Alright, so I know a lot of porsche nuts on here know these cars very well so perhaps some of you will be able to offer me some insight. I am highly considering getting myself a 964 c2s once I graduate in 2 years from now, I am simply in love with the car's design. I still know very little about them and have never tried one unfortunately, but here's the breakdown:

I know from the factory (correct me if I'm wrong) the 3.6l pumps out 250bhp give or take a few horsies and weigh in at just over 3 000 lbs.

What I want to know is how easy are the engines to screw around with, more precisely if it easily makes power with some bolt-ons and relatively minor engine work. Is it possible to get them in the 280-300whp range without spending a fortune? What kind of a budget would I be looking at in obtaining these kind of numbers, 5k? 10k? 15k? Last but not least, what are the major differences between the handling of the 964 c2 and the more recent generations of 911s ? (very vast a question I know, just trying to educate myself a little).

Thanks in advance for any valuable insight.

 

My '91 C2, w/ 94k miles on the clock, an FvD ECU chip, an Evolution Motorsports cone intake, and a secondary exhaust delete pipe (G-pipe) only got walked by 1.5 car lengths by my buddy's bone stock '06 Cayman S (295hp) on a 3rd gear roll-on race from 55-60mph to maybe like 110mph. I was surprised how well my car hung in there.

 

got some time? good information can be here,
964 Forum - Rennlist Discussion Forums
Porsche 964 & 993 Technical Forum - Pelican Parts Technical BBS

 

Finding a clean low mileage example will be key. I had a 91C4 with 35k on the clock back in 2000. When I sold it I had 135xxx miles in it and a huge pile of repair bills.

They are not great for a primary post college car unless you have the money to handle the repairs and maintenance.

 

Look for the single mass flywheel conversion, distributor cap vent, valve guide replacement, valve jobs, clutch jobs and examine the abs pump on c4's as they are not cheap if they get damaged or fail on you.

Fluid changes are DIY jobs if you have a way to dispose of the oils.

 

One very simple rule: buy the best and most well maintained car you can find. These cars are amazingly reliable if they have been looked after and can be piles of crap if they haven't. Mileage is pretty far down the list of important things to check. Yonder covered pretty much the mechanical side of things, however there are a bunch of relays that go bad all the time (cheap), and they are prone to oil leaks from various places.

The difference between air cooled and water cooled as far as driving is concerned cannot be explained by words, but it's pretty much like having sex with vs. without a condom. They are not comparable by anything other than the badge. There is nothing quite as amazing as a well sorted air cooled car ..... I have driven a shite-ton of amazing cars in my life, but nothing even comes close to my 964RS in terms of pure unfiltered driving joy. And reliability - I tortured that car at 150+ miles per hour for 12 hours straight in 100 degree weather ... it didn't even flinch.

And 250 hp may sound a little weak in this day and age, but honestly - the way it delivers them, you very very rarely want or use any more. If you want to mod it, brakes and chassis first and engine mods last IMO. My RS had some RUF parts on it and probably had around 300 hp or so ... thing was nuts.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, very helpful. This would not be my daily car however, more of a week-end feel-like-smashing-some-gears kind of car. It's still at least 2 years from now and I know I will change my mind on many things until then but I know I want a 964 in my life. Jox, sounds like had a sweet RS! At 300hp it must have been a blast to drive, why did you decide to sell it? I think it would only take me one test drive to win me over.

 

Another thing to consider is if you're going to be turning your own wrenches. If you're going to be at the mercy Of shops doing work on the car, then yea, make sure you budget a decent chunk of change on maintenance and repairs.

If you can turn your own wrenches in a competent manner, then there's a wealth of troubleshooting and DIY information on the Rennlist and Pelican Parts forums. If you have an issue, chances are that you can find out how to solve it yourself on the forums.

I've had my '91 C2 for a few months and in that time I've DIY'd the CV joints, motor oil, gear oil, and a bunch of little odds and ends. This weekend I'm hoping to tackle motor mounts and reinforce the engine carrier bracket. If I would have paid for labor on these services, I'd easily be out over $1k.

You can't fix everything yourself tho. For example, a buddy's '93 C2 had a oil pump failure that took the engine. $9k later, he's back on the road.

 

That's one of the main reasons why I'd like to have a 964: to work on it myself. I'd feel a lot more comfortable working on an older car like this than on, say, a 997. I could slowly restore and mod it to my tastes and develop my mechanical skills in the process as I know there is a sea of information out there (ie the sites you mentionned). Of course I'm not a top mechanic and there are certain things I couldn't do, but the small stuff I could deal with without much problems. I'm still sucking lots information in about the car so I can know what to expect and ultimately make the leap.