[Sculler]

Less than 100,000 mile. Manual Trans. Solid maintenance history. Absolutely stock, no upgrades or modifications. No track use. Plan to use the car for occassional long distance road trips. So, does not need to be show quality but must be well sorted.

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[Sculler]

Wonder what some of the more experienced members here think about the red coupe just listed for sale at Marshall Goldman. 1993, red/tan 85,000 miles, $18,900. This looks like a car that fits exactly what I'm looking for. Bone stock and very well maintained.



I'm thinking if I'm patient I can find something similar for closer to $15,000?

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[flash]

it's going to be all about the maintenance records. be aware that belts need to be done every 3 years or 45k miles whichever comes FIRST.



it's going to be harder these days to find one that is bone stock. most cars by now have the airbox mod and a chip. many have stereos, because the OEM unit was pure crap. the ones you will find that are bone stock, and lower mileage, will be garage queens, and you'll pay for that.



i would not limit myself to bone stock, but rather to reversible mods.



as for track exposure, most track cars are actually better maintained than the commuter car. i generally prefer a car that has seen some regular track time over one that has not. paint condition would be the only real potential issue there.



food for thought

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[Rap]

Both of my 968 stereo's didn't work upon purchase! Flash is no doubt correct about anyone who has a track car. Keeping it well maintained can save your life.

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[type968]

My track car has 150k on the clock now, about 140k when I got it, I bought it on the west coast and drove it back to the east in ~3ish days (Very rough on the butt in sparco seats) Only thing I developed was a bigger leak on the front of the engine which I repaired as soon as I arrived to the east coast (Was fine on first 3/4 of the trip, then started loosing more). Since then car has been solid, had most records from 80k up till the present of work done the last 10 years or so. Since the trip back has done a few road trips to track days and done track (de) days. Considering I had appointments to keep I was in a rush to get back to the east, car did great. So goes to show if it is taken care of, it is solid. Car has less problems than my buddies 993 with half the miles, less maintenance done and 3x the price I paid for my car (he still got his 993 cheap for the market price)



Fuel lines and belt are next on the list even though they were done 2 year ago.



Was interesting to see in the middle of the country these cars draw more attention than the coasts (Much more comments in gas stations as you approach and distance yourself from Montana.



Wondering how hard it is to change the gasket around the fuel filler neck...

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[AJG]

Flash, the 3yrs or 45k miles? Is it three years because of the rubber hardening or some other phenomena? Don't happen to have an SC kit kicking about do you? No? Sigh, thought not. Cheers anyway.



Andy

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[flash]

close - good on ya - it's related to the the polymers and cross-linking.



you have an email.

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[AJG]

No email Bob. Assuming you meant me? Cheers.



Andy

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[flash]

i sent it to the address in your profile

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[Sculler]

Thanks for comments. I've located a well maintained coupe with 55,000 miles. <acronym title='pre purchase inspection'>PPI</acronym> consistent with strong maintenance history. Compression right on, cam sproket teeth and pads in good shape. I plan to have new cam & balance belt installed along with new accessory belts. Question. Would you recommend doing water pump? No indication of problem. So just a question of could water pump be in poor condition simply do to age?

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[Scott Collins]

Hello Sculler,



Do you mean cam belt=timing belt? The car you have found sounds great.



My original water pump was still going at 95k miles and 20 years when I replaced it. It did not fail, but was no longer turning smoothly. With the timing belt off you can feel if the pump is spinning smoothly or "hanging up" a bit, maybe grabbing a little.



If you replace it it will add $300-400 to the bill. If you don't replace it and it goes, you have to do it all over again, while potentially causing overheating damage to the engine. That's not to mention the bruising caused from kicking yourself for not doing it.



I would replace it, and anything else that I have questions about that could cause really big damege. It's a relatively small price to pay for a big piece of mind.



My $.02. Best of luck.



-Scott

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[Rap]

I would agree with Scott. None of these repairs or preventative maintenance will be less expensive in the future!

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[Sculler]

Quotes I have for repair are as follows. $754.56 for CAM & TIMING belt and rollers. And, additional $1200 to do water pump, thermostat & accessory belts. The new water pump itself is quoted at $643.00.



Separately I have a quote for $1,045. to do varioram pads and chain. From PPO I've determined that CAM teeth look perfect and top pad looks good.



So the quote for CAM & Timing belt seems reasonable. And the Varioram work quote seems reasonable. Thinking I can let Varioram go for about 20,000 miles. But, water pump sounds really high. Thoughts?

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[Bulti]

When reading this, I remember why I started doing everything myself. I change the belts and all that like I change a pair of pants nowadays (or so to speak, lol). When you can invest in the time and a bit of equipment it will easily pay for itself, especially when searching for illusive leaks behind the plastic cover.



Anyways, waterpumps here go from 320 to about 400€, so 643 USD seems quite steep.

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