OK--a chance at 6 to 7 grand to get a nice convertible--a 90 Cabrio 944. Q-1: Am I right in thinking all the late Cabrios were turbo? Q 2: I know the 944 motor is an expensive one, esp compared to the 914-4. Should this be a deal breaker? Claims service records--I'll go see it Sun, see what records show. Anything else I should know? An old man in his late 80s selling it since his son, p. o., died recently. Thanks

Living around here you should know to look for rust, especially involving a convertible. I have no idea if it's a turbo & don't just look at the records, check them out. Pics? Good luck.

1. Its got to be an S2, not turbo. thats the 968 3.0 engine. Biggest 4 cylander ever in production. 225hp. Same power as an early turbo stock for stock. but better tq off the line. Unfortunately you cant just raise the boost to get 275hp out of this one... but as a stock car its great! OH PS.. I saw a stock one dyno one time.. the tq band was a horizontal bar. HP line was a straight up line all the way to redline. Simply amazing...

2. Main thing your looking for is timing belt, water pump, and clutch services.. Timing belt can break which will destroy the head. Clutch is a 1 day repair job at a mechanic. the whole driveline has to come out (engine to the trani..)

3. KBB says 8-10k. for fair to excellent condition.

If you can pick it up for 6k.. DO IT.


What are your intentions with the car?

Andrew

Cabs were S2 or turbo. Tops had electrical problems. Cab's are kinda rare so top parts will be high. As with any 944 maintanance is VERY important. Find out WHO did WHAT werk WHEN. General mechanics rarely do the job correctly on 944's (like any other German auto) 6-7K is pretty cheap. Usually sell for around 13-15,000 in nice shape so beware! Also make sure you get it up to where you can engage 5th gear. I have an S2 tranny right now that I had to replace 5th in. No idea what happend other than the gear was eaten up, with only 43,000 miles

90 cab is an S2. Same as the coupe in my avatar. It has the same basic chassis and trans of a Turbo. But, the motor is a 16v 3.0. The biggest 4 ever put in a production car. Good for about 208hp. They imported about 2000 cabs and 2000 coupes, so they are relatively rare. They were about $50k in 1990. So theres a lot of bang for the buck.

Things you want to know...
Timing Belt is critical, when was it done? They are only good for about 45k miles.

Clutch, does it have the stock rubber center clutch? If it does, its about to fail and thats a shitty job.

Cam chain tensioner and pads.

Water Pump.

Check out www.clarkes-garage.com for good 944 info.

The price sounds pretty good, depending on what it needs.

Actually there WAS a turbo cab. VERY small number in 1991. I beleive less than 1000 built with 250 (?) sent to the U.S.

I didn't think any were sent to the US... But my knowledge kind of drops out there.

[quote name='jasons' date='Feb 17 2007, 03:53 PM' post='864345']
--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scotty b @ Feb 17 2007, 04:50 PM) </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->

Actually there WAS a turbo cab. VERY small number in 1991. I beleive less than 1000 built with 250 (?) sent to the U.S.
[/quote]

I didn't think any were sent to the US... But my knowledge kind of drops out there.
[/quote]

There were. I looked at one here in Richmond about 6 years ago. White w/ a blue top. Real pretty combo but the car had some electrical gremlins due to an improper stereo install (hack job) plus it had been hit and poorly repaired.

I do believe that the 250 number was for Europe only, and was told by Porsche in 91, when at Weissach, that none were to be imported into America. They were all destined to go to the Europeans and the very last run of turbos built were all cabs.

I am going to guess that the car you saw was a Euro spec, and imported and certified at a later point in time.

Saw a very pristine, and low KM car at the 'Ring , owned by a Porsche dealer in Belgium: he was a Cup competitor there at the race that weekend. The car was offered to me for around 100,000 American , including all certification, and transportation. Thought about that for about a month, then when back here , called and the car was then at 115,000 and offered to highest bidder. EXTREMELY rare piece, but at that time my green was even more rare........to the point of being unavailable.

remember.....all thats true for Gray market cars in other makes, runs true for Porsche. The factory has so little regard for the cars here, that the Porsche mechs. have no access to any info on parts, or repair procedures. Big headache....little sympathy.

I am sure what you will be looking at will be an S-2, not a turbo. The cars have a very good engine in them, but the same as already been said about the t-belts for the NA and the turbo , hold true. Get the records and all invoices and PORE over them. The top was also available in elec. and also manual I think. So, if its not going up on its own.....there is a reason... Its called top by Armstrong.

The S-2 cars are a great car and the top of the line for the 4 cyl. range, with the development of the 968 being the end all. And the end. Too bad.... they are in its most purest form.
Is it a low mile car ? I would be guessing not, as the figure is on the low side.

Get the dude if it is , and it appears well cared for, as the things are a kick and a hoot. Will give a whole new perspective to driving well, if the cars you're used to running are teeners. WAYYY..........more developed and athletic, but not having the elemental charm and lightness of being that gives them the power to weight ratio our teeners have.
Enjoy !

Update---but not as much as I had hoped. Went up Sunday, found the battery dead, and our jumper cables wouldn't do it. The fact that the old man is 86 meant I had to try to get both ends of the cables in good contact, then, while he revved my car, I tried the key. Also, it was virtually locked in ice. BUT... looks very nice, no signs of rust. Lots of receipts, but none showed timing, clutch, cam tensioner or water pump. CAN ANYONE give me an est. for checking these, and for changing, them? Sounds like a little under 7K is his lower limit, and there's vermin from a used car dealership trying to cut in.

The car is worth what YOU think it is. If the used car weenie smells blood, then either let him take it or pull the trigger.

1500-2500 for the service, depending on the wrench or if you do it, as low as 800.

You will pay a reputable Porsche dealer about 200 bucks to check these items...maybe get lucky and have them put in a new battery too, for about 250.00 total, BUT, if the car is very nice in condition, has a good top and interior, with no body issues, its a steal at 7 bills. Car should have under a hunderd k to qualify at this fig. If it an ultra desirable color, like the uber rare blue/green metallic, consider it a bonus.

If it needs motor mount, t -belt repl., balance shaft belts, new battery, rear window repair, water pump and/ any other belt replacements, cam seals leaking, etc, do not be surprised to see the short end of a 2000 bill total. BUT, they are worth it in the end, if its not a bagger. ( Or a double bagger ).

Me, I LOVE these cars, and if its not a vermin ridden work of art, ( meaning a used car dealer spif ) in the first place, I would haul it home and not say a peep more, just start updating and freshening it back to O.E. You would not regret owning this drop dead touring car, in a proper fit and finished state.

Now go and cut that other dealer a new one, for driving in on your action

mrgreenjeans53

There can be a lot of range in there depending what you need and who does it. Belts are pretty cheap in parts, but the question will be whether you need to replace the balance seals and the belt rollers. Doing the water pump is one of those deals where, if you are doing the belts you may as well do the pump. Especially if its an unknown quanity.

The clutch job flat out sucks. No other way to put it. I think mechanics figure around 10-12 hours for that job at $xx per hour. In parts it can cost as little as a new clutch disk or as much as everything in there. When I did mine, I replaced everything. Clutch, PP, Pilot bearing, throwout bearing, resurfaced the flywheel, new fasteners for the PP, new slave and new master cyls. I spent around $1k in parts. Oh and I found a flange on the header had broken, so I had to get that fixed.

Honestly, you can get a decent S2 cab with a known history for around $9k. I probably wouldn't touch the car you are looking at with an unknown history. I paid around $6k for my S2 and I easily have another $3k in it after the lame rubber center clutch took a shit and the timing belt stripped teeth. And thats me doing all the work except some stuff on the head. AND, this car had a known history.

I'm half trying to sell it for $7900 obo and I'm getting very little interest. And this is a really nice car. Downside is it has high miles, but its still really nice and all the bad work has been done. When the selling price gets closer to my purchase price ($6k), I can't justify getting rid of it. I just don't need to.

I just had all of the belts (timing, balance shaft, and accessories, and all seals and rollers) changed on my 968; basically the same engine as the 944S2, which I also owned, (see attached) but the S2 doesn't have the Variocam which gives a few extra HP, but also more complexity and "Issues".

Belts and Rollers and Seals were in the neighborhood of $168.00, from Ian at 944Online. My Porsche mechanic (factory certified, and 30 years experience) charged $400.00 @ $75.00 per hour to do the work, plus a few other minor items.

Sooo... figure $600 to $800.00 for a competentent independent shop to do the job, and it MUST be done before you drive the car!

The clutch IS a bear to do, but I think $1,200.00 should get it done. After that, keep an eye open for electrical issues, most of which are related to poor grounds, and you can trace and find most of them your self.

These are fun and very undervalued cars. Properly checked out and serviced, with less than 75K miles, original paint and no accidents, it should sell for $10 to $12K. More miles = less dollars...

Oh, and as to the "Turbo" question.... none were officially imported, and I don't know of any "Gray Market" ones either, but there are several that have been "converted" by installing a 951 Turbo engine from a wrecked car, now that the 951's have gotten pretty cheap themselves.
Of course, if you run a CarFax or other vehicle check on these, they will show up as plain old 944S2's... NOT Turbos.