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I just bought another 944 Turbo. I had one a few years ago, a Nautic Blue '88, but I ended up selling it because I moved to Japan. That one had ABS and an LSD, but the paint job was one of the worst I had ever seen (painted right over the stone guards). I bought the car sight unseen... you would think I learned my lesson, right?
Well, I didn't. I bought another 951 two months ago sight unseen, shipped from Delaware. I couldn't pass up a 60k mile '88 Turbo for the price I saw it at, especially with the outrageous prices some people are asking for standard Turbos in average condition(20k+). Hopefully it ends up being a good investment, although I don't plan on selling it in the foreseeable future. This one is about as basic as it gets; No ABS or LSD.
I originally wanted a color other than black, but again, I couldn't pass up this deal. Hopefully I grow to like the color more over time. The interior is Linen, which is my second favorite interior color after Champagne. I may end up dyeing the interior Champagne in the future.
The car was a two owner car, with the first owner passing it on in 1990 to the person I bought it from. I was hoping for a full service history but I only got some sporadic records throughout the life of the car. At least all the service was done at the dealer... but no record of a timing belt job.
After receiving the car I saw a lot of damage that didn't show in the photos. The paint was scratched to hell and back and I also found dents and dings all over the car. The front bumper looks like it has been replaced as I can see red paint underneath the corners. The rest of the car has probably been repainted because I see some paint runs on the fenders as well. Luckily the fenders are original according to the VIN tag. The interior is in very nice condition.
I decided to have the car professionally detailed and polished. I also asked the detailer to remove the stone guards with an eraser wheel as they were badly cracked. I had a PDR guy come out and take out as many of the dents as he could.
After they finished their work, I was very impressed. The car looks 10 times better than it did, and much better than the Nautic Blue Turbo I had before, but I would still like to repaint the front bumper and header panel. The front bumper has some road rash and the paint on the header panel is peeling around the emblem.
I also picked up some Boxster wheels and new tires to replace the 10 year old, rotting tires that were mounted before.
Before driving the car I did a timing belt and balance belt job. As soon as I removed the power steering belt to gain access to the timing belts, all my power steering fluid leaked out of the shaft of my power steering pump. Also, the A/C doesn't work. I assume there's no charge. I chose to leave the water pump alone; there was no play in the shaft and it felt smooth but firm.
I also found out that the timing belt tensioner is missing the spring, but I decided to go ahead and replace the belts and tension the belt manually.
While I was in there I also replaced the fuel lines, cap and rotor, ignition wires, and spark plugs.
The first drive to register the car was uneventful, and more difficult than I was accustomed to due to the lack of power steering, but I was excited to be back behind the wheel of a 951.
During my drive I realized that the motor mounts must be replaced. Luckily I have already bought a new pair of genuine Porsche mounts for $300 from an auction site in Japan. Come May, I will install the new mounts, replace or rebuild the power steering pump, and attempt to charge the A/C. I also have a set of LED headlights to install.
Thanks for reading! I hope to update this thread with any work I do in the future. I'm planning to turn this into a comfortable daily driver with 350whp at some point in the future.
Same story here. Essentially sight unseen, well, too far of a drive to not be committed. Black as well, and not my first choice. You're right, it will grow on you. But a nightmare to keep clean!
Mine is Linen interior as well. The previous owner actually swapped the driver/passenger foot wells with tan carpet. I bought a linen set off ebay that turned out to be misrepresented and actually Tan. I opened the box and immediately knew, didn't even take the carpet out. I eventually found a true linen set and had a detail shop "clean" them. I put that in quotes because when I dropped off I made it very clear that it was old carpet and only to STEAM them. Well, when I picked up they had clearly used a rotary tool with a brush on the end and tore the fibers out in the arc motions they used when cleaning. I was and still am livid. Anyway, if you decide to dye your linen set, don't! Sell it to me, I can swap you the spare tan set.
These cars in black have a totally different look to any other color as the rubber seals and spoiler blend into the car instead of standing out. Definitely worth a professional detail with paint correction and a ceramic coating so you don’t spend every minute trying to keep it looking clean.
Looks nice and welcome back. I have a very similar car and absolutely love mine. I have had it for 17 years and don't plan to sell it (every time I do, I drive it for one last time and change my mind).
I bought mine 2 years ago. I saw it in person and was too excited. I bought it thinking it was perfect. Took it to my mechanic buddy and he asked me if I'd seen where it had been resprayed! I said NO! hahaha. It was RED and perfect as far as I could tell!!
Same story here. Essentially sight unseen, well, too far of a drive to not be committed. Black as well, and not my first choice. You're right, it will grow on you. But a nightmare to keep clean!
Mine is Linen interior as well. The previous owner actually swapped the driver/passenger foot wells with tan carpet. I bought a linen set off ebay that turned out to be misrepresented and actually Tan. I opened the box and immediately knew, didn't even take the carpet out. I eventually found a true linen set and had a detail shop "clean" them. I put that in quotes because when I dropped off I made it very clear that it was old carpet and only to STEAM them. Well, when I picked up they had clearly used a rotary tool with a brush on the end and tore the fibers out in the arc motions they used when cleaning. I was and still am livid. Anyway, if you decide to dye your linen set, don't! Sell it to me, I can swap you the spare tan set.
I hate it when sellers don't know what they're selling! I'll definitely think about your offer, but I've considered just dying the carpet black without pulling it all up, and then dying the dash and seats the cashmere color. I won't be doing anything anytime soon though!
Originally Posted by MAGK944
Great story!
These cars in black have a totally different look to any other color as the rubber seals and spoiler blend into the car instead of standing out. Definitely worth a professional detail with paint correction and a ceramic coating so you don’t spend every minute trying to keep it looking clean.
I agree, it's definitely the rubber on the car that blends with the black and makes it look so much different.
Originally Posted by gruhsy
Where are you located?
welcome back👍
At the moment I'm still going back and forth between Japan and the Jacksonville, Florida area.
I just bought another 944 Turbo. I had one a few years ago, a Nautic Blue '88, but I ended up selling it because I moved to Japan. That one had ABS and an LSD, but the paint job was one of the worst I had ever seen (painted right over the stone guards). I bought the car sight unseen... you would think I learned my lesson, right?
Hi, welcome back to the fold!
Where were you and the Nautic Blue '88 located when you had it? 13-ish years ago I was car-less (had sold my Toyota Celica to get some cash in hand for a Porsche 911SC or 951), and there was a rough '88 Nautic Blue up in the SF Bay Area, but was cheap and had LSD, sunroof delete, and I think sports seats. I was about to buy an Amtrak ticket to go up and get it, but out of the blue a customer popped up with a Stone Grey '86 (original owner, 88K miles at the time, LSD, sports seats, sport shocks) and I couldn't pass it up.
There can't be too many M220 '88 Nautic Blue 951s out there; maybe you bought that one??
Where were you and the Nautic Blue '88 located when you had it? 13-ish years ago I was car-less (had sold my Toyota Celica to get some cash in hand for a Porsche 911SC or 951), and there was a rough '88 Nautic Blue up in the SF Bay Area, but was cheap and had LSD, sunroof delete, and I think sports seats. I was about to buy an Amtrak ticket to go up and get it, but out of the blue a customer popped up with a Stone Grey '86 (original owner, 88K miles at the time, LSD, sports seats, sport shocks) and I couldn't pass it up.
There can't be too many M220 '88 Nautic Blue 951s out there; maybe you bought that one??
Chris
I don't think it was that one! Mine had a sunroof and standard seats.
Here's a bad photo of my car's interior, before I even cleaned it. Any scuff marks you see wiped right off. Only one crack in the dash! You can also see the rubber LLoyd floor mats I installed. It rains so much in Florida that I'll never put carpet mats in a car here.
Unfortunately the clock doesn't work. I'll have to fix that at some point. I'm happy the car has power locks, it'll make it much easier to install a keyless remote system.
Congrats on getting back into the fold.
I see you were smart to have the stone guards removed with an eraser wheel by a 'professional'.
Mine were all dried and cracked so after reading how to remove threads here it didn't seem too tough...WRONG on my car.
The passenger side in front of the rear wheel came off easily, EVERYTHING else was work, little tiny pieces, residual adhesive, and my hamfisted attempts resulted in paint damage....so I'll be redoing areas below the wheel openings.....lesson learned on my part.
Congrats on getting back into the fold.
I see you were smart to have the stone guards removed with an eraser wheel by a 'professional'.
Mine were all dried and cracked so after reading how to remove threads here it didn't seem too tough...WRONG on my car.
The passenger side in front of the rear wheel came off easily, EVERYTHING else was work, little tiny pieces, residual adhesive, and my hamfisted attempts resulted in paint damage....so I'll be redoing areas below the wheel openings.....lesson learned on my part.
It's an absolute must to use a heat gun to remove the old guards. Mine were as bad as they come, dry cracked and hard as a rock. The heat gun normally works like magic in this application, but I found even with it for how bad they were, it still took a long time. Heat small 1-2 inch areas at a time then lightly scrape with a plastic putty tool. You'll spent awhile on each one but it works. Once all the heavy stuff is off you need "goo gone" to remove residues left on the paint.
May I ask how much the paint correction cost? Looking to do the same with my black 951
It cost about $500. The paint still isn't perfect, but all the scratches you can see in the first photos are gone. There's some swirls here and there but I am totally happy with how it turned out.
I thought about tackling it myself, but the equipment alone would have cost $300 or so. I also had limited time in the U.S. and I didn't want to spend days removing the stone guards and polishing the paint.
01-28-2020, 09:04 PM
My '88 951 with 60k miles
Sell it to me, I can swap you the spare tan set.
