Questions to ask before buyer a '87 930 turbo

[Coach House 911]

In the process of purchasing a 930 Turbo and need to know what questions to ask before buying.

Any advice most appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

[Noah930]

I don't know if the questions you'd ask a turbo seller are significantly different than what you'd ask of a normally-aspirated seller. One thing I paid attention to, though, was how the seller drove the car on the test-drive. I had him drive the car, first. That way I could see if he was the kind of guy to let the motor properly warm up before getting on the throttle hard (and invoking the turbo), and if he was aware that the motor should cool gently for a few minutes before shutting it off, afterwards.

Otherwise, same questions of miles/track use/originality/maintenance/accidents/mods/oil consumption/rebuilds/etc apply.

[Coach House 911]

Thanks for the info.
The car has 55,500 miles and a long service history and appears to have been well maintained -but no rebuild. Turbo is original as well -any idea on the replacement or longevity of the turbo as well as cost for new? Also the engine studs have not been replaced and I have heard that it is just a matter of time before they need service.
Also I think a full brake service is needed including new rotors.

Mike

[Noah930]

I think it's hard to get a handle on how long these motors and turbos really last. On one hand, the high heat of the motor makes component longevity much less than what you'd get out of a N/A motor. So don't expect stories of 300K miles without a rebuild being true. And there are few guys (at least in the internet enthusiast forum world) who have stock, unrebuilt motors with over 100K miles. But is that because the motor/turbo had truly given up the ghost? Or was it an issue of I-want-more-HP-and-while-you're-in-there...? That turbo rush is pretty intoxicating.

FWIW, my car is stock with 90K miles. It's probably a lot slower than the modded cars guys have here on Pelican, Rennlist, and Funfgruppen. But stuff hasn't catastrophically exploded, yet. And I'm cheap. But on my mod wish list are headers, muffler, turbo, & intercooler. I think that would run about $7-8K in parts costs. Then I'll want better brakes, aftermarket seats, corner balancing, etc...

[EmptyGarage]

It's not so important what you ask the seller unless you trust him implicitly, and even then things can breakdown tomorrow.

Find an experienced shop and mechanic and have a PPI. Don't use seller shop! Pay for leakdown test!!!! especially on a car with that much mileage.

I made a purchase recently and even though that car had acceptable leakdown I'm glad I spent the money. In another case, an earlier car I was looking at, when I was arranging for the PPI and leakdown the seller who spoke accolades about his car started to volunteer alot more issues when he knew it was going to a shop for PPI. After those spontaneous confessions I went from 100% I was going to buy this 87 Turbo factory slant to not a chance in Hell.

Ask PPI mechanic to give opinion on syncros in car and mechanic talk for needs rebuild soon is slightly difficult or some noise .... At least that has been my experience.

Good luck

[WPOZZZ]

Buyer: What shop do you use?
Seller: XXXX Motorsport
Buyer: Thank you. May I take it to another shop of my choosing for a PPI?

[Coach House 911]

Great advice once again. I guess everything is a leap of faith but I have huge difficulty with buyers remorse -Plus the $39K is at the limit for me and any serious repairs will tip the scales....

thanks,
Mike

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by Coach House 911

Great advice once again. I guess everything is a leap of faith but I have huge difficulty with buyers remorse -Plus the $39K is at the limit for me and any serious repairs will tip the scales....

thanks,
Mike

$39k? That is way too high for that car. I don't know what kind of emissions regs you have in Canada, but there are some US cars for sale here at much better prices with mods!

[pkracer21j]

39k is fare for an all original excellent condition turbo. a lot of the us cars that are cheap aren't you pristine "no stories" cars.

[voitureltd]

Some cars with 50k mi look like 90k mi and some look like 20k mi. I think if it looks, drives and PPIs out like 20K mi car then the price ( $39K ) is fine. I also like higher mi cars ( 40 to 60) with a "good story" and have required few repairs since new. That means that it was a good one to begin with and someone over serviced it, with hands on TLC, drove it in good weather on good roads and knew how to start it, drive it in the right RPM range and shut it down the right way. Otherwise just pay $39K or so for one with 30K miles or so. I just sold such a car with an excellent color combo ( color does make a difference in the resale value) so they are out there.

[Coach House 911]

Thanks Tony. This car does have a long service history of maintenance with ovr 40 invoices in total. I am not sure exactly of the work done within but it paints the story you describe. One thing that does concern me however is the way the car was started, driven and shut down. I have no way of knowing.
Colour is a big deal to me and silver with red is my number one pick but I haven't found one. The car in question is silver/black. If you know of a silver red please let me know.

Mike

[j930]

if you like it just buy it. The car is worth exactly what you are willing to pay for it, not a penny more or a penny less.

[DDDD]

There are plenty of nice 930s in the 20s so I personally can't understand why you would want to pay that kind of money. Some 930s have stories and some don't. That doesn't mean you need to spend an extra 10-15 grand. You just need to be patient and do your homework. If you need to ask these kinds of newbie questions you really need to study 930s a bit longer IMO.

Just to give you a price point, I looked into a one owner euro 930 for 21 grand, no accidents totally stock. Nothing wrong with it. Over 70K miles but all history documented.

[AL Z]

Mike,
You have a pm.
Thanks,
AL

[Noah930]

For $39K that car better be in pretty minty condition. It should not need a new set of brakes for that kind of money.

[voitureltd]

The history should be limited to mostly maintenance items ie: oil, the filters tires brakes air recharge.and should need absolutely nothing and be clean like new underneath with perfect everything everywhere. Mileage when used, not in or out of grocery stores or up the block to the club or sitting on a crowded expressway, but instead mostly highway miles on good roads preferably with at least 1/2 of the 50 K mlies ( 25 thousand miles ) being used on long trips ( 500 miles etc). Then it will be very similar to many of the lower miles city driven cars if they were not used in ideal conditions and driven properly on good roads away from crowded freeways and gravel trucks.. Of the two porsche turbo's I recently sold, the 87 with 30K miles, had most of the miles at 1000 miles at a time open road driving.
The other car 1979 turbo (your dream car Silver lobster ) had just 30K miles with numerous 1st concours placings since new and was used only on good days and driven mostly over country road however that was close to $50K. Both cars were sold to long time Porsche owners, guys that had looked long and hard with lots of airplane tickets to burn for their efforts, until they bought mine.( photos of both enclosed). So you see you can probably do better if you just look more ( i bought all these cars on the open market as advertised, although most quite a few years ago) and be ready to pull the trigger when a really good deal is available. Also I may have such a car for you to consider #P07 or "P04 on my website, if you like a little more umph. P04 being the quicker of the two. I do want to keep one of these two silver ones, for sure, however I do sell a few cars each year if it seems right. Oh, I do drive all my cars, under Ideal conditions as outlined above, at least 500 miles each year. Click my Pelican user name Voiture and then click on my home page for details. Or google wwwVoitureLTD.com

[oilonly]

Wow that silver one really stands out.

[Richard930]

As with almost everything nowadays, there is a big difference in pricing between Canada and the US. When we had a 70 cent dollar the case for importing a US car was questionable, but now that it's at par its a no brainer for those willing to give it a go.

The US got about 500 930s a year, Canada averaged about 50 per year so there are generally very few 930s available on the Canadian market. This is reflected in the pricing which is quite inconsistent with US pricing. Add to that the effect of the recession which has been far more devastating in the US (therefore limiting the demand side), and it means great deals are available in the US.

If you're prepared to shop south of the border you can probably find more cars that meet your requirements - if you have the patience and $$s to travel to check cars out, and you will likely find something at a lower price. Remember though that US cars had US emissions, and therefore have less power than our ROW engines (260 hp and then 282 compared to our 300hp).

$39k for a low mileage '87 in Canada sounds pretty good to me if the PPI checks out. I'd actually be a little concerned that it hasn't been driven enough, but then again mine is closing in on 260,000km and its only 5 years older. For some data points, there are a couple of 930s available near Toronto including a 'museum quality' 89 930 with 43,500 kms for $60k, and a slightly modded 86 with 135,000 kms for $45k (no affiliation).

These cars are incredibly robust but you should probably budget about $1,500 - $2000 per year for maintenance. Some years you may only have an oil and brake fluid changes, but if you actually drive it the tires and brakes, and 20,000km services will bring the average up. If you do your own servicing it can be a relatively inexpensive car to drive by supercar standards.

If the PPI is good I wouldn't be too concerned about a major meltdown shortly after buying it, but you also need to go into 930 ownership mentally prepared for a potentially major expense at some point, just in case!

[pkracer21j]

Not Silver, but I have my slate grey metallic over can can red 79 For sale.

[voitureltd]

That car looks real nice. What miles and price? Good records from new? More details please. I may have an interested party for it. Email more photo's. The email link is available thru my pelican listed Voitureltd home page . Thanks Tony