My Porsche 996 911 Carrera

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Always wanted a 911...

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rumple said:

Congrats youve got one, more pictures please, what have you just come out of? What is it like compared?

Came from a VXT > Z4C > 911. Also got a Clio as a winter car/runabout so don't use the 911 as much as I would like. I've always wanted one and it's an itch I had to scratch. Got it a week before my 30th so I reached my target of ownership before I was 30! I had initially budgeted for an early pre-facelift 996 but then found this on eBay and it was perfect. 85k miles, facelift, spoiler and a decent colour, all for sub £10k It's booked in for the IMS bearing mod, service and brake fluid change in the new year.

It's dirty at the moment as haven't had the chance to wash it but this is the only other photo I have of it

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The IMS mod is £140 (delivered!) from Pelican Parts in the USA and there's a local indy that can fit it for about £400. It's a relatively high outlay on a car I've just bought, but when considered that if the IMS bearing was to go, it'd have been about £6k for a new engine. I'm just getting it done for piece of mind if nothing else.

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Forgot to mention that I had the car delivered from Norwich by a company found on UShip.com for a reasonable price. They picked it up and 50 miles on the way to Newcastle the water pump failed. Cue a panicy phonecall at 11.30pm from the driver saying that the car was knackered! He explained the symptoms, and I immediately thought it could be the water pump so recommend he drives it no further. He had Green Flag cover so it was delivered to my parents on the back of a low-loader having spent all night travelling (and the delivery driver having no sleep!).

Then it was booked in and collected by my local, friendly garage and they fixed the water pump and replaced the battery was that was duff too. So I was £375 down before I'd even sat in the thing! So I had the delivery driver, Green Flag driver, mechanic then my Dad driving the car before I'd even seen it!

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And it in not so good weather (along with my Clio)

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I don't have a driveway so both live on the street

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Thanks chaps. I'll take some pics when I get it back - it's currently at Nelson Porsche having the IMS bearing replaced (purely precautionary), a service and a brake fluid change.

Also, was informed on way back home after dropping it off that it's going to be an engine out (and more costly) job because it is triptronic.

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It doesn't rain, but it pours. Now needs a new timing chain

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Magic919 said:

One or two? The parts are only cheap, but I guess you are paying more labour.

Got it in one. It's an engine rebuild job.

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Thanks for the support guys. I'm not convinced that the previous owner would have known about the chain, as it was only diagnosed once the engine and gearbox were out so that he could replace the IMS bearing. I'm not one to 'bodge' as I always prefer doing a job properly and I'm a firm believer in prevention being better than cure.

All in, I'm looking at about £4k but that does include the service, IMS change and brake fluid/pipe change and the engine rebuild which will include an upgrade of some standard parts which could do with being replaced whilst the engine it in bits. A bit like what I have recently done with my Clio Williams but on a much more expensive scale

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rumple said:

Absolutely gutted for you, I bet going home and telling the missus that one was great, hope you sort something out.

I'm single, hence why I can (just about!) afford a Porsche

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FELIX_5 said:

On the bright side, you'll probably be one of the most confident 911 owners, as in, confident that you shouldn't have any problems after the rebuild.

You'll be able to just enjoy the car without being nervous. Ironically, in the long run could be money well spent, but appreciate it doesn't probably feel like that at the minute.

My thoughts *exactly*.

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GreaseNipple said:

Are they meant to be lifetime parts so changing them isn't easy?

This. You can see part of the chain when you open the engine casing, but it's the bits you can't see which causes the problems as it's right inside the engine and the internals need to be removed. Once the internals are removed it's good practice to replenish/replace/upgrade some of the other parts whilst you're there (a bit like what I did on my Clio) so some of the £4k isn't actually just for the timing chain to be replaced. Ironically the chain is about £30 to buy.

The result should be a fully functional 911 with the added confidence that it will not be imploding on itself for at least another 150k miles.

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JoshV8 said:

fridaypassion said:

Why dont Porsche just make them like that?

I believe it's because Porsche were on the brink of bankruptcy when the 996 was produced, so they were built by cutting a few corners aswell as moving to water-cooled engines. I guess the 996 was a bit of a test run for water cooled engines. Shame really....

Should be a lovely car once the work is done OP

Thanks Josh. Just waiting for the garage to tot up what it's going to cost me.

Also with regards to the bankruptcy thing, I found this that suggests quite the contrary:

Associated Press said:

AP , Associated Press
AP News Archive Mar. 3, 1998 9:46 AM ET

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) _ Porsche AG, a German manufacturer of luxury sports cars said Tuesday its earnings and sales figures for the first fiscal half ended Jan. 31 were higher than expected.

First-half profits rose 82 percent over the same period last year to 69.7 million marks ($38.7 million), compared to preliminary estimates of 65 million marks ($36 million), the company said.

Sales rose 10.2 percent to 96 billion marks in the fiscal first half, while preliminary estimates had put the increase at about 9.6 percent, or 1.95 billion marks.

In addition, the Stuttgart-based company said first-half unit sales increased 10.4 percent to 14,958 units, up from an earlier estimate of 14,900.

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OK, but of an update. The work has been priced up and itemised, and is as follows:

3 timing chains
6 conrod bolts
3 piston clips
2 head gaskets
24 head bolts
2 camshaft bolts
various washers/seals/fasteners
brake pipes
IMS bearing replace (already supplied by me from Pelican Parts USA)
full service
brake fluid change
+
labour
=
£3.5k

If he finds anything else whilst stripping the engine down then he's going to contact me. I've given him the OK to get started.

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M3333 said:

That is not bad, seen your car yesterday, looks very nice. The engine was out as a complete unit on another ramp. My 996 is currently with Jamie keeping yours company. Even with your engine bill your car is still cheaper than what i paid for mine last year

Ahhh good, glad it has a mate in there! And Jamie had been stripping my engine down til 10pm last night. He's going to send me some pics. Also decided that it'll have a major service instead of a minor. No point doing things by halves

Willber said:

A relatively small price to pay for peace of mind and knowing that you can drive it to it's full potential without waiting for it to go bang! Bet you can't wait to have it back and make the most of the coming good weather (hopefully!!)

That's true. And yeah, can not waaaait to get it back!

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Latest pic



should get it back in 1-2 weeks or so

Edited by p4cks on Sunday 3rd March 10:07

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Latest pic. I should get it back this week

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Well I had it back less than two weeks, gave it some welly coming off a roundabout and behind me was plumes of white smoke which led to this:



Car's gone back to the garage who did the engine rebuild, awaiting diagnosis (it won't be the AOS as that was replaced with the rebuild).

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Siko said:

Gutted for you

Had my own 996 IMS failure back in 2004, big clue was the revs dropping to zero and a massive cloud of white smoke. Sincerely hope it is not that here. Was told by the chaps who rebuilt my engine (6.5k) that it would not be covered if it went pop again, hence I sold straightaway (last heard of still going strong 7 years afterwards) brilliant cars but fragile, in my experience.

Cheers. It won't be the IMS as during the rebuild it had a Pelican Parts IMS fitted. Part of the reason it went in in the first place, only for the mechanic to find more problems which led to the need for the rebuild.