Ian928

Hi!

My girlfriend and I have just returned from a trip to Germany (we live in Norway) with my 1980 928S. We took a few rounds on Nürburgring and saw 240km/h on the speedo on several occasions. The car behaved very good!

It is almost hard to imagine, but after driving almost 4000km, the heagasket blew only a km from our home! We limped home in a white cloud...

So now I really have to consider my options:

1 Remove the original "S" engine(at least 240.000km) and rebuild. Probably machine the piston tops for lower compression and add some form of boost.
2 Buy another engine and change, maybe even a 4,5l and add boost to that
3 Buy a chrashed S4 from Germany and change the mecanicals over to my car.

Option 3 sounds most tempting, because the import duties for a S4 is so high in Norway that importing a used S4 is much more expensive than importing a parts car and converting it to S4 spec. How about this one: http://www.mobile.de/SIDbmJoKuphlN-q...1111173946560& It even seems drivable so I could drive it home!

I could transplant the complete clutch assembly from this car to mine and get rid of that horrible 3-sp auto, change complete suspension and drive train etc...

But of course, I could also get a 4,5 engine cheap and buy a kit from Carl for the same amount of money...

Opinions?

Nicole

Glad to hear you had fun in old Germany! And you're lucky the car got you home again. Do you have any idea what might have caused the headgasket to fail? Just old age?

I'm not sure I understand why you would wamt to put another engine with over 225k kms in your car. Or would you rebuild it before installing it in yours?

You'd have to change a lot of stuff - not just the engine. I think most wiring harnesses would be different for that swap, and you are dealing with a few kms of wire in a 928! It would be a pretty big project - challengeing, but very time consuming. Only you know, if it's worth that for you!

To me, #1 sounds like the most feasible route to go.

G Man

#1

SharkSkin

#1 is probably the most practical approach. Also, if you want a 5 speed you should probably just get one. Your AT car will need the firewall section from a 5sp car welded in for the clutch slave.... definitely not a weekend project.

Garth S

Assuming that your '80 is a K-jetronic ( mine is the NA spec L-jet), it would be far easier to rebuild or transplant a block that adapts to the existing fuel/electronic systems. The S4 transplant would be a massive rewiring job - as least for me . .... plus the fuel delivery plumbing and control is quite different.
To switch to a 5-sp is feasible, but as Dave mentions, some cars require an addition to the firewall; however, I do not think that this applies to the early 16v cars - they were made before the cost-cutting demons began making shortcuts ... In any event, you would need a matching bell housing, torque tube/transaxle - and possibly the matching rear crossmember. Basically, a donor car would need to be stripped as a unit.
Your import taxation structure sounds .

gruffalo

1. replace head gasket
2. sell car
3. buy '77 - '79 5-speed
4. supercharge

We have enough "S4" hybrids as it is.

MM

Normy

I'd say, rebuild the car or simply buy another one. You're pretty sure its just a head gasket, and not a cracked head? Why not just do the easy and fix the gasket [couple days work] and continue the driving enjoyment?

Good luck!

N!

puyi

Agree with all the opinions made above

IMHO #1

STL

Ian928

Well, I agree with you all that creating a hybrid is probably not what I want... I have been thinking about it, and I have really no indications that the engine is in need of major work except for the head gasket. I will probably just do the easiest thing and replace the gasket to get back on the road for now. Hopefully it can be done with the engine in the car. That is unless, of course, it's a cracked head or even worse, a cracked block and the engine has to be lifted out.

Nicole: I believe I killed the gasket myself, because I advanced the timing quitea few degrees and forgot about it. Althouh it was probably ok for driving in Norway, the strain of driving on autobahn and the Nürburgring may have caused detonation. Hopefully I haven't burned the valves etc...

Thank you for your valuable input! As always, you are the right girls and guys to talk to when I need to clear my mind.

gruffalo

Ian: I'm going to advance the timing on my car now... how far did you go? How about pinging?
Did you hear any?
MM

Ian928

Gruffalo: In hindsighte there was a ticking sound audible at part throttle, but it didn't sound like detonation to me. It seemed to come from the footwell, somewhere behind the throttle pedal.

I believe I set it up to about 31-32° at 3000rpms. This was aggressive I know. I may have pulled it back before the trip if I had remembered it, but I did not.

Garth S

Predetonation is a complex and variable mechanism - and not always audible! - but almost always damaging ...