drsfmd

Hello everyone-

Last week I picked up a Cayenne as my new daily driver, and I've got the Porsche bug... I'm now on the hunt for a 928.

I'm not new to the vintage car hobby, and I've owned or currently own everything from brass era cars to 50s American iron to muscle cars to luxury cars to finicky Italian cars. I know how to do a general evaluation/PPI, but I haven't found a thread specific to 928s. What specific problem areas should I be looking at? I'm not looking for a daily driver, nor am I looking for a show car... just something that I can enjoy driving and tinker with a bit as necessary.

Any thoughts from those of you with experience would be welcome.

syoo8

https://rennlist.com/techarticles/92...inspectfaq.htm

rnixon

Start here. The 928 was Porsche's flagship car, so is somewhat more complicated than cars of a similar age. I would strongly recommend a PPI by a 928 expert - how easy that is to arrange depends on where you're located.

Good luck with your search.

drsfmd

Thanks! That's exactly the type of document I was looking for. Are there any years that should be avoided?

drsfmd

Thanks, I don't know how I missed that thread!

I'm in upstate NY. Albany/Saratoga area.

jcorenman

Also this, from Dave C. (worf928 here):
928 Periodic Inspection.pdf Or, just the tables: 928 Inspection Tables.pdf

Model-year depends on what you are looking for. Condition, maintenance history and budgets are what's important.

Good hunting!

SteveG

year to avoid -- not really. Everything else below is kind of a "depends". The early cars (79 - 84) are easier to work on, slightly more room in the bay and have non-interference engines. The early years do seem a little underpowered, but the newest is almost 20 years off the line, so they are not the quickest.

The newer the MY, the more electrics and associated gremlins. The '87-89 does seem to have a higher failure rate of the computer board, but these are all generalizations and people do not avoid those years to my knowledge.

Some favor the old body and some the new. The '89 is a favorite of some b/c it is the last year for digital instruments and no air bag. An '89 GT, now that is what I'm wanting.

There is a problem with thrust bearing failure on SOME automatics; it can be addressed by a stronger clamp (search for info) and again, does not plague any particular year.


There's your fast and dirty intro.

rgs944

I agree there is really no years to avoid. It was a great run of cars throughout. I like the newer years but I have seen cars of every year look awesome if styled right. If power is a big issue you are likely going to happier with a later car with one of the Boost options.

Tom in Austin

Go to Springfield, MO and ask for Michael Willhoit ...

Randy V

Probably because Hacker has the top of this forum loaded with a bunch of outdated threads.

Adk46

I'm up past Lake George in Chestertown. I know of only one other 928 owner in the area, who has a 928 track car. I asked the local Porsche dealer's chief mechanic how many were around, and he knew of only the two of us. I've had mine for about two months, and still getting it sorted out with the standard deferred maintenance items. In fact, it will take all winter. But it's become my favorite car to drive.

I just got a Road&Track book that contains all the articles they ever wrote on the 928. It's really quite amazing - the fastest production car made (in certain years, 1987 for example) except for a few insane exotic cars. And it was built to be a GT, not a sports car.

There's a green 928 for sale in Schenectady, according to my wife. She seems to think I should get another one.

I'm rather impulsive - after a bit of research, I decided I wanted an S4, and that it would be best to get one that was superficially excellent and accept it's mechanical condition. That sounds very wrong, but the mechanical stuff can be more easily fixed. And at a reasonable cost if you do the work yourself. I've screwed up my courage and been doing some serious wrenching already. I'm very happy with everything so far.

You have the Bavarian Rocket Scientist shop near you. They had a 928 recently, it's in their blog. I hear there are two indy shops that might be useful to you.

If you'd like an extra set of eyes, let me know.

Ninjaxz750

My family had a weekend house in Chestertown until the mid 80's. Loved the area.

jcorenman

Fixed it for you.

Adk46

Gosh, you might be right! She liked all the calendar photos of green cars.

911tracker85

how about a great 1984?

been my DD for past few years in good weather after refreshing about everyting. in great shape but ready for a timing belt/WP, considered a non-interference motor. last of the 16V w/4sp auto. no thrust bearing issue on this one.

dont recall if NY still has smog testing. if so, may not be the car for you as it has headers and a 3" SS exhaust and no CAT. if someone replaced the front magnaflow with a high flow CAT should pass.

here is link to my FS post with more details/pics.

good luck on your quest. took me over a year to find this one when I was searching.

https://rennlist.com/forums/vehicle-...sche-928s.html