It is with a heavy heart that I'm putting my car up for sale. I haven't lost my job but have been forced to take a 30 percent cut in pay. I haven't put the car in Classifieds or Auto Trader yet but will as soon as I can get some good pics. Here are the basic specs:

1996 993 C4 Cabriolet, 58,000+ miles, asking $26,000 obo
Polar Silver
6-speed manual transmission
18-inch turbo twist wheels (not hollow spokes)
Almost new Sumitomo HTR Z II's (less than a thousand miles on the tires)
RS rear wing
Aerokit-style front splitters (fiberglass)
HID headlights (Came with the car when I bought it)
Schnell strut brace
A/C works great - relatively
Recently aligned

Known issues with the car:
- Top doesn't work (Most probably the cables since I can hear the motor working)
- Front bumper cover needs to be resprayed
- Back seats have been removed (Needs new carpet back there. I thought I would have this car forever)
- No stereo (Radio-delete plate in place)
- Needs new rubber ducts under the car for the heater to work. (Can't remember what it's called)
- When I bought the car the PO painted the seats (Ugh!) which started peeling after a while (Iggee seat covers installed)
- Driver's side door strap clicks
- Driver's side door rubber inserts need to be replaced
- A few dings and rock chips throughout the body
- The oil was replaced at around 55,000 miles but I haven't done any kind of service on it since. I've put a little over 3000 miles on it since I got it about a year ago.
- New Continental belts caused CEL to come on (Check engine light on since belts were replaced. I believe the solution is to put original Porsche belts on)
- Suspension is totally stock as far as I know (The car will come with a set of lowering springs that I bought but never installed. Was saving to get new shocks but never got it)

That's all I can think of at this point but please feel free to ask me anything about the car that I might have missed. I'll be totally honest with you. I love this car and hate to have to do this. You can PM me or call me @ 480.338.6868.

 

Gino: Sorry to hear that the dumbasses in Washington claim another. Good luck.

 

You took the words out of my mouth....

 

Gino:

Post some pics please. I may have someone interested.

Mike

 

That's a really honest ad. I wish you luck with a quick sale. I will probably be in a similar boat very soon. I'm dreading starting a thread where I will be selling mine in late winter or early spring due to just finding out that my job will be ending by the start of the 2nd quarter (as I know it) and my new job with this company will pay wayyy less than half of what I'm making now.

At least I had a great 5 years with a 993. I'll be terribly sad to see it go, considering that I just spent a ton of time and energy getting it to where it is now. If the streets weren't a sheet of ice I'd be out there I'd be driving it now and enjoying it.

 

Mike,

Will do. I just need to get home from work before sunset to get some decent pics. Thanks for your help.

 

Steve, so sorry to hear that. I know how you feel. I hope things turn around for you. I've had mine for about a year but it's been a great year. I'm hoping to be in a position to get another one when the economy gets better in a couple of years. Fingers and toes crossed

 

It makes my heart sink to read of Rennlisters who are forced to sell their cars due to the current economic conditions I'm hoping that better times are around the corner and you'll be back in a 993 soon!

 

I am sorry to hear that the economy is affecting some members so strongly. With the value of these cars being pressed so low now (like in the low to mid $20's) it starts to get to the state where the capital being released by selling a car is pretty small, and the reacquisition costs can be significant. The maintenance can kill you though, and I will admit if I did not do my own maintenance, I would not own my car...the expense would definitely kill the pleasure of ownership. I also have a personal rule of paying cash for these kinds of discretionary "toys", my frugal side (or is it my mother?) tell me if you can't pay cash, you should double think about the purchase.

On the plus side, its likely that the prices will not change much if and when you decide to get back into ownership.

Best of luck on the sale!

Cheers.

Mike

 

That sucks!! But I understand. Things are going to get worse for a little wile, before they get better.

I have to do the 90kmi service on my C4, & it's out of my budget, so I'm going to try & tackle it all my self. The PS belt & distributor belt are ones that I'm not looking forward to doing.

 

I have replaced a few PS belts, and in all cases they do not even too worn, never mind about to fail. I would say the distributor belt is more important, but worse case you can remove it, send it out, and re-install. The procedure to do the belt is not hard except for drilling out the existing pin, its a bit tricky to make sure you drill out the pin only. However, even if you screw it up a bit, it will still all work out.

I find that the task usually looks duanting until you actually do it, then you wonder why you had problems.

Check out www.pcarworkshop.com, lots of help there, and of course we all on the list are here to pitch in as well.

If you are willing to go for a drive, you can come up to my shop in Vancouver and we can get it done here as well!

Cheers,

Mike

 

Thanks Mike, that's what I thought about the PS belt, it's "while I'm in there" thing. I have played with the distributer out of the car, & seen the belt, & know what needs to be done. Drilling out the roll pin is easy, it's the distributor timing, that is more daunting.

Of course, I've been to P-carworkshop.

I wish you were a little closer, so I could bribe your help, it's the fear of the unknown that makes it hard to dive in. Not having a lift doesn't help.

 

So sad and frustrating to read this. I am sure part of the new package is 30 percent increase in workload. Good luck with sale.

 

I hope we both get another shot at getting a 993 one day in the future. Thanks for the kind words. Next time, maybe I'll get a silver/black Tiptronic Targa. I sit in terrible traffic most of the day, it would be fun not to have to shift all the time from 1st to 2nd and back. DC traffic is the worst!

 

Actually, the timing is one of the easiest things. First rule is, it does not matter on the position of the crank, you do not need to have the car at TDC (common misconception).

The primary rule is you need to return the rotor position to the same place as it was before you pulled the distributor. This assumes you will not turn the engine over while you have the distributor out.

What I do is pull the caps off the distributor, and using a sharpie or other marker that DOES NOT RUB OFF, mark the positions of the two rotors on the case of the distributor. Make the mark on the body of the distributor in such as way as you can be sure, once the distributor is back into the car, that you have returned the rotors in the same position. The gear set between the crank and distributor is fairly course, so if you are out a notch you will know.

The distributor is fixed in position so it only goes into one position in order to hit its hold down bolt.

So, mark it, pull out the distributor. Make sure you have marked BOTH rotors, since it will be essential that you get the relative position between both rotors accurately...again fairly course since at minimum you can be out one notch of the belt.

Once you have done the rebuild, and you have made sure that the rotors both align with the marks together, you can reinstall. When you put the distributor back into the case, the gear will engage before the distributor is at the bottom, and slightly twist the rotors. If you don't get alignment on the first try, pull the distributor, move the rotor either direction a bit, re-engage and you will catch another tooth of the gear, and it will change position when fully engaged. Keep doing that, and you will get full alignment after a while. Bolt down the distributor, and double check the BOTH rotors are aligned to their respective marks.

Finish the installation of the caps etc. and go for it.

See, that was not so hard! :-)

Cheers,

Mike