928drvr86.5

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE

heinrich

Duuude WTF?!

Rossman

Hi everyone, I'm a noobie here, and hopefully will soon be the proud owner of an automatic '89 928 with just under 90K miles. One last minute hiccup that has arisen is that the inspection identified the frame rails as being bent. The seller indicates it's not structural, and that it is from the car being lifted incorrectly at some point. I have read the threads here on the issue, and the opinions seemed mixed. One the one hand there are lots of posts that say 95%+ 928s have bent frame rails from incorrect lifting, but a few other posts indicate that bent frame rails can be very bad. To the seller's credit, he mailed me these photos:
Photo 1
Photo 2

I know I am expecting miracles that someone will see this in the next couple hours, as I am planning on going to buy the car tomorrow, and most likely will buy it anyway based on the threads I've read here. I am just curious if I should factor this into the cost of a 928 in otherwise fairly good condition. Thanks for any help that you guys provide.

-Ross

FlyingDog

If the frame/unibody is twisted, you're screwed. If it's just dents in those rails, no problem. You should see the underside of mine...

Richard S

Sounds normal to me. Wouldn't be a deal breaker unless they were cracked open, then I would investigate more. But they do take a beating. When I picked up the 1980 928, it had no engine. So we lined it up with the trailer ramps, put Susan in the driver seat, and gave a mighty push. Car made it up the ramps, front wheels made it on the trailer, then the frame rails slammed into the trailer....ramps too steep. I now have matching rail gouges on each side. But they didn't open up.

Rich.

heinrich

no sweat

PorKen

I bought a tube bender today, and my lifter is getting lighter and cool looking!

On the flip side, in testing of the pile of prototypes, I've managed to drop the car a couple of times - on to the jack for a big dent under the seat, plus beat on the jack points even more than they were!

My poor 'Munga', she sure takes a beating in the name of 'progress'.
...

Ross,

Those appear to be the inner rails, which are not particularly structural. The main 'frame' box is under the door sill.

Jim bailey - 928 International

They are not frame rails in my opinion but floor / seat supports and nearly always are bent.

Garth S

Not quite ... With belly pans on, I jack the front under the forward lower control arm mount ( use a 4x4 wood block in the 'cup' of a floor jack) .... same spot Bill mentioned. Then slip the jack stand under the forward door sill point.

Bill Ball

I jack at the factory jack points and put jackstands under the lower A-arm where they bolt to the body or the skid ramps ahead of them.

deliriousga

I jack from the front jacking points and put the front wheels on ramps then jack it up from the rear jacking points to put the jack stands under the front jacking points. With the front tires on ramps, it allows the rear jacking points to lift the front high enough to put stands under the front jacking points. Once the front is on stands, I use the jack under the rear cross member to lift it and put stands under the rear jacking points. Works well and doesn't take long to get her up in the air.

ErnestSw

We here in DFW use the REAR jack point to lift the front of the car high enough for a jack stand. The rear cross member then gets the rest of the car off the ground. You can lift up any corner of a 928 and STILL open and close the door. It's kinda rigid in case no one noticed.

Bill Ball

That's nothing. Here's mine after a little off-road adventure. Car is fine. Been like this for 80K miles.

marton

Me too, on my 81s I do not have to remove the pan.

Rear crossbrace can be a bit fiddly, my hydraulic jack is relatively short so I can carry it in the car but then there is not enough clearance so it needs a lot of little short pumps.
Good exercise...

Marton

lorenolson888

Hi All,

I lift with a jack at the rear of the car and then put a jack stand under the front lift point. I do that to each side.

Then I lift the car with the rear cross member, and place two more stands unde the rear lift points..

Car is then up off all 4 wheels...

The car is amazingly rigid... but I think that the door closes a little stiffer when it is being flexed...

Also when you are lifting it the car is perfectly balanced on two diagonal point so it can be a bit scary... You can lift the car with you finger!

My car has dents in the same spot... I have seen it on about half of the cars i have seen... too bad many people jack the car up without asking somone how to do it.... too bad the internet was not around....

LO