John McM

Those of you who have been around Porsche websites or Rennlist for a while will know that like sharing my ownership experience to add to the knowledge out there.

This thread is the tale of my recent purchase. This car was bought with track days in mind, so it had to be a manual, which are relatively rare in New Zealand, particularly the C2 model. For that reason I was happy to look at C4 models as well. I also reasoned that not all track days would be dry so the 4WD was valuable, even if it came with a 100kg weight addition.

As I was overseas at the time, the car was purchased sight unseen off the same person who sold me my Turbo 3.6, 12 years ago. The details are as follows:

1990 964 C4
Odometer 136,000 km (84,000 miles)
Original delivery in Singapore
Brought to New Zealand in 1998 and owned by the same person until he passed away, a week after I bought the car (being sold on behalf by the mechanic so the widow didn't have to deal with this while mourning)
No service records but believed to have had top end work at some stage.
Modifications: RS Clutch, Light flywheel, RUF brakes, suspension, ARBs, Strut Brace, Cup Bypass & Exhaust tips. Techart fogs, front and rear spoiler. Porsche exclusive handbrake, gear **** and 930 type steering wheel. Gemballa pedals. Aero mirrors and 17inch 3 piece D90 inspired wheels.
Disclosed fault was regular hydraulic warning light after start up.
Price NZD 36,000, USD 29,000, GBP 19,000.

Initial verdict - a car that was on the way to being track oriented at a fair price.

John McM

The car arrived and no problems were encountered for the first 100km, however then an unfortunate chain of events ended up with this thread.

The first incident was 2 litres of oil dumping on the garage floor after a pedestrian Sunday drive. Two oil hoses next to the oil tank had rubbed together, leading one to leak (the short one with the ridge).

John McM

As the car was marooned up a steep driveway I decided to try the repair myself. An expensive mistake. The area was incredibly dirty so I used paper towel to block the pipe ends.

John McM

I couldn't get the hose on, put glove fingers over the pipe ends and had the dealer do a house call. Fitted in 30 minutes with no need to even jack the car up.

John McM

A week or so later I took this video. It still makes me cringe listening to an engine in pain.

964russ

Common place for leaks.

964russ

Common place for leaks.

Nice lookin car, and bestest colour.

John McM

A day or so later I took the car into the mechanic for a pre track check. I got a call later that day to tell me that the engine shouldn't be run until they identify the noise source. When they took off the cam covers they found........tissue paper. Somehow, I had left some in the oil lines and it had gone straight to the engine. The fine galleries to the cams had blocked.

Both cams would need to be replaced and so would six rockers. Plus the engine would have to be dismantled and the whole oil system cleaned out. Time to put on my big boy pants.

John McM

The engine out of the car and ready for opening up. Something no one wants to see barely 100kms after purchase.

John McM

All open and paper residue evident.

John McM

Aside from the paper damage the news was mostly good. The bores were fine, as were bearings etc. The pistons had carbon on them from missing valve stem seals. In the end we replaced rings, bearings, had the heads and pistons cleaned, replaced three valve guides and refaced and reseated all valves. The verdict was that my engine was in pretty good shape at 84,000 miles. Maybe a top end was needed some day, but it was not imminent.

John McM

All good so far. Next job was the oil circulation system.

More bad news. All three big lines were leaking at the fittings and the cooler was clogged up. Replace all lines and flush/clean and pressure test the cooler.

John McM

With the transmission out, I decided to have the mechanic look at the planetary gear. Bingo, a pin was on its way out and I had a cracked carrier. Apparently the welded area is stronger than the surrounding area so we repaired not replaced. The last picture is the housing. Not sure if the pins come out on the side with the holes, but if they do then it's Russian Roulette.

John McM

Is that the end of the story? No, there is more to come....

John McM

Next up was the clutch. One track day away from slipping. The parts were replaced and we had a problem; the clutch pedal was engaging very close to the floor. The problem was partially fixed by installing a new slave cylinder which has a rod 8mm longer than that in the car. We can find no record of cylinders having different rod lengths but that was my reality. However the clutch was still engaging too low. Diagnosis? At some stage the clutch lever was welded in a different position!!! No idea why, just have to accept it and fix it.