[RKDinOKC]

Guy at work. His son got a nice 944. Didn't check oil, EVER, drove with dash lit red until it stopped and wouldn't go again. Guy grew up with dad owning garage and racing dirt track cars. Asked me about rebuilding the 944 for his son. I asked if he or his dad had ever balanced and blueprinted a chevy, he said no. All the motors he put together never needed that kind of stuff. Told him it's not a chevy and he would be better off taking it to a local porsche shop and letting them rebuild it. Instead he did it himself. I month later the motor cratered. The best description I can come up with is that working on a Porsche motor is like balancing and blueprinting s chevy. The biggest difference the chevy will run without all the balance a blueprint specs, the Porsche won't for long. It's not that Porsche's are that different mechanically or even electrically. It's that they are built to closer tolerances to get more performance and will not last very long if those tolerances are not observed.

On the positive side, a local PCA club member has a 944 that has over 200K on it. It hasn't been problem free, and every time something quits working or breaks he talks about selling it. But the first drive after it is fix he is in love again and talking about keeping it forever.