[TonyBray]

I have a 94 Cabbie with 162k miles on the clock. Barring a failure in the variocam system or the timing belt, how long can I expect the engine to last? Belts, rollers, seals, and water pump were done in January of this year, 11k miles ago. So other than a catastrophic failure, and if the engine was just worn out, what's a rebuild cost if you do it yourself? Is everything readily available?



I'm trying to determine if I should be looking for a replacement soon or can I safely expect to see several more thousands of miles with regular maintenance? Other than the driver's seat being well worn, everything else on the car is in perfect condition, including my top.



--Tony

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[pazzer]

[quote name='TonyBray' date='Sep 29 2006, 09:34 AM']I have a 94 Cabbie with 162k miles on the clock.  Barring a failure in the variocam system or the timing belt, how long can I expect the engine to last?  Belts, rollers, seals, and water pump were done in January of this year, 11k miles ago.  So other than a catastrophic failure, and if the engine was just worn out, what's a rebuild cost if you do it yourself?  Is everything readily available? 



I'm trying to determine if I should be looking for a replacement soon or can I safely expect to see several more thousands of miles with regular maintenance?  Other than the driver's seat being well worn, everything else on the car is in perfect condition, including my top. 



--Tony

[right][post="26502"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

Hi there Tony, dont worry my friend iv'e seen plenty of 968's with over 200,000k on the odometer for sale, have a look on www.mobile.de and search for 968's its a German site, but you can click for the english version aswell. regards pazzer.

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[sasilverbullet]

Since 99 I've owned a 87 944, a 87 944 turbo, a 02 boxster and now own a 93 968. I'm very active in the Porsche club, go to lots of events, etc...



My opinion - once a car in the 944/968 line gets to be about 17 years old w/about 250,000 miles, they're basically fini as a daily driver. Of course if you take pristine car of the car it will last longer. But after about 17 years of use about 70% of them will have been wrecked/blown up/abused and just plain out of commission...



My 93 968 has 155,000 on it right now. I fully expect to put at least 250,000 on it before getting another daily driver!



disclaimer: don't let my negativity disuade you, these are AWESOME cars! Where else can you get a 17 yr old, 200,000 mile car that you can still take to the track and wack around? I LOVE these cars...

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[flash]

not to poo poo the idea, or to nit pick, but to date i think i've only heard of 2 cars with over 200k miles on them - so far all the cars i've heard of getting near that have already had a valve job, or other major service - the german site is very likely clicks, which is only 124k miles



personally, i'm not afraid of any of that kind of thing though, so the mileage on the car is much less of an issue - for me, as long as the chassis is solid, then the rest is peanuts



other ragtops are much more subject ot wear than this one - for example, the british stuff i used to drive would not go 150k and be track viable - i wore out plenty of tubs - i have no such fears with this chassis



it really comes down to how much you love the car, how long you want to keep it, and what you are willing to spend - i tend to keep cars for a long time, and usually end up replacing an engine and transmission along the way



more importantly though, what would you get to replace it?



i just walked in from an errand in one of my other cars, opened my garage and walked up on the back of my 968 sitting in the garage and said to myself "that is one danged sexy car" - i wasn't even driving it, and it reaffirmed that i would have a very hard time finding a replacement that made me feel the same way

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[TonyBray]

[quote name='flash' date='Sep 29 2006, 02:22 PM']more importantly though, what would you get to replace it? 

[right][post="26517"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]



Exactly! So far, I haven't found anything close. I just looked at a new Corvette convertible. Would you believe that for $60k, the top is still manual? Another $2k for the button! I haven't driven a vette since a C4 model. I will go drive a C5 and a C6 but I'm not holding my breath that it's going tickle my fancy like the 968.



Flash, you saw my car when I had just bought it at the LA All Euro show. The chassis is in excellent condition. Last night, I took the wife out for our anniversary in her. The trip home through the twisties was outstanding. I know the Vette has more power than we do but does it lay it down as smoothly as our cars?



--Tony

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[S_Cal968]

I was wondering if Porsche has a general rule as how long they continue to manufacture parts and support their cars{?}. For domestics I think it's about 15-20 years depending on the part and where else it was used.

With so few made it won't take long for the scrap yards to be picked over...

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[TonyBray]

I did look at the Vette and a Pontiac Solstice as well this weekend. I came home and washed my 968 and gave her a big hug! Then I took her out and sacrificed some wheel rubber in offering to the Porsche Gods that they would not smite me down with some catastrophic mechanical failure for tempting them by looking at a domestic POS!



--Tony

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[bob blackwell]

Like Michael Sorbera, I expect to get 250K miles or more out of "old blue". Right now I have about 139K and the car is still just fine. Probably will do a valve job and maybe add some of Pete Fitzpatrick's enhancements in a year or so. Good luck, Bob Blackwell.

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[Harvey]

If you keep them up, Porsches in general last a long time, especially the 944/968/928 series. I do find it easier to get 928 parts than some 968 parts...probably because they made more of them.



Harvey

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[S_Cal968]

That's my concern.. There's a lot of support and suppliers for the 944, but the 951 & 968 specific parts may become hard to find. There seems to be more aftermarket goodies for the 2.7L vs. the 3.0L.

If I can't find support for the 3.0L I may have to consider a 4.3L supercharged V6..{?}

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[rhudeboye]

[quote name='flash' date='Sep 29 2006, 02:22 PM']more importantly though, what would you get to replace it? 



i would have a very hard time finding a replacement that made me feel the same way

[right][post="26517"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]



Ditto! dollar for dollar there is nothing that does it for me. Add another 10 grand and I'm still sticking with the 68. Actually, not until you start talking about 50 grand can I come up with a suitable replacement. Which is a Carrera S, but at that point why not turbo the 68 and have great style, room, rareity and lower insurance all while producing more power then a 911. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[TonyBray]

Ok, I have to tell you what happened at the Pontiac dealer when I looked at the Solstice. The sales guy was showing me an over-priced Sun-Yellow Solstice, telling me how much better it is than my old 968. He went so far to tell me that I would be waisting money if I put another penny in that old car. Then he tells me that the Solstice is real head turner and gets a lot of attention. At this point, I step off the curb and look back at my 968. I had to call the salesman over to see what I was looking at. EVERY OTHER salesman on the lot was huddled around the 968! I thanked him for the tour of the Solstice and left.



The Corvette on the other hand was really nice. But I am with RhudeBoy here... For the diff in price, I can do all kinds of things to my 68 and still have a rare and beautiful car to boot.



--Tony

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[Renalicious]

Once the chassis is soft, is there anyway to fix it? Or would be be cheaper to simply get a new one made?

As for parts, I sometimes see a 356 driving around town, but I don't know if it's all original and kept in mint condition, or is it's rebuilt. Either way I'm hoping I'll be able to do that in my 968 in 40 years (barring any oil shortages <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />



I have to agree with you guys, I love the look of this car. Everytime I get home and need to do the two car shuffle to get mine into the garage, I look back and think "Damn, what a nice car".

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[Bob Kovacs]

[quote name='S_Cal968' date='Sep 30 2006, 04:56 PM']I was wondering if Porsche has a general rule as how long they continue to manufacture parts and support their cars{?}. For domestics I think it's about 15-20 years depending on the part and where else it was used.

With so few made it won't take long for the scrap yards to be picked over...

[right][post="26534"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

I toured the Toyota factory in Kentucky a few years ago and was told that Toyota makes replacement parts available for 10 years. I can see where this is a little flexible, since Toyota might have used the same sunvisors in Corollas from 1994 to 1998, so I still might be able to get a factory sunvisor for a 1994 Corolla. Otherwise, 10 years sounds very short to me. I was still able to get factory parts for my ancient 1978 924 in 1995!



Similar to Toyota, I went to a Ford dealer in 1998 to get a replacement hard brake line for my 1984 Ranger pickup. I was told that it was no longer available, despite the fact that the Ranger was more or less identical from 1984 to at least 1988. I had to fabricate my own brake line from steel tubing bought at an autoparts store. It wasn't really hard or expensive, but it was surprising.



In my experience, Porsche and Audi keep parts on the shelf the longest. They ain't cheap but at least they sell them for more than 10 years.



--Bob

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