Hey...I looked at an 84 944 na yesterday and it drove like a dream...i wanted to find out whether its a good decision for someone slightly low on the funds for another year...im getting it for 1500...it needs a new clutch disc, a timing belt, a balance shaft belt, a clutch slave cylinder and rear brake pads...i have to buy all but the clutch slave cylinder and get them fixed...also the sunroof doesnt work, the windows dont, the paint is nasty (different colors), headlights stuck up because the body panel has a bit of a dent in it and doesnt let them go down...im looking at getting the mechanical stuff done right now and the cosmetic stuff starting after a year...how much do you think i'll have spend on the car, both one-time and regularly and then is it a good deal? I really really loved it, and i want it so badly but i dont want to let myself into something i cant handle...i would really appreciate some help...thanks a lot!

 

Sorry...I forgot to mention...it has 114K...so what do you think? Thanks again.

 

Firstly, welcome!

OK, without seeing the car, from your description alone I would state that the car you are looking at is in no way a "good deal". Just the mechanical stuff you have mentioned is going to cost you at least $3k unless you are very handy and can get a very good deal on parts. Clutch jobs are very expensive on these cars (and not the easiest either), and the timing belt job will have a lot of other parts that need to be replaced as a while you are in there thing (balance belt, accessory belts, rollers, seals, water pump, etc). This is not taking into account the things that you cannot not tell are going bad, which I can guarantee that there are lurking issues (it sounds like the car was owned by someone who did not care to do proper upkeep on the car, always a bad sign in my opinion). If anyone has been driving the car with the rubber clutch center going out for any length of time, it puts a great deal of strain on the forward-most bearing on the transmission input shaft, and possible trans failure will be in the near future.

The cosmetic stuff can be expensive. The sunroof and windows may be easy fixes, or not. The dent, paint, interior parts, and I bet tires and shocks, are going to add several thousand to the price as well.

As you can see, you can easily have 6K-7k total wrapped up into that car, and that is just to get it back to decent order. If you could get the car for almost free, it *might* be worth it. If you check into the going price of early pre-85.5 944 cars, you will see that you probably could have had a much nicer car, that was taken care of, for the entry price of around $4-$5K. Heck, that may even buy you a post-85.5 car with the nicer dash and other upgraded bits if you look around. What part of the country are you located in?

Don't get me wrong, I hate to see a 944 neglected and would love to see someone bring it back into good repair, however for a first time 944 owner that would have no idea what you are getting into, it might not be the best one for you. Leave that car to someone who is looking for a 944-spec racer or someone who has been around the 944 block a few times and can get it back to form themselves.....

Now that you have test-driven one (which with the bad clutch I doubt it could have driven as nice as it should have), go test-drive some more. I looked at and test-drove around 30 944's before I finally purchased the one that was just right (well, except for the fact that I stated that I didn't want red, and ended up with red, but that is another story, LOL).

Good luck!

Nami

 

Thanks a lot, thats a great help. After reading your reply I'm going to look at other 944s available around...

Just to investigate this one to the fullest I called the guy and asked him if I could have a mechanic check it out and give me a quote on all that needs to be repaired and his opinion on the state of the car- he said that would be okay so I'm going to do that tomorrow. I also decided to look around and checked up on the prices of those parts and i think I could get them all for $348 not including shipping costs. Thats the clutch disc, timing belt, balance shaft belt, brake pads- hes giving the slave cyl for free. The clutch isnt gone, its got a little backlash and the guy selling it said he had a porsche race technician look over it and it was suggested to replace it within 10k. I cannot get over the way it drives!

So thats the situation right now. Thanks a lot for your help.

 

Oh another thing...he reduced the price to 1300 if i get it tomorrow. I'm in Virginia, Charlottesville- south of Washington DC.

 

No problem!

$348 seems really cheap, that shouldn't even buy you the clutch disc alone. Plus, you need to buy the rollers unless you know that they were replaced on the last T-belt job for certain. It is also advised to change the water pump at timing belt change intervals, and don't forget the seals. You will also need a tool to check the belt tension, by hand/feel just won't do.

That "race technician" is not dispensing good advice there. If the center is gone on the clutch disc, it is only meant to get you home in limp mode. That is what is creating the backlash. If it is driven like that for any amount of time, it WILL wreak havoc on the transmission, if it has not already. Unfortunately, I have learned a lot about 944 transmissions and modes of failure, and I can tell you the blown clutch disc center is bad for the transmission.

Honestly................it sounds to me like this person really wants to unload this car upon you. Don't give into temptation just because they want to unload it and drop the price by a couple hundred bucks. If you like this car, you would love one that was maintained properly and only costs a little bit more.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

Nami

 

I'd have to agree with Jeremy. Now that you have been biten by the 944 bug, look around. A friend of mine sold an early car for $4K, and I still think he should have gotten more.

I paid 1500 for mine, with recent timing belt/waterpump, good paint, but a big *** dent in the pass side door.

To date: No labor included because I did all the work
Coil $45
Cap/rotor plugs and wires $200
DME $225 (at junk yard, he didn't know what it was)
DME relay, two (keep a spare) $70
Fan motor $135
Clutch $600
Fuel pump $130
Fuel filter $15
Engine temp sender $35
Catalyst Free, a friend gave it to me
Oxygen sensor $70
Air flow meter $125 (again at junk yard)
Brake pads $80
Tires $300 (I work for a tire store)
Altenator $125
Altenator belt (2x) $14

And after 3 years, its time to do the cap/rotor, fuel filter again, the other fan motor is going bad, and the shocks/struts still need to be replaced. My point, not really for the faint of heart (funds)

 

I'm a young guy who spent over a year doing research and trying to find out how much the car really cost to maintain. Last year i finaly picked up an 83 944. It had some electrical problems but i was confident i could take care of it. EVERYONE told me that parts were very expensive and timing belt would cost ALOT to fix. Any way my point is if ur a mechanical person..this car is VERY easy to work on and the parts are NOT expensive unless u goto the porsche dealer. Heres a list of parts and work i did on my car and prices. (Everything was done in my garage at home with basic tools) All prices are in canadian dollars

Re Wired entire lighting system from interior to headlights Labour $0 Headlight switch $60(at porsche dealer)

All 4 breaks Pads where $100 for the set

Ignition switch with new keys $30

Machined roters myself but it would have cost only 25$ each at a shop

Wheel barring Inner and outter bearing where about 50 for both

Then in the fall the dreaded timing belt broke.... i bought the timing belt and cambelt timing belt was 35 and the other was 55 I took it to a few shops and got crazy estimates like 500-1500$ I got really lucky and my uncle whos a mechanic came up for a vacation and he did it for me in less that 90mins. Its very easy to change and reset the timing. Garages just get scared cuz they hear the name porsche. I recommed buying the Haynes shop manual it tells u how to fix almost EVERYthing.

Over all i would recommend this car to any car enthusiast who has mechanical knowledge. Its not a good car to own if ur not willing to or cant do the work on it. I woudldnt say its a highmaintenance car...but it is over 20years old and things do break.

Anyways good luck 24hours of working on the car is worth 1hour of driving, i still havent driven a better handling car.

 

THanks a lot to everyone who helped me out. I spend three hours studying the car with a mechanic today and I don't think I'll be able to afford it right now. The guy selling it to me genuinely thought it was a good deal, he was quite surpirsed and anxious to find out about everything i listed from your replies. Well, anyhow, maybe in a year and a half when I get more money I will buy one. It was funny, he had been driving it everywhere and after we visited the mechanic, he decided to leave it alone till he got the clutch and timing belt done...lets see how it goes...

 

No offense intended here, but...................

I have never heard of a timing belt break and not take out at least a few valves. Usually a timing belt breakage is catastrophic on a 944.

Can you elaborate what exactly your uncle did to fix the car in less than 90 minutes? How did he "reset the timing"? Have you had the timing belt tension checked after 1500-2000 miles since the belt was replaced?