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I recently acquired a 1986 928S from a wonderful old man who no longer can drive it. My 8 year old son LOVES the color, me not so much.
I've owned many 928's in the past but never a 4 valve with a 5 speed. So I'd been looking for a S3 but they seldom turn up and when they do they're not within my budget. Then a suitable 1986 S2 tuned up with most of the items on my check list. Decent interior, 5 Speed, ABS, 4 valve, well maintained, all there and low mileage, It showed up on CL at a very low asking price. I didnt ask too many questions or hesitate and setup a time to see the car and bought it on the spot for less then asking becasue its not running and the paint is less than perfect.
I'm trying to get it running which wont be a problem for me as I'm an experienced mechanic and custom car builder .
All the fluids look good enough for now and are still topped up, everything is there and it seems like a nice car to restore and return to the road.
So far I've found and replaced a faulty Ignition relay and after doing so I have spark on both coils.
I also have no fuel pressure, so a bench test of the fuel pump revealed it's frozen...no wirrrrr at all.
The fuel in the tank was clear so I've ordered a new fuel pump and cant wait for it to arrive.
I cant tell much about the mechanical condition of the car except that...the shifter is really sloppy, so the linkage is going to need some work, I'm used to a T56 these days but I do prefer the longish motions of the 928 my first manual was a 1978 Euro Import 928.
Last time I drove a 928, Rennlist was a daily email and I enjoyed reading the digest in the morning. So my 928 Journey begins again. Mechanical sorting, repaint back to black, upgrade for S4 brakes and some new wheels. Here in NYC 928's are seldom seen.
B
Dirty and fresh from the barn. Black and Tan, 5 speed. Perfect!
-Regardless of whether your 928 is a 1986 or 1986.5, it IS an S3. S2's are 1985 and 1986 Euro's with the twin dizzy 4.7L.
-As for mechanical condition, TIMING BELT!!!! Tread lightly on trying to start that engine. A 32V 928 with unknown service history could be a ticking time bomb. If the belt pops with the engine running, you have just eaten several valves and several thousands of dollars in repair. Bad juju. Might as well start putting together what you need for a timing belt and water pump job (TB/WP)
Any of the Big 3 will have packages available for you to do all of that.
-Next on the list should be fuel lines in the engine bay. Car-be-que is very bad. Install factory replacements or the 'oh-so-nice' Greg Brown custom replacements, but get something new and not fire prone in there.
I just reread your post, and don't want to sound like I am being condescending to you about it being a 32V. I would rather sound like an a$$ and tell you something you already know than not tell you and have something go wrong.
So...WELCOME!!!
More pictures, we really like pictures.
Thanks for the reminder on the timing belt and fuel lines. Those are first on my list once I verify the engine is good and doesn't neen a rebuild.
I'm kind'a sure its not an 1896.5 because it doesn't have S4 brakes. I may be getting ahead of myself but I have a complete S4 suspension I collected years ago. Whats the best way to access the upper control arm bar bolts? Is it possible with out engine removal.
You can leave the original early upper arms in and get extra camber for that racer look It's about 2.5 degrees BTW if you do this.
Easiest way to deal with the upper arms is with a very thin wrench or with the engine out.
Congrats on jumping back into the shark tank.
PS. You could just bolt on 78-81 hubs to your original front suspension and fit adapters to fit S4 or 993 brakes on.
Or you can take an even easier and cheaper route and use this http://perfexmfg.com/brakes.php it allows you to use big Cayenne rotors which are much cheaper than 928 or 993 rotors are.
It is definitely feasible to change the upper control arms on s3 with conventional tools, I think it's 22mm. Did it myself a few months ago.
Issue with converting to the later suspension on s3 is the antilock tooth count is different, front and rear are 60 instead of 90 after vin number 0999 and presumably the controller is different too.
Welcome back in ICS. Lots of good advice so far. If the car has ABS, it is likely an 86.5, S3, as that is when the ABS system first appeared in US spec. That interior looks to be in very decent shape, which is good, because that is one of the hard things and expensive things to get right.
With a VIN under 1000, it's an "86", not an "86.5". You can post your VIN in the "Official VIN Check" thread and find out what options it came with. Seth linked it in his post.
The color is a bit over the top, but if your 8 year old loves it, that's cool. You will likely need his smaller hands for a few things here and there (door handles comes to mind).
Shifter slop is pretty common. The front ball cup and rear 'u-joint' coupler wear out over time. Replacements and upgrades are available.
Thank you all for the advise. All really good and useful info. I appreciate that.
So she's now running on a combustible (brake clean). At first she would barely sputter on BC which was unusual because I always use BC when diagnosing an engine and it burns easily. So I dove into the ignition system and both coils produce a nice long spark that jumps with a slight snap. Then I checked spark at the plug. The spark was good but not great like a spark from DIS but I could tell from experience it would be good enough to run. So I dove in a bit more and noticed the intake had a massive leak becasue the larger couplers were slid over. Then I took off the intake on the driver side and noticed all the plugs wires were out. The passenger side was fine. I put it all back together well enough and she ran very smooth on BC,. Sounded good and the lifter chatter went away quicker than I expected. After that I could even here the injectors clicking in vain. New fuel pump is on the way.
With the engine as far as I could go without a fuel pump. I started putting back all the relays which were all removed as If someone was going to replace the relay panel. There was a spare panel and spare radiator in the trunk. The odd thing is that the electrical panel in the car appears fine and no signs of a coolant leak. I'm missing the flasher relay, but everything else works. I looked at the back of the relay panel and it's clean. No sign of burning or water damage. Clutch works, brakes pedal is high and firm. Very odd... but now I'm super excited about the sport seats and H4 head lamps and cant wait to refresh this car and get it back on the road.
Last edited by icsamerica; 05-22-2018 at 01:17 PM.
Excellent! Not a damned thing wrong with having an 86. Looking forward to seeing your progress.
The green is a bit over the top, but cool in its own way. You will definitely not see another one, and your 928 will be very distinct.
Topped off the fluids and then on to a short drive which revealed a few issues.
Fuel gauge doesn't work...Need more time to diagnose by shorting connector at the top of the tank.
Rear hatch wont latch... Dont know where to begin on this one...help!
1 front caliper is frozen... I'd really like to use the S4 calipers I have...I called and emailed Perfex but I'm still waiting to hear back on the availability of this bracket. I guess the other option is to retrofit the complete S4 suspension and come up with a work around for the ABS. Does anyone know if I can reuse the 86 hub with the 90 tooth tone wheel on the 89 spindle?
Coolant flowing out of surge tank, I guess this is why the previous owner had a spare radiator in the boot. Radiator seems fine though. Fan clutch free wheels and doesn't move much air when hot, then the electric fan kick in for awhile, cools her down and turns off. So I guess I'll start with a new fan clutch and see how that works out.
Clutch grabs very high. New clutch? Adjustment? Clutch release arm and ball was observed from under the air cleaner and looks newish and its tight.
Shifter is super sloppy. Shift arm upgrades when new clutch get done perhaps? I like the shift pattern "more betta" than my other manual shift car. ( XJS V12 with a T56) becasue 1st and Reverse are closer and here in the city we do a-lot of back and forth.
On the positive side the ABS worked. The engine has good low end grunt and very little vibration, The clutch is smooth with no chatter. The car drives straight and tighter than my old 78 5 speed. It has great body control and polar movement...all the dampers seem like they're working well. Transmission syncros work well even when shifting quick.
Driving a 928 again was a treat. Last time I did was some time in the late 90's. No wife, no kids, no house back then and I was on the prowl.
Even more better...is my son loves the color so much he wants to help me work on the car. This is a first, he just turned 9. So I guess the color stays for now, if he likes it and shows interest...That's good enough for me. Green and Black accents it will be. I'm going to take inspiration from the 911 GT3 RS which I'm obsessed with. The similar color is co-incidental as I bought the 928 and had it in storage long before the 911 GT3 RS came out. Whats the deal with this color?... was the previous owner ahead of his time or is this an Official Porsche color. https://www.porsche.com/usa/models/9...s/performance/
Rear hatch upper latch often has a crack in the body.
Lower receiver needs a new insert, call Roger.
No, can't swap the rings for front antilock, different diameters.
I did some pictures of later suspension swap onto 84 euro, same situation you are facing, will see if I can find them, one or two might help you
You need back axles too, similar situation, although I've never considered the ring swap on back, somebody else can advise.
If you switch brakes, consider the adapter. Swapping all parts is a major PITA.
Sloppy shifter is related to worn out bushings in shifter linkage. There is an anchor point in front that requires a new insert, plus, a coupler in rear connected to trans shift shaft that probably needs replacement. That generally tightens them up.
Fantastic to hear the car is running and shifting. 85+ transmissions had the borg warner synchros and they have stood test of time much, much better than 84-back.
Magnificent car. Runs like a dream...awesome color....you have a great find...congratulations...there are plenty of S3'ers out here and speaking for myself I'm always extra happy to see a sub-1000 '86 coming back to life...that car is going to look so great polished up. What a color...
05-21-2018, 02:53 AM
Intro for New Project 928S, NYC
It's about 2.5 degrees BTW if you do this.
