That looks amazing - I'm going to borrow some inspiration from this when we install ours. Thanks for sharing.

 

August update: we've been busy, but it's hard to tell from just looking at our 928. To start with the positives:

- Replaced the accessory belts, fuel filter, a leaking fuel line in the rear right wheel area, installed a new windshield wiper pump, and changed the rest of the fluids
- Most encouraging news this month: did a compression test. 147 - 152 across all 8 cylinders. We were astonished and excited to see these results.
- Happiest moment of the month: getting the last stubborn 1.5" of the missing passenger outer window seal to finally slide into place. I hope to never do one of those again, but the truth is our driver's one is cracked and will need done at some point.
- Proudest moment of the month: my 17 year old pulled the sticking rear left caliper, tore it down, cleaned up the rust, painted it red to match the other 3, reassembled it with new seals, and re-installed it with minimal help. And it works!
- Finally got to work with Roger - thanks for the help with the parts and sourcing one of the last few position lights in existence. The front end will be complete soon.

As always, there's a long list of next steps. Now that we feel good about driving it, it's time to replace the 15 year old tires. I filled it up with fuel for the second time since it arrived and it poured a large puddle of fuel out at the station. I don't think I overfilled it, but it's possible. I suspect the vent line might be missing or severely deteriorated. It doesn't leak at all unless 100% full, so we'll work through this tank of gas, drop the tank, and see what's up. The Mrs. is still eager to see air conditioning.

I hope everyone is safe and well. More updates soon...

 

Nice work. Glad to hear your son is helping too. These are really great cars to learn on. In spite of the reputation, they are fairly easy to work on (the early, 16 v, k-jet ones).

 

Your commitment to the car is noteworthy; the story of your son's caliper-rebuilding was priceless!

 

Somehow it's been 2.5 years since the last update. Apologies for the absence. A few things I've learned about restoring old cars that may bring a smile to the more experienced crowd before I update on the car:

1. Don't move states after removing the engine from your project car. Apart from the car being the very last priority for packing, moving, unpacking, and new house projects, nothing is where you left it. Somehow the Mrs. has been immensely patient and allowed the 928 to take up a space in the garage, so we've chipped away at it as time permits.

2. Don't let your helper and motivation for the car go off to college in the middle of the project. I should reword that to say get a project that you can complete on the timeline that your helper has available. I'm glad he's at college. It just hasn't been nearly as much fun going at it alone.

3. One thing at a time. The move was somewhat unexpected. However, we were reworking the interior at the same time as the engine. It's been hard to stay focused when both interior and drivetrain are so far from being finished.

With those lessons learned, the 928 is coming back together well. The engine has all new seals and is reinstalled. All cracked and deteriorating hoses have been replaced. All fluids have been flushed and replaced. We've added missing hardware. We stripped the interior. While they were out, we removed the pod and dash plastic covers, restored both with flexible bondo and textured paint, and reinstalled them. They're not perfect, but they look a lot better than they did with the poorly-fit plastic covers. I've dropped the fuel tank, flushed it, and am in the process of replacing all the rubber lines.

I still haven't changed out the 1979 date code tires yet. That will be the last step once everything is connected and running again. Hopefully I'll have a driving video to share next time...and it won't be 2.5 years from now.

 

I love the humor of the original post. I've been there and cried the same tears. What area of the country are you in? There may be some helpers around

 

Well...I live in a place called Niceville, FL in a neighborhood called Sunset Beach, so if that's not quite enough motivation to stop by and lend a hand in the middle of winter, I'll throw in a box of Fireball mini-bottles I got in our white elephant gift exchange this year