964 C4 on track?

[marky911]

Nice one!!
I love Bmw's almost as much as Porsches.
All I flick between in the classifieds are Porsches and M cars, well the odd Elise/Exige too.

They do make me question spending £15k on an old 964 with high miles when you can find a lovely one of those in as new condition instead.
My girlfriend prefers the newer stuff too, to a degree.

Are you starting a thread in readers cars? If so I'll be sure to have a read.

PS. The purists won't like this but I think they look fantastic with CSL wheels on.

[marky911]

Craig - I look forward to seeing some pics. I know what you mean about keeping the wheels a touch smaller too. Will probably feel better as well as keeping costs down.

BN - Alright there John. Yep I'll definitely be at Croft at least once this year. You taking the Focus on track? They only do about 4 noisy (105db) car days per year now. I'll send you a PM in a minute about the event (usually in June) I get on so you can look out for it.

Leigh - Yep, thanks for the info. It's certainly no deal breaker, especially now a few people, plus yourself have mentioned it. Should hear back with regards to the compressions tomorrow, I would think. That would be the deal breaker, should something be a miss.


ETA - John, just tried to email you through here but it wouldn't send. I'll get in touch nearer the time anyway, to let you know about the event, just incase you want to get down for it. I've still got your number too.

Edited by marky911 on Monday 13th February 22:23

[marky911]

Morning John,
it's usually a weekday unfortunately but I'll give you a shout anyway. There's a few of us go down, if you can make it, good. If not, no probs.




Update on car -

Still waiting for the compression test results. I told the garage no rush, so.....

[marky911]

Hi RC, thanks for the input.

I would have taken my chances with the ABS light and the gearbox plate didn't really affect anything other than looking a bit bodgey. I doubt I could have chipped the seller down another £2k+ though for a replacement box. I know if I was selling it for a fair price (which £12k was), I wouldn't have gone any further, but I know what you're saying. All irrelevant now, as you'll see below.

I hope your R32 is going well. Nice cars.

UPDATE

OK, car is a no go unfortunately.
Compression test results ok but, leakdown test not so good. Garage say it's leaking past the rings so will require a rebuild in the future, so I'm oot!

Bit of a bummer, falling at the final hurdle but hey-ho, that's the purpose of the inspection. £200 has saved me a £5000 bill.
Proof if it were needed for anyone, that inspections are vital on used Pork, even if you're fairly clued up. The car drove lovely apparently with no evidence of power loss, but there you go, you never know what is lurking beneath.

So thanks to everyone for their input. I've taken it all onboard and will continue on my search, although I'm going to have a breather, as it gets a bit intense ringing sellers, asking questions, planning when to go down, organising inspections, etc.

I'm going to the lakes for the weekend with the girlfriend so may dig the 964T out and take that. It hasn't really been out since October!

I'm also opening up the search a bit to other makes. I'm now thinking do I want a 2 car garage with both cars being the same, however much I love 964s.

964 is still top of the list, I think but, I'm also looking into Westfields as I love lightweight cars. Still on the list are 968CS, maybe Elise/Exiges and Z3M/Z4m Coupes.

Like I say, 964 is still the favourite as it does everything I want, however if I keep my old BMW for work I can get a car even more involving than a 964 on track, for a lot less. I'll see what comes up.

Cheers.

[marky911]

Yep, cheers Graeme, will definitely be giving Appbiz a call once I get a car.

The to do list I have here is -

Recaros, rear seat delete carpets (full carpet set if not already black), door cards, suede dished steering wheel, sort suspension setup.

That would get me to next winter quite happily I think.

[marky911]

cragswinter said:

If you're taking the a69 back over after the lakes give me a shout & call in for a look at the Z mate

Would love to Craig. Very interested in having a closer look at a the car. Would be rude not to stop and say hello too, if I'm driving right past. I'll check with the girlfriend tonight, what the plan is and let you know.
We maybe in the girlfriends Focus yet mind (hopefully not though), as I've just checked the 5 day forecast and the only day it isn't raining is Sunday. :Laugh:

graemel said:

Don't talk about Z's. My sister bought a brand new Z4MC three years ago. Sold it last year with 1200 miles on the clock. Bloody pissed off I never got to drive it. Don't ask

Bloomin'eck! 1200 miles in 3 years. I thought I was bad. A bargain for someone I bet. It's hard to ignore them at the price they're at now.

boxsey said:

Sorry to hear it's a no go Marky. The signs were looking pretty good on this one until the final hurdle. Even though the OPC rebuild was done 50K miles ago, it does make you wonder what they did if it now needs rebuilding again!

Morning Boxsey, yep, I really didn't think the engine would be the problem given its (admittedly old)rebuild. I'm guessing they didn't do the rings in the top-end rebuild and kept it to strictly the top-end. Crazy, if that's the case. There's a receipt in the history file so a quick look would confirm. It was done at an OPC and cost £4700 back in 2001 iirc. What a bummer though. Still, there'll be more come along.

Andiroo said:

Good call Mark, did your homework there mate

A good one will come in your spec, be patient, but lhd would be my choice in a manual c2 anyday mate

Hi Andy, yep something will come along. As long as it's in time for summer! I keep considering LHDs but I think it'll take ages to master a one. I am very interested in trying a left-hooker 964 to see exactly how different they are though. C2 is still top of the list obviously but, if a nice C4 comes up and the money left over will buy my mods, I'm still very open to one.

Are you still toy-less then? You should have got down for a look at those two £60k '64RSs, the red one and Amazon one. A safe bet and still useable at that price.

[marky911]

Mornin' ras.

Bit frustrating but, yep the inspection done it's job so I've dodged a bullet, so to speak.

Leakdown results ranged from 28% on the best pots, to 38% on the worst, with the others somewhere in between.
A healthy motor is about 10-15% I believe.

[marky911]

ras62 said:

Hi Mark, wow those figures are way high across the board, Im surprised it wasn't blowing some oil out the pipe. On a positive note it is approaching the time of year when cars come onto the market in bigger numbers, hopefully one with your name on it! It is a bit disheartening going through the search, inspect, reject routine.
My car is in the doghouse after a breakdown yesterday, crank position sensor failure

Yeah, it does seem high yet the garage said it drove fine with plenty of poke. I agree that yes somemore cars will appear in the spring. I'm not going to rush it. If I get five inspections done that's £1000-£1500 of my budget gone. Slightly worrying.

Nightmare regarding your breakdown. I hope you weren't heading anywhere important. Out of all the 911's I've had and all the faults, I've only ever been left stranded once, when a throttle cable snapped. That's what I love about them, even when they develop a problem they allow you time to arrange for it's repair.

Good luck getting it sorted, I hope it's not an engine out job or anything daft like that.