i came across a red 944 and i wanted to see if other people thought this was a good deal...

is this car worth 3k?

here's the specs:

-'84
-red
-108k on it

the good:
-2year old paint job
-in overall great cosmetic shape
-starts up/ drives well
-no apperant signs of abuse
-new transmission
-new cat
-interior in pretty good shape
-aftermarket (i think BBS) two peice wheels
-new (ish) falken tires

the bad:
-missing one front fog light
-found reciept inside for "re-attach front swaybar left" , and that left tire shows some uneven wear so its got an alinement problem
-power steering is leaking


-owner says all the registration's up to date and they have reciepts for all the work thats been done

now the only thing i'm worried about is the cost of upkeep....i can do pretty much any work on it myself so i'm sure that'll save me somthing, but do you guys get drowned by parts costs?....

so is this a good move?

 

3k is probably about right. When were the clutch and timing belt/waterpump done last? Those will run you about $700 for the clutch and incidentals and about 500 for the waterpump/timing belt and incidentals. Big jobs. If the timing belt hasn't been done recently, it will need to be done immediately.

 

would it be easy to do the timing belt yourself??

 

I think that, if you have to ask that question, then you're not a qualified mechanic and you should not attempt to change the belts yourself![sm=badidea.gif]

 

There is nothing difficult about replacing the timing belt if you follow the procedure, but it is also a job that if you screw up will cost you thousands since the engine is an interference engine. This makes it probably the most intimidating job on a 944. The tensioning tool used to tension the timing and balance shaft belts is the P9201 which is about a $500 tool. There are cheap imitations on the market that are said to work, but I have never used them. Once you have done a half dozen belts or so, then you pretty much learn to go by the 90 degree twist method (which is highly unrecommended if you haven't tensioned any belts with the P9201).

 

cool, i'm not afriad of doing the belt/waterpump myself then.....i've been doing a bit of research and it seems that the only other really big thing that might jump up on me mechanicly is going to be the clutch (am i right?, or is there anything else?).....how invloved is that?....i'm pretty mechanicly skilled...i built the motor in my vw gti, and i work on boats for a living....

 

If you work on mechanical stuff for a living, then you won't have any problems working on a 944. The clutch in an NA is not that bad at all, I think book time is 12 hours....its the laying on your back for that long that really sucks, if you don't have access to a lift. On a lift, my last clutch job on an S2 (which is the same procedure as an 8V NA), took me 4 hours.

 

so a lift is what makes the difference huh?...hmmm i might be able to get to one, but if not, we've used the fork lift at work for some stranger things...is there any other major things i can expect to have to do with this car?

 

I'm not saying you need a lift, I have done almost every job there is on a 944 with it up on jackstands, but it makes the jobs much harder anyway.

Major things you can expect to do if you own the car for a couple of years:
Timing belt, balance shaft belt, front engine oil seals, and waterpump (occasionally I see a bad head gasket in the higher mileage engines, which is only a couple hours past the timing belt stage). Belts, Pump, and Seals are about an 11 hour job. Headgasket is about 13.
Oil pan gasket and rod bearings 8 hours or so
Clutch 12 hours
Turbo (if you get a turbo car) 13 hours
Rear hatch glass seperation. Most people just deal with the rattle and leak, but it is about an 8 hour time consuming, painstaking, one slip up and you shatter the rear hatch, kind of resealing job. I've done them in as fast as 3 hours, and as slow as about 12, just depends on the hatch itself.

Things that aren't too terribly long, but not all that fun:
Motor mounts 4 hours maybe, and a bit of cussing.

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind the most...

 

hey i had told the people who i might be buying the 944 from that i wasn't intrested anymore, and today they called me up and said they'd give it to me for 2500... i think they're desprate to sell, it and i might be able to get it down lower.... i think if i can get them down to 2200 or 2300 that i'm gonna go for it...