New to cars, and to Porsche

[ty944]

Hi, my name is Tyler.

I recently saved up enough money to purchase myself a 1987 944.

I'm 18 years old and just finished up high school. I don't see an introduction area on this forum so i'll put it here.

I was able to work from when I was 16 to be able to afford my first car. I did quite a bit of research on a lot of different cars, a lot of my friends have last 90s and early 2000 hondas and I figured I'd do something a little different.

After much consideration I decided to go with my gut and look for 944s in my area. I was lucky enough to see 2 of the NA versions in my budget fairly close by, I went to view a guards red one with a promising exterior only to find it was definitely not mechanically sound.. The second one had some pretty faded paint but ran promisingly, I feel like I made a good choice and chose the second one.

I'm very happy to drive a car I can be proud of. I'm excited to work on the car in the near future.. I'm sure I'll speak to some of you very soon regarding that, lol.

[ty944]

Here is a picture of the new car!
1987 944 NA

[M. Murphy]

Welcome Tyler,
Looks like a nice car. As you may already know the first thing people with experience with these cars will advise is to change the timing and balance shaft belts, that is unless they have been changed by a trusted source. These Porsches offer some unique challenges with the reward being it's one of the best driving platforms out there.
Have fun.

[Sehrgut]

Welcome Young Tyler - Wilkommen!
There are a lot of great people here at Pelican and they've helped me immensely. Use this forum for some really great ideas and/or help getting going. All the best to you and your new treasure!

[fiily]

Always liked the dark blue, congrats!

As others have mentioned, replaced the timing/balance belts if you have no documents stating when it was done, the sooner the better.

Flush the coolant, brake fluid, drail and refill the transmission fluid and the other stuff can be fixed as you go.

I wish I had a 944 when I was 18, enjoy and post your questions here as plenty of us have done a lot of work on our cars and can give you some good advice.

[88Silver924S]

Looks great, you did good. So how many miles on it? Did she come with service records? Any known problems? Have fun with it. I have fond memories of driving in Texas hill country and west Texas.

[Bukowski]

ASAP - before you drive it again :

Check the short fuel hose jumper on the fuel rail... perhaps your research turned this up.

In the near future:

Fuel lines / brake lines / hoses near the tank and fuel filter / short hose between tank and pump - lookin good? How's the aroma near the gas cap? Lots of good help on that here.

I'll stop now.

[PorscheNut924]

A good choice! I got my 924S when I was 16, and that was seven and a half years ago. I'm still driving it but not daily like I did for the first seven years.

[pfarah]

I too love that color. Good luck with her and be prepared to get very cozy under the hood.

[911tracker85]

Check the short fuel hose jumper on the fuel rail.

Roger that. pic from an '87 944S I resurrected and refreshed for my Bro who is now 77 and has been driving it for the past few years and having great fun. you are lucky to get into a 944 so young.

but as commented, go over the whole car doing all the suggested maintenance. then you can drive the wheels off it for several years without too much worries.

good luck and enjoy.

[Bukowski]

I would emphasize that the fuel hose jumper was a ... what, recall notice?

You can find out with some Google searching.

The other stuff - hmmm, I'd look at it ASAP, but the fuel jumper essentially has to be new right now, and if not, you have to order one right now and install it when you get it.

I'd also add - users like boxsterGT ( or boxstergt?) - aka Len at Autosport Engineering - are here to help with this kind of thing too, take a look.