Considering B2K Purchase, Need Advice

[87Z52]

I'm considering the purchase of an '87 B2K coupe and I'm looking for some advice. I've owned an '87 (non-Callaway) coupe for almost 12 years now so I'm very familiar with most of the car. How do I assess the health/correctness/etc. of the B2K-specific bits? The car in question has 60k+ miles so it hasn't been just sitting for a couple decades. It is a 4+3 and I have no hands-on experience with that transmission (mine is an auto). It seems I've never read/heard many (any?) good things about that setup. It appears they have plenty of problems behind a standard L98 so I'm curious how they hold up to the 450+ ft-lb of torque on these turbos.

What other pitfalls are there? I know there is a ton more plumbing (air, oil, re-routing of many other things). I suppose all of this is subject to typical aging in a 25-year-old car but are there any particular weak points? How about the turbos themselves? Have they proven fairly robust?

I want to be able to drive this car like I do my current '87 and that is just spirited pleasure drives on weekends during the summer (I live in MN). Is this realistic? I realize that with the added complexity there will be more potential failures/leaks/etc. but in general, how are they to maintain?

Thanks for any advice!

BTW, does anyone know what happened to the Callaway Owner's Group website? It was working a couple weeks ago and now it isn't.

AL

 

[i10fwy]

COG Site, i was asking the same question?

I'm from MN as well and now live in Phoenix, I sold Callaway's new in 87. They are a great car, I have 87-070. To answer your question you should be extreemly careful when looking at a B2K car. They can be a money pit unless you are a great wrench! Pesty things though, leaks a plenty. I would suggest that unless you are buying a driver really cheap $15k or so you should consider a low mileage survivor that is documented. I think that is best value currently.

As to authentisity, you can't fake a B2K car, you can pull a original invoice and build sheet, but much easier just look on the console lid for the option string.

Buy one and enjoy

I10fwy
87-070