porscheski said:
know nothing about these really. do they suffer with any particular rust issues? do the roofs leak? what are the big things to watch out for?
You will not be able to see the most expensive rust, so get a full body inspection done by a Classic Porsche bodyshop. My local (non Porsche) sportscar specialist had the car a day and gave me a quote. When I took it to a specialist they showed me (in half an hour) and had me feel with my own hands stuff the first place had missed that more than doubled the work.
Late 80's means you are in the crossover period for the 915/G50 gearbox, personally, I loathed my 915 box, the indie could drive my car perfectly and said it was perfectly fine, despite me offering to throw money at him to make it better.
£15k on bodywork is not uncommon, so there is your £10k -£30k+ price range.
The good news:
My coupe was going to cost another £16k to get the bodywork sorted, I bought for £11.5k, so look at todays prices and the money WAS in it, full body restoration red 3.2 coupes are £30k+. If I sold it after the work was done.
Cut my losses.
I sold it to a guy who was unbothered about bodywork (THIS IS MY POINT), all he has done in the three years since is just drive it and enjoy it. If you really can put up with some rust and cosmetic issues then THESE are the things that make them worth less, but they are still not about to fall apart.
Here's a Kidney bowl, one of the most common rust areas:
Don't panic!
Mine needed two, only visable by a penny sized blister in each door shut. As you can see from this example picture, the whole sill and 'B' pillar needs cutting out (and is probably rusted too), and the rear wings need chopping to get to it, this work alone can be £1000-£1500 a side.
My old car is still on the road, being enjoyed without this work being done. As a drive an enjoy only car the guy has had a lot of fun for under £10k...
8)