930 Saga
Ever since I had established a profile, I have included my choice of equipment, with little changes made here and there. One thing that did not change was my choice of transmissions. I have always wanted the 930 as my choice. To me it was simple. The 5 speeds and for sure the 6 speeds were not a good choice as the first gear is all but unusable. The 930 was the choice for most of the road racer Porsches, and is
THE strongest trans that Porsche made. Besides, it was what came with the car. The engine was a 351 Windsor in mild upgrade bored 30 over. After it was discovered that there was rainwater in several of the cylinders and it would have to be rebored (pitting in several of the cylinder walls), a bigger engine than I wanted was decided upon. Bored, stroked, internally balanced, AFR205s and TWM injection, would require a strong gearbox.
I had the trans inspected by the shop foreman at Jim Ellis Porsche Craig Stoyer. A young (for foreman) who knows his way around almost every Porsche. He informed me that most all the trans that Porsche make, require rebuilds around 40K or so miles, and this one needed a rebuild as the dog teeth had worn shoulders, and some of the syncros would need replacing. The bill would run around $1500. I spotted a rebuilt 930 on Ebay, with a starting bid of $1000 with a buy it now price of $2500. I figured I would get it cheap and then I would sell mine and be that much ahead of the game. It was on a 7-day bid and this was day 5. I figured I would get it cheap since no one had yet bid on it. So I put in bid thinking that if I would get it at a steal of a price, or if someone else started bidding it up, then I would use the buy it now price and get the trans. What I didn’t know was that once you put in a bid, the buy it now price disappeared. So I waited til the last 3 minutes of bidding and put in the next high bid. Needless to say, I didn’t get the trans. The trans went for 2600. At that time I was new to ebay purchasing and didn’t know about Snipe programs. Learned about them from a guy who purchased some of my “old” 351 parts. They are programs you can get (most will give you 3 free trades before purchasing), that bid for you in the last 3 or 4 seconds freezing out any other bidders.
About 3 or 4 weeks later, the same fellow offered another 930 for bid, but this time it was for a buy it now price of $3000. I hemmed and hawed for a day or two, and on Thanksgiving Day used the buy it now and got the trans.
After we had several conversations about payment and shipping, I received a call out of the blue from a fellow who said he had bought the trans in the first auction, but never got the merchandise. He also had sworn out an arrest warrant for the seller in Los Angeles (the sellers address not the first buyers) Needless to say I was a little worried about the whole thing. After several conversations with the seller, he told me about this guy. He had sent a check to pay for it and the drop off point was an abandoned warehouse. Upon checking with the bank, the check was no good. Now who do you believe?
The seller and I had a few more conversations and the more I talked to this guy, the more I believed him. He was an older fellow; retired Master machinist and mechanic for Porsche and Ferrari and knew what he was talking about. He also gave me the impression he was pretty much a hell raiser in younger days and knew the legal system pretty well with all his run ins. He knew that the cops would not enforce a business dispute arrest warrant. Drove for 7 years without a license just to piss off the cops. He had a flashy Porsche with a 427 and 930 trans that he drove almost daily.
I convinced him to use Escrow.com for the payment. My smartest move ever, as I had used them in the purchase of my 40. The money is held in escrow, until the buyer and seller both agree to release the money. There is an inspection period in which it is decided to keep the item or reject it and send it back. My car had to travel from Australia to Savannah Ga., and saved me around $2000 with the problems I discovered after its arrival.
Well he agreed and sent the trans. I took it immediately to Mr. Stoyer and he informed me the trans had not been rebuilt as advertised. I called the seller and once informed he told me,,,,,, the rest of the story. He had just retired and had sold his shop to some guy that he had to take back for nonpayment. When he got the shop back the 930 was all cleaned up. The buyer was going to rebuild it, and he thought he had done it, and didn’t bother to inspect it prior to sale or shipping. He apologized profusely and insisted I send the trans back to him and he would rebuild it and ship it back to me and pay for the shipping both ways. So I did. The money was tied up so it was safe. After a month or so he finished the rebuild (several key tools kept breaking), packed it up and sent it to me again. Upon inspection by my guy, he said, yes he rebuilt it, but not completely. Some of the case bearings were stained from the lube and he felt should have been replaced. When I talked to the seller, he said my guy didn’t know what he was talking about, but he would make me an offer, as I had given him a few options based on what I had been told by my mechanic. His offer was to ship the trans back to him at his expense, he would have the trans inspected by two Porsche race teams head mechanics that were due in to visit with him in two weeks. If they said to replace the bearings, then he would. If they said not to, he wouldn’t, but he would put the trans in his personal Porsche and drive it to check out the handling. If any problems arose, he would fix them. If there were none, then he would ship it back to me at no charge. I agreed and sent it back the second time. It is now the Spring of 2005. After talking to him another time or two, I became more convinced he knew more than my mechanic. There is what they call a drop through test for the case bearing. If the devise drops through, the bearing is replaced. If it doesn’t, then it is left alone. They are very hard to remove and are press fit to the case. The staining is normal.
He did as he said he would and put the trans in his Porsche and drove it. He told me it drove very well. He took the car back to the storage place where he kept it and told the guy there to put it away, and he would be back for it the first of the next week, remove my trans and send it to me. Well, guess what? The guy didn’t put it up and it got stolen.
He had a GPS unit on the car. Not one of the ones you see advertised, but one of the commercial types that big trucking companies use. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the optional battery backup on it, and the thieves disconnected the battery to the car. When they went to load the car onto a truck for transport to the docks for shipment out of the country, they had to connect the battery to crank it up and get it on the truck. The GPS went off and the cops swarmed the place and broke up a major theft ring.
The police impounded the car and proceeded to remove fingerprints from the car. Graphite dust everywhere. When he went to the hearing he requested his car back. Well remember I told you he was a hell raiser. The judge knew him as he had been before him before. The judge said NO. It was evidence and would stay in police custody til the trial was over. Guess how long that would take? So he hired a lawyer who was toooooo accommodating and told the judge that he (the seller) had other cars and could get along without it for a while. He promptly fired the lawyer and hired a racing team lawyer who filed various motions and finally got a judge to make the first judge release the car. While sitting in impound, some of the wheels and the stereo (high end) got stolen. The new judge said the first judge had to pay for all the things messed up on his car. About $4000 worth of equipment. So he did and now as of last Friday, It finally arrived back in Atlanta. Can you believe it??????
Ever since I had established a profile, I have included my choice of equipment, with little changes made here and there. One thing that did not change was my choice of transmissions. I have always wanted the 930 as my choice. To me it was simple. The 5 speeds and for sure the 6 speeds were not a good choice as the first gear is all but unusable. The 930 was the choice for most of the road racer Porsches, and is
THE strongest trans that Porsche made. Besides, it was what came with the car. The engine was a 351 Windsor in mild upgrade bored 30 over. After it was discovered that there was rainwater in several of the cylinders and it would have to be rebored (pitting in several of the cylinder walls), a bigger engine than I wanted was decided upon. Bored, stroked, internally balanced, AFR205s and TWM injection, would require a strong gearbox.
I had the trans inspected by the shop foreman at Jim Ellis Porsche Craig Stoyer. A young (for foreman) who knows his way around almost every Porsche. He informed me that most all the trans that Porsche make, require rebuilds around 40K or so miles, and this one needed a rebuild as the dog teeth had worn shoulders, and some of the syncros would need replacing. The bill would run around $1500. I spotted a rebuilt 930 on Ebay, with a starting bid of $1000 with a buy it now price of $2500. I figured I would get it cheap and then I would sell mine and be that much ahead of the game. It was on a 7-day bid and this was day 5. I figured I would get it cheap since no one had yet bid on it. So I put in bid thinking that if I would get it at a steal of a price, or if someone else started bidding it up, then I would use the buy it now price and get the trans. What I didn’t know was that once you put in a bid, the buy it now price disappeared. So I waited til the last 3 minutes of bidding and put in the next high bid. Needless to say, I didn’t get the trans. The trans went for 2600. At that time I was new to ebay purchasing and didn’t know about Snipe programs. Learned about them from a guy who purchased some of my “old” 351 parts. They are programs you can get (most will give you 3 free trades before purchasing), that bid for you in the last 3 or 4 seconds freezing out any other bidders.
About 3 or 4 weeks later, the same fellow offered another 930 for bid, but this time it was for a buy it now price of $3000. I hemmed and hawed for a day or two, and on Thanksgiving Day used the buy it now and got the trans.
After we had several conversations about payment and shipping, I received a call out of the blue from a fellow who said he had bought the trans in the first auction, but never got the merchandise. He also had sworn out an arrest warrant for the seller in Los Angeles (the sellers address not the first buyers) Needless to say I was a little worried about the whole thing. After several conversations with the seller, he told me about this guy. He had sent a check to pay for it and the drop off point was an abandoned warehouse. Upon checking with the bank, the check was no good. Now who do you believe?
The seller and I had a few more conversations and the more I talked to this guy, the more I believed him. He was an older fellow; retired Master machinist and mechanic for Porsche and Ferrari and knew what he was talking about. He also gave me the impression he was pretty much a hell raiser in younger days and knew the legal system pretty well with all his run ins. He knew that the cops would not enforce a business dispute arrest warrant. Drove for 7 years without a license just to piss off the cops. He had a flashy Porsche with a 427 and 930 trans that he drove almost daily.
I convinced him to use Escrow.com for the payment. My smartest move ever, as I had used them in the purchase of my 40. The money is held in escrow, until the buyer and seller both agree to release the money. There is an inspection period in which it is decided to keep the item or reject it and send it back. My car had to travel from Australia to Savannah Ga., and saved me around $2000 with the problems I discovered after its arrival.
Well he agreed and sent the trans. I took it immediately to Mr. Stoyer and he informed me the trans had not been rebuilt as advertised. I called the seller and once informed he told me,,,,,, the rest of the story. He had just retired and had sold his shop to some guy that he had to take back for nonpayment. When he got the shop back the 930 was all cleaned up. The buyer was going to rebuild it, and he thought he had done it, and didn’t bother to inspect it prior to sale or shipping. He apologized profusely and insisted I send the trans back to him and he would rebuild it and ship it back to me and pay for the shipping both ways. So I did. The money was tied up so it was safe. After a month or so he finished the rebuild (several key tools kept breaking), packed it up and sent it to me again. Upon inspection by my guy, he said, yes he rebuilt it, but not completely. Some of the case bearings were stained from the lube and he felt should have been replaced. When I talked to the seller, he said my guy didn’t know what he was talking about, but he would make me an offer, as I had given him a few options based on what I had been told by my mechanic. His offer was to ship the trans back to him at his expense, he would have the trans inspected by two Porsche race teams head mechanics that were due in to visit with him in two weeks. If they said to replace the bearings, then he would. If they said not to, he wouldn’t, but he would put the trans in his personal Porsche and drive it to check out the handling. If any problems arose, he would fix them. If there were none, then he would ship it back to me at no charge. I agreed and sent it back the second time. It is now the Spring of 2005. After talking to him another time or two, I became more convinced he knew more than my mechanic. There is what they call a drop through test for the case bearing. If the devise drops through, the bearing is replaced. If it doesn’t, then it is left alone. They are very hard to remove and are press fit to the case. The staining is normal.
He did as he said he would and put the trans in his Porsche and drove it. He told me it drove very well. He took the car back to the storage place where he kept it and told the guy there to put it away, and he would be back for it the first of the next week, remove my trans and send it to me. Well, guess what? The guy didn’t put it up and it got stolen.
He had a GPS unit on the car. Not one of the ones you see advertised, but one of the commercial types that big trucking companies use. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the optional battery backup on it, and the thieves disconnected the battery to the car. When they went to load the car onto a truck for transport to the docks for shipment out of the country, they had to connect the battery to crank it up and get it on the truck. The GPS went off and the cops swarmed the place and broke up a major theft ring.
The police impounded the car and proceeded to remove fingerprints from the car. Graphite dust everywhere. When he went to the hearing he requested his car back. Well remember I told you he was a hell raiser. The judge knew him as he had been before him before. The judge said NO. It was evidence and would stay in police custody til the trial was over. Guess how long that would take? So he hired a lawyer who was toooooo accommodating and told the judge that he (the seller) had other cars and could get along without it for a while. He promptly fired the lawyer and hired a racing team lawyer who filed various motions and finally got a judge to make the first judge release the car. While sitting in impound, some of the wheels and the stereo (high end) got stolen. The new judge said the first judge had to pay for all the things messed up on his car. About $4000 worth of equipment. So he did and now as of last Friday, It finally arrived back in Atlanta. Can you believe it??????
