When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Other Rennlisters have done a single thread for their cars, I am pulling together several threads that I started, or will start in the future, on specific topics.
What I mean by a bottom-feeder thread is that I don’t have the means to restore my 928. Some people don’t even think I should own a 928. But a couple of years ago I said, what the hell, the worst I can do is lose a couple of thousand dollars but until then, for awhile, I get to own and drive one of the most appealing cars ever made. The buying process is recorded here;
My two initial sins were not to do a PPI and to buy the cheapest 928 I could find (which in reality was the best 928 I could afford
The car was bought in September of 2013, driven until winter, then parked in the garage for future repairs… which were started in the fall of 2015.
It has been on the road at least a couple of months in 2016 and 2017 while I worked on my 924S.
Aesthetically it had been too abused to ever be brought back to original condition without a massive investment, but that was OK with me as what I am aiming at is a 928 that looks reasonably good, drives well and is reliable.
Not everything is done according to recognized standards (I aim not to do anything that cannot be reversed, if at some point someone wants to do a real restoration). So far I have done very little WYIT since I don’t want to spend extra money until I have confidence that the car is not going to have a major failure. My time is not worth much (as I notice every month when my pension payments appear in my bank account), so I function on OWHTBD (Only What Has To Be Done).
Not having had a PPI, each time I work on the car I find something new in terms of PO hacks and lack of TLC or lack of just plain C.
The PO had warned me that at least one CV boot was torn and I discoverd early on that there was the well-known right side radiator tank leak. So my first project was to replace the radiator end tank which led to this thread; https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...questions.html
I seem to have solved the missing radiator fan problem very simply. I plugged the wires for the AC blower into the fan thermo switch in the radiator and it works just fine. Comes on when the temperature gets a bit high and brings it down very quickly.
Next I did the CV boots. I found that the two on the left side had already been changed and that both right side boots were torn, but lots of grease inside so I just cleaned, regreassed and rebooted; https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...questions.html
With the radiator out it was the time to check out the timing belt. I found the timing belt tensioner was in bad shape, not properly assembled and multiple broken disks; https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...ner-disks.html
The timing belt, water pump and other parts of the timing belt assembly all looked fine except the tension roller which seemed a bit sticky. So putting in practice OWHTBD, I drilled a small hole in the bearing holder of the roller and injected some grease and sealed the hole with JB weld, with the intention of replacing the roller at some future date if all went well (a year later I did change the roller, the old one was still working just fine). With the rebuilt tensioner installed I checked the belt tension, changed the oil and the coolant and was ready for spring.
August of 2016 I realised the brake master cylinder needed changing. At the same time I flushed the old fluid out, got the parking brake working (the parking brake parts were missing on one side (!) and the cables were seized) and verified the rest of the braking system, which looked great (recently installed disks and pads).
At the same time I installed steel lower ball joints in place of the original aluminum ones, put in fresh upper ball joint boots and replaced the timing belt tensioner roller which I mentioned above.
I also changed the transmission fluid and adjusted the reverse band because it was slipping badly... https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...erse-band.html
I had hoped to attend the first Camp 928 in northern NY State, but the week before a no-start problem popped up… in the end it was just a corroded positive battery connector, but the discussion was interesting. https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-symptoms.html
While testing the fuel pump for the no start problem I noticed fuel leaking from the right rear fender area… I had a look and saw it was the accumulator, and the general condition of the fuel supply system in the rear decided that we would be going to Camp 928 in my 924S
I again had a problem with the engine running cleanly when I started it after the 2 months that I was working on the fuel system. Once I got it back on the road the system cleaned itself out after a few miles and it was back to almost normal. A top end renewal is in my future.
The worst thing about the 928 when I bought it was the interior. The story is that the car was at some point used as a test bed/show car for an audio store and somewhere along the line the original interior was gutted. Everything back of the front seats (which are from an Acura!) was a disaster area. Badly installed rear seats, incredibly badly recovered quarter panels, missing hatch covers and the tool plate, no carpet and no spare tire cover.
I found most of the parts locally and started the process of refreshing the rear part of the interior. That will be the next installment.
Last edited by elgy; 08-24-2018 at 06:20 PM.
Reason: spelling
These cars can certainly be a labor of love at the best of times, the rewards however are quite high. Still a beautiful and timeless car.
Sounds like you have your work cut out on the interior, but given time and patience I am sure you will sort it out. Sounds like you are off to a great start!
I like low-cost saves. The car may not be 100% orig, and it may not be ready for the concours circuit, but it's looking like a very nice driver, at modest outlay of money.
I decided to reseal the steering rack while the 928 was off the road this spring, it seems to have been a successful intervention, but time will tell. Here is the story. https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...tart-with.html
At the same time I finally installed a new accumulator supplied by Roger.
While doing my brief test drive to check the steering rack, I heard a click coming from the left rear. With the wheel off I found it was coming from the outer CV joint. Sigh.
I had changed the CV boots on the right side a couple of years ago, but the left side the boots looked good, they had obviously been changed, so I didn’t touch them. After finding the new noise, closer investigation revealed that the small end of the outer boot was not a tight seal on the axle shaft, loose enough to let water in. When I unbolted the CV joint water seeped out. Following disassembly I found that, despite the fact that the boot was still full of grease, the water had corroded the ball bearings and caused uneven wear and scoring on the other components. The other CV joint, on the transmission end, seemed fine, worn but probably good to go... except for a defect on the hub that looked like a manufacturing default that had been uncovered by normal wear.
So I’m looking for 2 CV joints, or a complete axle in good shape.
The 2 CV joints, outside on the left, inside on the right.
So, I was able to find a used axle locally, disassembled and cleaned the CV joints and found both to be in very good shape. Installed them on my axle and put it back in the car and all seems well. I did a little video on assembling the CV joints. https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-assembly.html
Now that the car is roadworthy I took it for a very short test drive to see how my rebuilt steering rack is doing. Still no obvious leaks... but I have to do a longer drive to more thoroughly test it and see if the feel has improved.
Well, I looked at the interior thread and was amazed at the condition of the interior (prior to your upgrades) compared to what looks like pretty darn good paint from the get-go.
Most commendable work you are doing. I just can't motivate myself for that kind of work anymore, probably because of all the old SAABs I was fixing up in my younger years (96s, 99s and 900s).
But your car is looking really good and in combination with the paint will be really nice. Congrats! And keep moving forward!!
These cars are brilliantly engineered machines that respond perfectly to sensible repair and maintenance. There is no black magic voodoo about Porsche parts. You are on the right path.
Hello Grant, great thread! As someone who has recently started to bring back a shark that has been dormant for something like 20 years, I am sure I will find some valuable information in the different threads you have referenced. I admire your diligence in bringing this shark back from the apparent brink from oblivion!
I most certainly will come back to the threads for inspiration and encouragement.
Thank you,
Mario
Thanks for the above compliments. I feel rather humble seeing what other Rennlisters have done starting from much worse than me or finishing with a like new 928 (which mine will never be), but I do appreciate comments on what I have done and I hope my reported tribulations will help others.
This car really does not like sitting for any period of time. I drove it last fall than parked it for the winter. Since then I started it in the spring to allow me to get my 924S out of the garage and put the 928 inside. After every period of not running for even a couple of months it is the same thing. When I started last month it started but coughed, burbled and sputtered before settling down to a decent idle, but any application of throttle caused lots of misfiring, sputtering and limited RPMs... but each start got a bit better. The first road test was embarrassing as it stuttered out of the driveway and leaving the first stop signs was the same thing. After a half hour drive it was idling very nicely and running much better, with only a bit of stumbling between 1000 and 2000 RPM. Another half hour including some highway driving and it is back to normal. I am sure that a proper cleaning of the fuel delivery components would eliminate this problem. Some day I will get around to that... but it becomes less pressing when the car is running nicely like it is now.
09-14-2017, 04:37 PM
My ’78 euro - a bottom-feeder’s thread
