bmartini

i bought a 944 without doing any homework a few months ago and i have done a lot of work getting it sorted, barely catching up with new issues that arose. poorly engineered (rebadged VW scirocco) from A-Z, everyday something else would go wrong.

i want a cheap automatic porsche hatchback to use as a daily and wanted to know if the 928 was more reliable, had less electrical issues, and if regular maintainence items and typical repair items were easily accessible and inexpensive... compared to a 944 i mean...

any tips would be great. thanks.

Landseer

I have both. More with 928, layers upon layers of clever parts removal to reach the core issues. I absolutely love the challenge.
Of course, your idea of inexpensive DD may be different than mine, judging from the cars in your garage picture -- for 15K you get get a nice sorted one.

Here's a look at the electrical when refereshing a running, DD car.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...-16v-euro.html

jeff spahn

If you keep on top of the preventive maint the 928 is a very reliable car. Keeping your grounds clean will prevent many gremlins

Landseer

Definitely what Jeff says.

Electrical scrub.
Fuel lines.

bmartini

that sounds like standard stuff, sanding off corossion and checking connections... i guess what i mean is, for example, to change the water pump on the 944 i had to remove the timing belts. why did they have to place an item that needs replacing much more frequently behind an item that gets replaced much less frequently? it's that kind of engineering that i want to stay away from. are all 944/968/928 cars built with that brilliant attitude toward repairs/maintainence? is there a particular (naturally aspirated) year/model that is especially desired amongst the enthusiasts?

Landseer

Same location on 928, but no balance belt.
More involved disassembly / reassembly.
Timing belt and waterpump should be changed at same time.


928 is a small car with a very large engine and tons of intricately overlayed subsystems.
Biggest issues are access & sequence. Its a symphony or its a jumble of musical notes, depending on how much you research the sequence prior to starting any job on them.

Brilliant engineering accomplishment for it to all fit, pre-CAD.
944 is simpler.

Sounds like you need to stay with the taildragger.

Landseer

To get a better idea of the maintenance of 928, spend some time here.

This is the 928'rs answer to Clark's Garage.

Amazing documentation from an enthusiast in my opinion.


http://dwaynesgarage.norcal928.org/

bmartini

okay guys, thank you so much for the fast replies. i think i got what i came for. again, thanks.

Vilhuer

If possible electrical issues in only point which determines what MY to get and you live in US then answer is simple, get '85-86 MY. They have later style fuses while do not have sometimes problematic LH box and digital dash. Also there were over 5000 US model made which means there are plenty of used parts around. Thats 900 cars more than all '88-95 MY North America models combined.

Lizard928

I agree, get an 85 to 88 model year. They had the least electrical issues, as well as loads of power.

From personal experience, the 928 is a MUCH easier car to work on. And the timing belt is straight forward.
The 944 is a PITA when it comes to the timing belts, and balance shaft belts.

Jfrahm

I have both as well, and several examples now and in the past. The 928 I think has better switchgear but in general it all comes down to care and climate. Cars that get wet and stay wet inside and/or live in a tough climate are going to have more issues. Get a good example of whatever car you want and ruthlessly sell off anything that turns out to be a troublemaker (but disclose the problems to the buyer.)

BTW the VW Scirocco is a transverse engined front wheel drive car. I think the 944 uses the same dome light as a Scirocco. Not sure what else.

-Joel.

fraggle

There are no cheap porsches.