Porsche 997.1 new toy time, brave or smart buy?
Discussion
Adhering to PH marketing advice I thought I should stop dreaming and start driving! Sorry I seem to write long winded, let me know if it's of interest 
Here’s my new baby and yes I'm happy to admit I'm in love. 911 a boyhood dream from posters on my wall but being sensible I’ve prioritised houses, kids etc however with a half century approaching next year I felt I deserved a reward.
Doom scrolling through AT & PH classifieds dreaming of what I could/should aim for; list was F-Type, M4, Mustang, 718 Cayman look good value. After business doing well and realising YOLO (my best man died of the big C at 48 yrs old makes you think) I started doing the maths, can I keep S4 https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... & a new toy??
Only really want a 3k miles/year toy so it has to be special, maybe a 911? Critical that someone else must have spent big money which worked handsomely for the S4, so engine rebuild is a must plus as much other car mid-life crises stuff done.
Spoke with the Chief who was amazingly supportive and within 24 hours of agreeing to go for it I was lining up three 911s to see all north Manchester area, south of lakes (I'm central Scotland). Seems there are lots there, possibly the great roads?
Market is soft, many have been on classifieds for ages. #1 was 996 C4S at a good price with “replacement engine” which turned out that when the original went boom they just plonked in an 87k used motor and sold it, no other work done. So run away. #2 a 996 looked nice and good rebuild but was Tiptronic and showed no signs of extra money being spent and seller wasn’t very charismatic and was shy with info. I would entertain a 996 if the right condition etc but heart said 997.
Step forward #3 an 05 997.1 3.6 Carrera 2 been on sale for over 6 months, at 19.5k listed looked ok value for a manual. Excellent chat with seller a true enthusiast, had the car 9 years and has thrown the kitchen sink at it spending £20k, prior owner had £14k new short-block rebuild by main dealer 40k miles ago and since then every consumable done, all suspension, starter, alternator, all coolant, brake lines, new sparks/coils last winter, vacuum pump etc etc. Invoices are scary, clearly you have to pay to play in this game.
Agreed to drive down next day 280 miles each way from central Scotland to Burnley. For the audi I bought a one way flight to so was backed into corner as had to buy to get back for work the next day, this time I thought I’d be wise and see it first before committing
Broke every rule, first one I’ve seen, it was raining and it’s now mine!
Driving down I was mulling over why no-one has bought it? Clearly good value, photos were weak but with huge spend it seemed good value. So reality, wheels (Gt3 reps I think) need urgent dipping, front end needs respray, fog lights beyond cloudy and totally knackered. An inch or 2 of surface rust on front wheel arch, couple of starting bubbles on front wing. I have a good bodyshop and reckon on £1k to get it nice. So nothing serious. Interior very tired, gearknob knackered, ancient Porsche PCM satnav, heater controls poor condition..All fixable by me for not very much (I havent bought a perfect mint car in 20 years and like watching youtube/old forums to learn my way through and it gives you a different ownership reward)
Went for a drive and wow! car sits low on new shocks and H&R lowering springs, corners on rails, very eager to rev and appears all horses were present and correct
Had good rapport with honest seller who had a newish boxster gts and macan turbo so he likes his Porsches. Longish chat reveals some time-wasters, low ball offers but he wanted £19k. Quick negotiation and at £18.5k it was a handshake
Drove home, checked work diary and impatient me booked a train down the next day! total over 800 miles driven and 6 hours on train and it’s mine on Wednesday, only had the ok from the Chief on monday morning
Will update with progress, got some turtle wax on it today. Whilst seller did every bit of preventable maintenance after 9 years (he only did 23k miles) he didn’t care too much of the aesthetics in or out. Needs the respray and a good mop but came up good a deep blue metallic, like BMW carbon black.
Ordered various bits to start the refresh over coming weeks and then wheel dipping, I think paint can wait until winter.
Thanks for reading. Any advice to a newbie clueless 911 owner appreciated (numpty already pulled at petrol station expecting the fuel filler to be at the back of the car and drove home with coffee between legs not realising the over engineered cup holders, so a steep learning curve…..).
It seems a popular PH car with several threads of late, thank you, it inspired me! I like the recent chat on other threads on not lugging the engine cold to reduce bore score, this was an OEM Porsche short block so bore score could be a future issue, but only 40k and no visible signs of smoke, ticking, exhaust carbon so I took my brave pill and we’ll see how we go.
Oh lastly, epic 1 hour drive round cairngorms yesterday and arrived home with no rear plate.... Seller took off private plate and must not have fully secured original plate, there's 20 years of gummy self adhesive pads after I think 5 private plates, one for each owner. So reordered and paid for expensive next day delivery so tomorrow is fun day!
Here’s my new baby and yes I'm happy to admit I'm in love. 911 a boyhood dream from posters on my wall but being sensible I’ve prioritised houses, kids etc however with a half century approaching next year I felt I deserved a reward.
Doom scrolling through AT & PH classifieds dreaming of what I could/should aim for; list was F-Type, M4, Mustang, 718 Cayman look good value. After business doing well and realising YOLO (my best man died of the big C at 48 yrs old makes you think) I started doing the maths, can I keep S4 https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... & a new toy??
Only really want a 3k miles/year toy so it has to be special, maybe a 911? Critical that someone else must have spent big money which worked handsomely for the S4, so engine rebuild is a must plus as much other car mid-life crises stuff done.
Spoke with the Chief who was amazingly supportive and within 24 hours of agreeing to go for it I was lining up three 911s to see all north Manchester area, south of lakes (I'm central Scotland). Seems there are lots there, possibly the great roads?
Market is soft, many have been on classifieds for ages. #1 was 996 C4S at a good price with “replacement engine” which turned out that when the original went boom they just plonked in an 87k used motor and sold it, no other work done. So run away. #2 a 996 looked nice and good rebuild but was Tiptronic and showed no signs of extra money being spent and seller wasn’t very charismatic and was shy with info. I would entertain a 996 if the right condition etc but heart said 997.
Step forward #3 an 05 997.1 3.6 Carrera 2 been on sale for over 6 months, at 19.5k listed looked ok value for a manual. Excellent chat with seller a true enthusiast, had the car 9 years and has thrown the kitchen sink at it spending £20k, prior owner had £14k new short-block rebuild by main dealer 40k miles ago and since then every consumable done, all suspension, starter, alternator, all coolant, brake lines, new sparks/coils last winter, vacuum pump etc etc. Invoices are scary, clearly you have to pay to play in this game.
Agreed to drive down next day 280 miles each way from central Scotland to Burnley. For the audi I bought a one way flight to so was backed into corner as had to buy to get back for work the next day, this time I thought I’d be wise and see it first before committing
Broke every rule, first one I’ve seen, it was raining and it’s now mine!
Driving down I was mulling over why no-one has bought it? Clearly good value, photos were weak but with huge spend it seemed good value. So reality, wheels (Gt3 reps I think) need urgent dipping, front end needs respray, fog lights beyond cloudy and totally knackered. An inch or 2 of surface rust on front wheel arch, couple of starting bubbles on front wing. I have a good bodyshop and reckon on £1k to get it nice. So nothing serious. Interior very tired, gearknob knackered, ancient Porsche PCM satnav, heater controls poor condition..All fixable by me for not very much (I havent bought a perfect mint car in 20 years and like watching youtube/old forums to learn my way through and it gives you a different ownership reward)
Went for a drive and wow! car sits low on new shocks and H&R lowering springs, corners on rails, very eager to rev and appears all horses were present and correct
Had good rapport with honest seller who had a newish boxster gts and macan turbo so he likes his Porsches. Longish chat reveals some time-wasters, low ball offers but he wanted £19k. Quick negotiation and at £18.5k it was a handshake
Drove home, checked work diary and impatient me booked a train down the next day! total over 800 miles driven and 6 hours on train and it’s mine on Wednesday, only had the ok from the Chief on monday morning
Will update with progress, got some turtle wax on it today. Whilst seller did every bit of preventable maintenance after 9 years (he only did 23k miles) he didn’t care too much of the aesthetics in or out. Needs the respray and a good mop but came up good a deep blue metallic, like BMW carbon black.
Ordered various bits to start the refresh over coming weeks and then wheel dipping, I think paint can wait until winter.
Thanks for reading. Any advice to a newbie clueless 911 owner appreciated (numpty already pulled at petrol station expecting the fuel filler to be at the back of the car and drove home with coffee between legs not realising the over engineered cup holders, so a steep learning curve…..).
It seems a popular PH car with several threads of late, thank you, it inspired me! I like the recent chat on other threads on not lugging the engine cold to reduce bore score, this was an OEM Porsche short block so bore score could be a future issue, but only 40k and no visible signs of smoke, ticking, exhaust carbon so I took my brave pill and we’ll see how we go.
Oh lastly, epic 1 hour drive round cairngorms yesterday and arrived home with no rear plate.... Seller took off private plate and must not have fully secured original plate, there's 20 years of gummy self adhesive pads after I think 5 private plates, one for each owner. So reordered and paid for expensive next day delivery so tomorrow is fun day!
Well done!
Oil change is really easy on these, for the price of the items I’d look to be doing it at home & more frequently than the service schedule. Will help preserve the engine.
Also if you have the chance get the geo done even if done recently as they can be transformed with tweaking…
Oil change is really easy on these, for the price of the items I’d look to be doing it at home & more frequently than the service schedule. Will help preserve the engine.
Also if you have the chance get the geo done even if done recently as they can be transformed with tweaking…
thanks mate, maybe one to consider. For now it's only done just over 1,000 miles since last oil change and I've done 400 of those this week. have a specialist 1 hour away who has glowing online reviews so they'll check it over at MOT time. Definitely will be new oil at 6k intervals for me
Am I right that there is no definitive answer on why bore score happens? can be high temps on track or low temps lugging the car and lots stop start journeys? interesting one, I assume the 20k service intervals didnt help and oil quality is major factor, checking the book this had first service at 16k miles and then every 15-20k thereafter in its early life. Surely this is the main culprit?
Anyway, new plate on, with so many plate changes the self tappers were not that snug so put some silicone sealant on threads as a loctite solution, ordered private plate so this is temporary
and can't wait to sort this interior out, the PCM stereo is grim with manky buttons....
Am I right that there is no definitive answer on why bore score happens? can be high temps on track or low temps lugging the car and lots stop start journeys? interesting one, I assume the 20k service intervals didnt help and oil quality is major factor, checking the book this had first service at 16k miles and then every 15-20k thereafter in its early life. Surely this is the main culprit?
Anyway, new plate on, with so many plate changes the self tappers were not that snug so put some silicone sealant on threads as a loctite solution, ordered private plate so this is temporary
and can't wait to sort this interior out, the PCM stereo is grim with manky buttons....
Chris_i8 said:
Nice little project OP.
I hope you'll be removing the wonky Porsche script from the engine cover!?
You git Chris, I can never unsee that! Thought it was the camera angle when you said it, this makes it worse but one side is 6 cm from spoiler, other end 5.5cm....so hard to see it in the flesh but it is wonky. Car is so low at 6'4 I'd never looked at it properly. I realised it not original to the model so will add to the medium term list.... cheers I hope you'll be removing the wonky Porsche script from the engine cover!?
Hi, I had a 2006 997.1 C4S for a while until a man in a motorway maintenance lorry wrote it off.
Sticky switches I replaced from a company in the US.
Oil change is easy, as is brake fluid. If you want to bleed the clutch it's easier if the car is well off the ground.
Suspension refresh also easy.
I had a full 6 cylinder Hartech rebuild approaching 70,000 miles due to left bank smoking. Cost me £12k. It may not have been necessary but
my plan was to keep the car long term.
Best things I did - went to Centre Gravity, and fitted a Numeric shifter.
It was my first 911, after owning a few Caymans. What surprised me was that after the insurance payout I bought a C2 996 (as the
payout couldn't get me another 997.1 of course!) and for me the was 996 much more enjoyable to drive. That may be because I
my 997 was a C4S and the 996 was a C2.
Bad bits - engine work for bore score, **if needed** of course. Take advice. Rear brake lines may need the engine out. (Mine did)
Hope you enjoy it!
Sticky switches I replaced from a company in the US.
Oil change is easy, as is brake fluid. If you want to bleed the clutch it's easier if the car is well off the ground.
Suspension refresh also easy.
I had a full 6 cylinder Hartech rebuild approaching 70,000 miles due to left bank smoking. Cost me £12k. It may not have been necessary but
my plan was to keep the car long term.
Best things I did - went to Centre Gravity, and fitted a Numeric shifter.
It was my first 911, after owning a few Caymans. What surprised me was that after the insurance payout I bought a C2 996 (as the
payout couldn't get me another 997.1 of course!) and for me the was 996 much more enjoyable to drive. That may be because I
my 997 was a C4S and the 996 was a C2.
Bad bits - engine work for bore score, **if needed** of course. Take advice. Rear brake lines may need the engine out. (Mine did)
Hope you enjoy it!
981C_Sussex said:
Seems like a great price, and good base to start from. What s the mileage out of interest?
I put a PCCM+ unit in mine, transformed the car.
Good luck. These can be money pits! YOLO!
Thanks for the positive comments chaps, seems to be erring on the side of smart buy. It's nearly 114k after a busy week, it's truly tight as a drum mechanically so mileage irrelevant to me as it's just cosmetics. Checking invoices 7K miles ago bilstein dampers and h&r springs all round so it's truly on tight rails. What makes the £20k of invoices more impressive is the pre cost of living £63/hr labour rates for a specialist! I put a PCCM+ unit in mine, transformed the car.
Good luck. These can be money pits! YOLO!
It could be money pit I some years but with I'm assuming zero depreciation I'm quietly/naively confident
cheers Michael, loving it so far
the restoration has begun, keeping things on the cheapish side
with my prior stereo fitting credentials being chocolate blocks in a mk2 astra and the like I gained confidence seeing what a professional did on installing in my audi. So opted for the same double din pioneer unit, plenty of power, great bluetooth streaming/usb/phone. I don't need anything else. Without steering wheel controls the harness is easier, found a kit that fits the dash nicely and has canbus power adapter/interface. So works fine.
Job fairly easy, half a dozen torx to release surrouning trim, although there a 4 allen fixings that require half a turn to release the stereo. One youtube vid makes it looks like a hot knife through butter its so slick, another admits off camera he spent an hour with big screwdrivers wrestling it out. I was somewhere in between and unusually for me it worked first time! total cost just under £250, not bad. It has exposed what I knew already that the door speakers are cream crackered. Any suggestions PH on replacements?
Second job easier with the trim removed was to dismantle the HVAC unit and replace the controls which seem to be a common issue. Needed a torx t6 bit which must be rare but available 24hrs later thanks to amazon. Again youtube makes it look easy and you need to be an octopus to prize the holders open and force it out. After 10+ attempts it was done and easy reassemble.
With new gearknob and a new tub of dr leather wipes (one of my favourite PH finds) and a trip to the washing machine for the floor mats the interior has lifted to a new level
Just arrived today, direct from Taiwan, about 25% cheaper on ebay than design911 are new fog light units, can you tell which is the old and new? after minor challenges on the interior this is the quickest 5 min job
Probably going to do door speakers and enjoy it over the summer before doing too much else, any tips appreciated
Cheers
steve
the restoration has begun, keeping things on the cheapish side
with my prior stereo fitting credentials being chocolate blocks in a mk2 astra and the like I gained confidence seeing what a professional did on installing in my audi. So opted for the same double din pioneer unit, plenty of power, great bluetooth streaming/usb/phone. I don't need anything else. Without steering wheel controls the harness is easier, found a kit that fits the dash nicely and has canbus power adapter/interface. So works fine.
Job fairly easy, half a dozen torx to release surrouning trim, although there a 4 allen fixings that require half a turn to release the stereo. One youtube vid makes it looks like a hot knife through butter its so slick, another admits off camera he spent an hour with big screwdrivers wrestling it out. I was somewhere in between and unusually for me it worked first time! total cost just under £250, not bad. It has exposed what I knew already that the door speakers are cream crackered. Any suggestions PH on replacements?
Second job easier with the trim removed was to dismantle the HVAC unit and replace the controls which seem to be a common issue. Needed a torx t6 bit which must be rare but available 24hrs later thanks to amazon. Again youtube makes it look easy and you need to be an octopus to prize the holders open and force it out. After 10+ attempts it was done and easy reassemble.
With new gearknob and a new tub of dr leather wipes (one of my favourite PH finds) and a trip to the washing machine for the floor mats the interior has lifted to a new level
Just arrived today, direct from Taiwan, about 25% cheaper on ebay than design911 are new fog light units, can you tell which is the old and new? after minor challenges on the interior this is the quickest 5 min job
Probably going to do door speakers and enjoy it over the summer before doing too much else, any tips appreciated
Cheers
steve
Edited by v8notbrave on Monday 9th June 16:36
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