Trade Proposal: my '88 16v Scirocco for his '87 N/A 944: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Oct. 14, 2009 1:05 p.m. neckromacr New Reader

I was picking up tire at Tirerack this morning when this guy approches me asking if that was my Scirocco and if I was looking to sell. I'll entertain offers but told him it was my daily and I need to look into something else to drive before I could sell it. Thats when he offered to trade up for his '87 944.

It raised my interest because I had passingly looked into 944's in the past, but had stayed with my familiar VWs. My first question was about maintenece done to it, he went on about pads, rotors and bearings just done to it. When I asked him about the timing chain his "they should be good" was less than confidence inspiring having done some homework on these cars before.

I also told him I do about 100 miles a day of commuting, to which the Rocco has been pretty reliable about while doing 30 MPG. He seemed to think the 944 could match that as he said he drove it time to time claiming 30-35 MPG.

He did say the one quarter panel hada dent from a hit and run and the odometer had stopped working, but he estimated about 150-175K on the car. Seemed to be on of those people with Car ADD (or however Per said it) has had the car for 2 years and was looking for something different.

So should I look into it further, or run away from it? If the former what should I be looking for?
Oct. 14, 2009 1:08 p.m. docwyte New Reader

Belts need to be replaced every 30k miles on that car. They get pretty decent gas mileage and are a ton of fun to drive.

That car with those miles out here in Denver is worth $1500 tops and probably more like $800-1000.
Oct. 14, 2009 2:04 p.m. jwc38 New Reader

looks like he pushed the odometer reset button while the car was moving, there are kits to replace the questionable internals with metal gears.
Oct. 14, 2009 7:07 p.m. neckromacr New Reader

I thought all the 944's had timing chains that had to be retensioned with a specialized tool wieled by some old grizzled man named Gunter every 30k miles or else valve train dismay was a certainty.

I'm used to doing belts every 30k on the Scirocco. Although I'm sure its probably a bit more challenging on a 944.
Oct. 14, 2009 8:47 p.m. docwyte New Reader

Nope, timing belts that need to be changed (along with the balance shaft belt) every 30k miles and tensioned with a special Porsche tool several times in between.
Oct. 14, 2009 9:00 p.m. JohnW Reader

944 clutches don't last forever either. Find out the last time it was changed, because that job is a biatch.

I'd rather have -- and live with -- a Scirocco 16V, but that's just me. ...
Oct. 14, 2009 9:23 p.m. amg_rx7 Reader

I've had an 8V Scirocco of both body styles. I'd much rather the 944.
Oct. 14, 2009 10:41 p.m. 924guy Dork

Im a big fan of the 944, but id be wary of a "trade." a good running 944 is all about the maintenance, if they guy cant tell you the exact date of the last t-belt change, and the elapsed mileage since, thats an instant $1500 for a front end service (minimal for shop) or about $600 in parts and a days work to do it yourself. I think by 87 they had auto tensioners, but i dont recall.

I would be very careful about a straight up trade, could be wanting to trade his headaches ....
Oct. 15, 2009 12:24 a.m. Hasbro HalfDork

neckromacr wrote:

I also told him I do about 100 miles a day of commuting, to which the Rocco has been pretty reliable about

^ That
Oct. 15, 2009 1:43 a.m. mad_machine UberDork

if you did not have that killer commute.. I would go for it.
Oct. 15, 2009 10:04 a.m. neckromacr New Reader

Thanks, for the info. It definitely felt like one of those iffy deals, but I figured I'd run it by some gearheads who knew these cars better than I did.

I think I'll use that money I would have ended up tuning that car to get my Rocco some Corrado seats and a clutch that its been needing.
Oct. 15, 2009 12:57 p.m. joepaluch New Reader

neckromacr wrote: So should I look into it further, or run away from it? If the former what should I be looking for?

Don't do it.

I am a 944 guy and have a 924S/944 in the family since 1991. I built and race a 944 (7 years racing 9 total track years) and have 944 Turbo S street car (owned for 12 years).

Let me repeat. Don't do it. A 944 is great car, but less the ideal daily driver. It can be used for this, but if it needs work parts are more expensive and labor is harder. Nothing that decient shade tree mechanic can't handle, but not something I would rely on daily without a back up.

BTW.. these cars have timing belts and they need to be replaced every 5 years or 30k. If they fail it will cause the valves to bend the piston hits them. Lack of belt service is a major reason for the number of 944's in junkyards. However it not that hard to repair if you decide to make project of it. It however not a simple fix either.
Oct. 15, 2009 1:06 p.m. joepaluch New Reader

In reply to joepaluch:

As for the t-belt job. Like everything on the car it is straight forward once you know what the deal it. The book does call for the special tensioning tool, but all 88 and most 87 cars came with tensionser on the engine. Those that did not can be tension by hand, but you do need to get it right. Too tight or too loose is major problem. There are also cheap aftermarket tension tools that work well.

944 clutchs do last along time. However in a any used car you can't really access how good it is. Doing a clutch job again takes time, but is not terribly difficult. Do expect it to take a full weekend if you have never done it. Book time is like 8 hours and at $100 hr labor rate cost is high.

That is thing about the 944. Few jobs are that hard, but most all take time. Porsche labor rates are high and that cause most work to be expensive. Parts are mix bad. Some are VW parts and others are special and somewhat expensive. Others can be had used cheap and work out great.

I have build my 944 race car from nothing. Over the years I have worked on just about every system in the car at least once. I have rebult 3-4 motors and chanaged clutches a few times. Also I have maintined my 944 Turbo S as well and clutch change in Turbo is 14-22 hrs book time due to exhaust configuration for the turbo system.

Still I have always enjoyed the 944 and 944 turbo as it is very hard get that level of performance, balance and robustness from any car in that price range.

They are however not ideal daily cars if you have no back -up.
Oct. 16, 2009 9:01 p.m. plance1 HalfDork

post some pics of the scirocco