How user friendly are 911's?

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by john_colasante

(do any Pelican old timers get that joke?)

nope

[ruf-porsche]

Originally posted by RoninLB
nope

I think if you have to explain a joke, it really not a joke.

[HarryD]

Originally posted by hawaiianvw67
Aloha,

Thanks for all the replies. I suppose I shouldn't be too worried about moving from a VW to a Porsche, since they are essentially the same animal, one more evolved than the other.

912's are nice, but I wouldn't mind having the two extra cylinders. I just keep hearing the flat six on replay in my head from the last time I was at the historic races in Portland, OR and I can't shake it. Anyone have any audio files of flat sixes at WOT?

I suppose I was wondering if most of you are able to do your own work with the same set of tools you may have had with your VW (you have to date a certain amount of VW's before you get to go out with a Porsche). Are there many things you find yourself having to contract out to the local Porsche guru?

aloha,
Joel

err.. what's a VW? Prior to my Porsche I only dated foreign girls from Britain and Japan.

As far as what to farm out..it sort of depends on you. I have certain jobs I would rather not do or lack the necessary facilities so they get farmed out. Sometimes, I am lazy, they get farmed out, sometimes I feel poor so I do the work and sometimes, I just want to get greasy. Sort of depends on where you are at.

Aloha!

[emcon5]

Originally posted by john_colasante
(do any Pelican old timers get that joke?)

Yep.

Tom

[hawaiianvw67]

Aloha,

So, it seems the overall consensus is that early 911's are about as difficult/easy as any other older car. Just depends on what you are comfortable with and what kind of tools/facilities you have access to. Cool...that's do-able for me.

As far as disassembling something on the lanai...my Wife about snapped-out when I cleaned-up my new 2110cc VW motor and put it in storage in my side of the closet. Yeah, kinda crazy, but hey...we're just starting grad. school and can't afford a nice place with lots of storage. Can't just give away a brand-new engine! She made me sell the car that housed it!

aloha,
Joel

[sleepdoc]

Hi,

If you can pull your VW engine and put it back in and make it work the 911 will not be any real challenge as far as mechanical skill. Possibly you are not asking the right question though. In Hawaii you are up against a number of painful realities.

There are essentially no used Porsche parts in the state. The rust situation means that any 911 that is not being actively maintained and is older than ~ 1985 is probably rusted to a near useless mass. There are just no 911s at the wrecker.

There is one only Porsche dealer on Oahu. They deal in no used older 911s and typically have only one or two current models on show.

That dealers parts department is staffed by folks who have never seen much less are familiar with a 914, or a pre 1990 911.

The service dept is a bit more experienced but absolutely clueless when compared to almost any other metropolitan area of one million people.

The aftermarket parts people are solely interested in rice, and I mean that.

I have found one only on Oahu independent Porsche mechanic who is knowledgeable pleasant and reasonably generous with advice. (He races one of his own cars) If you look at buying a 911 on Oahu I would trust no one else to due a PPI, including the dealer.

Fact: There are NO commercially available corner scales on the island of Oahu.

Therefore you may want to ask the question
Is Hawaii a user friendly state for the diy porsche owner?

I say categorically no!

Some data that may help you.

To ship a running auto from say Oakland or LA to Honolulu costs about 850$. The process is relatively quick about 7-10 days.

To ship a non running auto costs about 1600$. It must go in its own container, so you might ship other goods at the same time and save or make money.

In terms of info and advice there are good reference books and this board is a priceless resource.

For my 914 3.2l conversion I have been able to obtain almost all the parts and info I needed from online sources.

best Mark

[hawaiianvw67]

Aloha Mark,

I absolutely agree with you. I shipped my 1967 VW Beetle down from Portland when I moved here, so I know the cost of shipping. Also, like you mentioned, there are NO vintage VW's down here to be had in the wrecking yards. Any local VW's are either never driven or completely rusted out P.O.S. I suppose it would be the same for any old car, Porsches included.

As for parts and mechanics...it sounds the same as the Porsche situation. Nobody down here knows what customer service is at the local VW shops, the VW dealerships don't even seem to know that they once produced and sold aircooled cars. All of the mechanics are stuck on 1970's technology and will actively go out of their way to stop anyone from improving the engineering. Needless to say, we seem to be in the same boat, as I ordered everything off the net and depended upon message boards for mechanical pointers and advice.

Anywho...I agree with you, but I won't let the horrible car scene deter me. Perhaps at some point, I will be one of the few persons on the island with a cherry 911.



aloha,
Joel

[47silver]

will the galvanized bodies 76 and later also rust there?

[caliber60]

moving from a VW to a Porsche. They are the same rear engine set up but total different car in terms of maintenance cost. Does your VW

$500 for valve adjustment
$1000 for air-condition conpressor
$6000 top-end job
$800 for a set of tires
$2000 clutch

One average will you be spending $1,500 a year for maintenance cost.

[ruf-porsche]

Originally posted by 47silver
will the galvanized bodies 76 and later also rust there?

Even galvanized steel will rust, they just don't rust as quickly as non galvanized steel.

[masraum]

$500 for valve adjustment
$1000 for air-condition conpressor
$6000 top-end job
$800 for a set of tires
$2000 clutch

One average will you be spending $1,500 a year for maintenance cost.

Yes and no.

Those prices may be for parts and labor, but even at that some seem high.

I have Bridgestone RE 730's which I would consider one step down from the S-03 and paid a little less than $500 for all four and then about $80 for installation. It seems to me top end jobs are usually quoted at $3000-5000.
When the PO had the clutch replaced in my car it was $2000, but that was for parts (they did lots of extra stuff while the thing was apart) and labor.

If you have had things shipped and are that hardcore in VW's then you should be set. You need some metric wrenches and the occasional special tool.

I say you are primed and ready. Considering CA is the primest Porsche land in the world it will probably be worth the shipping cost to have a CA car shipped over because you will have more to choose from, better pricing (they're a dime a dozen), and they are less likely to be rust buckets (the galvanized cars can rust, but will not as a rule).

[HarryD]

Originally posted by caliber60
moving from a VW to a Porsche. They are the same rear engine set up but total different car in terms of maintenance cost. Does your VW

$500 for valve adjustment
$1000 for air-condition conpressor
$6000 top-end job
$800 for a set of tires
$2000 clutch

One average will you be spending $1,500 a year for maintenance cost.

These prices seem high to me also. Check some of the vendors (like Pelican) for parts costs. You probably have a notion on how long these jobs might take.

A valve adjustment requires less than $50.00 in parts.

A top end is hard to say but my local wrench tells me $3k. I am pricing parts and machine shop and it looks like $1-1.5k.

Tires.. depends on what you buy.

Clutch - $400-500 in parts.

YMMV

[Sonic dB]

I dont know much about Hawaii... but my 86 came from there. In its first 9 years, it was only driven 11,000 miles.

Somehow it made its way to the states, and 4 owners later its mine with 65000 miles.

I have a service receipt from 1995. It was given full service from someone called Aircooled Engines - Expert Porsche Service - 1144 Kona St in Honolulu. Maybe they are still there.