1999 Carrera 4 questions Help

I have been offered a 1999 Carrera C4 that has just developed a knocking sound for $5500. It's a diamond in the rough. I have owned a half dozen 911's over the years but all air cooled. I'm not afraid to work on these cars. Am I taking on to much here?

Quite a bit. Unlike the air cooled cars, there is very little information available on things like the internal torque specs for these engines, and engine assembly requires a few unique tools to accomplish. Can it be done? Sure, but go into to it with your eyes open.

Look at the price of a comparable 1999 C4 and see what it sells for. Likely between 15 and 20k max. Compare that to the purchase at $5500. Then you find out you need an engine. A used engine is about 10k plus removal and replacement. Throw in a new clutch and LN IMS bearing and add another 3k. You're now at $18,500. And that doesn't include any hidden unknowns yet...and there are always hidden unknowns. Unless you are an experienced wrench with Porsche, I'd say buy one ready to go. There used to be a saying that all these cars are $20,000 cars. Buy cheap and spend to fix or buy right the first time.

I am going to go the opposite direction here. If you are comfortable wrenching on these, then go for it. If it's in need of a new engine, so be it. I'm seeing them under $10K of late around my parts. Yes, you need special parts to completely rebuild but you can borrow then in many cases from the porsche community. If you need it to be your daily driver, then that's another story but if this is your project car that you can stand back and be proud of after, then why not. As info, JFP in PA has a lot of experience so take his advice highly. I've rebuilt an 82 911 engine and the 996 is not the same. But pulling the old and installing the new is not that difficult on a 996.