[hopkinskid]

Again, this is posted on Rennlist, so I apologize to anyone who reads this twice.

Car - 1983 911 SC Targa, 117k miles.

First off, I got the PPI done at Heyer Performance in Mountain View by Tony. Tony was very informative, very honest, and checked the car thoroughly (test drive, etc, etc) = PPI took 3 hours (because we talked a great deal and he had to do some additional checks, mentioned later), and he was kind enough not to charge me 3 labor hours.

The car had some very minor "cosmetic" problems: torn driver's seat, tiny leak in targa, loose driver's side mirror, needs new turn signal, etc, etc (minor stuff that I can deal with later). It's not cherry, but overall, the car is in good condition. But then came the compression test:

1 - 155
2 - 160
3 - 155
4 - 150
5 - 150
but........
6 - 135

Tony was nice enough to check the intake, do a valve adjustment and a leakdown on #6 - 25%.
A little coming out of both exhaust and intake.

Can I get some advice? This car is almost "perfect" for me - all updates (spring centered clutch, carrera tensioners, popoff valve, new alternator, 24 new head studs in 1996, etc), a nice 911 I can start with, decent mileage, tranny/clutch in decent condition (synchros good, shifts good), and so forth.

If I were the owner of this car, I would suck it up and just drive it. I would ignore the 135 and eventually get a valve job ($3-3.5k) two, three, four years down the line...maybe never. But as a potential buyer, I have no idea. I could negotiate this problem into the final purchase price, but should I even bother? If I were to purchase the car, I was recommended to drive it hard (like a Porsche) for 1-2 thousand miles - the previous owners never drove the car hard, and used it as their 3rd/4th/weekend car. So drive the car like it was meant to be driven....and then get another compression check again. Maybe the 135 will be worse, maybe the same, maybe better. What are the chances of me facing a valve job 1 year down the line? I can deal with a $3-$3.5k job 3 years down the line, but not so short-term. Besides, again I could try to negotiate the owner's asking price considerably.

In addition, this was the same car that had all the work done in 1996 - the car had a valve + major job - remove/install engine/tranny, complete valve job, replace valve guides, replace all 24 head studs, etc. In addition, as recently as April 2000, a PPI showed no problems with the compression (170-175 on all cylinders).

I was thinking of offering $13.5-$14.0k if the PPI was satisfactory. However, with the #6 problem, I have no idea. Maybe offer $11.5-12k, and just drive the car until it needs a valve job. I'm not sure. I would greatly appreciate any recommendations, advice, information, stories, or scenarios.

Thanks!
Hopkinskid