abarthguy

Hey guys, getting to know some of the details to consider while looking for my first 911 !
What year model did the G-50 trans come out ?

bbinder

1987

Tango635

1987 for the Carrera and 1989 for the 930 (5 speed). The 930 had the G-50 for just one year before the car was replaced with the 964.

abarthguy

Thanks !
I'm going to see an '86 tomorrow and wasn't sure if it had the "good" trans.....;^)

mfyoung1086

The 915 really isnt the terrible trans everyone makes it out to be. Yeah the G50 has improved syncros, and a built in internal gate that make it a bit nicer trans the the 915, but not enough that I wouldn't buy an earlier carrera cuz it didn't have a G50.

I've driven the 901, the 915, and the G50... I hate the 901, but the 915 has nice feedback through it that I feel the G50 doesn't


But just my .02 cents!

Daniel Dudley

915 boxes range from pretty darned good to terrible. Every G50 box I have driven was about the same. You put the lever to the next gear, meet a tiny bit of resistance, and then the lever gets ''sucked'' into gear.

I like 915 boxes, never felt compelled to buy a g50 car, but there is a difference that you have to experience. You can always deal with your 915, but a rebuild is going to run over 2000 if you pay to have it done. Then there are those pesky shift bushings, which are cheap to replace.

Buy a copy of ''The Used 911 Story'' by Peter Zimmerman. This will help you get up to speed with the air cooled 911 BEFORE you buy. Read the sticky about the PPI at the top of the page, and consider that the reformulation of most off the shelf motor oils has made it fairly important to pull the lower valve covers and visually inspect the cam lobes for wear. There are a couple of 5,000.00 jobs that will not effect how a used 911 will run in the short term, but WILL effect your wallet.

Buy smart, have fun, and enjoy the hunt. Good 911s can be very inexpensive to run, and there re always a fair number out there to choose from.

abarthguy

Well, saw the car yesterday, but didn't have a chanced to try the gearbox.....
Gray with 55k miles.
Hard to believe a car with that mileage could be in such bad shape. I walked away.
Oh, the dealer only wanted $24,000....

theiceman

Love your Rennlist name tho.... That's a keeper

dshepp806

My G50 speaks to me just fine!!!!!!!!!!!

The 915 is a great piece, as well,..once you "get" it.....the G50 was clearly an improvement (and why they "did" it),..a step up,...you (kinda') learn the G50, as well.......a great tranny, I think!

BEST!

Doyle

porsche0nut

Real men (and women) have no problem with a 915 tranny....

Fantastic article about the 915 vs G50 in Total911 magazine, issue 78. I highly recommend reading it, and trying both the 915 and G50 in person before making a decision.

Also, the advice was given to me not to let the gearbox completely sway the decision on the car. Don't pass up a good car just because it has a 915. A good 915 is better than a bad G50, and vice-versa.

Ed Hughes

You need to study up before deciding what is good and what is bad...

I'd really like to know how many major international races Porsche won with such an "inferior" transaxle.

abarthguy

Sorry, I didn't mean to infer that all 915s are bad. Just noticed a premium for cars with it.
Every car has improvements over the model range.
Trying to get seat time in the '80s and '90s models to see what feels right.
But there are so many " Good from far, but far from good " examples out there.

wedion13

Thanks !

Eberns7637

Just got an 89 930cab....the trans is sooooo smooth, can't believe the car is almost 25 years old...drives like new!

GTgears

You should just write it in 2 haikus... One for each gearbox.