Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Well yesterday I took the plunge into insanity (or the world of old Porsche ownership) & I am now the proud owner of an 87 944. Been looking for a project for ages & bidding in a half asrsed way on Ebay, then it happened I won! Where was it Aberdeen, where do I live Telford Shropshire? Flight duly booked for the following Saturday, the wife bless her drives me to the Airport at 5 in the morning. Get of the plain get picked up & driven to see my new Baby. Not quite as described so manage to knock A few quid of. Do the paper work & of into the nearly 500 hundred mile drive home clutching my mobile phone with recovery number on speed dial. Hit he motorway finally decide to take it easy just to get it home in one piece. Then it happened 60,70,90, well let’s see how it goes above a ton just for a second 115 slow down you fool! Anyway 6:30 & I pull up on the drive. Take the wife for a blast & put it in the garage (the car not the wife) but now so many question I hope you guys are as good as I hope, think you are, I NEED LOTS OF HELP.
My problems are these so far.
Antilock light on from start up (guy i bought it from says it was ok the day before & he seemed a genuine sort of guy)
Driver’s window not working.
No service history (yes I know belts)
Sun roof just lift up at the back & makes a lot of noise when it opens it just keeps clicking.
But after all that I think I already love this car more than any car I have owned. Had company cars for 20+ year some from new some a few months old, some good some not so good. But this thing makes me happier than picking up any number of new £20,000 pound rep mobiles & all for £800.

Oh what have you done indeed?? Bought one of the very best road cars ever. Solidly built, wonderful to driveand if it's looked after, will give many more miles of driving pleasure. And it will take a lot to wipe the cheesy Porsche grin from beneath your nose. I took my 911SC on a sprint track today, that was a blast! It's 28 years old.

You will find many helpful people on this forum, many 944 drivers already having to sort out things like belts and sunroofs (believe me!).

Glad you got it home safely, and I hope it's in good hands.

Nice motor. Enjoy the ride.

Hi and welcome from me and welcome to the happy and sometimes insane world of classic Porsche ownership. These cars are bought and driven with the heart and they'll alwways reward you even when they do throw all their toys out the pram and say "no I'm not going another inch further". The regular home mechanics/teccies will be along soon to answer your questions

Hi

Picked mine up on Friday, mine was only 200 miles away so maybe not quite as mad as yourself....i am in Birmingham myself, so maybe we could kick each others tyres.....I know what you mean though, its gonna be a bug!!!

Best thing for yu to do is get along to your local TIPEC meeting, then you can kick lots of tyres.

Central regional page is here: http://www.tipec.net/region_central.php

Paul (Bird) and the crowd will make you fell most welcome.

Hello and welcome, 500 miles is a good test drive, sunroof sounds like slip clutch too tight and stripped lift gears, about a tenner or so for a pair, but a bit of a pain to line up, abs could be a dodgy wheel sensor

Well done doesnt sound bad for that money TBH.

ABS on could be bad ABS unit or ECU, there is a test for the ABS system as it can be interogated. Have a look on Pelican & Clarkes Garage as more of the US ones had it than UK.

Window, switch or the grease has solidified. Switch is easy, stripping & cleaning the motor & gears fiddly.

Sunroof sounds like knackered gear(s) again Clarkes guide has a 6 page article on fixing sunroofs.

Just in case you haven’t found it online yet, Clark’s Garage is here: LINK. You want the Garage Shop Manual from the left-hand menu.

Well thats how I got mine. But I don't recommend it. If it's not got 12 mths ticket first job is put it through & see what it fails on. No service history isn't good. If it needs a lot doing for it's mot it may be cheaper to buy another than fix it. Sad but true. Any rust especially. If you made it home then thats a good sign. Hope your foot wasn't hard down at 115 as they should go a lot faster than that. With luck it may just need a good service. Just not worth restoring these now as good ones can be had for so little. From a guy who's been there & done it. Good luck!

LO and wellcome ,

I follow all the cheap 944's on E-Bay as I enjoy it and recognise that one straight away, from the reg,wheels and location.

You'lll get loads of folk post don't buy a cheap one ( and they are right of course) but there is something special about being able to say " yeah I paid 800 quid for my Porsche " and you'll potentially be rescuing a great car from possible doom. I have watched the cheapies closely and they definately go for less in Scotland ( sometimes a lot less), so much so that the trip has tempted me more than once.

Get thoose belts done , don't think about it soon just get them done ! then drive her lots.

Regards
Mas

I'll defend the corner of buying a cheap 944 so long as you don't expect to pick the car up and drive for a year without having to throw some dosh at it. And even if you did take a gamble and not do the belts and it blows there's always someone that will still buy the car not running and you'd only be about 50% down on your outlay. I'd rather own a car that's died and be 500 out of pocket than own a car that quickly owes me 3k and in reality only worth 1500ish and still needing bits done.

Cheap generally means an honest car rather than one that's advertised as having "bundles of history a recon engine etc" and various other forms of elaborated truths that come with the mid priced cars.

Most of the people that join the forum before or after taking the plunge seem to be serious enthusiasts and know it's going to be a bit of an uphill struggle to start with, they wouldn't be on here if they didn't. We also need to remember that a lot of the nicer cars owned by members initially had lots of hidden issues. If they had all been told to break the car for spares or sell and find a better one as JJ tells most newbies with project cars how many less nice cars would there be left now?

My old shed is a prime example of the don't buy it, break it or get rid of it quick examples. She stands me in at £1500 now after buying the car, full front end service I went the full hog and went back as far as the top hats and oil pump drive gear, filters, ignition, dme, oils and a bit of paint. Didn't do my own spanner work in the end labour charge came to £100 yup a £100 not £100's lol. I could have very easily made the mistake of being dazzled by the "bundles of history" mid priced cars like so many do and be sat with a car owing me 1500-2000 and still needing a bundle spending on it and thinking ooops stick it back on fleabay as so many seem to do. One "really good car" I nearly went for was back on a month after it had sold with a new head gasket, that would have been a nice surprise ouch.

If you play the game right you can be sat in a good honest car that was initially regarded as a shed to steer clear of. You get peace of mind of knowing that the big work was done yesterday and you know it was done yesterday because you had the work done yourself and still be on the sensible money side of ownership. I could be really clever with mine and flog the plate to claw back another £1000 but not convinced plates sell too well in today's economic mess, but I will take it off when I eventually get bored of the car and move it on.

So thumbs up to buying some of poorer cars out there so long as you don't want a show car and don't expect it to pull as good as the day it left the factory. From my side there's only 2 sensible options and that's either a shed for a running project with a good fund to work through it as you drive or a fully sorted club members car. The one's in the middle as I nearly found out will more often than not end in tears and an unexpected big dent in the wallet.

I say keep on saving the sheds, when they throw their rattle out of the pram as they do just shout back I'm not scared of you and you'll get huge satisfaction taming the beast

I agree with your sentiments Wasted Hippy. If your car is just a toy & a bit of fun & it gives you pleasure. Great. Enjoy. But you have to be realistic. By the way the labour bill for my top end rebuild with new water pump front seals, belts & rollers was £380. Also had new door stays & a full service in that price. Not Thousands. £380. Unfortunately the parts bill came in at almost 2K. The credit crunch means there are no more cheap parts for these cars. I used to get loads of bits from the states & GSF/euro car parts. Sadly now often OPC is cheaper. When it comes to engines I'm a perfectionist. My car is down on power but can manage 160 lbs of torque at 3000 rpm. Thats a bit more than it did when it was new. But I know it can do better. As I said in my original post. It may only need a good service! You need to be a bit lucky with classic cars. They are only as good as the last guy who worked on them. But anybody that buys one of these should go into it with eyes open. So my advice stands. As does the good luck at the end!