Whats it Worth ?

[nobrakes]

My beautiful 02 Speed yellow S apparently needs a new or rebuilt motor. Started making terrible noises on Friday. Lots of metal in the pan per Porsche specialist. I had the IMS changed 4 years ago to the LN ceramic bearing so Im in shock about the motor. The car has 49K miles, Victor custom wheels, a lot of carbon fiber extras and looks better than new inside and out. Im not a mechanic and don't have the time or patience to rebuild it on my own, so Im probably just going to sell it as is. Its in Atlanta....What do you think its worth ? Again the car itself is better than new.......

[PaulE]

Sorry to hear. Since you are in Atlanta, Jake Raby sometimes buys cars like yours and he is fairly close. FWIW there are lots of ways that the M96 engine can fail, like lots of other engines, so it may not have been caused by the LN IMS. Flat 6 Innovations has the laundry list on their website. You may do better by sourcing a used engine and paying someone to install it. Even if you install a new clutch, water pump, serpentine belt, spark plugs, coil packs and an IMS solution or ceramic upgrade. Plus you can then drive it again and keep it if it doesn't sell.

[thstone]

A used engine can be bought for $3000 and swapped in for an additional $1500. Total cost to get the car back on the road around $5K. (2002 Porsche Boxster 3.2L Engine $3000)

A Boxster rolling chassis is typically worth $3K-$4K. Yours might be worth a bit more but its hard to imagine a scenario where someone pays over $5K.

The primary reason for the low price of a rolling chassis is that there is a lot of risk in purchasing a car that doesn't run because there are a lot of components that can't be tested (like air conditioning, engine cooling, clutch, power steering, CEL's for O2 sensors/SAI/fuel system, etc, etc). Thus, the buyer has to take that risk into account and factor it into the purchase price.

And while you are likely a very honest person, this is a very real risk. In my personal experience, the Boxster that I bought with a failed engine cost me another $1,000 to fix things that the seller "promised and assured" me were in good working order. Lesson learned.