School me on porsche...

[Ian F]

IMHO, if the goal is simply a fun car to drive around on nice days once in awhile (no track, auto-x, etc), then an air-cooled 911 is the only way to go. Sure, there are cars that are cheaper and/or better, but none will give the same experience (good and bad).

[Turf1600]

IMHO, if the goal is simply a fun car to drive around on nice days once in awhile (no track, auto-x, etc), then an air-cooled 911 is the only way to go. Sure, there are cars that are cheaper and/or better, but none will give the same experience (good and bad).

"Hey guys - I want a cheap e30 like a 325e. What are your thoughts?"

"Abandon that idea and go with a 3.0CS or a 2002 turbo"

JK...but I'm not buying a 911. I'm looking for a car to fart around with.

[QUKBMER]

My boss has 2 944 turbo's 86-87 and two 928s4's 88's. The 944's agree need to be sure to buy turbo model's and the 928's need to be 88-up for the 5 liter v8 twin cam 32 valve models(single cam models are POS). The 928s4 have 319 hp stock and the 944 turbo's have i think 220hp.

[Bimmerista]

When are you going to do a Euro plate filler install DIY? I need to budget my time wisely. Do you at least have a parts list?

I will make a write-up soon. I've had tons of requests from ppl asking me how to do a chrome valve stem cap install at the moment.

[Kershaw]

what about a late model plastic gas cap DIY?

my early model has the metal cap and i think its kind of ugly. besides it is small and hard to handle. like all of blunt's lovers.

[quickervicar]

944 is what I would look for. Clutches are a pain and expensive to replace. Look for faulty water pumps and AC units.

^ This. Also, rear hatch seals & hinges

[KenC]

928 = ungodly expensive parts. Remember, these were $80-90k cars in the 80s.

944 Turbo would definitely be the way to go. You can pick up nice examples for $7-8k. I'd take your time and make sure you get one that's been well cared for. Also, the 944 Turbo was faster than the 911 when they made it.

[freeride53]

911 Gang or Die

[ReallyDirtyThirty]

I love Porsche 914's. They aren't the fastest but for fun in the sun I think they're great. Plus you have love the sound of the air cooled engine.

[slammin.e28]

I love Porsche 914's. They aren't the fastest...

Just get a 914/6.....

I know of one in South America right now....I also have an alternator for said car. ;)

911 or go home.

[Ian F]

JK...but I'm not buying a 911. I'm looking for a car to fart around with.

Bzzz... "cheap car"... bzzz... "Porsche".... does not compute.... <fatal error... ;)

In that case... yeah... probably buy the cleanest 944 you can find... play with it for a year or so, then sell it before something expensive breaks.

[j0oftheworld]

Anyone spot this article in GRM?




Plain and simply beautiful! Love the older 912/11's but it's true.. p-car = $$$ unless you're going w. a 944.
An older 911 or a 356 would be awesome one day!

[kylekrueger]

It would depend on what you really want. You could get a 912 (356 D) as a running project for around 8-10k, but I don' think that is what you are looking to spend.
914's are not bad cars at all, the type 4 engine is more reliable than the type 1 engine, however I would imagine they have all sorts of roof leaks, but luckily parts are cheap for 914's.
If you want a 944 then be very certain that it has been well maintained and cared for. The reason you can get 944's for 2k all day is because they are rolling turds, 944's should be in very good order before considering a purchase.

In my opinion, I would look toward the 914, it would be a good weekend car and relatively easy to work on.

[blackhawkimpact]

I got a '83 Porsche 944 for sale for less than $2k if interested. But I'm in CA.

[der affe]

I have a really nice 1971 914-6 (conversion) sans the box flairs (which I don't like the way they look on a car) it has a 1971 911s (euro) 2.4 190 hp motor with the mechanical fi and ITBs. I built the car myself and spent about 11k. I found a really clean 914 body that had a fresh alpine white paint job, already had a doaner 1971 911s that was my dad's and had tons of cancer. I used the motor and some of the gauges and parted it for $ to build the car. I am also running C2 carerra wheels (6" in front and 8" in the rear).......... I still.spent 11k on top of it. The top seals will leak no matter what. All of mine are new and they still do. While the car is fun to drive and the engine sounds FANTASTIC it is still a pretty primitive car. I DD'ed it for 2 years before I bought my BMW and honestly, it is more fun to drive the BMW.

if you are looking for 914's you want to look at the battery tray and below it. As the battery leaks, it will eat the tray. If it goes longer, it will get into the rail and the suspension mounting point can fail. This happened on my own car. When it was painted by the PO they just put a patch over the damage and it eventually failed. I had to section in a repair piece. You will want to pull up the carpet behind the seats to look for rust. Since the tops leak, they are prone to getting rust at the base of thefirewall where it meets the floor. If you have rust there, check out the floorpan and you will most likely find rust there too.

If you find one that needs a fender replaced, there are 170 spot welds PER fender, they are not hard to replace, but very time consuming.

Finding a clean 914 can be hard to do.

For my money, I would get an older (early 80's up to 84) CIS 911 that has been well cared for. You will be pretty happy with your purchase, the 2.7 or 3.0 carerra motors make plenty of power. Once you get tired of that, you car get a complete 3.2 and swap it in for reasonable $ and you will have a rocket!