3.2 Carrera - What to look for ?
Discussion
rust is indeed the biggest killer.
rust around the front and rear screens, check under the screen rubber surrounds.
rust in the battery tray area.
rust around the inner wings. pull back the carpets in the front compartment and check all around the inner wings.
any rot is normally worse on the offside as the oil lines run under here. (they run from the oil cooler at the front of the offside wheel arch, along the top of the inner wing under the wheelarch rearwards, downwards at the rear of the front wing and along the sill under the sill covers.)
if looking at a car, ask nicely if they'll take the sill covers off for you to have a better look. they aren't difficult to remove anyway. (undo the pozidrive screws on the sill cover end caps, slide the rubber trim out and remove the screws under where the rubbers were and undo the screws/nuts (i can't remember which) underneath. this will give a much better picture of the outer sill, i seem to remember you can get your fingers in then for a poke around the kidney bowl.
if they aren't too keen to remove the sill covers, have a very, very close look at the door latch panel,(B post) particularly at the bottom. any bubbles, however small, mean ROT, ROT, ROT.. also have a look at the rear wing at the bottom at the very front. (just rearwards of the doors at the bottom), again any bubbles mean more rot. it isn' just a bubble, they rot inside out so it is very much the tip of the iceberg.
if you can jack the car up, you can let the rear wheel drop and stick your head in (make sure it's on stands
) look forwards and the kidney bowl should be visible if it isn't caked in crap. again, have a poke around. outer sills were about £140 each if i remember correctly, not too bad if you can weld/spray yourself.
also check the front wings particularly around the headlights for bubbles. theres a big grot trap on the front wings on the inside where the bumper dampers fit and these too rot from inside out (front wings are about £550 each now so make sure they are good...
also try to check the rear wings around the rear side windows, they can rot here too.
hope this helps,
PS. have you looked on the impact bumpers forum. it's full of information like this..
rust around the front and rear screens, check under the screen rubber surrounds.
rust in the battery tray area.
rust around the inner wings. pull back the carpets in the front compartment and check all around the inner wings.
any rot is normally worse on the offside as the oil lines run under here. (they run from the oil cooler at the front of the offside wheel arch, along the top of the inner wing under the wheelarch rearwards, downwards at the rear of the front wing and along the sill under the sill covers.)
if looking at a car, ask nicely if they'll take the sill covers off for you to have a better look. they aren't difficult to remove anyway. (undo the pozidrive screws on the sill cover end caps, slide the rubber trim out and remove the screws under where the rubbers were and undo the screws/nuts (i can't remember which) underneath. this will give a much better picture of the outer sill, i seem to remember you can get your fingers in then for a poke around the kidney bowl.
if they aren't too keen to remove the sill covers, have a very, very close look at the door latch panel,(B post) particularly at the bottom. any bubbles, however small, mean ROT, ROT, ROT.. also have a look at the rear wing at the bottom at the very front. (just rearwards of the doors at the bottom), again any bubbles mean more rot. it isn' just a bubble, they rot inside out so it is very much the tip of the iceberg.
if you can jack the car up, you can let the rear wheel drop and stick your head in (make sure it's on stands
) look forwards and the kidney bowl should be visible if it isn't caked in crap. again, have a poke around. outer sills were about £140 each if i remember correctly, not too bad if you can weld/spray yourself.also check the front wings particularly around the headlights for bubbles. theres a big grot trap on the front wings on the inside where the bumper dampers fit and these too rot from inside out (front wings are about £550 each now so make sure they are good...
also try to check the rear wings around the rear side windows, they can rot here too.
hope this helps,
PS. have you looked on the impact bumpers forum. it's full of information like this..
If unsure, I would always have it inspected by an independent Porsche specialist, ideally someone specialized in the air cooled models. Most sellers who treat their car nicely will also appreciate knowledgeable buyers, and when you offer to cover the cost of an inspection I don't think anyone would object. To save you time and money you would want to check all the things you can see with the naked eye first, and get a sense of the general condition, whether the car has been taken care of, and the impression you get from the owner himself.
Brimble has covered it all pretty well. It only takes about 2 minutes to walk around the car, open the doors and bonnet to tell a bad one. I work on them all the time and have seen too many, freshly bought without proper inspection (not a PPI necessarily), needing £10K of work to put them right. As it happens I have a customer's car for sale at the mo; a completely rust free 85 3.2
All good advise but depending on how bad a car is it could be worth getting for not a lot of money and then putting it right.
These cars are now getting to the age where just about all of them will be showing some signs of rust coming through somewhere, there just aren't going to be many rust free examples out there and the chances are that if you do find one that hasn't been fixed it just hasn't shown it yet.
If you are planning on keeping the car for a long time, then it can be worthwhile getting a cheaper car and putting it right, depending of course on how bad things actually are. At least then you will know that the car you have is rust free and in excellent condition that will last you a lifetime.
As an exmple my own car has just gone through a restoration, I have owned it for 7 years and am planning on keeping it until I die. It has had sill/kidney bowls on both sides, inner sill on one side, all the wings off and a repair to one inner wing with the rest rust proofed for the future I(including all the areas that can be traps once it is back to gether) and then a bare metal respray. It is now in stunning condition
With the value of good ones now rising I suspect that I could get most of my money back if I really needed to. With the money I have spent on mechanicals I know have a car that is on its way to being completely spot on, with just a few things to get sorted other the coming years as finances allow.
Again I think this is all down to how long you expect to keep the car for, there is no point doing this if it is going to be a brief love affair before you move on.
These cars are now getting to the age where just about all of them will be showing some signs of rust coming through somewhere, there just aren't going to be many rust free examples out there and the chances are that if you do find one that hasn't been fixed it just hasn't shown it yet.
If you are planning on keeping the car for a long time, then it can be worthwhile getting a cheaper car and putting it right, depending of course on how bad things actually are. At least then you will know that the car you have is rust free and in excellent condition that will last you a lifetime.
As an exmple my own car has just gone through a restoration, I have owned it for 7 years and am planning on keeping it until I die. It has had sill/kidney bowls on both sides, inner sill on one side, all the wings off and a repair to one inner wing with the rest rust proofed for the future I(including all the areas that can be traps once it is back to gether) and then a bare metal respray. It is now in stunning condition
With the value of good ones now rising I suspect that I could get most of my money back if I really needed to. With the money I have spent on mechanicals I know have a car that is on its way to being completely spot on, with just a few things to get sorted other the coming years as finances allow.
Again I think this is all down to how long you expect to keep the car for, there is no point doing this if it is going to be a brief love affair before you move on.
The car in question is an 88 Targa.
The mileage appears genuine at 53k and there is a reasonable amount of history that appears to back up the overall condition.
The leather interior is particularly good which again leads me to think the mileage is correct.
The car had an upgraded clutch fitted and four wheel alignment carried out last year and is generally in very clean conditon.
From what I've read so far there doesn't appear to be any easy way to tell if the kidney bowls and sills are corroded until it's actually too late.
There is a very very small paint scab on the drivers side. On any other car it wouldn't bother me as it's adjascent to the rubber strip that runs along the car and could be mechanical damage.
However from what I've read this is the area where corrosion often breaks through. I've pressed on the area very firmly and it feels solid enough but I can't really go poking a screwdriver through the paint scab.
The mileage appears genuine at 53k and there is a reasonable amount of history that appears to back up the overall condition.
The leather interior is particularly good which again leads me to think the mileage is correct.
The car had an upgraded clutch fitted and four wheel alignment carried out last year and is generally in very clean conditon.
From what I've read so far there doesn't appear to be any easy way to tell if the kidney bowls and sills are corroded until it's actually too late.
There is a very very small paint scab on the drivers side. On any other car it wouldn't bother me as it's adjascent to the rubber strip that runs along the car and could be mechanical damage.
However from what I've read this is the area where corrosion often breaks through. I've pressed on the area very firmly and it feels solid enough but I can't really go poking a screwdriver through the paint scab.
mph said:
There is a very very small paint scab on the drivers side. On any other car it wouldn't bother me as it's adjascent to the rubber strip that runs along the car and could be mechanical damage.
However from what I've read this is the area where corrosion often breaks through. I've pressed on the area very firmly and it feels solid enough but I can't really go poking a screwdriver through the paint scab.
That is the first sign of outer sill/inner sill/kidney bowl rust. Budget £1500 - £1750 to get that fixed properlyHowever from what I've read this is the area where corrosion often breaks through. I've pressed on the area very firmly and it feels solid enough but I can't really go poking a screwdriver through the paint scab.
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