Newbie looking to get 911 996 advice

Posted this in the welcome section, then saw was maybe supposed to be here? I have to make decision fairly soon. Hi, looking to get first P car! have 2 cars looking at First 2001 911 Arctic silver blk interior 6 speed ,with 72K miles appears to be 2 owner hardtop , convertible top is mechanically repaired. (hope they can repair metal roof frame properly) cost to me with new roof is 31K PSM 18" wheels Heated seats/ technic pkg> probably orig IMS bearing, very good shape, seems like a lot of 911 are Silver Second is 2002 Orient Red, gray interior/ gray top with 23k miles, 6 speed, one owner with all docs and Porsche installed IMS, 18" wheels Cd player Advanced technic pkg , heated front seats this car is 39K super clean NO TC OR PSM Which car you think is better purchase? Just going to use the car for fun driving but should I be concerned about No TC or PSM. Buying both these cars to be shipped. Briefly texted orig owner of 2002, he said fun car for him in canyons in Cali, not track garage kept never saw rain Thanks

I'd like to see some pics of each if you have them. The 2001 seems well spec'd and the '02 seems like the ideal one if you're not into fixing things. From my experience, things start falling off around 75K. I.e. Plastic trim, issues with dash around ignition, headlight seals, etc. Either one should have an IMS solution put in. I'd rather be safe than sorry in that department.

Keep searching for a '99 - for various reasons you'll find on the boards/google search "early production 996"

They both have about the same options, except the 2002 dosent have the PSM OR TC. They took the ad down on the 2001, so cant find pictures! https://www.diamondmotorworks.com/20...let-c-4126.htm

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Wow, she's purty. So I looked over the pics on their website, I'd ask for more from underneath. For a car with limited miles then engine seems really dirty or.. oily. Not sure. I've never seen a skid plate before. Looks cool. The interior is amazing. I assure you, my cabriolet, with 102K miles on it doesn't look nearly as good.

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look at video? Motor sound ok? ive never had or heard 911 i think they may have sprayed motor ( like underarmour) did you watch video? only couple rock chips, one small stain on roof! whats opinion about no PSM OR TC? Thanks

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I cringed a little with that high rev on a cold engine. You can see the smoke/evaporation coming out of the pipes. There's quite a bit of background noise but it sounds really good. There's a ticking sound at first, while he's walking around, but it clears up. Like I said earlier, I'd ask them to put it on a lift and take pics of the engine, w/o the skid plate. You should look for seepage around the heads, spark plugs, engine to transmission, etc. Details say the IMS was done by Porsche. That just means they put another IMS bearing in there. Honestly, I'd still update it to a permanent one. The resale value alone is worth the cost. I'm doing a complete rebuild on mine and will be ripping out the bearing and going with the Flat 6 Innovations "IMS Solution". I'll be damned if I allow the IMS to destroy the work and money I'm pouring into this project.

The Mk1 2001 and Mk2 2002 are completely different M96 engines, but both suffer from the same problems with cylinder bore scoring and IMS failure being the top two. You need a good pre-purchase inspection of the engine. That being said, the red '02 cabriolet is definitely a good looking car; however, it's grossly overpriced. At $40K, you can purchase a nice 06-08 997 with decent miles. Even though the '02 has "low miles" that doesn't impress me at all. In fact, some of the worst offenders of engine failure has been garage queens. There are plenty of nice 996 cabriolets in the 20s. Keep looking. You might have to drive out of state to get a better deal.

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Agreed, 99s are great. So are every other year of the 996. no need to limit your vision to only one year unless that's the year you are dying for. 99 is no better than any other 996 year. Just like any other 996 year is no better than a 99. They just have different tradeoffs that you need to be aware of. Good luck with finding the right one.

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texted orig owner, he gave Porsche dealer IMS bearing while doing RMS etc. has all records thanks for your input

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I've got to agree with this. Even in today's market I think $39k is a lot for that car. If you do buy it I'd ask a lot of questions about oil changes and try to get some receipts. I have seen way too many low miles cars where they followed the manufacturer miles change intervals and not any kind of time interval, which could mean this cab is only on its 2nd or 3rd set of oil... Which wouldn't be good at all. Everyone has there preferences, but I have always been one to take well maintained over miles any day. I've seen a lot of 100k mile cars in overall much better mechanical health than 20-30k mile cars.

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understand all the receipts are there in listing. the owner had 60k 75k service done eve n tho the. Mileage wasnt that high https://www.diamondmotorworks.com/20...let-c-4126.htm

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How much would you pay for a re-sleeved 4.0 conversion rebuild with K1 rods and JE Pistons; assembled following the Jake Raby assembly guide? Asking for a friend. 😎

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The devil is in the details. First, the owner provided the IMS bearing to the Porsche shop for install, but you don't know which one he gave them. It could be anything. Second, it was installed in 2014. Notice the invoice date (see attached). That's WAY overtime for replacement. We're talking 10 years! Doesn't matter about the miles. Time in service is just as important as miles especially when it comes to this part.

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This makes more sense now. I saw, what looked to be, dark spots around the usual areas underneath (from what I could see). Do all this work only to let it sit around is no bueno.

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I'm biased Yogi. I can't objectively answer that question. But without a doubt, Jake Raby and his team would be my solid choice to rebuild a Porsche engine if I didn't do it myself. If I did it myself, of course, I'm following his guidelines played out in the video and workbook. I'm not sure about the price. I'd have to consult Charles Navarro when I get to that point. I would want to replace every known aging part (injectors, coil packs, AOS, RMS, sensors, tensioners, etc) and so I'd probably purchase his rebuild kit that LN sells.

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thanks, trying to find out what he gave them. So they have to be replaced even if top of line one was installed? notice he had all the required serices done, even tho mileage wasnt high! he seemed to want to take care of car regularly im not trying to over spend, i have deposit on 2001 but it needs new top (canvas) and mechanically top isn�t working. Parts are ordered. Dont know about IMS on that one with 72k miles

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haha, I know it was a loaded question. I have indeed done all of the above and bought new stuff (except the tensioner, so more spending). PLUS, since these projects take so long, I forgot I bought BOSCH fuel injectors back in Sept. 2021 for 247.00 for all 6! You can't even find those so it was a pleasant surprise.

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The only bearing that doesn't have a service interval is the oil-fed plain bearing by LN Engineering called "The IMS Solution". All other aftermarket bearings should following the manufacturer recommended service interval. I paid $17,000 for my 2003 996 Cabriolet (only 65K miles) and that included a brand new top. The previous owner told me it cost about $2,000 in 2015 to install. I'm sure it's a lot more money today.

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I see Jake reached out to you on Facebook. That's cool. Follow his advice and listen closely to every step-by-step procedure (especially during the timing section) and you shouldn't go wrong. All the best man... lots of people are cheering you on!

Oh the top not working is a problem. It could be so many things. Ugh. I did a whole video series on that. Good luck finding a new canvas for 2K these days. Oh and the headliner is sold separately. However, since you already put a down payment there doesn't seem we can say or do much to change your mind. I'm sure it'll be fine... but I'd plan on dropping 3-5K on having your top serviced. It requires a calibration, that guess what, only Porsche can do. Not true but will set you back $$ to either buy/rent a Durametric. Seeing prices at this level makes me feel a little better restoring mine since I only paid 15k for mine in April '21. I don't expect to get what I put into it, however the work that I am doing will definitely show a return.

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Thanks a lot! He's actually mentoring me if you can believe that. I'm very grateful. Plus I can help him sell some more of these videos because they're totally worth it.

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I can get the deposit back, NP! I put it down on the 2001 with top problems! They have to produce video of top going up and down. That is one of the things concerning the 01. I never looked at prices before on P cars. So, you guys got yours at great prices, I'm leaning towards the 02 because so clean and unique color combo,Orient red with gray interior and top. I'm not mechanically inclined but have place close by that's works on 911's! Waiting to hear back form origin owner about IMS bearing and emailed the records dept at servicing dealer what's your opinion on Not having PSM or TC? Thanks Yogi

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Complete personal preference. PSM is probably a benefit in wet conditions, but if this is a sunny day weekend car you'll hardly notice a difference. Same with TC. Mine has neither and even when driving in the wet don't feel like any confidence is lost in how the car handles, albeit I'm not exactly pushing the car to it's limits dry or wet.

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Thanks, live fairly close to you Sevierville Tn. What color red is yours? I'm looking at Orient red. I'm just looking for nice play car! Did you look at the link of the 02?

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Guards red, so brighter than Orient, and comes with about 5HP more. I did. Appears to be a nice example, but price seems a little high, but it's also a dealership car. I'm not a convertible guy at all (more things to go wrong, wind messes up my beautiful hair, etc.). The battery exploding on one of the invoices was pretty odd, and looked kind of recent (at least around 22k miles), but nothing noted about checking the cables (although that could be checked charging system I guess). Then the replacement bearing isn't noted what kind (also done around 20k miles), provided by previous owner, type not noted so likely OEM, and of course with that it's noted if damage or failure occurs owner accepted responsibility. If it were me, I'd probably continue looking to be honest. Plenty of nice examples out there for not as much cost and at least a better service history on IMSB replacement, which on a single row car I'd want more confidence of what was installed and by whom.

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Thanks, it is a little high but seems most cars now a days are! I think it would be stupid to replace the bearing with OEM. That would be putting back the same problem only little newer? I've looked a t dozens of ads mostly Autotrader Ebay and Cargurs. And most of those don't mention much about IMS. Better places to look?

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Fair, but if I owned an MKII I wouldn't have a problem admitting the MKI's were "more solid" and/or "better built" than the MKII. If I were in the market for a 996, I would wait for a '98 build date, but that's just me. If too hard I'd go directly to a 997. Hate to quote Raby but he has said - and I will find it if you need - that the '98 996's are the ones to have.... Your MKII is still a beast, I'm just saying they are different. On paper, one is built better than the other and arguably more analog. - cylinder linings (bore scoring less common on mkI as a result) - single row imsb (~1% failure rate versus 4%) - edit, sorry meant dual row - throttle cable - on prod. line with 993/arguably hand built (I think) You know I'm all for the 996 being a great car, but the reality is there really are two different versions of the same car. It's sort of - not really - like the pre 2003.5 e46 M3 and post 2003.5 with their rod bearing failures and recalls. Both great models of the same car, but I'd rather have a post 2003.5 model.

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Most are for sure, but there's always deals out there too. Be patient in your search, lots of good knowledge on here, much that's been shared by Yogi and B3 already. I would agree that replacing with OEM is not the best option, but there are people that will vouch for OEM / EPS / LN, it's up to you to decide what has your vote of confidence. Single row is more prone to failure, so without knowing what type it is, I would opt to replace with again what you decide is right for you, but I would go LN personally (and did even with my dual row). So now tack that extra cost on to the upfront cost of the car. AT, Carguru's, PCAR Market, Rennlist classifieds, PCA has listings, hell even cars & bids / BAT sometimes have good deals (and better listing information, but still need to do some due diligence). Some people have searched for months (or even a year) to find the right car and worked in their favor. Some people rushed and it bit them in the *** almost immediately.

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Single row is on 996.2 (2001+), the early models have the more robust dual row. Your other statements are correct, earlier models with the 3.4L are much less prone to bore scoring. MY 2000's may not have been on 993 prod line and have e-throttle, but if you sat in a '99 and '00 next to each other you'd notice no difference. At least when I met with a local guy here I could not tell a difference between the two.

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I feel like this is pretty spot on. My car is a '99 with LSD so it has a rudimentary TC and no PSM and I have driven through snow, sheet ice, torrential down pour, wet/slick, dry, basically every road conditions you can imagine and the only time TC ever kicked in was once or twice on the sheet ice. These cars seem to be really stable and planted, however, my understanding is they are until they aren't and if you do lose the rear end it will be really hard to catch. There was a really nice Millennium edition on here that very possible could have escaped getting totalled if PSM/TC weren't disengaged, but you never know. Personally the only drivers aid I have ever really been fond of is ABS. What a world of difference that makes on snow/ice, you simply can't pump the brakes that fast. Is the silver car $31k with the new top installed and dully functioning or $31k + all the top work? If the later I would run as Yogi said you could very easily be in $36k, at which I think you can find yourself a better car. Most of the time if IMS is not mentioned than it wasn't done. How long have you been looking? If you are willing to ship a car all the way across the country I think you can definitely find better examples than these, and relatively quickly, just give it a few months. I spent about 4 years looking cross country for mine and it just happened to pop up for sale back in January about 30 minutes from my folks place. I paid about 33% more than the first one I almost bought in 2018, but it is a much better car and except for being my second choice of color is exactly how I would have ordered it from the factory. I have bought cars in a rush and patience certainly pays offs.

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Haha, facepalm - long day. You are correct. But yeah of course, was just saying in terms of build quality. Also hate the headlights on the MKI. Actually just picked up some covers from variel automotive and I honestly think they are going to turn out great. Will post pics when done. Missed out on a set of litronics but wanted to give the covers a shot.

Appreciate, all the advice! i’d prefer a southern or West coast car. looked at dozens of ads, either have accident report or not much history. I’ll keep checking!

There's a guy on YouTube called FourWheelTrader. He discusses, in detail, the market trends on all 911's but the 996 is covered most often as it has seen the most growth overall. Especially well spec'd ones. Mine was pretty much a base model cabriolet, with no PSM or TC. TBH, based on the condition of my rescue 911, I'm glad it didn't because all the sensors that are standard (ABS, speed, etc) were rotted away and needed a complete re-wiring. Not cheap but pretty easy.

OK, on the red car. I called a European shop 20 miles from the dealer! They only charge189$ for PPI. Now I don't think they bore scope but they go over everything on the car. I emailed the dealer, he says if I give 1k deposit I have 3 days and they will drop off car. If anything major wrong with the car they will refund the deposit. I texted little bit with the Original owner, he can't remember what the bearing was but said very expensive and Rusnak Porsche in Calif recommend the one he gave them to put in. He did all the recommended services because he knew he would never reach them thu mileage! He didn't seem to care about cost of maintenance . If you look thru his records, his window didn't closer something properly. He told them take off the hardtop roof and throw it away !lol So he did al recommend service up to 75K! I still will do repeat if necessary. I like the unique color combo, Orient red with gray interior and gray top. thanks Yogi, I'll check out the youtube!

To the no PCM/TC question: I am a new owner of a 1998 model so I have neither, so I was curious if it would feel unsafe without it. But to be honest, I can't tell it doesn't have it. With fresh tires that car has naturally sooo much traction and it is glued to the road in corners. I have even driven to a big parking lot in the rain to feel the back end slip, but all I did was driving tight turns really fast The only time I was able to break loose was on a spot with some sand and gravel. I did a controlled 180. Guys with PCM/TC can answer how often they feel it kick in, but my guess it is not very often. The 996 is very confidence inspiring even without PCM.

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The limited time I had with my 996, before I took it apart, it felt extremely confident. If this was my car, and is not going to be a daily driver, I wouldn't sweat the features missing. I really like that color combo and the interior looks amazing. I'll say it again, we need a look at her underbelly to see what's leaking.

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Thanks for your input! The car is getting PPI right now as I type this! I found a European garage about 20 miles away from the dealer. The dealer dropped it off! They told me they had couple places closer but I told them I preferred this place! Lets see what they come up with.

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Getting 3rd party PPI done right now! What picture are you seeing leaking?

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I think it looks suspicious. Driver side. Could just be really dirty�

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I'm excited to get a 996! I think I see the one your talking about! To dark to really see. I know you didn't like the way the person revved it up but how do you think the motor sounded. I hear that mild ticking.

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Nephrite, Incase your not aware of this but you can get complete build sheet for about $13.00 it will show you everything about your car. Every option etc. Put in your VIN and pay they will immediately email your PDF, after you get it request to get the english translation! It's fast. here is link: https://vinanalytics.com

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the engine will tick while it�s warming up. Should go away though. This pic, again very dark.

Here is some of report! Told me runs and drives great! took alot of pics, showing blemishes etc

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Overall, looks positive; however, the PPI doesn't seem to cover the vital engine areas or did it? Here's what I'd like to see if I were paying for a PPI: 1. All cylinders scoped for bore scoring (photographs provided) 2. DME scan to show operation hours, over-rev report, etc. 3. Camshaft deviations 4. Rough Running Index 5. Fuel Trim 6. Readiness Status 7. Any pending DTCs 8. Manometer reading to determine the health of the AOS 9. Oil filter and/or sump inspection 10. IMS bearing replacement documentation of install - date, type of bearing, etc.

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All that looks great! my PPI didnt cover all that but i feel good! how much is PPI like that cost? probably alot of places aren’t setup to do all that. I’m getting the car.

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Good luck! Be sure to come back and let us know what you think. All the best.

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Thanks I will!

My two cents is to not buy any 996 without taking it for a drive. Fly out there and spend time with the car. I bought a high-miler for low money, over the phone and when I went to pick it up I saw and heard and found things that would have made me walk away. The car is fine now after $8k of repairs. There is always something that will be needed and it you should find that out before you buy the car.

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appreciate the suggestion. Did you read the 3rd party PPI report? Posted above, done by Porsche repair folks! only minor things showed up! Plus, talked to original owner. I feel pretty good about the purchase. No oil leaks, IMS and RMS replaced and all recommended services done. Ill need new tires and struts for engine compartment. they said it was one of the nicest 996�s they have seen. Looked it over and they drove it. it has 23k original miles. Im paying top dollar for the car! Now that is No guarantee. Someone else told me on here. �the lowest priced 996 is the most expensive 996�! Said he read that on here. but thanks for your input

Got the 2002 delivered in enclosed trailer! the car looks and drives great! friends cant believe its 20 years old. shifts smooth, suspension tight, no rattles! couldn’t ask for it to be any better. need tires in few thousand miles thanks for everyones input