Sad news for my 99 Speed Yellow 996 Cab. And a question or two.

After 146k, a full teardown and rebuild (nikkies, IMS, clutch, new roof, and a three-page parts list of god-knows-what-else) into a 3.6 (20k miles on it since), a full set of new brakes two weeks ago (hold that thought), and new front/rear control arms and ball joints two DAYS ago (NOW let out the sigh), a seemingly minor 25 (?) mph front-end hit, almost dead center, has ended its life. Bent the front steel inward in a "V" just a wee bit, nose, hood and quarters need replacing. They won't repair. Will post a couple of pics when I can get them off my phone. $14k coming back to me for the car (pending an increase on the newer parts and maybe a bit of a bump for the engine-- none guaranteed) and off it goes. Being offered the option of deducting $6k (salvage offer) from the payout and taking the car back as well. Emptied the thing out today, and it runs fine, and lot-drives no problem. Local PD may give me an escorted (ahem) street run on Saturday to see how it fares at slightly higher speeds. Have until Monday to decide. I want the engine... can't imagine it's not worth more than $6k alone. I have no idea what to do with it. Sell it? Search for an otherwise sound 996 with a blown engine and plop it in? Drop it in a similarly-disabled Boxter and frighten people (including myself)? I'm bummed. And lost.

I would try to negotiate the 6k down to 4k and keep the car. Get the car fixed RIGHT and drive it like you stole it. If you plan on keeping the car for a long time which sounds like you are from the amount of work you put in to it then the salvage title doesnt really matter.

Bummer about your car. Have you taken it to a good body shop for an estimate?

Who cares about the body . . . how does the damage affect driveability (alignment etc.) ?

With all due respect, you'd be a fool to not buy it back to either fix, keep engine, or sell it after all the work you did on it. Especially if you can negotiate a bit on the buy back price. If you go the Boxster conversion route, don't forget you can also use the 996 brakes if its a standard Boxster. Plus you can easily sell off the tranny, headlights, seats, steering wheel, wheels, cats, etc for quite a bit of change. If you decide to keep and repair her, now would be a good time to do the 997 front end conversion IMO. Just throwing out some suggestions.

Negotiate the buy-back and 997 clip. Done

Pics attached below.

Thanks, all. Waiting on revised estimate... they will not lower the buyback down from $6k, though that's a figure already well worth it anyway. They are in the midst of considering an increase to the residual payment on top of that, however, and hopefully will hear on that today. Didn't think about the 997 clip, which sounds like a hell of an idea... any rough cost estimate on the conversion to a 997 nose that someone knows off the top of their head? Will have a good shop put it up and mount it to ensure nothing was compromised underneath, though I'm really not of the opinion that there was. If the frame is out of alignment I'm not touching it... I'd likely look for a later 996 to pop the engine in, I think, if that be the case. Only other issue I have is the stress on the rear plastic window as a result of the rollbars popping up. Seems like the stitching has held, but I've already been through one roof, and have found that replacing the plastic window is nearly impossible by itself, so that's the only other $$ concern.

Definitely worth buying back. Parts List -headlight ~500 -bumper ~300 -hood ~500 -fender ~350 -bumper support ~700 -tub ~1200 -miscellaneous plastics and parts ~1000 You're looking at roughly around $4500 for parts give or take. I would not clip the front end completely as no matter how good of a job they do its not going to be the same. If you find a parts car and source all the parts from the same car Im sure you will get it cheaper on a package deal.

Quotes source post: 11531389

Not sure where you are getting those prices but I believe you are way under estimating the cost of the parts, and not factoring in paint prep, painting, and installation. For some of those prices double them at least. For the bumper cover, hood, fender, maybe triple those prices. For the "tub"? And misc. parts add up very quickly. Back in early 2009 a front and rear bumper cover, a new headlight, a new taillight, and paint (lapis blue) cost over $5K for my 02 Boxster. And back in July/August of 2009 a new front bumper cover, trunk lid, fender, head light, tire, plus a bunch of misc. parts (and paint work on the new body parts) came to nearly $30K for my Turbo. And there was no tub or chassis damage or sheet metal straightening required other than the fender shelf which was bent down a bit.

Thanks for the parts info. Will absolutely be buying it back regardless of what the residual check will be. Had always said I'd do what I could to keep it on the road and drive it until it dies, and this just seems (to me, anyway) to be another nasty, but curable, illness. Worst case, I have the heart for a transplant.

Quotes source post: 11530502

Do you really want to get into the car salvage business? Give Oklahoma Foreign a call and see what it will give you for the car. My experience is you will be asked to take hi res pics from various angles in good light. Also, arrange to visit an Adesa auto auction facility and speak with the manager about bringing your car into a salvage auction. Here is a link to Adesa sites. Find the one closest to you. http://www.adesa.com/all-auctions Visit and speak to the manager. My experience selling my salvage titled Cayman S was you'll need the salvage title. You can elect to accept the highest bid or not. I was not charged for having my Cayman sold, and I offered to pay. The auction manager gave the car (speed yellow I might add) "top billing" and prime floor space prior to the auction to help draw participants. It was in effect a "halo" car for a salvage car auction... At the auction with the highest bid in hand I managed to sell the car for several thousand dollars more than the insurance company and Oklahoma Foreign offered me (and both offered me the same amount I might add).

Quotes source post: 11531379

It can be between $6k - $15k depending on who is doing the conversion and what parts you're gonna be using. Basically you also have to decide if you wanna do a full metal conversion or use frp conversion fenders. The good FRP fenders though will cost you at least $1500 just for that. The other alternative is to find a 997 roller for $15k(i've seen some) and pop your 996 engine in there.

You can easily get more than $10K (very low estimate) by just parting it out. Heck, the engine alone is worth $10K. Good call to buy back. And if you want to fix it, there are a lot of good shops out there that can do pretty decent work.

The price list estimates I listed are for used parts that I see going on craigslist and junk yards around LA a lot of the time. Im very aware of the new parts prices as I had to replace a headlight and a bumper few months after I got the car. New price on the bumper (aero) was about $2800 and $3600 just for the headlight plus paint on the bumper. Headlight http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv...562502347.html Hood http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/4557996975.html bumper http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/pts/4570828281.html Just to list a few

^^^ If anybody wants these parts and is willing to pay double the price I will be more than happy to go pick them up and have it shipped.

Quotes source post: 11531436

If you end up buying it back, and have interest to sell it with or without the engine, please let me know. Thx. Greg.

Will do.

I'd be looking for a non runner 996 and drop your engine in it.

You can get OEM parts on ebay too. You might even find it the same color

My 2 cents... his existing car could easily be repaired for less than $5k. As Neto said, ebay is a great source for OEM parts, as is www.car-part.com . More than likely, a non-runner without body damage would be at least $5k, or more. Not to mention the slim odds of finding a Speed Yellow non-runner. If it were me, and I could negotiate a good deal with the insurance company, I'd buy the car back, fix it, pocket the extra money and drive it. Especially, if I had an "attachment" to the car plus the knowledge of all work that's already been done. I'd only look at a "non-runner" if I really wanted a coupe, newer model or different color (but Speed Yellow is sexy as @#$%!)

Been lurking about of late, looking into some old threads on 996 C4S p-cars, and realized I never closed the loop on this. Not that it may matter at all to most (if not all) of you two years down the line, but anyhoo... after several months, and dealing with Oklahoma Foreign and some other salvage/NOS parts, managed to get this thing back on the road for under 9k. Straight as an arrow, and with a set of black OZs on it, looks pretty good. Buuuuuut...dead in the water again. Severe oil consumption issues, a nasty sputter, and a multi-faceted CEL that will not go away 15k miles after return. It's in the garage and I fear this has done it...just not worth the effort to tear the engine fully apart again (had it partially apart at a damn good shop, but it's a mystery to them w/o digging deeper, and for $$$$). Sigh. Anyway, thanks for the assistance above. Will be posting a query on a slightly modded 2002 C4S shortly...

Sorry to hear about that. Sounds a little like this car is snakebit - one engine rebuild, then an accident and now another needed. Yikes. Hopefully you got to enjoy the heck out of it while it was running.

Engine in the back hooray. Buy it back, fix it, make a stiff drink.

Quotes source post: 13649365

It IS snakebit. In fact, that's the EXACT term bantered about the shop. But, I did beat the hell out of it... It was my daily driver, which now happens to be a lime green Kia Soul. So hilariously bad I had to take it.

I would definitely strongly consider the buy back, but not repair the car. First, it is likely going to come out with a branded title (your adjuster can probably answer that for certain). It also has 146K. I'd be looking for the best roller you find to your liking & transplant. Then sell the engineless wrecked roller for whatever it will bring.

Quotes source post: 11531725

I bought a silver painted center console for $250 on eBay, $1700+ on suncoast. Then found a horseshoe radio trim for $230 on eBay against $680 at suncoast. Patience and willingness to take a bit of risk on the purchase can yield much more part for the $ gl with the next steps ctrz. Did the shop that rebuilt it look at it?

Guys he put the car back together a while back. Now he has motor issues. Buy a donor motor or sell as is.....tough decision. Good luck!

Quotes source post: 13649837

Thank you. I was beginning to think I had misread something....

Yeah, sorry for the OLD thread resurrection... just trying to close the loop for those that had been so helpful while I wrestled with this.

Thanks for putting my own mechanical issues in perspective. Part of me feels you should buy a roller and take all the good stuff you put into this car and swap it onto the roller. Part of feels that the passion you've showed for this car (if inspection gives you a green light) and your goal of driving it into the sunset, says you should not abandoned it but go ahead and fix it. You'll decide was is best for you...and just sorry you're going through it.

^^ Put a sick engine into a roller?