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That is a parts car... but well bought at $600! If you like 928s just hide this somewhere and look for a better one. The first time you need a part or two it will have paid for itself.
Just be prepared to spend every time you start a new project, my 79 spent time outside and I am just starting to understand the effects of weather - warn, hardened and perished seals is just the beginning - but not impossible and no reason you can’t get it running as a project - just be prepared you might not get your money back.
Dealing with that engine is easy. Just a few vacuum lines, hoses, and gaskets compared to other years. Working on my 81 (similar to yours) was a breeze compared to earlier or later years.
The rest of the car will cost you. A good paint job is at least $7k, $10k at minimum if they do all the work. Same for the interior if not more for high quality Porsche leather.
New door and window seals are $2k, the suspension will need to be replaced most likely, figure $8k just in parts. Most likely $30k away from being a $15k car but have at it.
I just purchased a 1979 porsche 928 5 speed. ( pictures to come soon) only reason why I purchased it is because early 5 speed cars are gaining some value. It has been sitting in the california sun for 15 years the paint is toast so is the interior! This car is a basket case I bought it sight unseen! But only paid $600 for it so worth the gamble I guess. I don't even know where to begin! Any pointers?
yes, they are gaining in value ! if you have storage space and... time to wrench , you probably can double your invest ....selling parts .
restoring ? you will need 100 parts , and every part will cost you as much as the car now.
This is a punt. Cut your losses. I see lots of sketch parts and repairs that concern me and clearly indicate the car was abused. Lower rad hose is all wrong, looks like the car sat in water too.
I think you'd struggle to get you money back in parts. This one isn't worth the time. Maybe as a shell, if you crashed a race car and needed just a shell for a transplant... or perhaps hold it until a nice 928 with a lost title comes along and then you can swap over all the parts.
Originally Posted by drooman
That is a parts car... but well bought at $600! If you like 928s just hide this somewhere and look for a better one. The first time you need a part or two it will have paid for itself.
The above are where this one sits I think. I also think that if you do move forward with it, you will learn to hate the 928. Please know that this is not representative of what the model is. You'll spend $30K in a heartbeat, and for that, you could have have a very well sorted and running fairly low mileage S4 5 speed. If a project is what you are looking for, then find one that has a chance, and as Drooman says, use this one as a donor car (although I'm not sure how much of value can be donated from it).
However, I love to be wrong. Maybe Ron or Doc will chime in and give you hope!
Get it running and moving - a running motor is worth more, and you can verify the condition of the transmission, clutch, and brakes. ... 3. restore it - labour of love which will cost a lot of money and time
Yeah, this. The engine is probably going to be one of the easier and less expensive areas to fix on this car. A restored interior is going to be painfully expensive. Of course, since the car is a basket case, you have a free hand to do what you like. If you keep this one on the road and away from the crusher, you've succeeded.
There are some VERY rough-looking 928s out there, like Srikemaster's 'Beast', Kevin's 'Lump', and Kary's swamp car. But they run, and run well. (My first 928 was in this category as well.)
If you do decide to take it on, this is the best place on the internet for you.
I just purchased a 1979 porsche 928 5 speed. ( pictures to come soon) only reason why I purchased it is because early 5 speed cars are gaining some value. It has been sitting in the california sun for 15 years the paint is toast so is the interior! This car is a basket case I bought it sight unseen! But only paid $600 for it so worth the gamble I guess. I don't even know where to begin! Any pointers?
Thank you all, my first goal is to get it running well at least turn over lol then go from there. I will definitely not be restoring it completely I don't like throwing that much money away. I'm kind of bummed it isn't a 79 but at least as you guys said it's easier to get these running again since it's an L jet
Well one huge plus about the 928 is the resiliancy of the power plant - these motors can take a lot of neglect, then brought back to respectability. (notice, I didn't say perfection - that's another whole hurdle). Good luck and use this thread as the focal point for getting it going. also read all the way through the FAQ sticky thread at the top of the forum.
From: South Cackalacky - 86.5 928 5 speed, 86.5 auto project
If the car has a decent drivetrain still, with some minor work I don't think it's as bad as some are making it out to be if you're realistic with what you want the car to be. I'd bet that for 10-15 grand into it you could have a decent driver quality car if you do the work yourself. Get it running and driving well first since that's where it'll make or break you. Then once it's driving you can fix up the appearance over time. The interior looks rough, but you can find deals pop up on used parts at junkyards, etc if you're patient. If you're willing to do the body work and paint yourself (my car was the first time I used anything more than a rattle can) you can do that for around a grand even.
I bought a car (that was advertised as parts) for 2 grand that hadn't ran for 10 years. The engine spun over and the interior was pretty good, but the outside looked like crap. Maybe I got lucky, but with some basic maintenance (fuel pump, fuel lines, timing belt, plugs & wires, fluids all around, tires, upper control arms) for about a $1500 - 2 grand it ran and drove safely (and honestly reliably). Since then I've spent at least another couple grand on mechanical items that it could use, but would live without (for a while at least). Then another few grand on cosmetic stuff, inside and out (including paint). With other stuff I'm forgetting right now I've got probably about 11-13 grand in a car that's probably worth about that. So when you factor in all the time I've spent in the past nearly 3 years on this car it doesn't make sense if you look at it from a financial sense. But I like projects like this, so for me it was entertainment/something to keep me occupied for a while, and the byproduct is a cool car. If you wanna see how my project has panned out so far check out this thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...a-problem.html
So you won't wind up with a show car, but you can wind up with a solid 20-20 (that's 20 feet away going 20 miles an hour, looks damn good). You'll probably have as much as, or slightly more, than it'll be worth, but you'll have built it. So if you want a project for the next couple years, you've done fine. If you think you're gonna make money on it though, probably not.
Get some marvel mystery oil and out some in through the spark plug holes before trying to turn the motor over by hand. That will give you some upper cylinder lubrication. Turn the crank bolt clockwise when standing in front of the motor, like this.
That's a major project. Explore that rust around the rear windows and see how far and how perforated it is.
Good luck with the project. I just bought a minor project myself, but it wasn't $600 either. Even my big Spyder build wasn't as involved as yours is going to be, but it did look like this at one time.
Well, this subject came up recently. The car in question is a 78 Euro, which is going to be more desirable no matter the shape.
In post 44, Drooman covers his suggestions for the attempted revival/evaluation: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...estored-3.html
As far as a 'game plan' to get it running, I'd suggest something like this (this presumes you have a reasonable amount of mechanical skills & tools):
Pull the plugs & dribble ATF down the holes. Let it sit.
Drain the coolant (drain plug & block drains), oil (drain plug) & fuel (line that goes to pump). See how bad what comes out looks. There are a couple tricks to getting the strainer out without damaging the tank. Be careful.
With the coolant out, pull the radiator & depending on how bad the coolant looked, clean it out. With the radiator out, pull the timing belt covers and inspect the entire timing belt path (all the things it goes over and turns).
Pull the fuel pump, bench test it. It can be run backwards to unjam it or push 'gunk' back out the inlet. If you can get it to run, run some sort of cleaner through it. This way, you can (hopefully) start the car without needing to buy a new one. You wouldn't depend on this for actually driving the car.
Run the cleaner through the gas tank (again, depending on how bad it looked coming out). You may be able to just pour some in and let it run out the outlet hose. You may need to pull the tank.
Pull the CE (central electrical) panel, located under the passenger side footwell. Yes, there's supposed to be a plywood cover. Hopefully, it won't look too bad. A couple of the relays are specific and not cheap. Many are just basic Bosch "53'. Clean it up.
Turn the motor over by hand. See if it moves reasonably well, with everything turning that's supposed to be.
Get a good battery, see if the starter will crank. You may have to jump the 14 pin post to get it to spin.
At this point, put everything back together. I'd use just water in the radiator for now, and the cheapest 'Xw-40' or 'Xw-50' oil you can find. You won't be leaving either in for long.
Crank it and see if you've got spark. See if the fuel pump turns when the car cranks.
This car uses the 'green wire' for ignition, and those can cause problems. The FP relay can also be a problem, and can be jumped if needed.
If you've gotten this far, try to start it.
If it won't fire on it's own, try starting fluid.
If it runs on fluid but not on it's own, then you have to look into the injectors.
By this point, you should be able to determine if the motor will run. You'll have very little money into it, just time (see Drooman's comment about '928 education' in the linked post).
There are write ups & tutorials for everything I've suggested. If you get stuck, post on her for help.
02-02-2021 | 03:30 AM
