garrett376

I dislike these kinds of posts, so I don't like to respond to them, either. Nothing like making some unsubstantiated claims... Marc's post expresses my similar feelings. Unless you bought this car with some kind of warranty, it sounds like you've got bigger problems regarding that $50,000 repair shop bill. I think the most interesting thing that could come of this post would be to see the "verifiable" repair bill itemized for the $50,000; now that would be worthwhile reading about versus the current garbage.

chancecasey

I've dealt with James a time or two selling and trading parts and found the transactions to be smooth and issue-free.

spro

Agreed it was foolish of my dad to not have a PPI done.
Agreed any ~20yr old car can have plenty of issues, including expensive ones that PPI's won't catch.
Agreed shockingly bad things can happen in a short time after buying a car.

The original post recommends a PPI based on a bad experience, that’s all.
If a car for sale is solid, why fear a PPI from a trusted shop?

Facts about the situation have been available since Sat. if you contacted me.
mjshira has also been invited to get the final facts from Foreign Performance regarding this situation.
The big repair order is #3504, totaling $18.9K before taxes and upgrades.
This does not include items purchased from or machine work sublet to Otto's (P&C's, crank, etc.).

Anyway the moderator and others asked for facts in the post - samples are below.

I reference Pelican thread 361675.

Thread - "The only <oil> lines not replaced where those going from the oil tank to the front oil cooler as these were deemed still functional."

Repair order - "... leaking real bad at oil cooler area... Two large oil cooler lines were hard and rotten. Cooler and underbody covered with used engine oil"

Comments - The oil lines failed in central Missouri during my dad first road trip. The car was full of oil before he left Evansville. The oil starvation spun the #3 bearing and caused carnage.

Thread - "The car has an RS clutch and a B&M short shift kit. The flywheel pilot bearing was replaced and all parts inspected and anything not in perfect condition was replaced."

Repair order - "Flywheel was installed with wrong bolts... Replaced pressure plate, throwout bearing, and pilot bearing. "

Thread - "New master alarm control unit... Alarm activation pins"

Repair order - "Found alarm horn and both of car's horns cut near oil cooler... Found alarm module was hanging by its wiring and part of wiring disconnected and bypassed... Found half of driver's switch was working, other half broken... Removed driver's door panel and removed driver's door handle assembly. Found switch was broken and someone had wire-tied switch back to handle."

Comment – on the first day after taking delivery my dad found the car would not start after it had been locked… this was why

Thread - "All oil lines for the engine were replaced. This includes the main line and the shorter line which run to the oil tank. The two short lines to the oil tank were replaced also."

Repair order - "All buffers for oil tank were broken. Hoses had wrong clamps, etc. installed... Put all back to original."

Thread - "Have a set of new Cup 1's in stock silver... Car comes with silver cup one wheels."

Comment - wheels turned out to be aftermarket, not OEM Porsche

And on, and on, hence >$20K in repairs.

IMO, status as a 'longtime forum member’ does not automatically imply competence to repair, upgrade, and/or judge a vehicle's condition.

As an automotive engineer and fellow DIY’er on my ’71 911, this seems obvious to me.
However it is not necessarily obvious to non-technical folks.

Again, if you have more questions feel free to contact me.

Stephen Provost
sbpro4@hotmail dot com
c 623.203.nine four eight seven
Instructor for PCA Phoenix and Tucson regions and NASA Phoenix region
Senior Chassis Development Engineer at a major OEM's Arizona Proving Ground

slammed1000

stephen, i expressed feelings toward your post in a email that you returned. since i know the car first hand i can state everything james said he did to the car was done or replaced. he advertised the car exactly how it was presented. he said that the oil lines from the tank to the oil cooler were not replaced. you stated that the repair order said those lines failed in which oil was lost and presented a low oil situation. did your father know how to read the gauges? your dad embarked into a long trip before checking the car over? shame on him for not doing a ppi but with dannys 1hr service ppi i doubt that any of that would have been found. danny is a very qualified mechanic but he told me the other day that he only does 1hr. ppi checks unless specified. as with any used or new vehicle you purchase you cant determine the future.

i would say that the door handle issue was from the body shop as they had the handle off and probably broke it. i am sure alot of people are guilty of replacing porsche hose clamps with off the shelf autozone counterparts. i know that any part that may be 1/2 the price as porsche oem and is just as good to use i do it. as with any 18yr. old used car there is alot of upkeep.

please make it clear that james tried to reach out to your father when it happened and he was basically slapped in the face. it has been almost a year that it was sold to him . you have picked a great time to try and run his name into the ground since he has another car forsale. bottom line is he represented the car with receipts that showed everything he did. in my opinion he went out of his way to try and do the extra stuff to the car. he may not be the best mechanic around but i was there to guide and do alot of the work that was performed on that car. if anyone would like to contact me your more than welcome to as i assure you this is the truth.

brent sinclair
email bszx7r@yahoo.com
phone 812 760 0305

Dwane

This thread should NOW be done!!!

sturco

Have known James many years as an original R-Gruppe member. Bought,traded &swapped many items between ourselves. Never been any problems. Just my opinion, Steve Turco, R-Gruppe # 123.

Bull

Just about all of the alleged problems would have been caught by a competent, comprehensive PPI. I am in the process of attempting to purchase a 964 from a friend and highly thought of gentleman in our club. He cares for his cars, home, etc. like few others, but is not a mechanic. Before I could tell him of my plans for a proper PPI, he insisted on having the car checked over and the few things that he knows are not perfect repaired. Yet we both know it is a 15+ year old car, and if the deal gets done, then it will done and over.

These threads that cry and accuse after a year has gone by after the purchase (without a PPI) are ridiculous. Mr. Shira's current car was on my radar screen for possible purchase, and will remain so.

mjshira

In my view, and I've taken my time to reply here, this thread is about one thing: damaging my reputation to harm my ability to sell my current 964. In this, it has been successful, I had a bunch of interested parties before this thread, now I don't a single one.

What all of you don't know is that I've been attempting to get Stephen to remove the thread via PM conversations. I asked him to provide me with evidence that I intentionally caused the engine in the car I sold his father to throw a rod bearing. Or if he can't, to remove the thread. Friends of mine tell me they've contacted him with similar requests, yet here the thread remains.

In order to shorten all of this drama I took my questions directly to the Porsche mechanic who the car was taken to after the sad incident of the rod bearing going. He and I spent a good deal of time on the phone on this topic just this afternoon. This is now the third time he and I have talked at length about it since it happened. As of this post, I have not been contacted directly by Stephen's father.

The mechanic stated in clear language that there was 'no way' I could have known the oil lines at the oil cooler would fail (one failed causing a leak, leading to low oil, resulting in the rod bearing going). I explained to him how Brent and I had run the car on his lift for nearly two hours in a closed shop (one door open) in the Indiana summer to get everything hot. We did this to inspect our work and check for leaks. We didn't find any leaks. This was one of the means how I concluded these front oil lines were 'o.k.'

Furthermore, all of you should know that I did a number of road trips during which I personally was reliant on these oil lines, who is to say they couldn't have failed on me? These were trips to NYC, Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, Louisville, etc. Why would I risk the engine while on any of these trips???

I then asked the mechanic about the large bill for his services, what had he done to warrant all that expense? He told me that this bill included among others, new recaro racing seats... complete custom 3.8 engine build... and a host of other 'improvements', etc. I asked him whether he thought that all these steps were necessary? Could they be traced back to things I failed to do or misrepresented? He said no.

In fact he then said he relied on my notes on what Brent and I did as a guide... that he used them to help him know what was fixed and what was not... and that in each case what I had said had been done, he found was done.

The one expection was the alarm. In that case I had failed to find a broken alarm pin sensor in the drivers door. I apologized to him for this. I explained to him that I'd posted here about the problem and that I'd even exchanged a large number of PM's with Adrian (thanks again Adrian). He accepted my apology.

I then asked him the question that I can only take his word on. That question was 'did you lead the new owner to think I caused his engine to fail'? To which he said in very clear terms, 'NO'! I then ask him did he know that some of his service write ups were posted on a web forum as evidence I had misrepresented a car I sold? He was shocked... and said 'no I didn't'.

So if we trust for a moment in the statements that the mechanic has made to me just today, then we have validation that A) I didn't misrepresent the car I sold B) there was no way to know when those oil lines not changed would fail C) he (the mechanic) had not pointed to me as the cause of the issues with the car to the new owners and D) a lot of the 28k spent on the car above and beyond the sales price was for 'improvements' to the car, not due to things I had not done. (not that there is anything wrong with that).

I plan to go and see the mechanic in person as my work schedule allows. I want him to know who I am, especially since I am the president of our PCA region, such as it is, and also because I assumed when I read this thread that he thought I was a bad guy. We ended our conversation agreeing that the internet was a great resource but sometimes just a place for people to bash each other...

Regarding the folks who purchased the car in questoin, they probably just don't know where to aim the anger they have at the expense of fixing the car other than towards me. Since they've not talked to me since this happened, they probably don't know all the work that Brent and I put into the car or they don't take our word for it. Regardless, I'd ask everyone to please not bash Stephen. I've only met him once, but I didn't find him to be a bad person nor his family.

I want to thank those who know me who have posted here in my defence. Your kind words have really meant a lot to me these last couple days. I will contact each of you offline and thank you personally. And now I'd ask that Rennlist take this thread down as I can't see any it having any value to the forum.

James Shira

dfinnegan

Well done.

Leave the thread. It proves out what others have said.

Good luck on the sale.

Marc Shaw

I agree with the above - everyone has had their say and we have heard both sides of the story.

To remove the thread might be construed as either censorship or at least as giving preferential treatment to one member over another.

That being said though, I think it is time to move on......

Marc