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Question about high mileage Boxter S for track duty

3K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  andy7777 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I'm a 981 Cayman GTS owner and am looking for a cheapish (relative) 987 Boxter S for HPDEs and time trial fun. I found a 2008 with 90,000 miles that is a little scruffy. I know about the IMS issue, but am wondering and asking advice, is there any particular problem with a 90K engine that you would worry about? I anticipate doing cleanup work on brakes and bushings, but don't quite know whether the relatively high miles should put me off if what I intend to do is put maybe 2-3K a year on the car, mostly to local tracks and the occasional Kroger run.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts, feel free to tell me mistake or not to get this one at 20K.
 
#2 ·
I would do a compression test prior to purchase. If your intent is to use it on track, then you will want to be sure that you aren't buying a worn engine with low compression. Other that that, I would look for a cheaper model with an already dented body, then you won't care when you go off the track.
 
#3 · (Edited)
BC has a good suggestion and IMS would be the least of your track issues. The 987.1 has some inherent design issues that owners must be careful of when tracking them. Most of them can be overcome, but you take the chance of blowing if you ignore them. Here are a few offhand:

~ running R comp tires can generate more Gs than the engine is designed for, resulting in oil starvation in certain long, sweeping corners. Adding an additional oil pump(?) pushes the oil thru the engine. (I can't think of the proper item, so I called it a pump).
~ the sump baffle is similar to a cofferdam that allows oil to spill out during high Gs. This can result in the oil in the pick-up area to run low and cause issues. There are aftermkt options that have walls that go clear to the top of the sump area. This keeps oil from spilling out.
~ rod bolts are weak. Repeated redline runs will shear them. It's not possible to easily replace them - it takes a complete tear-down to get to them. Even if you could access them from below at the sump, Porsche in its infinite wisdom put the bolts in from the piston side, not the cap side. I shift at 6K rpm vs venturing into the 7K rpm range.
~ power steering failures. Many have experienced this failure on the track. Some have gone with the underdrive pulley to reduce the stress on the PS, while some have added a cooler. There's even an electric power steering option available. I just make sure my fluid is at the proper level before ea DE. I think a majority of the issues come from a level that is too low since it's a pain to check the level. I've driven two 3-day DEs at COTA w/o issue as well at Laguna Seca and Indy.
~ sustained high rpm runs are tough on the AOS. The membrane can break under these sustained high rpms. I bring a spare AOS with me to DEs as a precaution. I also added the IPD plenum and GT3 TB. The plenum requires 1 less hose to it from the AOS, so there should be less stress on the AOS (that's my story anyway).

I'm sure I'll remember more, but these are a few of the biggies. A 987.1 is certainly a capable track car and lots of fun as long as you play within the limitation boundaries.
 
#4 ·
Thanks guys, so here is the big question, if the engine hasn't had the IMS fix, would you do it? From what I've read if it was gonna happen it usually happens earlier in life. But maybe not.

As to the sump issues, yes, I agree, I've run a Lotus and think it's generally a decent idea to do a little protection there.

Anyone else has thoughts, I'm grateful to her them.
 
#5 ·
I wouldn't spend the money solely to fix the IMS. The other issues should dictate the IMS fix. If you go in to strengthen the rods and oiling issues, then attack the IMS since you already have the engine apart. Some people say at some point ALL bearings fail, so the IMS will also eventually fail but folks have gotten well into 6 figure miles on these IMSs. Chances are something else will cause a fatal issue on the track before the IMS does (probably rod or rod bolt).

Jake Raby is fairly active on 986forum. It is generally assumed to cost approx. $2K to change the smaller IMS + clutch in a 986. I asked Jake once what an IMS job would cost in a 987. He estimated $4K.
 
#6 ·
I had a similar thought a few years ago. I was taking my Cayman R to the track a lot and decided to get a 986. I learned some useful things but to be honest not sure I'd do it again. The running costs were not much different. I did have less financial exposure with the Boxster. The Boxster was also less reliable so some events were cut short and there were costs to fix things (water pump, coolant tank, cam seal oil leak, cats, few other things.) Also quite a bit of time and money on mods - seats, harness, roll bar ext, M030 suspension, GT3 LCAs. I also had the IMS upgraded, clutch and RMS early on. The Cayman R was much faster and more fun so I kept tracking it too, which sort of defeated the purpose of the 986.

In hind sight I would have been better off picking up a built track car- spec miata, spec box, e36 or similar, and a trailer.

Anyway just sharing my experience.
 
#7 ·
I hear you Zedcat, I got the Cayman GTS in part to replace the Lotus to take to the track, but it turns out that I can't help worrying about messing up an $80K car that is really, really nice-- nice enough that my wife liked taking a 2,000 mile trip in it last summer. I took it on the track a few times but I wasn't driving it really hard. So I'm totally happy with it as a 9 month a year everyday car, but I still like 5-10 track days every summer. I'm not hugely interested in lap records but I've been doing it for years, sometimes instruct, and just like to get bugs in my teeth... I had an Elise that I modified to hell for the track, never missed a beat. But I'm not interested in that this time around.

So I looked around and thought that a 9-10 year old Boxter is just the trick. There isn't much out there that has the balance and just enough HP. I took a long look at a Honda S2000 but I like the mid-engine configuration.

Anyways, the high mileage one I was looking at just got sold to somebody else, but I am looking at a 47K red '07 Boxter S next week.
 
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