Need Help on 951 Purchase

[Scott R]

Well it has come down to a 951 as my new choice of purchase. One of you guys found a beautiful 951 on EBAY, right here in Denver CO. So I am going tomorrow night to look at it. Being a previous 944 N/A owner for the last few years I need to know exactly what to look for during my inspection. I know all the usuals, leaking balance shafts, bad water pumps. What else? BTW here is the EBAY link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=595771628&r=0&t=0

[ribs]

If you are looking for turbo specific problems...look for the following:

Make sure boost comes on full (meaning .8 bar if stock, more if modded, on the factory gauge) by ~3200 RPMs (lower if modded except with a larger turbo) in 2nd and 3rd gear. It will have NO balls until the turbo hits, but then it should pull VERY hard all the way to close to red line, where you will feel the boost let up. There should be no dips, pauses, or chokes unless you accidentally hit the rev limiter.

Start the car and let it warm up fully, and stand behind it, and smell the exhaust. It should smell fairly neutral if stock, and it will smell a little rich if chipped or otherwise modded. Have a friend go in the car and rev the car quickly to red line repeatedly. No black smoke or very little should come out of the back. If it does, you either have blow by or leaking oil seals on the turbo. What ever the color of smoke for excess fuel is probably okay. My car, for instance, has a little black poof every once in a while from the turbo.

Bringing a mechanical boost gauge with a 6' tube along with you would not be a bad idea. Hook it up to a nipple on the intake manifold and drive around, and see what kind of boost you are getting.

If it is an 87' (I think thats what the ad said) AND it has a transmission cooler (all 86's had them, but they became optional 87+) see if it is grimey and dirt covered or clean. The cleaner, the more efficient it will be.

And of course get a leakdown and compression test. All of the other standard 944 areas of concern should be looked at carefully, but those were the few turbo specific things I could think to look at. Judging from the pictures of the car, if the mechanicals were maintained as well as the body, interior, and engine bay, you may have found a winner. Good luck...keep us posted.



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ribs, 86' 951

[ribs]

Oh...I think that is the infamous V6 hiyabusa edition 944 turbo

[Scott R]

You are correct! It's a dealer in Boulder Colorado that usually deals in 911's of course. He admits the mistake. A leakdown was done at the Boulder Porsche dealer. I will see that tomorrow. One more question, if the turbo is in good shape, where should it kick in at? 2k? 3k?

[Blackfoot]

hmmm, back in june you claimed you owned a 951...hmmm

[ribs]

It should start to kick in around 3200 RPMs on a stock set up. Full boost should be around 4500 RPMs, and it will slowly taper off as you reach redline...but this is in 3rd gear and above. 2nd gear seems to boost a little less than 3rd 4th and 5th in my car, and 1st doesn't seem to boost much at all. With the few mods I have (cat back exhaust, APE stage II chips, lindsey boost enhancer) it kicks in about 500 RPMs sooner. I have only ridden in 1 stock 951 (that would be Mike Bucks ...he gave me a ride in his stock grocery getter a month or so ago) and mine has been chipped since I got it, so I am not really sure. I do know that the few mods I have make a very noticable difference though, as I pulled up behind mike and he took off, I followed and I had to brake hard to avoid ramming into his car.

My older sister lives in bolder, and my parents are driving (not flying like they usually do) out to breckenridge tomorrow. Crazy. Good luck.

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ribs, 86' 951

[MBuck951]

The secret is out. I own a STOCK 951


I agree with ribs. I hit full boost around 4300 i'd guess. My power really tapers off though, i think my wastegate is shot or near shot, 103k miles.

a new in car video i made this weekend
1min. video

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Mike Buck
My Gallery
'88 944 turbo
'89 944 NA

[This message has been edited by MBuck951 (edited 09-24-2001).]

[This message has been edited by MBuck951 (edited 09-24-2001).]

[scottewid]

My 86 951 has Weltmeister chips and LBE. Boost starts coming on at 2900rpm now. Before I put in the LBE it came on about 3200rpm. I bought it with the chips, so don't know what stock would be like.

I can get full boost in 1st gear, but because it spools winds up to redline so fast, I usually don't. 2nd gear boosts all the way to 2bar indicated in the stock gauge, as well as 3rd gear. 4th gear boosts little less, like 1.9 indicated.

Also, I don't know if this is true, but I thought I read somewhere that stock, you can only get boost at wide open throttle. I don't know if it's due to my chips, but I can get any range of boost using partial throttle e.g., accelerate with partial throttle above 3k rpm and boost is 1.5 bar, then floor it and it jumps to 2 bar.

[scottewid]

Scott, forgot to ask: what are you doing with the supercharged 944? Are you getting a 951 because of the tuning trouble you were having after adding the Rimmer?

[Scott R]

Blackfoot, back in June I had an 86 951 with 210K on it. I bought it at auction and never really got it running right. I sold it to my neighbor who is planning on restoring it. That’s why I need to know about the *correct* boost pressure. What’s distressing is that was the only bit of help you had to offer. Figures. Anyway my 1985.5 SC is At Eurosport Limited in Englewood CO. They are supposed to call me to today and make an offer on what’s left of it. If they don't I will part the SC off, and junk the body. I will let you all know if the SC comes up for sale.

[This message has been edited by Scott R (edited 09-25-2001).]