Hi everybody,
I am relatively new here on the forum. I purchased last year a Porsche 928S4 manual gearbox from 1988.
About 156.000 km (living in Belgium).
I am doing different jobs on it the last time but there is one job were I spent a lot of time and did not found the solution.
The opening gaps between door en front fender is not equal between right and left side of the vehicle. On the right side (passenger) side I have a smaller gap between door and front fender then on the left side.
The gap between door and rear panel/fender is equal on both sides (about 5mm).
Due to the fact that the gap on the right side is smaller between door and front fender, when the door was fully open it came in contact with the front fender.
I decide to move a little bit forward the right front fender in order to have a wider opening gap.
But now I have the following problem : the length alignment of the hood and the front fenders is not good anymore. I played with the bonnet hinges in order to move a little bit forward the bonnet, but then the alignment is OK on one fender but not on the other.
It seems then that my right fender is now more forward then the left one. It seems impossible to align the front corners of both fenders to the front corners of the bonnet.
If I try to have both corners aligned, then I have problems with the lateral alignment (opening gaps between fenders and hood).
Another problem is also that the gap between bumper cover and bonnet is not equal anymore between left side and right side (I have a much wider opening gap between bonnet and bumper cover on the right side, the side that I moved the fender forward. Its logic because the fender is pushing the bumper cover forward).
I inspected the car very well and they are no visible marks of a previous accident or crash .
I removed totally the bonnet hinges in order to "place" the bonnet without hinges, for an alignment test (I was thinking that the problem was maybe in my bonnet hinges) but same result.
Had anybody else this problem and solved it ?
Someone can help me ?
Thanks in advance
Regards
Tim

 

Tim, I am almost certain that your car was not made this way. I think that with a more careful inspection, particularly of the right door, you will find that it has for some reason been replaced, and probably with a door from a different year. Look inside it under the door panel and inside the window compartment and see if there is any evidence of a color change, or even repaint of the same color. I have a few doors and several cars, but I have not measured any of the doors to compare for any difference in the width of them. I suspect that there might be some difference. If that is the case I think that the solution to your problem is to find the correct door and replace it.
By the way, Welcome here.

 

Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your reply !
My door panels are off so I have a god view in the window compartment. Same color inside the two doors and also same look (not the impression that one paint is newer that the other).
I will mesure the door width on both doors on different points in order to compre of my right (passenger) door is maybe longer the the left one.
I keep informed….
Thanks
Tim

 

It may not be the door in fact that was replaced, but more likely the right front fender. Look it over carefully to see if it might have been repainted.

 

...or has a porsche vin decal with no number on it.

 

I will look tomorow morning on it.
I am pretty sure that my fenders are orginal since produced due to fact that I already removed the inside wheel liners on both sides , the Cruise control system on driver side and the washer reservoir on other side and see no difference like new paint or new sealant. It was also difficult on right side to move fender (i did not do it on left side) forward since I had first to loose the orginal calk/glue between fender and chassis.
What do you mean with "or has a porsche vin decal with no number on it" ?
Regards
Tim

 

I measured three or four of my car doors, from unknown years, and find that they vary in length up to a quarter inch, front to back. I would therefore look at the left door to see if maybe it has been replaced. I would also measure both of them to see if they are the same length front to back. I might be that the drivers door was replaced and the left front fender was moved back to establish the correct gap, then the hood and right fender had to be moved back to align the hood and that made the right door front gap too narrow.

I also measured a couple of fenders on both an early and late car and find that the length, top corner to top corner is the same for the right and for the left, but oddly both cars have fenders on the left that are about an eighth of an inch longer in that length.

 

Major body parts are supposed to have a sticker with the VIN number on it.

It's supposed to slow down the thieves who steal cars to strip for parts.

Since a replacement part isn't originally attached to a car, it won't have the VIN on it.
It's one way of determining original parts vs replacements.

 

928s were hand assembled. Slight variance is expected. However, the inspection process for the car was quite rigorous during assembly and after rollout to ensure high quality. Noticeable difference means that parts have been changed at one point or another and assembly/fit/finish is not up to standard. Also wrong parts are a possibility.

Since mention alignment in addition to panel fit, i would check the chassis for frame damage/bending.