I have been looking at adding a 911 to my collection for some time now, and I finally came across one that caught my attention. It's a 1982 911 SC which appears to be in mint condition, with the seats only showing some wear. Have not had a chance to drive it yet. It has about 61k miles on it and title is clean.

Now I know that those had some issues with the cylinder head studs and cylinder head ceramic liners. I assume I'll know if the head bolts are breaking off because I should be able to hear the rattling, correct?
Also are the cylinder heads weak in these motors?
Was overheating a major issue with these?

I would appreciate anything else I should know or look into when inspecting the car myself from other 911 owners. Going to have a inspection done on it but would like to know what I should focus on also when I go test drive the car.

Thanks.

 

Also I am aware of the CIS fuel injection if too lean of mixture destroying the intake air box but seeing it would be garaged during winter I don't think this will be a issue.
Anyone had issues with the rubber centered clutch?
Also anyone had issues with the chain tensioners? If this hasn't been replaced, I assume it should be?

 

this may be too late for you, but there is a wealth of information on the PelicanParts.com BBS on these cars. i have an 82SC (for 4 years now). i did everything wrong in buying it and lucked out. get a ppi done. evaluate the current owner's financial ability ot have taken care of the car and how you think they cared for the car. it should be able to tell you about head studs. there are many things that will need attention - the tensioners can be changed to later hydraulic type or collars to prevent collapse can be installed, a pop-off valve should be installed on the airbox, you may want to upgrade the headlights to newer version (including adding relays for high current to protect stalk switches), add a fuse to dash instrument lighting to protect the wiring harness, chasing some annoying oil leaks, and more.
all that said, it is a very rewarding car to drive. it has much more character than a 996 era car (of course its limits are lower as well). still i generally prefer the older cars character.

 

Thanks for the info! The car is still available for sale(at a dealer), but I wanted more info before I made a final decision to purchase. Will check out the website for more info!
Thanks again for your input

 

I will second checking in at Pelican, also Rennlist. These forums are a liitle more focused on the earlier cars. 6Speed is a wealth of knowledge for the newer cars though!

 

Hopefully they will be able to provide records of the upkeep, most sc's I looked at when I was purchasing had already had a top end rebuild, good luck with the purchase. My 80 sc was the first 911 I owned and I loved it

 

Dino V: You just need to concentrate on the engine noise created by the engine or whether there is vibration during hard acceleration during you test drive......

 

I have started skimming Pelican and definitely lots of good info there

Thanks, next time I go back I wanna check and see if it has a rebuild.
And they didn't have the maintenance papers last time, although they said the car was 1 owner and they are in process of getting maintenance documents.

Thanks, my first test drive I couldn't really tell if there was any rattle or vibration. But it was also very cold out (about 20 degrees). Next time I go I am gonna bring my mechanic with also and hopefully everything will look ok.

 

I am going to go down the road you are going down, but even before selling my CS, I have Pete Z's guide (it's on Amazon). I learned more in the first 20 pages than I ever knew before. He really doesn't kid around, and gives you an honest, experienced opinion.

http://www.amazon.com/Used-911-Story...1007441&sr=8-1

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

yeah , even i tried finding some info about the older versions here, but that did,nt work. However i came across some really fun infos about the new ones.