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Hello Rennlisters. Sorry for the long message. I am hoping to start a topic that details the progress of restoring my 928 that I’ve owned for 12 years now. But first some background.
I have owned an Australian delivered 1986 S3 928 (equivalent to the US 1986.5) since 2003. Like most current 928 owners I realised that the car I thought was unobtainable in my youth was actually obtainable.
I bought one from a clearly fanatical PO who had already upgraded to an S4. The mechanicals were in good order but the interior was pretty shabby. I figured that was a safe bet as I could always do the interior later and I wouldn’t want to deal with any mechanical issues!
The next 5 years I spent really using and enjoying Ferdinand (the 928). He was both my daily driver and occasional track day car. Wow. What a car.
I didn’t mind that the occasional mechanical item would need work. I understand the rule – spend $5k per year on it or else! Then the (auto) transmission went. I paid the approx. $5k for it to be reconditioned by an Australian Porsche specialist and installed by Porsche Centre Brisbane. Unfortunately it didn’t get fixed properly the first time and the second time the trannie got damaged in transit. Third time lucky it was installed. But by then a range of other issues had appeared which would have cost a bit more than another $5k to repair. So I fell out of love with the car.
Before throwing the car into the river I received some great advice from another 928 owner (hat tip RayB) to garage it and maybe it would be a useful project when my then newly born son was older and perhaps into cars. That was 2010. So Ferdinand has sat idle in our garage since then. I must still have still had some affection for the vehicle because when I bought a new daily driver it had to live outside while Ferdinand and my wife’s car got to live inside.
Then earlier this year my son, now 5 wanted to play in ‘the sports car’. I found I was spending more and more time in and around the vehicle. I tried to see if I could start it. Hmmm, sounds like a fuel problem. Ah ha! It’s the in-tank fuel pump. Pump bypassed. Engine started. Woo hoo.
So somehow I’ve been bitten by the bug again, joined Rennlist to get ideas and genuine feedback and set up a priority list of restoration issues to deal with:
1: Get the car roadworthy and registered again.
Following the postings of others I have started making progress here already. (I’ll post some images later). It’s quite a liberating experience now the car is no longer a daily driver and I no longer fear breaking it. But I’ve still got a long way to go …
2: Fix up the interior. Ironically this was always on my to do list from day one but I didn’t quite have the money or know where to start. I’m looking at updating just about everything except the roof lining! I’m currently weighing up between local upholsters or using specialist 928 providers such as those on Rennlist here. I’ve realised there are a finite number of items in the interior to deal with. Leather, carpets and console. And there’s a ready-made solution (or someone’s working on them) already.
3: Exterior. I did fall out of love with the 928. And that includes the pop up lights. I’m working on a plan to update these – but unfortunately for me I don’t really like any of the existing aftermarket options….
I've been following John Pirtle's excellent and detailed Motor Mounts instruction page. http://members.rennlist.org/pirtle/svc.html
So far so good and I can now access the mounts and pretty much the oil sump (presumably I need to remove the oil pump first?).
Mounts see daylight!
Lessons learned:
1 Rennlist really helps.
2 The 8l of oil coming out of a hole smaller than a square inch produces a lot of pressure. The oils shoots out to the side way more than I've seen in other cars.
3 I probably should have loosened the tie ends while the the wheels were still on the ground. Found it hard to loosen the nut when the whole setup moved with the spanner.
4 The progress is indeed slow. John P suggests taking a break at step 27. I've needed one after about every 3 steps...
5 Even when the car is on stands so your lying down most of the time - you can still drop tools on your feet!
Lesson 6: Expect to find more problems along the way.
The first is to find more oil leaking from well above the sump. I'm hoping this has something to do with a known cam/crank shaft seal problem. But could it be something else?
The next one has me a lot more worried:
Oil showing up around the front right exhaust manifold/header. All 7 others are completely dry.
Small oil leak from front cam seal migrating down ?
Small oil leak from a degrading valve cover seal/gasket migrating down ?
Front crank seal or oil pump seal/O rings leak would be on the front of the pan.
Thanks for jumping in Jeff. Rookie mistake. I have now searched 'oil pump' and it doesn't seem to be what I was talking about at all. There is a big black cylinder shaped object with electrical wiring that does seem to be in the way though!
Thanks for jumping in Jeff. Rookie mistake. I have now searched 'oil pump' and it doesn't seem to be what I was talking about at all. There is a big black cylinder shaped object with electrical wiring that does seem to be in the way though!
A timely reminder of how little I know. Time to start working my way back up this rabbit hole. Am waiting on some goodies from Roger and will re-post either when I'm back up at the surface - or in more trouble and need help!
12-25-2015, 07:18 PM
From Garage Queen to Resto project
