in some of the posts. It might not be apparent but I used my Jackpoint jack stands for most of the work I completed on the car myself. This included, replacing the fuel pump, removing and replacing the rear bumper, replacing the clutch slave cylinder and clutch hose, replacing the oil thermostat hoses, oil tank hoses, repainting the rocker panel, replacing the the engine insulation, cleaning the engine compartment, straightening out the front bumper grill "smile", flushing out the brake and clutch systems, rebuilding the axles, and multiple changes of wheels and tires. That is not a complete list. For all of those jobs - I had access to a lift in the same location where I used the jack stands. I won't say that Jackpoint Jackstands are a replacement for a lift but I found it easy to work on the jack stands that were good working height and really out of the way for working around the car. A second apology if people are tired of pictures - but I was moving cars around and had this shot that I had to capture. My "barn find" Targa has reached a pause in that I can spend a little time enjoying it before jumping back into improving it. There are still quite a few projects to tackle. I still have remnants of the old stereo system to get out from under the dash. Then I'll decide if any kind of sound - other than engine note and wind - is going into the car. If not - I have some ridiculous looking speakers in the door panel that will need to be removed and door panel replacement will follow. I'm now getting into preventative mechanical work like wheel bearings, suspension parts, brake hoses, bigger brakes?, and other rubber that may need attention. There are several interior matters including the dome light and glove box light to chase. The AC worked for awhile but now the compressor has started leaking - so . . . There are also exterior cosmetics that will need to be addressed - the car is still really dirty in lots of nooks and under panels from sitting outside but surprisingly clean from a rust perspective. Full disclosure - I won't do all of the remaining work myself. STILL - I just love the car. I'm really glad I took the approach of attacking it on a slim budget to get it running. Having enjoyed the car makes it so much easier to start working (and spending) on it again. I'm out of the desert and reached an oasis. Now I've got plenty of water to continue the journey.
09-14-2020, 03:55 PM
along with about $1.89 in loose change. Oops forgot to deduct that from the total cost of the car. The used parts and lucky finds on this car saved me about $15,000 in the build (thanks to Mike at Autobahn Dismantling). In addition - the guys at Eurosport were exceedingly fair with the rebuild. Tony and Brian at Eurosport and Warren at Wellis Wheels and the guys at Batavia Body Werx all treated this project like a kind of joint effort to bring back a car that looked pretty hopeless when it was loaded on the flat bed. The first time my wife saw it in the garage she said nothing . . . and spoke volumes.
. No worries as I can repeat the process if I want it to look better before I have it done properly by a pro.
