drnick

hi all,

here is an update on my project with a little bit of its history first. the car started life as an 1986 S2 auto with LSD, full leather, sunroof etc but by the time it came into my possesion it was in need of everything doing but it did drive and have road tax. in the course of refurbishing the various systems i was faced with the choice of either maintaining originality or upgrading, i pretty quickly decided on the upgrade path and as some of you know its a slippery slope! first were bilstein shocks and 17" wheels, then came droplinks and sports seats... etc. well it hasnt stopped and the latest chapter is the install of a GTS engine and manual tranny.

i will post some more pics later outlining some of the other upgrades as well, but for now here are the latest.

Peter F

Very impressive Nick!!

does the engine and gearbox transplant requier a lot of modifications to make it fit?
I'm thinking of harnesses and brains for the GTS engine and also changing from auto to manual?

Cheers/Peter

Th Dude

That's quite a commitment that you've made to that car, Dr.Nick.
Very impressive.



D

drnick

ok here are some more pics, the first is as the car looked with its new 17" rims, tyres and bilsteins. that was the best angle and you cant see the rust in the rear quarter or other blemishes. shortly after this pic was taken, one of the side moldings pulled off at speed - i drove for nearly a year at full throttle before getting a ticket! so the emerging plan then included deleting the side moldings (conveniently) but before any body work there were numerous mechanical jobs; the steering rack leaked, the motor mounts needed replacing as did the brake discs/pads, cam belt/water pump and the fuel lines (im sure there was more..)!

so while i was at it i decided to replace the suspension bushings with polyurethane and added eibach springs. id allready put in new carpets and sports seats from a GT plus added drop links. the bushings and springs transformed the ride, i drove for a whole summer in wales and cornwall(can be measured in days usualy here in the UK) over back roads and had a blast!

there were numerous other things along the way; jaeger tip shifter, kick down mod, momo wheel, stereo, alarm etc... and then good fortune, someone backed into my rear quarter, right around where it was going to need replacing! i had a quote from a porsche aproved body shop for repair, it was outrageous but that was the other partys insurance problem

so i found a local body shop and had it re-sprayed. sounds easier than it was to do, lots of work involved especialy as we were changing colour. at this stage the car had the GTS arches, cup mirrors, sideskirts and strosek/type front added as well as filling the holes where the side moldings had been.

Th Dude

Interesting how fate moved you from one project to the next. Each time, the repair involved an upgrade. Cool.
Keep those photos a comin'.

D


P.S.
Not to change the subject...but since you mention wales...one of my heroes is from wales...Howard Marks.

drnick

the re-spray took a while... but i didnt harass the shop doing the work too much, i wanted them to make a proper job of it, and it was fun to call in and see the work as it progressed. one funny thing was that they didnt want to pull the sunroof out as they thought it would be difficult to re-install. i did it and it was difficult to re install, the gaps were not like before? by the time the car was finaly finished id already succumbed to 928 withdrawls and found a 5spd SE no less, to run around in - what do you do for a second car when your daily driver is a 928?

at first the S2 was spoilerless, i really liked the 'clean' look but the absence of the rear spoiler was noticeable at speed. so i added an alloy wing to the rear and an undertray to the front. unfortunately the power of the SE had spoiled my for less and even though the S2 handled really well i was now convinced that it needed to go faster. first thoughts were to supercharge but the engine mileage and high compression put me off, i purchased the GTS lump from a breaker in holland with about 18k miles on it.

drnick

oh yeah, forgot to mention: i was there when the colour finaly went on, you couldnt imagine how much time i had spent choosing this, but right there as it was happening i thought 'oh my god, what have i done!' - it was really bright and very orange!

Randy V

A labour of love indeed, Nick!

Have you considered swapping that wing for a colour-matched GTS type?

Th Dude

Splendid upgrades...Gorgeous car.
Only 18K miles on that GTS engine when you got it? Dude.

bcdavis

I think a Jaquemond wing would look nice on there...

Mrmerlin

That color ROCKS! Nice work bro,..... Stan

drnick

so after driving the SE through winter i had become acustomed to treating most cars in the fast lane with complete disdain - not so in the S2, it needed to go faster! i had noticed how much the acceleration improved when the gas tank was nearly empty so my first thought was to save weight. this proved to be very effective but difficult to execute, mainly because i was reluctant to loose the luxuriosness that is the 928 environment. but i did it anyway, removing nearly all the interior panels and just sticking vinyl or carpet to what was underneath. all the seats are removed and light weight recaros added, the sunroof is gone and a blank in carbon fibre fitted. rear wiper, spare, tools - all removed in the quest for light weight!

at about this time i also installed an ott -x pipe which is simply awesome! noticeable increase in tourque and fantastic sound, i ran around with the x and an rmb for as long as i could hack it (truly loud) before getting a complete dual 2.5" system from the x back. in anticipation of the GTS engine, i also sourced some hollow spoke TT wheels which i had fitted along with outrageous 315 rubber on the rear! the front of the car was treated to the addition of a gt3 spoiler lip while the rear got 'rs' badging.

in this form, i absolutely loved the car. you guys understand, i know, and youre not wrong about the commitment and devotion required!

drnick

the engine rebuild was undertaken simply because the lump had been sitting for a long period. we replaced the usual parts and slightly modified the pistons by drilling through some of the oil return holes, also added was a sump baffle. the cams were re-profiled as well.

other systems were upgraded with the addition of twin fans on the front, GTS brake callipers and 928 motorsports coilovers.

while all this was going on i decided to extend the project and convert the car to a manual 5spd. if you ask me its not that big a deal, but then im not pulling the bits off or putting them on! we are using a twin disk clutch and modified flywheel. the firewall had the master cylinder mounting already stamped in place, also the rear crossmember seems to be the same - we are using the original. one problem not solved is the speedo drive as the GTS box dosent have one... the oil cooler re-uses the autos accesory cooler.

areas that have needed modification for the engine are many. we have ditched the aircon for simplicity and to save weight, all the fuel lines are different as is the oil cooling and the ecus - which have yet to be connected! i will write more when these are installed.

BC

Which Recaros are those? Original leather covering or custom?

Kit_Chris

I'm also very interested in knowing what these seats are, they look awesome, as does the rest of the car!

Regards,
Chris