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Let me first thank you guys/gals for all the help I've derived from this forum. I bought an 87' S4 auto trans in 11/13 as an investment. It was my 1st Porsche and was in need of a lot of TLC.
Interior was old, cracked leather & worn gray carpet.
Ran very rough, missing & badly surging idle.
Had a ride like a horse-drawn buggy.
Paint had a decent shine, but was completely saturated w/swirl marks.
Driver’s pwr window, pwr seat & sunroof not working.
Dome light short.
Tranny shifted very late in the rev range between 1st & 2nd.
Pwr steering leak.
Very loud exhaust.
Slipped belt on RR tire.
Bent FR rim.
Front spoiler split nearly in 2 pieces.
12 inch hole in rear seat leather.
Cracked worn console cover & various cracked interior panels.
Radiator fans not working.
A fairly loud engine tick/knock.
No heater.
I paid 6K (US) for the car which had 103,000 miles on it. I saw serious potential, despite all the probs.
Using this forum I found resolutions for the surging idle (WD 40 in the idle valve), pwr window mech instructions, found Classic 9 Leather (where I bought the carpet) & various other great tips etc.
I found the pwr window mech for $120 & a great set of front seats on Ebay for just $375 shipped. I got the carpet for $500. The biggest issue was getting the driver’s seat out. With no power & badly stripped plastic gears I had to (using the new seats as a quide) disassemble the linkage from the foot area (very tight), then assemble an extension for a power drill (using a square bit to fit the linkage joints) & crab the seat out a few inches at a time. A REAL nightmare! I was astounded to discover the carpet consisted of 25 pieces (not counting insulation pads), but I enjoyed installing the carpet. I even had 928 embroidered on the rear seat backs, in red (to match the running board font & the powder coated brake rotors & intake manifold).
The rough running issue turned out to be mainly from 2 year old fuel. Once I had pure, new 93 octane in her, she started purring like, well, not a kitten really, more like an angry panther!
I got nervous when I realized the tick wasn’t a lifter, but was coming from the bottom end. It was really loud from under the car. Researching that here, I discovered this was common & would likely subside once I ran the car to full operating temps. It did subside… WHEW!
Using pop rivets, sheets of steel & some plastic filler I was able to mend the spoiler. I also used the plastic filler to mend the broken particle board interior panel and center console & wrapped that & the damaged rear seat panel in leather cut from the old front seats.
I used interior paint/primer to refresh the rear seat cushions & AC panels (turned out really nice).
After having the rim straightened, tire replaced & repairing the p-steering leak (was just the canister), the only major issues left were a high idle once warmed up & no heat. There was also an issue w/the radiator fans. The PO had rigged a jumper to get them to run at medium speed, but you had to disconnect the jumper when you shut the car off. I replaced the radiator switch, flushed the system, but that did not fix the issue. I finally discovered the default when unplugged radiator switch, was full speed, so I just left it unplugged in summer, & used the jumper in winter.
This forum advised me that the heater control valves were frequently blocked to prevent excessive interior heat. This was the case. I replaced the valve w/a ball valve from the hardware store. Works great! You just turn the valve 90 degrees in spring & fall.
I got the PO to throw in a better set of y cats when I bought it & installed this. It made the car really sound just brilliant! I was SO happy! The cats I removed looked to be in better shape than the replacement. I think they were just not tightened correctly.
I used 3M Finesse It II & power buffers to completely remove all the swirl marks. The paint is the most amazing thing about the car now. A testament to Porsche that it has such luster after 27 years!
I bought the car in early 11/14 & my plan was to have it ready for a 1500 mile road trip by Xmas. I barely made it, actually making repairs right until/including the morning I left NC for KY. I’d worked 4 hours per day (many smoke breaks), 4 days per week, for 6 weeks.
I’d driven the car for a few short trips to test it, & used it as a daily driver one day. I felt nervous, but cautiously confident we’d make the trip OK. This would be a real feather in its cap when I went to sell it. I flip cars often & this was to be just another flip.
I hit traffic on the drive out of town & the temp gauge (warm muggy day) was drifting over the top white line. I had the jumper engaged set for the cold, cold temps I was heading towards. Even with the windows down, the cab was getting too toasty. I finally realized I could close all the vents tightly, & this cured the issue. Once I got up to 55 (& above) the engine temps settled in at perfect levels.
Man, the mountain roads! Holy sh@t! The mountain roads! I hit 100 mph through the 55 mph turns without even realizing it…. In the pouring rain!
About 1/3 of the way I pulled the ashtray out & the stereo stopped working. It has a JVC with a MP3 port, so I’d been jamming along. It took some head scratching to find the blown fuse (not the radio, but the cig lhtr fuse). I’d made it 350 miles on the 1st tank, just barely enough to make the trip on 1 stop.
No other issues until I was about 100 miles from the finish, when doing 80, at night, the headlights went dark when I hit a bump. Very scary moment, but I hit the fog lights quickly enough & made the last 100 miles on the fogs only. Turned out to be a loose relay. I rigged up a solution using rubber between the fuse cover & the relay until I was back at home.
The temps in KY fell to 14F! The heat worked perfectly as did everything else. I actually woke up Xmas eve to a dusting of snow on the car.
I left NC w/the car waxed to a pristine shine & arrived w/a nasty covering of road film. I gave it a fresh wash/wax & vacuum. I was shocked to see the armor-all freeze on the wheels!
Man, were my friends & family jealous! I’ve been a performance driver since the age of 14. I was drifting before it was called drifting. We called it, “Flat-Tracking” in my day. The torque of that sweet, sweet, 32 valve, 10:1 alum/alloy V-8 , 4-cam motor propelled me to many, many lurid slides in KY. I wish I had my camera rolling for some of that. All but one was perfectly executed; I spun her once so hard fuel was pouring out of the fuel filler tube as I looked out the side-view mirror. It was all good though; plenty of room for error is something I always consider before stepping-out the rear. That extra weight in the rear really caught me out. The passive rear steering adds some variables I had to adapt to as well (tend to over correct a tad).
By then, this car was more than “just another flip” to me. Even though it was the most complicated to work on, 25-carpet-piece-havin, finicky, nightmare to work on, I had the fever!
The only major issue still bugging me was the late 1-2nd shift. I really had to let all the way off the throttle to get it to catch 2nd. This forum taught me there were 2 ways to adjust for this. I considered attacking this, but kept putting it off as I drove the car on short trips & on weekends around town. Oddly enough, it corrected itself. It now shifts when it should.
Anyway, sorry for the novel. I decided to tell you not what I did to my 928 today, but what I did to my 928 every day since I’ve had it.
I got this pair a couple months ago and have been a Rennlist "lurker" since. Finally decided to officially join and at least contribute some pics. One is an 80 and one is an 82 Weissach, # unknown.
I'm the 2nd owner of this 86.5S model. I did the flat black hood wrap to hide some serious paint imperfections, but I think it looks kind of good. Ties in with the flat black spoilers, front and rear. It definitely stands out among other 928s. Also, notice the wheels from my 91 which now has GT wheels on it. I just put in a new MAF yesterday. WOW, what a difference in performance. It feels like a new car!!
09-08-2014, 05:01 PM
Family car
