Jim bailey - 928 International

The cat convertor 1985> is the dual outlet with the M28/43,44 32 valve engine so early 85 SHOULD be the dual side by side as used on the older EURO S cars two on one side(they used a two in two out "pre-muffler"no cats ). The 86.5 body USA vin 861000 has the small battery box which allows for the right side pipe to cross over behind the differential. So two separate large resonators instead of a small shared resonator as shown by Shane.

IcemanG17

IMHO the best bargin out there is the 86.5 5 speed....far cheaper than an S4 but with equal performance with only a couple cheap mods! MK's friend is selling a nice 85...that would be worth a look!

Jim bailey - 928 International

Please do not take this wrong but the 86 is like the most expensive house in a cheap neighborhood... the 87 the cheapest house in an expensive neighborhood ... depends on why you want a 928 most value for the money or most look ? Or perhaps the 86 is the last of the "classic" soon to be collector items... I also am less than thrilled with the use of head studs on the 85-86 (but real men always pull the engine) and the cam cover bolts which screw into the head of another bolt ,talk about being screwed when you break off one or more of those bolts in the head...then you must pull the engine. My personal favorite would be an 89 GT that said I drive a 1980 .

heinrich

I fully agree JimB. I am an S4 fan.

bd0nalds0n

The '88s don't have airbags either.

Bill: I'd love to try to join the 200 mph club with my Supermodel and a 2.20 rear end. But when I read the requirements to even attempt the run (fuel cell, welded in roll cage, safety wire (?) on everything), it seems like it pretty much eliminates the chances to use this as a daily driver, unless I want to add a bunch of stuff just to take it off again, which I fear would be quite expensive. Not that the safety precautions are a bad idea, just that it squashed the nascent fantasy.

Jim bailey - 928 International

The first USA airbags were 1990 cars.

Daniel Dudley

What you buy should be based on condition of car. If your hands start shaking and you feel an uncontrolable urge to buy, walk away, and get a PPI lined up. If you are the kind of guy who will pull the intake to change all the vacume lines and swap timingbelts and bearings for breakfast, there are some very good deals out there. Otherwise caveat emptor. Most cars will need a little sorting, and probably shocks and plug wires.

I currently have an 89 S4. Nice car. Fast. I had an 86.5 with RMB chips and LSD. The only car I wish I had never let slip away. Enough said.

AO

So Jim... are you slummin' it, or are you going retro?

Jim bailey - 928 International

The very brown 1980 is the cheapest house in a cheap neighborhood ! I get so much enjoyment out of showing up at the POC streets of Willow in a faded three shades of BROWN 928 on little bitty 7x15 phone dial rims none of which match and running lap times quicker than may much newer Porsches whose wheels cost more than my 928 ! But you have to know that when I started racing a 911 it was painted all Dayglow Orange the brightest florescent orange Porsche ever seen if you could stand to look at it. That really offended a lot of people. I bought the very brown for $1,800 several years ago and it has many hours of track time plus unknown commute miles for several years,the 85 mph speedo has odometer failure and shows 800,000 plus miles before it stopped. I occasionaly think about painting it but realize that it would just get rock chipped at the track and the car would not be any faster or handle any better.

928SS

yep, what everyone else said

I can only add that if you plan on doing a hot rod rebuild vs just slapping a blower on, get the later car unless you want to change a LOT of stuff. the later computers have anti knock sensors so you can run more aggressive timing and use a sharktuner for even better tuning. the later heads have bigger valves and ports, are easier to make even bigger. the later intake has a dual chamber computer controlled/adjustable plenum, so the power curve is wider. later cars have electric fans, less engine drag, easier to work on. the later cars have better oil control and tbelt tensioners, lots of little refinements that make working on them easier and less often.

that said, I like the lines on the OB's more - but if I had the room/budget I'd probably have a gt or gts too (along w/about 20 other cars)

if you have a U Boat gene, or are related to a kennedy - I dont' think the later cars float any better than the OBs, but they do seem like they'd make a bigger splash!

Bill51sdr

My first 928 was an 86.5, I currently own an '89 S4. I am much happier with the S4. Porsche dealt with some of the electrical problems common to these cars in '89, so that is in their favor, as well as the installation of the 2.54 differential. S4's respond just as well, if not better to engine modifications, so I don't understand that line of reasoning . To me the S4 is a nicer looking and better refined car in most ways, and no, it does not have airbags!

Jim bailey - 928 International

The S-4 heads have larger valves and much better flow especially with bigger cams ( GT ) and as mentioned the LH injection has more capability and later cars have fault memory which helps to find running issues. In some ways the 85-86 32 valve engine could be considered a prototype tested in the US market before being revised modified into the world wide 87 S-4 engine.

AO

I used to own an '82 U.S. Spec (non-S). It was very nice. Very clean. A bit low on power, but a friggen blast to drive. Hard to imagine, but I used to not like the S4's. However, after having owned one for teh past 6 months, their exterior looks have grown on me, and I'll be damned if it doesn't feel the same on the inside (... 'cause they are virtually the same). The changes are really minor. In today's auto world the change from pre-S4 to S4 would have been called a face-lift rather than a model change. So it coes down to personal choice and overall condition of the car. Budget, too.

If my wife we not so opposed to the idea, I'd buy one like Jim's and drive it everywhere. Sh!+ brown and everything. Let's face it... the 928 rocks!

Jim bailey - 928 International

My wife has always refered to the very brown 1980 as the Turd... of course at the time she had a rather nice 79 5 spd with a "new engine" so simply saying the 928 was not specific enough. Nicole when she saw it with the big P O C sticker at Sharktoberfest suggested that P O S would be more appropriate My prior ride the Westphalia VW van was called Pigpen by the wife even though it was rather clean but often had Porsche parts in boxes paint was a bit faded.

AO

Jim,
You're all class!