Purchasing advice: Low mileage S. is boroscope necessary?

[marck]

For reference, I bought a 89 for $8000 about 2 months ago with 72K miles. I didn't get a PPI out of pure ignorance. Records did indicate good maintenance and IMS, RMS and new clutch all done at about 36K. I kind of got lucky on this, I've not found any significant issues but I have spent about $1500 on basic maintenance, new door lock mechanisms, missing or broken small fasteners, AOS and associated brittle hoses, as well as a Durametric and a few tools. I still need to do plugs, get an extra key and suspension refresh.

[zenocchio]

Originally Posted by marck

For reference, I bought a 89 for $8000 about 2 months ago with 72K miles. I didn't get a PPI out of pure ignorance. Records did indicate good maintenance and IMS, RMS and new clutch all done at about 36K. I kind of got lucky on this, I've not found any significant issues but I have spent about $1500 on basic maintenance, new door lock mechanisms, missing or broken small fasteners, AOS and associated brittle hoses, as well as a Durametric and a few tools. I still need to do plugs, get an extra key and suspension refresh.

thanks for sharing your experience. Did you find that the durametric tool is necessary or is a nice to have tool?

[GTA_G20]

Originally Posted by zenocchio

thanks for sharing your experience. Did you find that the durametric tool is necessary or is a nice to have tool?

Where in Canada are you and what shop are you using for PPI? Some are definitely better than others

[zenocchio]

Originally Posted by GTA_G20

Where in Canada are you and what shop are you using for PPI? Some are definitely better than others

I’m out west on Vancouver island

[marck]

Originally Posted by zenocchio

thanks for sharing your experience. Did you find that the durametric tool is necessary or is a nice to have tool?

It's not absolutely necessary but $287 for the Enthusiast version it's not truly that expensive. Whoever does your PPI should have the pro version, if they don't find someone else. The Durametric can show abuse info in the form of over-revs, see Buyers Guide to Used Porsches It may also reveal long standing issues. It did help me with my lock issues but really wasn't essential for that.

If you plan to do much of your own work on the car you should get one. It's fairly useful in its ability to activate things like the air pump, test gauge function, turn on individual dash lights, brake bleeding and a lot of other things I've not figured out yet.

However a decent OBDII tool is useful for a large number of check engine light issues that are primarily related to emissions components and vacuum issues. The Durametric is a bit more detailed than most ODBII devices.