Greetings from Canada

[The Radium King]

silver and red is the best colour combo in my opinion - i'd trade a kidney to get a red (or cocoa) interior. looks like the po put a lot of effort into the engine, with less attention to suspension - this may be a place that you will need to put $ in the (near) future. think of it as an opportunity to replace wear items with new bits that best meet your expectations of the car (softer, stiffer, lower, higher, etc.).

i wouldn't be too offput by the lw flywheel. the concern is that there is no dampening of the bottom end with one, so opportunity for things to break in a poorly balanced engine. there are horror stories of this happening, but also many many installed with no issues. you have to weigh risk against the veracity of the internet. hey, it's been in there for a while and it hasn't broken yet ...

otherwise, is it at a dealer? if so, consider borescope and a leakdown (or compression) test. this will tell you the health of the cylinders. and get them to run some data from the computer - overrevs, cam deviations. the first will tell you how the car has been treated in the past, and the second will tell you the health of the cam drive system.

[ShortRound]

Originally Posted by Starter986

I've owned my 86 e30 since 1994. 218K on the clock, one owner. 290K on it now. Anyhow... I thought that thing rode on rails... until the 986. Night and day. Apples and oranges. Adam and Eve. Chuck and Larry.

Get a PPI. Post pics. Welcome!

I have an euro '89 318is, with bilstein/eibach and love the way it handles. If the boxster rides as you say it does, then I feel bad for my e30.

Originally Posted by The Radium King

silver and red is the best colour combo in my opinion - i'd trade a kidney to get a red (or cocoa) interior. looks like the po put a lot of effort into the engine, with less attention to suspension - this may be a place that you will need to put $ in the (near) future. think of it as an opportunity to replace wear items with new bits that best meet your expectations of the car (softer, stiffer, lower, higher, etc.).

i wouldn't be too offput by the lw flywheel. the concern is that there is no dampening of the bottom end with one, so opportunity for things to break in a poorly balanced engine. there are horror stories of this happening, but also many many installed with no issues. you have to weigh risk against the veracity of the internet. hey, it's been in there for a while and it hasn't broken yet ...

otherwise, is it at a dealer? if so, consider borescope and a leakdown (or compression) test. this will tell you the health of the cylinders. and get them to run some data from the computer - overrevs, cam deviations. the first will tell you how the car has been treated in the past, and the second will tell you the health of the cam drive system.

It's silver/red is my favorite colour combo, but if the car doesn't work out then colour trumps condition, but it's such a classic combo.

It's a private sale outside of Toronto. The current owner has had the car taken care of by an apparently renown local independent Porsche Shop.

I know it's best to get a PPI done by a different shop but distance and logistics make that difficult. If his shop is as reputable as they say then I will most likely have them work on the car in the future. Does a standard PPI outside of a dealership include a compression test, cam deviations? or is this something that i need to request.

I was unaware that a ltw flywheel could be cause for concern. It's been there for over 2,000km and a few years. I have one in my e30 and while there is a bit of chatter it hasn't given me any issues in over 150,000km. I suppose the 986 motor is a bit more delicate than a 1.8 16v.
The owner mentioned that he had work done with an emphasis on reliability.