Philppine ELEANOR

[hotrox]

I have owned two Porsches, believe me they are a big problem when they start to go wrong.

The parts are very EXPENSIVE, the engine is not as good as you read in the magazines. You have to own one to know the head aches it brings. Mush like marriage, you really don't know your partner until you are leaving together.

Imagine dropping the engine to replace a set of sparkplugs, or how about 500k to buy a used tiptronic transmission. And lately we bought a starter for 45K!

You see a lot of Porsches on the road today, wait till they get old. Much of the owner will just park it and let it die a noble death than have it fixed because of the cost of parts and the dedicated Porsche mechanic that you have to pay by the hour.

Turbo, a friend is selling his 72 Carrera Targa at a tempting price but after reading your post, I suddenly became gun shy. For starters, the interior is relatively complete and almost fully restored but its the mechanicals that worry me. He says its around 75% restored in this aspect. I know you don't recommend getting one but what are some of the things that I should be checking/looking at aside from what you pointed out? Is there access to Porsche mechanics outside PGA? Thanks.

[turbo]

The 2.4/2.7 engine has the "habit" of pulling its head studs from the block. Or breaking the head studs into two. The problem stems from the difference in the coefficient of expension of aluminum and the head studs. The only solution is to buy very expensive Dilivar studs. If you will replace the studs, you will buy the very Expensive overhaul gaskets.

The Porsche engine has a bad habit of staining your floor with pools of expensive Mobil 1. hehehe.

Overheating is another problem. The early engines only have the trombone pipe to cool the engine aside from the cooling fins of the head and block. The newer engine has the radiator type oil-cooler.

If you have the mechanical fuel injection, forget it! Too expensive to maintain even in the US. If it has the Zenith carbs, forget it, the fuel pump will always flood the carbs and has a hole in its torque curve. The only acceptable fuel system is the Weber IDA's and the CIS fuel injection(very expensive also).

The chain tensioner will need to be upgraded to Carrera-type(oil-pressure fed). If your tensioner collapses, say goodbye to your engine.

The 72 is a short wheelbase model, tail happy when you are into high speed curves.

Rust is very prominent with this model year.

Transmission synchronizer are easy to trash, very expensive.

No power brakes and power steering.

[turbo]

By the way, there are Porsche mechanics outside PGA, they are expensive too.

Ah yes, there are some parts that are not available in the market anymore. Your best call will be Ebay and good used parts.

[hotrox]

The 2.4/2.7 engine has the "habit" of pulling its head studs from the block. Or breaking the head studs into two. The problem stems from the difference in the coefficient of expension of aluminum and the head studs. The only solution is to buy very expensive Dilivar studs. If you will replace the studs, you will buy the very Expensive overhaul gaskets.

The Porsche engine has a bad habit of staining your floor with pools of expensive Mobil 1. hehehe.

Overheating is another problem. The early engines only have the trombone pipe to cool the engine aside from the cooling fins of the head and block. The newer engine has the radiator type oil-cooler.

If you have the mechanical fuel injection, forget it! Too expensive to maintain even in the US. If it has the Zenith carbs, forget it, the fuel pump will always flood the carbs and has a hole in its torque curve. The only acceptable fuel system is the Weber IDA's and the CIS fuel injection(very expensive also).

The chain tensioner will need to be upgraded to Carrera-type(oil-pressure fed). If your tensioner collapses, say goodbye to your engine.

The 72 is a short wheelbase model, tail happy when you are into high speed curves.

Rust is very prominent with this model year.

Transmission synchronizer are easy to trash, very expensive.

No power brakes and power steering.

Whoa....just reading thru the technical issues you listed is making me see Peso signs all over the place. Better stick to muscle cars na lang in that case. Parts are so cheap on ebay and so many mechanics who can work on them. Thanks for the heads up Turbo!