potential purchase - critique required!

[shirt]

Evenin' gents,

I've been looking hard over the past couple of weeks for a suitable car to bring out here to the desert. I'm working to a budget of £20k equaivalent to purchase, ship and fit a/c and oil cooler.

I think I have found a suitable candidate, in Montreal, and would appreciate it if you might run your eye over the pics and seller details and give me an idea of whether it's worth pursuing further.

The car is a 1970T with a non-original 2.4S spec motor and 915 gearbox. Non originality does not worry me given long term plans for any 911 which comes into my possession [HOT-ROD! ] and the pricepoint. Car is up for $23,500 canadian, which is negotiable.

Short term plans for the car would be to fit oil coolers and aircon over winter, rechrome the exterior trim, ditch the graphics, lower slightly and add houndstooth period buckets.

Pics can be found here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1024231470 ... directlink


Sellers description to follow given character limit! My own concerns are no mention of chain tensioner upgrade, the different shocks/seats between pics and interior paint which doesn't cover the old colour - sloppy workmanship? Price is good though.

Any comments and things I should ask are most welcome.

[shirt]

seller's reply to my initial grilling:

Hi Phil. Wow, lots of questions. I will answer them to the best I can.

This is my 7th Porsche. I buy and restore old Porsches, mostly 1972 -73. This is my first 1970 model.

History..... Not much, the car was sitting at a mechanical shop for a couple of years before I decided to buy it. It was a roller, no engine, no tranny no interior and the paint needed to be re-done.

I had my body shop inspect the car for rust and accidents or anything that could be wrong. We found a little bit of rust in the front of the gas tank and one battery box. That was it, the rest of the car is entirely rust free with no evidence of accidents. We brought it to the body shop and started the work of replacing the front pan. The car was also converted to a single battery box. Then my body guy stripped the old paint because the previous paint job was lousy, and we decided to re-paint the car light Ivory. I wanted to create a tribute to the Jezebel car wich my father owned for a while. ( BTW the numbers are vinyl stickers easily removable ). I did black window trims instead of chrome.

I bought the car in early 2009 [april], the front pan and paint job were done in the summer of 2009.

In the automn of 2009 I asked my mech to build me a 2.4 liter engine to ``S`` specs, using a 1973 2.4 E block 7R case with oil bypass. He used Mahle 84 mm S pistons, replated sleeves, new valves and new valve guides & seats, Solex center lube cams and std crank. He also rebuilt the carburators in November 2010. The engine is still in the break in period as I dont drive the car very much. The engine has no oil leaks and no smoke at all. It pulls very strong, no issues on that side. The compression test was performed in may of this year with all cylinders between 132 and 140. Leak down between 4 and 11 % . My mech told me the as long as the numbers are close together, there is no issues with the engine.

The tranny has just been rebuilt in July of this year, it a 915 from a 1973 ( I think I have the serial # somewhere ). It shifts very good up & down with no grinding.

Panel gaps are all good except for the front hood that would beneficiate of a 1 mm adjustment to the left. When the car was re-painted, my body shop removed all the panels. The reassembly of the front hood could have been better, ( easy fix ). All other panels have a good gap.

The car was aligned by a proffessional shop and drives straight. Only thing I think is a weak or mal-functioning front shock, I need to look at this on my next project (maybe this autumn after the car goes into winter storage).

There are no welds on the engine case nor on the gear box. No oil leaks from the engine or the gearbox. Everything is dry.

One thing I need to mention there is no heater boxes as I dont use the car in the bad weather or winter, so no need for heat.!!
All gauges work, even the clock ! The floors are in great shape. Battery is new, the starter has been rebuilt and the car starts easily. The clutch is a light weight unit and almost new (bought from a fellow from the Porsche club ).

No noise from the gear box, axles have been repacked with new grease. There is also a new fuel pump.

I am still gathering parts here & there to bring the car as close as original as possible. To that effect i just bought an original Frankfurt radio that is not installed yet (another winter project ) and there is a blaupunk radio right now but not original ). The dash has a little crack near a vent close to the windshield but barely visible. I also installed a new dash speaker .
I am missing the front carpet for the drivers side but ll others are there and in excellent condition.

Head liner has also been replaced ( real nice job ).

I also just put a pair of deep 6 wheels in the rear......

Cant think of anything else right now. Let me know if i missed anything.

[shirt]

Wow, I did ask a lot of questions! Sorry for the huge post, but the next step for me is to either get a local inspection or fly out and view the car.

He did say that the original colour was orange, hence the floor, and that the previous potential buyer performed a PPI. This turned up a weak synchro - hence the gearbox rebuild.

I'm afraid all my porsche knowledge has been used up to garner the above. One question from me is whether the lack of heat exchangers will be a problem when fitting aircon? I have no need for heat, coldest we get out here is mid-teens!

Cheers all. As I say, all help appreciated, I am just itching to get the right car for me so I can enjoy the early 911 experience, but due dilligence is a must

[bjmullan]

Answers might be a bit slow here this weekend as lots are away enjoying the continental roads

I am no expert but the car certainly looks nice from the pictures and the price also seem very reasonable.

If the paint was done in the last couple of year I'm sure that there will be photos to back up the claims about the body so ask for them. From what I can see there is not heat exchangers fitted so in order to get heat/cold you would need to replace the header (but I could be wrong as the under pic doesn't show enough). That would be in addition to the front mounted heater matrix (if missing, which is unclear from the pics).

I wouldn't be overlay concerned about the lack of tensioner upgrade or the paint on the front pan. I would suggest that you get the car inspected by an expert. Either someone on here or pelican could put you in touch with someone to do that for you.

BTW where are you based? You of course need to take into consideration the shipping costs and the import duties etc.

Good luck and welcome to DDK.

[Lightweight_911]

The car has been for sale for over 6 months - you might want to ask yourself why ...

I corresponded with the seller a couple of months ago but there were too many things I'd want to change & I wasn't convinced by the quality of some of the work carried out.

[shirt]

AFAIK, the car was withdrawn as he found a buyer, who then pulled out of the sale. A PPI was done and the seller has invoices to fix the faults found [mainly weak 3rd gear synchro].

Lightweight: What were your concerns regarding quality, and what did you want to change?

Brendan: Thanks for the welcome I'm in Dubai [though cut me and I bleed Yorkshire, hehe]. I know of a few pre-73 cars here and who looks after them. Import is 5% duty, much nicer than full fat VAT!

Are heat exchangers necessary for A/C fitment? I don't need heat, but amtalking to RennAire et al about a total install kit for a non A/C car.

I know that with my budget any car won't be perfect or will be non-matching. I don't mind as long as the body and mech. are sound and I'm having to perform cosmetics. A sound car will be worth much more than I pay for it once in country, I just don't want to be lumbered with a lemon.

[Vic Cohen]

Personally feel if ur not concerned by originality its almost too good to be true .........3rd synchro very common fault , ppart cheap labour not too bad and its done

As he says no heat exchangers no heat [ i survive this in a Cup Car going to Oulton every March] to fit heat exchangers not huge deal................dont see why it wud affect Aircon .............must u have aircon , will ruin performance and cut holes everywhere for pipes ?? Never done Dubai but survived Singapore 3 years without!

My biggest concern s ,cosmetic.the seats too heavy etc and dials not appropriate

At the price it seems very fair if all true ....green shroud from E explained ....................S s all red

[shirt]

The engine is, if I read correctly, an E motor built to S spec. Same here, it's mainly cosmetics I'd change. I'm asking for pics of the resto and why the car appears slightly different [seats and shocks] in some pics.

Unfortunately A/C is an absolute must. I doubt I'll use the car in the summer months but dry conditions and cheap fuel will mean it will be driven regularly and tracked occasionally. It's 38degC here today. I understand it's 2 holes for the install but the manufacturers are getting back to me with a 'package'. Wouldn't oil cooler lines require holes cutting anyway?

An original car would be wasted on me. I want to add things which you wouldn't want to do to an original car. I am confident I can make a desert spec. 911, just need to find the right basis to do so!