John McM

In late 2001 I bought my first Porsche, a 1993 Turbo 3.6. The car was delivered new in Singapore, came to New Zealand in 1999 and had 70,000 km on the odometer when I bought it.

John McM

The car was mine until late 2014, when I sold it for export from New Zealand to the UK. It had 105,000 km when I shipped it. 35,000 km in 13 years is bordering on criminal, but I was on expat assignment for a long period so it spent a lot of time in storage, one of the reasons the interior was in great shape. This is one of the last pics I took of it. Sunrise at the local beach.

John McM

The buyer and I were in no rush as the car went through a thorough PPI. There were a lot of questions, which is understandable when you are buying a car sight unseen and don't know the seller.

John McM

Included was a check of identity numbers e.g. whether the transmission, engine and VIN numbers matched the original build sheet. They did, which I didn't actually know as the local OPC couldn't access the info, whereas the UK buyer could. There was also a compression check, expensive when so many parts have to be removed to access the spark plug holes. All was good apart from cylinder one, where the garage couldn't get a good seal due to a chip in the spark plug inlet.

John McM

A local body work expert inspected the car for accident damage, corrosion and paint quality. I had already disclosed that the paint was a very thorough recolour from Horizon Blue Metallic, so aside from confirming that was correct, they were able to tell the buyer with reasonable certainty that the car was accident damage and corrosion free. I couldn't give a categorical guarantee as I had owned the car from the 8 year old mark and you never know where a car has been. You can however surmise from the condition. The expert also confirmed the interior condition - excellent.

John McM

Money exchanged hands and I delivered 93TRBO to the shipping agent, after trying to get the petrol tank to the lowest possible level, a requirement for shipping. In fact I now know that cars have to be shipped with empty tanks. The shipper said they would do the last bit. It's not clear that they did. For my part I've found boost is good for gas consumption so I took it for a short run

John McM

After what seemed like a very long wait, the car arrived at RPM Technik, where the refresh started. First the wheels were removed for refurbishment.

John McM

Unsure as how best to make the paint acceptable to his standard (high) the decision was made to do a bare metal respray. There were 16 layers of paint on the bonnet! The stripping proved that the shell was all original, unequivocally accident and rust free.

John McM

With the body underway it was time to look at the engine. RPM could not get good readings out of cylinder one so the took the head off. What they found wasn't good. Basically the exhaust valve guide was well worn, allowing the exhaust valve to move and hit the head. There were 'witness' marks on the head and a chipped exhaust valve. As a result the engine is getting a top end rebuild.

John McM

Right now, the engine is in pieces. Because the engine is being done there other items that make sense to do at the same time e.g. The flywheel and clutch are being replaced, engine tin powder coated, parts chromated. The new owner is sharing the journey with me on the other side of the world. With his permission I thought I'd share it with the wider 964 community because it is the refresh of a rare car (I think there are less than 40 in the UK) and the level of detail will make this a very special car when finished. The bones were always good, but evidently it needed a refresh to join the ranks of the best out there.

John McM

On top of the no 1 cylinder surprise they also found a pitted lobe on the crankshaft. There are a number of possible reasons for this. The most likely is that lubrication has been less than ideal at some stage, possibly a partially blocked oil gallery, although they look fine now. Another comment has been made that this engine needed a high zinc oil and Mobil 1 0w 40 is not appropriate. That should start some comments...

John McM

That brings this thread up to date. I sold the car in good faith and the buyer is pragmatic. He wants the best and all of this work will produce a no stories perfect car. With values where they are it makes sense to get it right. I'm very happy I sold to someone with the means and motivation to do this. The car will be a stunner, although I suspect there will be a lot more photos and stories to share while that's being done. I will update the thread when new info comes to hand. I hope this is useful to others thinking of refreshing a 964.

PhatPhlatSix

Interesting thread! Any idea wha there were 16 coats of paint on the bonnet if there had been no accident damage? I know some of them are etch and primers, but there are potentially at 3 to 4 'paintings' there.

John McM

Basic answer is that I'm not sure. You have the original Porsche colour with a re-colour over it. Successive layers might be touch ups for paint chips, but I can say with certainty that they all happened prior to 2001. That's one of the lessons I have learned from this - unless you've owned a car from new or taken it back to bare metal you can't categorically state that a car is accident damage free. The new owner can now state that here.

911Jetta

Wonderful thread.