RyanPerrella

I agree fully with the help of Rennlist!

You know when you buy a 928 your part of a family, they dont have Rennlist for toyota Camry's or Nissan Maximas or that crap. You have an incredibly valuable respurce in Rennlist, I would be hesitant about doing allot of the things i am doing currently and previously already done on the car without Rennlist. Many people here have "been there done that." This is probably the single biggest resource there is. We are lucky that there are so many like minded people that love these cars and are more then willing to help. Wether it be just a simple post on here, or letting you try a car on for size or hosting a timing belt party and buying your guests lunch! THANKS AGAIN DR. BOB! I have noticed the people here on Rennlist, go ABOVE AND BEYOND, and why, well cause you own the same car, thats why.

The WSM is great but when it dosent make sense, or you need further information....you shoot a question to the rennlisters and there you have your answer!

I think this is THE most important resource for 928 ownership!

THANKS RENNLIST, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE OTHER MEMBERS THAT MAKES IT WHAT IT IS!

ZEUS+

I started working on cars in 1979. In college, I did not know why psychology and sociology were required. I spent many years in dealerships(chevrolet,buick,bmw) working flat rate. I then went to independent facilities. It was when I had my own business(sold due to an offer that could not be refused from a developer)I realized why psy. and soc. were required. Not only do we repair the car, we repair the customer. The worst customer is the shopper. You cant shop for quality, you pay for it.

F4GIB

We are lucky to have several top flight 928 mechanics here in Minneapolis (although one is here only in the "warm" months).

My work is done by James Erdmann (a 928 owner and an infrequent poster here) at Maplewood Motors, the Porsche dealer on the St. Paul side of the river. Jim has convinced the dealership that repairing cars older than 10 years can be a good business. The dealership does, of course, have all the special tools. Their shop rates aren't cheap but they don't do unneeded work nor charge for merely opening the door or squirting oil on a squeeking hinge. And they provide loaners at no additional charge (I know they aren't actually "free").

I have a relatively new car and I believe in "do it sooner and cheaper." I've put a few bucks into my car but I expect them to result in lower future costs. I do think, however, that I'll learn to change the oil.

SharkSkin

Today's example of a P-car dealer with cranial rectalitis (see post # 10).

This might be a <$50 switch that takes <30 minutes to swap, and the P-car dealer wants to chase wild geese -- they charge just as much for that as they charge for doing useful stuff.

ceedee

x2 that i bought mine because i knew you guys are there
and i love tinkering on my car, too
it's so relaxing (well most of the times , when i fix something and don't brake more)

danglerb

I have two, maybe three good local mechanics, I'm not rich, but I make an hour what they charge, and do it by wiggling my fingers in a comfortable chair.

Some other thread can delve into Restore, refurb, or just fix what breaks. All I want to do is get some firm idea of what costs what, so a variety of people can look at the costs with different end requirements and decide how best to proceed.

Thanks to all so far for prices on jobs, actual examples have more weight to me than any aggregate comments. A data point is a data point, AC repair was $500 or $5000, then a bunch of those data points means something.

Randy V

Tell ya what - you tell us what the shop wants to charge for something and we'll tell you if it's fair or not.

shawnzo

Vancouver, B.C. Canada. 1990 GT air-con compressor-- $2800.00 + install etc. from P dealer. Even they agree I should call the big three. I am currently getting TB, WP, drive belts, motor mounts, clutch cyl., oil pan gasket (Real), full service, that worn fuel line by filler neck,alignment, and FREE car wash. I really believe in getting work done on this car by Porsche mechanics. Mine's name is Helmut and has been working on 928's since 1979. They offer 2 year warranty on parts and labour, and all this will cost 'about' $5,000 cdn. To put into context my father has spent 5 grand in the last year on his 1998 Mercury Sable!!!! I am not rich, but once went to pick up my Volvo 760 from non dealer, and the owner's kid was waiting for the book to put it all back together (wrong I might add!)

RyanPerrella

well then go off my number from receipts from a former owner $17,000 in a year

does that work for you?

neilh

Not really answering your question, but an observation:

My 81 has been into a dealership only 2 times since I bought it new in 81, both times for warranty work. Everything else i have done my self. TB x 2, all routine maintenance, etc, etc.
I was sponsored and trained by Alfa Romeo as I worked my way through college to get a Mechanical Eng degree, so I got a good appreciation for working on fine autos, and how easy it is to screw up a good thing.
If you have the apptitude, DIY, know your limits, and be prepared to pay whatever it takes to get rolling again if you dont want to DIY on a rare and expensive auto!

F451

The only way you are going to get any meaningful data points is if you get the actual invoices that show every part repaired/replaced, and the labor charges. Don't forget taxes. And don't forget when the repairs were done. Prices may have changed since.

Every repair is going to be slightly different making direct comparisons difficult to determine.

An oil change? Ok, that ones easy, not much variation there.

I applaud your idea to get some good hard useful numbers for the greater good, but I'm just not sure its going to too easy to get the exact numbers you seek.

But good luck with the idea, its a good one, just may be difficult to accomplish.

Ed

Fastest928

Keep in mind that you never get the dollars out of those 15-20K repair bills, best you can do it 20 cents on the dollar...maybe. BUT..you get the smiles!!! Plus if yu can do the work yourself without error, you get the satisfaction of knowing that the job was down right and on "budget"!

We sell parts of 928s all the time that have had major money invested that end up wrecked and the parts go for cheap....The last GT engine we sold was one that jus thad extensive work and fetched a palty 3.5K. Could have gotten more for the parts alone!

Anyway, just reember the smiles!!!!

Jerome Craig

With 14 years of shark ownership under my belt, a figure of $3K per year is about right if you put any miles on it. When I sold my 86.5 w/225K miles on it, I had receipts for roughly $45K. The break down was about 1/3 for parts and 2/3 for labor. I have a number of receipts for the 87 and the PO's spending rate was about the same. There are good shops and good mechanics, but there probably aren't many "great" shops and "great" mechanics left. I was lucky for 10 of those 14 years. The same mechanic - who was 928 trained - worked on my car for 10 years. He also serviced a number of 928s in the area. It wasn't unusual to see as many as 6 or 7 sharks at the shop at the same time. They would also let me provide new or recycled parts from the big 3.

With the help of Rennlist and some fellow 928 addicts here in the DC metro area, I am learning how to do a lot of the work myself. What I'm finding is that you have to be patient - there's a lot of aluminium parts - and - a whole lot of old parts in our cars. Some things break cause they've been stressed beyond their limits, some things break because they have reached their upper limit on duty cycles, and some things break just cause they're old.

As for the dealers, most are willing to train someone on your dime.... so why not invest that money in yourself. Fo example, I took the 87 to one of the more reputable places in Northern Virginia for TB/WP and to correct some "bad" maintenance heaped on the PO. Well I get the car back but I notice my AC isn't working and neither is my cruise control. Both worked when I brought the car in! My ticket said, "Customer needs new AC compressor". Now years ago I would have just accepted that and said $hit! But knowing better I said Bull$hit!!! The compressor was only 15 months old! A couple of hours on Rennlist, a few PMs later and I had the answer. The common element for the HVAC and the cruise control is vacuum. I looked at the 4 way "T" below the vacuum check valve and there it was... two of the vacuum lines had slipped out! A few hours of research and I saved about $2500.

The moral of that story is: Do as much of your own work as possible.

I have a set of the WSM in binders and on CD. I had my carport torn down and a two car garage built so now I have a place to work out of the elements. I have made friends with other shark owners in the area, and I'm teaching myself how to do as much of the routine maintenance as possible. (At Frenzy 10 two weeks ago a fellow shark owner not only told me how to install a "poor man's" motor mount ... he jacked up my car and did it for me! Thanks again Carl!)

People in this community will help you... all you have to do is ask. (But don't forget to tell what model year and whether it's auto or stick !)

One other piece of advice; get a MityVac! It will pay for itself in the first 1/2 hour. I think most of us find that the root of our HVAC problems are vacuum related... I know mine are/were. 19 year old rubber diaphrams will develop cracks.... nothing lasts forever... except the shear joy of driving a shark.

danglerb

I think my Ford mechanic has the full Mitchell on Demand setup, which should have shop times for all the common 928 repairs, and I see him next week for some squeak reduction he "owes" me after a $400 brake job. Maybe I use my secret weapon, bring donuts.

Estimates of what this or that might cost are not what I am looking for, just what it went in for and what it got and what it cost, hopefully including region, year, and model. With raw data people can make their own minds up about what to fix now, which car to buy, and if they really need both kidneys.

Doing stuff a piece at a time sounds really costly, what about finding a good mechanic and refurbishing the whole car? Asking, but rather see that in its own thread and leave this to single jobs and prices.

Jerome Craig

That's why a number of us have/had.. and probably will have again.. more than one! My '87 is how I completely refurbished my '86.5