Brought home my first Porsche! (pictures)

After a few weeks of searching, I finally found the right car for the right price. The headgasket is show, htere's a couple minor body imperfections, and a couple minor interior imperfections, but other than that it's pretty good shape. I drove 80 miles, drove the car onto the trailer, drove home, and put it in the garage. It's filthy, so a cleaning will be the first order of business, then I'll start pulling out the engine.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thing of beauty.

It's a 1989 NA with what seems like every option. There's a couple things that are frustrating me though...

1) The boot is frozen shut
2) the sunroof is frozen shut
3) the radio doesn't power on
4) I need a new driver side switch for door/window controls
5) the ignition doesn't have "clicks" when you hit accessory, run, start
6) It's covered in ice and a filthy mess...

These things will be fixed in time, we've had a mild winter all year, but TODAY it turns out to be the coldest, around 30f and windy as hell for the high, with the morning/mid day/evening in the 20's.

Let it thaw. Porsche's are awesome in that the wiring (heavy gauge) , the metal, the galvanized body... all work in your favor in that it's all fixable with some care. Hit it with some WD40 and all will be good to go. It is damn cold. though. I'm trying to get my 948's audio working for tomorrow for some music on the way to work if it doesn't snow. Don't know if you know this, but the wheel well areas in the rear of the 944 makes for perfect speaker boxes for 6x9 speakers. The sound bounces off of the hatch forward... fantastic and lucky.

Mine's an '83 NA with a '94 Trans Am LT1. Oh, don't use stiff torsion bars if you rebuilt the rear, Paul knows the best setup. The car is too light weight and if you don't track it, not worth it.

Also came with these:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

To the tune of $600 for cars and wheels. I don't think I could have done much better than that.

And now we'll throw in one of these...
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Nice!

Congratulations on the new car. I think you got a great deal, certainly well more than $600 on a parts basis alone.

I'm a couple years away from my build. Gonna track mine until it needs an engine rebuild, but I'm within 20 minutes of Collegeville if you ever need an extra set of hands or general '44 assistance.

Best of luck.

CB

Sounds great, thanks! I have never worked on a porsche or chevy before, so this is like a sink or swim, hurdle myself into the shark pit type experience. Once I can figure this out maybe you can learn from all my mistakes when it comes time to do yours, and skip over the tough stuff.

Remember when you go to part out the engine that the head of the '89 is worth more than the earlier years because of the larger valves. In fact, I think, but have a feeble memory, that the intake valves are larger than the 951 valves.

Have fun and good luck.

I just asked you for an updated link to your conversion on ls1tech, but I've found it here. Thanks, great to see.

Yeah, I was thinking about just rebuilding the 2.7 after it was out and selling it, but then my old man who has shown interest in this told his mechanic, who says "that's a terrible idea, but if he does it, can I have his old motor?" I was thinking a fresh 2.7 would be worth selling, or do you think the parts off it would be better to sell instead of rebuilding?

It's exactly that, fun. It's something I'm going to have fun with. I will get it apart, learn every inch of the engine bay, learn the ls1 inside and out, piece the whole thing together, and drive it like I stole it. Until I break my na trans, at which point I'll grab a turbo trans and steal my 5th gear and put that in.

Also there's that big porsche swap in Hershey, PA in 2 months not far from me, I could take the old engine and stuff there.

Jay,

If it were me, I would pull the head off and get it checked. List the engine and head on Renn List, Pelican Parts, NASA's racing board and the 944cup board. You will probably find a buyer.

Hershey is an interesting event. People are looking for deals. If you are close you might find a buyer and not have to worry about shipping.

Keep in touch.

Marc

That's a great deal, I have an 89 in white just like that in the driveway. Unfortunately mine was hit and has become a parts car. Good luck with the project, you will learn a lot and have a blast! Marc is right, those 89 heads are sought after, I need to pull mine and sell it!