968 C/S Tell me more.......

968 C/S Tell me more.......

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lotus211

Original Poster:

2,961 posts

192 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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So having never owned anything other than a 911 I find myself looking at 968 C/S's.
I know they are revered for sublime handling but what else should I know? Do they break easy? easy to live with? A bit overlooked? good on track? etc etc tks

mollytherocker

14,373 posts

216 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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One of the easiest cars to drive on or over the limit. Any reasonable driver can power slide them with one hand! Great fun.

They are pretty solid but rust is starting to get them. Especially behind the sills.

The mechanicals are very tough. The main weak point are the chain sprockets half way down the camshafts. They wear if the chain isnt changed every 50k or so and Porsche never recommended them being changed.

If these need doing, you will need 2 new camshafts, a chain and a few other bits.

I had a 968 Sport (CS with a few extras) for 6 years and it was fantastic.

lotus211

Original Poster:

2,961 posts

192 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
mollytherocker said:
One of the easiest cars to drive on or over the limit. Any reasonable driver can power slide them with one hand! Great fun.

They are pretty solid but rust is starting to get them. Especially behind the sills.

The mechanicals are very tough. The main weak point are the chain sprockets half way down the camshafts. They wear if the chain isnt changed every 50k or so and Porsche never recommended them being changed.

If these need doing, you will need 2 new camshafts, a chain and a few other bits.

I had a 968 Sport (CS with a few extras) for 6 years and it was fantastic.
Cool tks molly. Why did Porsche not recommend them being changed? They don't seem to be on many peoples radar as a car to own for some reason. I think look best in a bright colour

mollytherocker

14,373 posts

216 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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lotus211 said:
Cool tks molly. Why did Porsche not recommend them being changed? They don't seem to be on many peoples radar as a car to own for some reason. I think look best in a bright colour
Good question! The problem first appeared on the 16v 944S and the 928S and carried through the 944S2 and 968. Porsche never recognised it as an issue. Sound familiar?

They're really comfortable with that classic low driving position. They are bit of a cult car I guess and as you say, best in a loud colour. White, speed yellow or maritime blue!

BrewsterBear

1,536 posts

199 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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I had a black one for a short while. As molly says the handling really is sublime. Not the fastest thing on four wheels and despite being a CS is still quite refined so you really need to wind it up to feel like you're making progress. They have the same hewn-from-granite feel that a 993 has. If you can get over the fact they're not a 911 they are fantastic cars.

mollytherocker

14,373 posts

216 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
Here is a pic of the offending area. When the chain starts to wear, stretch and loosen, it starts to rattle about and wears the teeth off until BANG!


lotus211

Original Poster:

2,961 posts

192 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
mollytherocker said:
Good question! The problem first appeared on the 16v 944S and the 928S and carried through the 944S2 and 968. Porsche never recognised it as an issue. Sound familiar?

They're really comfortable with that classic low driving position. They are bit of a cult car I guess and as you say, best in a loud colour. White, speed yellow or maritime blue!
Totally agreed. I may get shot down here but I cant really see them being a future classic more of a fun car to use mainly on club track days maybe.

mollytherocker

14,373 posts

216 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
lotus211 said:
Totally agreed. I may get shot down here but I cant really see them being a future classic more of a fun car to use mainly on club track days maybe.
I think they are already a classic. They have increased in value in the last few years and you will need 15k for a decent one and 20k for a really good one.

plenty

4,880 posts

193 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
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mollytherocker said:
Any reasonable driver can power slide them with one hand! .
I'd have to disagree with that. 255 section rears, no standard LSD, and not particularly abundant in the power/torque department.

Wonderful handlers, but not really oversteer machines.

mollytherocker

14,373 posts

216 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
plenty said:
I'd have to disagree with that. 255 section rears, no standard LSD, and not particularly abundant in the power/torque department.

Wonderful handlers, but not really oversteer machines.
I don't mean to patronise, but you're not trying hard enough! Just a slight lift of the throttle in a corner near the limit has them wagging their tails!

And I wouldn't say I was a hooligan.

Any 911 from the 993 onwards is far harder to provoke!

plenty

4,880 posts

193 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
mollytherocker said:
Just a slight lift of the throttle in a corner near the limit has them wagging their tails!
That's not power sliding.

If you want to drive like a hooligan, there are much better options available. I certainly agree though that these are extremely confidence-inspiring cars to drive hard.

mollytherocker

14,373 posts

216 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
plenty said:
mollytherocker said:
Just a slight lift of the throttle in a corner near the limit has them wagging their tails!
That's not power sliding.

If you want to drive like a hooligan, there are much better options available. I certainly agree though that these are extremely confidence-inspiring cars to drive hard.
Yes, you are correct, its lift off oversteer, but you can power slide them too with a little flick....

Cheburator mk2

3,066 posts

206 months

Monday 3rd February 2014
quotequote all
mollytherocker said:
Good question! The problem first appeared on the 16v 944S and the 928S and carried through the 944S2 and 968. Porsche never recognised it as an issue. Sound familiar?

They're really comfortable with that classic low driving position. They are bit of a cult car I guess and as you say, best in a loud colour. White, speed yellow or maritime blue!
That problem never manifests itself on the 32v 928s - it happens because of the firing order of the 4-cylinder cars, which of course is quite different from the 8-cylinder ones. 928GTs wear out their cam lobes if oil with inadequate levels of ZDDP is used, but not the cam sprockets. Btw, it was the 928 S3 in 1986 that spawned the 16v 944S, and not the other way around. The 928 S had a 16v engine back in 1980-1983.

Sorry about the beardage.

As for the 968CS - some of the most enjoyable pax laps around the Ring that I have ever had were in a LHD CS driven by a good VLN racer.

mollytherocker

14,373 posts

216 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
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Interesting info, can you explain a little more about the firing order?

Why would that have an effect on sprocket wear?

GC8

19,910 posts

197 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
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plenty said:
I'd have to disagree with that. 255 section rears, no standard LSD, and not particularly abundant in the power/torque department.

Wonderful handlers, but not really oversteer machines.
Theyre certainly over-tyred at the back. A 255 is ridiculous and a 225 all around is a better option. It started with the 1986 944 Turbo (the unnecessary staggered wheels), which was developed on and intended to run on 7"x15" wheels all round. They were changed by the marketing people unnecessarily - this is why 1986 model year 15" telephone dial wheels have a 951 part number prefix and fit over Turbo brakes. The later offset 1987 wheels have a 944 part number and don't...

If a 944 Turbo can excel on 205 or 215 section tyres then a 968 certainly can. As always, I will add that I ran both cars when they were new and I have a 944 Turbo now.

Wozy68

5,421 posts

177 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
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lotus211 said:
So having never owned anything other than a 911 I find myself looking at 968 C/S's.
I know they are revered for sublime handling but what else should I know? Do they break easy? easy to live with? A bit overlooked? good on track? etc etc tks
I owned one, complete with the OE buckets, loved it, only sold her because she was low miles and I was putting so many miles on her I was starting to worry about depreciation. (I'm poor so have to think about such things). Lovely motor car, not quick though and could infuriate whilst overtaking, she could have easily handled another 80 - 100hp IMO.

I love my 993 that replaced her, if however I'd had the money and the space, I'd never have sold her. Never sat in an old Porsche that felt so 'right'.

Beautiful handling, far better IMO than any other Porsche of that era. Well worth owning at some point. I took her round the mountains of Northern Spain twice, loved it, lack of power is not such an issue, handling everything, she excelled at it.

Alot of people state its nothing more than a speced up (or is that down) 968. I think that's missing the point, it still is a rare limited edition Porsche and I never owned a motor where every Porsche petrolhead was as interested in it as any GT3 etc etc.

Make sure she has the OE buckets if you buy one, comfort seats miss the point.

Edited by Wozy68 on Tuesday 4th February 08:16

911Viking

299 posts

151 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
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Tested my NL Porsche specialist's Rotrex SC'ed 968 track WE toy on 888's, what an awesome toy, perfectly balanced car and the Rotrex made up for the possible missing power. Literally just needed a few bends to find the limit of the car. Was tempted to get one build just for the fun of it. A lot of car for the money.

jackal

11,249 posts

289 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
quotequote all
lotus211 said:
So having never owned anything other than a 911 I find myself looking at 968 C/S's.
I know they are revered for sublime handling but what else should I know? Do they break easy? easy to live with? A bit overlooked? good on track? etc etc tks
tons of info on my website

lovely looking cars, very collectable, built like tanks with that same HFG feel as someone else said, amazing balance, good power steering, perfect weight distribution around corners, very organic and fabulous momentum cars across country and an absolute doddle on the limit ... ultimately though, you conquer one very quickly and they are just too easy to drive and lack depth compared to a good 911. The 4 pot doesnt help much either.


http://www.jackals-forge.com/TMP/968sale/968cs_for...

lotus211

Original Poster:

2,961 posts

192 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
quotequote all
jackal said:
tons of info on my website

lovely looking cars, very collectable, built like tanks with that same HFG feel as someone else said, amazing balance, good power steering, perfect weight distribution around corners, very organic and fabulous momentum cars across country and an absolute doddle on the limit ... ultimately though, you conquer one very quickly and they are just too easy to drive and lack depth compared to a good 911


http://www.jackals-forge.com/TMP/968sale/968cs_for...
thats a seriously lovely example. Im assuming you no longer own it however?
Tks for sharing. love the constant yellow theme in your cars. Nice
So 996 GT3 track or 968 Track also taking into account purchase and running costs? tks

jackal

11,249 posts

289 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
quotequote all
sold many moons ago im afraid Lotus


one thing I always fancied doing was making a 968 ring car ... given its lower acceleration and momentum style of driving and also given how benign it is, I always felt it would make an absolutely perfect nordshleife practice car to learn the ring in. Relatively cheap to own and run, supple, easy to fit out with Gaz shocks, solid mounts, full cage etc.. and very strong in the event of an off.