119k Mile Boxster S purchase

[Perfectlap]

Let's see if I'd a payed $2,000 for my 2000 S with 60K miles two years ago, I would have ended up paying $14K for it today. Granted some of these things were normal and probably shouldn't count like tires but this car can get expensive quickly. The funny thing is that a PPI would not have caught most of the repairs I had to make. The AOS, coolant tank, MAF, starter, alternator, control arms, throttle body, they all went suddenly, and strangely at about the same time. I'm not sure how they check the shocks for instance in a PPI but when I had the car up on the lift a very experienced Porsche mechanic I use did a quick inspection and commented how good the shocks seemed being 10 years old. It wasn't until the shocks were out that we saw that they either failed quickly thereafter or you just can't really tell while their on the car because about six months later them front shocks were fried when they came off. I ended up spending about $5K last year and about $6K this year not including spending a bit more on an upgrade or two in the exhaust department. But bear mind this is a winter-driven Porsche which IMHO means a better maintained engine (year round driving) but the rest of the car takes a beating. I'm going to limit my average distances this winter. We had a hellish winter last year and I probably should not have been more conservative.

p.s.
I would not wait until the clutch goes to upgrade the IMS. I've said this before but I think its penny wise pound foolish to pass up on the oppourtunity to address a potentially catastrophic weak point just to save a few hundred bucks on a delayed clutch job. I would spend the $1600 for the clutch/LN IMS before I even drove it home.

[feelyx]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Let's see if I'd a payed $2,000 for my 2000 S with 60K miles two years ago, I would have ended up paying $14K for it today. Granted some of these things were normal and probably shouldn't count like tires but this car can get expensive quickly. The funny thing is that a PPI would not have caught most of the repairs I had to make. The AOS, coolant tank, MAF, starter, alternator, control arms, throttle body, they all went suddenly, and strangely at about the same time. I'm not sure how they check the shocks for instance in a PPI but when I had the car up on the lift a very experienced Porsche mechanic I use did a quick inspection and commented how good the shocks seemed being 10 years old. It wasn't until the shocks were out that we saw that they either failed quickly thereafter or you just can't really tell while their on the car because about six months later them front shocks were fried when they came off. I ended up spending about $5K last year and about $6K this year not including spending a bit more on an upgrade or two in the exhaust department. But bear mind this is a winter-driven Porsche which IMHO means a better maintained engine (year round driving) but the rest of the car takes a beating. I'm going to limit my average distances this winter. We had a hellish winter last year and I probably should not have been more conservative.

p.s.
I would not wait until the clutch goes to upgrade the IMS. I've said this before but I think its penny wise pound foolish to pass up on the oppourtunity to address a potentially catastrophic weak point just to save a few hundred bucks on a delayed clutch job. I would spend the $1600 for the clutch/LN IMS before I even drove it home.

Perfectlap,
I already drove the **** out of it in the mountains here, if the ims was failing I'm sure it would still be scattered off the hill side. I am not really sure what I'm going to do with this one, yet. I was thinking of putting the 6spd w/LSD in my '98 with the 2.5, but don't know if it will improve its performance or not.

At the price I got it, I could almost do anything with it, and I may even part it out. The sale of the 3.2 and Brembo brakes should cover the cost of the car.
Even repairing everything, I would still be way ahead. It may even become a dedicated track car. I just don't know yet.

As a side note I'm checking with Neillo Porsche here if they did infact put a replacement engine in at 8k mi. Just waiting to here on that.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by feelyx

Perfectlap,
I already drove the **** out of it in the mountains here, if the ims was failing I'm sure it would still be scattered off the hill side..

Check YouTube. There's at least one IMS failure of car that was regularly tracked (aka abused). It goes without warning. A little wobbly in that bearing that you can't feel or sense, unless they invent medical MRI's for car engines, and poof....all gone.
The beauty of upgrading the IMS and replacing the clutch is that you actually get to break in a new clutch. It's not like doing something preventative that has no utility other than peace of mind. You get a new clutch that can typically last you up to 100K miles. And doing it sooner means less abuse on the flywheel which is $600 OEM. I wouldn't even think twice if I didn't have full service records with a good sense of how frequently the car was driven. My belief is that a car with 1- at least two oil changes a year, 2- non-Mobil 1 oil, 3-driven on an at least weekly basis, 4-year round, 5-in a sunny climate is the best Boxster history.
Add points for each.