Some advice

[Ryan82911sc]

Hey guys, I recently purchased a 82 911 sc targa, not knowing that it has a broken head stud. At first I was super pissed, having had a PPI and everything. But realizing that there is not much I can do about it now, I guess I have to try to make light of the situation somehow. I have read many of the threads on the head stud problem, and wish I had known more about it before I bought the car. As it stands I don’t have the money to pay the local dealer the 5k or so to do the rebuild. So I am forced to do one of 2 things, either sell it at a loss or drive it for the rest of the summer than try to do a rebuild myself in the winter.
Question #1: If I sell it, I would have no idea what to ask knowing that it has a broken stud. The car is a silver targa, with 170k, the car has new paint (orig color) and was done really well. Has a new targa top, and new clutch, also all 3.2 upgrades. Upholstery on drivers seat need to be fixed. I have a seat cover on that seat currently, other than those things and the head stud the car is fine. I paid 10k for the car. The car always starts and has a strong engine, I was just really disappointed when I found out about the head stud (its a good thing the guy I bought it from lives in LA). I thought 10k was a fair price but knowing about the head stud problem do you think asking 8K is unreasonable, I could not see selling it for less than that.
Question #2: if I don’t end up selling it I decided to try and do a rebuild this winter. (even though i have not much mechanically at all). How risky is it to drive it the rest of the summer if I take it easy, since I don’t really have an option, and don’t want to take advantage of someone but just selling them the car and not telling them about the problem. I figured that since this has already been a learning experience(ie get a PPI from a porsche dealer or specialist, not just any foreign car place.) I was looking for a good book that walks through the rebuild process in great detail. (basically so a monkey could do it) Im in school for mechanical engineering, so im not a complete idiot, but car engines is something I have not learned anything about. I would like to for once not be the guy who breaks down on the side of the road, and just gets out of the car, opens the engine compartment, and is like "yup thats and engine alright." SO basically long story short, good book or a fair price, if you are in the upstate NY area or maine and are interested in the car or have done a rebuild it would be great to hear from you.

[nostatic]

It depends on a few factors. How many miles are on the engine? Has it ever been rebuilt? (EDIT: oh sure...add the facts after I post my response ) Your options would be:

drive it as is and fix it some time in the future. There are quite a few people on this board that are driving with a broken head stud

fix the head studs, but don't rebuild the engine. This is a relatively cheap way to go, but only makes sense if the engine has fairly low miles. For instance, if you had 50K on the engine, I would think seriously of doing this, but if you were at 100K, I probably wouldn't.

fix the head studs and do a top end rebuild. As you said, this is pricey (but don't have a Porsche dealership do the work...find a good independent).

Check these threads (and others if you search on head studs:
Head stud poll
PPI gone bad! Always remove valve covers!

[Jack Olsen]

I moved the correct (I hope) text in, and deleted the corrected post.

[Rick Lee]

If your ride is in that great shape, $10k sounds like it's not at all a bad deal. What 3.2 uprgrades do you have? 170k is pretty high miles to just do a top end. You probably need a full rebuild, if it has never been done. I'd think about swapping engines. You may be able to reduce your net cash outlay by selling your engine and getting another 3.2 or even a 3.6 for less than the cost of a full rebuild.

Lesson: skip the PPI and pay for a valve adjustment on a prospective 911. That will turn up a broken head stud if it exists, maybe find a few other things and it'll give you another year of driving before you have to worry about a valve adjustment.

[Ryan82911sc]

Originally posted by Richard LeSchander
you may be able to reduce your net cash outlay by selling your engine and getting another 3.2 or even a 3.6 for less than the cost of a full rebuild.

OK, thanks....now where is a good place to look inot buying and selling engines?

[Rick Lee]

They pop up on eBay and Rennlist all the time. If you speak German pretty well, there are a lot of goodies on the German eBay:

http://listings.ebay.de/aw/plistings/list/category10408/index.html

I'm sure one of your local Porsche garages has leads for you. They grow on trees if you're an Internet Porsche junkie. I'm starting to ponder doing a 3.6 upgrade to keep myself from going crazy and getting a 993. There is some website - I don't remember it - but these guys have all sorts of great P-car engines for sale and they make them perfect and ready to bolt in before they ship them. I think it may be with Steve Weiner or at least he'll know more. I don't think I'd ever pay for a full rebuild on a 3.2. I'd either learn to do it myself or go to a 3.6 and let someone else buy my 3.2 and rebuild it.

[HawgRyder]

During my posting to Germany...we found out that the locals cannot use "used" parts on the highway.
So...we looked for and found a "wrecking yard" (more of a melt the metal down yard)...and made a deal with the owner to take engines and transmissions off his hands for a resonable price.
He sent several back to Canada for us over the next 3-4 years...and every one was a fairly new low mileage unit.
One of my friends was into cabinet making...and he grabbed all the crates the units came in...very nice wood...and screwed together not nailed.
I don't know if the same situation exists in Germany now...does anyone have the latest info?
Bob