1999 911 carrera inspection help

Hi, I am going to go look at the 911 tomorrow with ~51k on the clock and a blown engine. Is there anything i should look at specifically? What�s the car worth in your opinion?. Would you pay $10K, $15K for it? How difficult/expensive is a rebuild? Thanks PS.. As you can probably tell I am new to the 911 crowd, and any help would be appreciated

IMHO the car is worth no more than $12K. This assumes the new engine will cost about $12K to purchase and install.

Yeah, it's a replacement not a rebuild. I'd add about 15k to whatever you're buying it for to ballpark a total figure to get it on the road.

10K max but then again how are you going to determine the road worthiness of the car? There could potentially be serious money that needs to go into other parts of the car that is masked by not driving it. I would hire an independent Porsche expert to give one of the most thorough PPI's you could think of.

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Well, a compression test is out of the question

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Ah, the irony

I might even suggest less. Lets say it's worth $20k as a complete, running car (a figure based on internet transactions for relatively unknown, running cars). Subtract $12k for engine. That leaves you with $8k. Personally, I'd deduct another 2 or 3 grand for the unknown status of the transmission, drive train, suspension, lack of road test, etc. But maybe I'm just a cheapskate!

The one positive is you'll have a new engine in the car which hopefully will last quite a while. The biggest issue is once you do the engine, there will be many other things you'll end up doing while in there. Everything will be easily accessible, so why not? It would be hard not to replace the clutch and maybe resurface the fly wheel, the RMS fix - like I said, you're in there and it would be easy to do now. I imagine that's where the $15K figure comes from. The way I could see you getting a good deal is if you can do much of the work yourself. I haven't looked into it yet, but how difficult it is to swap an engine on these cars? Do you need access to a lift or can it be done by jacking the car way up? If access isn't too horrible and you can take your time, in general swapping an engine isn't too horrible. The most time consuming thing when I did it (now granted, it was on a Honda) was taking all of the pictures and labeling everything. I had no idea what most of the stuff was at that point but almost anyone can put something back on the way they took it off. I think the $8K value makes sense; absolute max of $10K. Dave

I think NOTHING.....why buy a P with a blown engine....how are testing all other parts?? transmission etc....ah the work!! UNless you are the one replacing the engine and have a secret cheap engine hidden somewhere and a garage with great mechanics to replace it!!!

I agree with Nicolaasdb. There's no shortage of these early cars on the market, especially here in Cali. I don't know where you live, but I'd find one in "good" or better condition, do a PPI, cut a deal with the seller and get ready for a one of a kind driving experience. There is no substitute!

to answer the OP question. I would look under the liner (front end) and look for any signs of any accident... check under the car for any sign of bent frame, suspension... get the option codes of the car (under hood) and see how it came out of the factory. Check out all of the electricals are working. Not much you can do but... but look for signs of abuse, frame/body/cosmetics wise... ... I would low ball the price and see if he responds.

I wouldn't consider it unless the car + a replacement engine was super way well (lots of adjectives here) under what it would sell if there was no blown engine. People are dumping cars for next to nothing now and like others have said, there are plenty of driveable cars out there that would be alot less heartache.

Mike, For your first 911, I would not even think about this car. Pass. Too many potential pitfalls. Go find one in pristine condition. It's a buyer's market right now. GL

Agree with others that say "nothing". Too many of these cars being given away to deal with this kind of project, unless of course you just like project cars. It's a great time to be a buyer.

Mike Pass on that one..... Run, Forrest run!

Agreed, pass. When my motor let go last year, I half heartedly tried to sell the car as is ('99 C2, 92k miles) for $12k with minimal interest on it. So I dropped in a factory reman but it cost me $15k out the door with shipping from Sunset and my indy doing the labor (prices have gone up). That did include a new clutch assembly and flywheel though. Hope this helps!