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Well I figure now is as good a time as any to introduce myself here. I'm the new owner of the Amazon Green 92 968 John (firemn131) had up for sale here last month. I actually PM'd him about buying his car back in August of last year but nothing ever came of it. I'd been watching it after he put it up on ebay and when he was willing to take an offer I jumped on it. We talked on the phone, he sent pics and videos of the car and I decided it was something I wanted even though the paint was bad. The interior and engine on the other hand looked swell. I stalked the board with the work he had done on it and I was confident I was willing to pay what I did for what I was getting. Considering I've only seen 2 968's in person (one of which was Scott's (sh944) Horizon Blue cab but you can't judge any other cars off his) and a ratty old black on black I spotted years ago in a Walmart parking lot in Nebraska with Texas license plates, I was willing to spend a bit more than most just because they just don't exist around here.
So we worked out a deal on the phone and then it came time to get the car from Maryland to Iowa, 1200 miles away. I was going to fly out and drive back but after getting several quotes to ship I decided it was best to just ship the car. It would've ended up costing the same with gas, tolls, food, hotels, etc and I would've loved to have the stories to go with a trip like that but folks talked sense into me. I'm glad for that. Probably not the best to try and drive an unknown-to-me 27 year old car that far but it sounded like fun. Maybe next time.
Anyway, did tons of searching online about shipping companies and my head was spinning. I'd never shipped a car before so I was nervous. Put up an ad on UShip (I know...) and it was nothing but the same 3 companies giving quotes back and forth, lowering each one by $2 just so they could be 'the cheapest'. I didn't want to deal with it because they were all brokers and Dr. Google is full of tales of woe with brokers. In the end, based on reviews and recommendations from guys on 'the other site', I went with J&S Transport out of Billings, MT to do the shipment. Everyone said they have their own trucks, were great at communicating, were fast and without hassle. My experience wasn't that. Maybe because they primarily deal with west coast and we were dealing with east coast, I don't know.
So they picked up the car Saturday morning (6/29). If it weren't for John telling me they were coming I wouldn't have known. No call or text from the shipper. He sent a pic of the car being loaded and I was shocked to see that it wasn't being shipped by J&S but rather a towing company out of MD. Okay, maybe they had to tow it to Baltimore or something to get it on a truck. Nope. Fast forward through the weekend and no communication even though I was assured I would be texted daily to let me know where my car was. First thing Monday morning I called J&S to find out where the car was. No answer. When they called back I was simply told that 'we don't know where the driver is, we're trying to track him down and we'll call when we find your car'. That was the first and only time I heard from J&S through the entire shipment.
That afternoon (7/1) I get a call from Orlando, the driver who drove the car the entire way, that he was 3-4 hours out. He called again when he was 20 minutes away so we could arrange a pickup spot. Decided on a school just off the interstate and so that's where we met up. We got the car unloaded, went over it briefly to make sure there weren't any major flaws, I gave Orlando a good ole Iowa dinner to take with him and we parted ways. Me home and he back to MD. I don't fault him at all for the lack of communication with J&S. He was simply paid to do the job. They are the company (broker) so that's on them. If I were to do it all again, I would pick a different company. Or just hire Orlando privately. He was great.
All that aside, here she is right as she pulled up, all alone on the trailer. There was another car on the trailer when it was loaded but the odometer didn't move from loading to unloading so all they did was back it off and drive it back on. Glad about that.
Here she is just home and parked next to my 87 944 daily driver. I'm sad to say the 87 hasn't been driven since I got the 968. I'm not sure if I'll be keeping it or not but for now the battery is disconnected and she sits. I just hope no squirrels take up residence. I supposed I should decide what to do with it pretty soon...
So now that I've driven it a good 300 miles since it was delivered 6 days ago, there's some things that need to be fixed on it. This is by no means, any fault of John. I know this is an old car and it's going to have issues. Sitting in a junkyard for years certainly didn't do it any favors but I think working on the car is just as much fun as driving it so I'm ready. This is my 10th or 13th or something (I've lost count) 944 variant so I'm no stranger to these cars so I know the basics but the whole twin cam variocam system is foreign to me. John did tons of work on this car but still, there's some squeaks, squeals and rattles that I need to attend to so that's where I hope you guys can help. Eventually I will tear the front end apart and do belts, rollers, water pump, seals, etc as I have a complete kit I bought for the 87. I'm pretty sure they're the same (have to go through PET and find out). Figure I may as well put it to use on the car I'm keeping but that's for another day.
With all that said, I've been busy ready up on this board and I'm glad to see there's a community here willing to help. Small but loaded with information. Hopefully this will be my DD from here on out and I can keep this one going for awhile. I never thought the day would come I would own a 968 but here we are. Stranger things have happened. But I digress.
If you made it this far in the post, I'm sorry for it being so long and I look forward to the future here.
Hey Jason, Great that you've finally gotten the best of the 944 variants! And in a great color too. I've found this community to be full of real experts and you can post all kinds of questions, and then they get answered! When you hear from Cliffhudson or Thomasmryan and they tell you what you need to do, that's what you need to do. And those are just two of the many experts.
Sorry about the shipping. When I got mine, I paid for two plane tickets to Indiana in the winter of 2014 or 2015. It was the "vortex" winter when the temps were below 0 for a few weeks. We landed in a snowstorm. A friend met us and we picked up the car with an open trailer in the snow. In the morning, it had leaked out a puddle of power steering fluid. The Indy Porsche dealership patched it up on a Saturday morning and we ventured home. I'm not sure shipping it wouldn't have been better, but my sister and I got some time together and we have a story. You do too, just a different one.
Good luck with the car. Keep the balance shaft belt loose when you change it! (but you've done a 944, so you know that)
Good luck with your new sweetheart. And welcome to 968 ownership.
Thanks guys for the welcome! I know I'm in good company here which will make solving the problems all the more enjoyable.
Before I start a new thread (and I did search), is this anything to be concerned about? The temp stays steady at the first mark on the gauge, no evidence of anything on the AOS cap, nothing in the oil or on the dipstick, exhaust is clear, doesn't smell like anything other than gas from it running rich, it's just this white slimy sludge right here on the reservoir cap. I don't know how much was in there when the car was delivered but it is low on coolant. I'll flush the system when I do the front end service and water pump but don't want to do that if this is indicative of something more serious that I need to take care of first. So what say you?
I don't see a sheen on top of the coolant in the reservoir. is it slimy, (more than what coolant is to begin with) or have a definitive smell?
oil may have eased into the coolant passages during the head job.. get about 10 gallons of distilled water and some citrus flush. I like the benz stuff. 'they say' a shop vac works well for getting down in the depths of the block and heater core. flush and rinse it out a few times.
Oh my !!!
That could be twubble.
I have a Benz motor that has a gummy cap as well.
I suspect it has had a dose of Chemweld
No milkshake in the sump ??
As the boys say wipe it and run it but to get that deposit of "puss" that's a fairly large leak IMO.
Good luck.
I'm in Thomas's camp. Get Citrus flush and distilled water. Rinse it well. Run it with 10% citrus and 90% water for 15 minutes. Make sure the heat is on and the thermostat opens. Then drain and flush again. Remove any hoses you need to so that you can flush thoroughly. And then pray a little if you buy into that sort of thing. When bleeding the system of air, it can be a pia. I've been successful with raising the driver's side corner and applying light pressure at the reservoir cap using a pressure tester attachment hooked up to compressed air - again the heat must be on for bleeding.
...And throw the cap away!
Congrats and welcome. How much did they get you for on the shipping? I purchased my white project coupe and had it shipped to CT for $700 which I thought was great. That was 3 years ago.
From Maryland to the furthest west you can get in Iowa (1200 miles) was $1450. UShip started at $1600 and after about a week they were down to $1200. Intercity (enclosed) quoted me $2900 but it would be a month before they could do it (not that I would ever go for that).
Needless to say I was shocked at how expensive it was because everyone online insisted it would be under a grand. Especially considering that it was a straight shot through on I-80 pretty much the entire way. For poop and laughter I got a quote from MD to CA...$1600. I just can't believe more than double the miles is basically the same price taking the exact same route. But it is what it is. In the future if I ever buy a car half way across the country I'll beg, borrow or rent a truck and trailer and tow it myself.
07-07-2019, 06:14 PM
new to me 92 968
