03' boxster 5 spd, plain jane worth it ?, That many possible problems..!! Options

[flmont]

I was looking at a clean 03' plain jane boxster has 40 K miles on it,..as I start to read up on that era car,..I was surprised it had so many possible issue's I knew of the IMS,and oil separator, but what's with the D chunking of cylinders, possible cracks in the heads ,..Etc Etc I realize not every car would have these issues but Damn I am surprised that Porsche's quality control could be that bad,Or they hired some rookie engineer's,..But , is it worth the 14 K the dealer is asking !! Thanks Frank (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[DRPHIL914]

some may say that's too much but remember its not 140k miles its 40 k miles and that makes a huge difference! if you put 5k miles a year on it that's worth an extra 15 years of driving vs buying a high miles car- yes you would do the IMS and with a dealer yo might negotiate a lower price as that is top dollar- I had a 2000S I had for 3 years- bought for $12,500 drove for 3 years put 28k miles on it and sold it outright for same price as I paid for it!!!!! because I didn't want to do the IMS and clutch and tune etc that was due at 90k miles- but great car!
6 months ago after looking again for a few years for another one, I picked up a 97 base 2.5 L car with only 35 k miles- I paid a very low price for the car- mint on the inside, top like brand new because the owner used the hard top or no top at all - its really clean with a few dings but mechanically previous original owner had the vac lines belts etc all done before listing it for sale - I just put new tires on it - fun car but its a bit under powered - I will upgrade the brakes and shocks- oh, and the IMS in early cars is a dual row, less than 1% failure rate- much better than the 04-05 cars larger bearing. but if it goes you can always do a LS conversion! for half the price of a new Porsche motor-
lots of cars out there so you don't have to rush- the O/A thing is no big deal , did mine on the S myself-
also look at the option list - my S had a base price of $49k, and $12K worth of options!! yet on resale and second hand you can get all that ess for free-
Good luck with your search- if the car is pristine clean car fax good maintenece history I would offer them $10k, see what the say- but for that mileage $12k will be a good deal. Clutch wont need it until 80 k miles so drive and enjoy!

[Mark Henry]

but if it goes you can always do a LS conversion! for half the price of a new Porsche motor-

Well that statement is a little misleading.
Apples to apples
A full on 996 pro rebuild using nickies with install is going to run you around $30K, but to get Renagade to do you a full LS3 conversion is also going to cost you $30K.

Even DIY using Renagade kit (full kit almost $7K) will run you at least $12-15K depending on the engine.
If you are super talented, can fab everything, use a LS1 5.3 (used) you might be able to come out sub $10K...just maybe.

Building a 996 engine right now and also researching the conversions, so I know I'm not too far off on this.