Hello,

I'm a proud new owner of a gold/ burg 1984 Porsche 928 S.

I found the car parked in someone's front yard with a homemade and tattered "FOR SALE" sign under the wiper blades. The previous owner told me the car overheated on his way home from work about 5 years ago and he just didn't have the cash to get it fixed. The car sat in his garage until this spring when he decided to let it go. My shop has been empty since I sold my Mustang (1970 Mach 1) and I had an itch for a new project so I bought the car and had it flatbedded home.

I spent a couple of weeks cleaning, waxing and degreasing everyting I could get my hands on and looked over my purchase. The car didn't run when I bought it. The first problem was no fuel to the plugs. I did some troubleshooting and found the fuel pump was bad. I replaced the fuel pump and filter, drained the tank and lines and filled her up with fresh fuel. She then started but ran poorly and tried to overheat in the driveway. I pulled off the timing belt covers and found the timing was off by 1 tooth and the WP bearing was toast. I did a TB/ WP/ thermostat service along with flushing the system and the overheating issue went away.

I've been driving the car on short trips in-between other services (brakes, window tint removal, tie rods ...) The cat converter was rusted so I replaced it with a "Y" pipe and new O2 sensor. I wasn't sure what to do with the air pump line to the cat converter. I capped it off and the car ran fine.

Today during a little shopping trip the air pump siezed. (made one heck of a squealing noise) I cut the belt off and headed straight for home. The car ran fine and got home without overheating

Now for the question(s)... Did the line I plugged cause the pump to fail or was this just a coincidence? North Carolina doesn't require an emissions test for cars this old. What do ya'll recommend I do?

1) purchase a replacement pump (what to do with the cat converter line?)
2) remove the pump and buy a shorter fan belt (what other smog junk can I remove?)
3) gut the pump but keep the housing in place (is this possible?)

Thanks for a great forum and any advice you have!

Lamar

 

Congrats and welcome to the family.

Share some pics with us when you get the chance.

 

The pump is used with the cat, since you are with Y pipe you do not need it. Not sure what else can be removed, I am sure someone will chime in. You can gut the pump, but why have the extra belt if not needed? I believe to gut ( if like my old chevy) you need to remove the fins inside and go. Hope this helps and welcome to the tank, (errr club.)

 

Lamar:

Joining Rennlist will be the best investment you make for your 928. I have the same year (5 spd) and am waaay behind you on mechanical know-how. I've learned so much from these guys (and gals!) and they're a patient group too.

Here's to many happy miles ahead. Please post pix.

Peace,
Tim

 

Do search for air pump removal. It can all be removed and will make the engine compartment a little cleaner as well. Removing the air pump requires just running a shorter belt around the fan (21" iirc).

Welcome. The membership is the best investment you can make.

 

If I'm not mistaken, removal of the air pump also effectively removes the ability to tighten the fan belt.
Great idea to remove the air pump, but you may need to get an idler pulley to replace it. You could also just do away with the fan and replace it with electric fans. Search the archives on this.

My son will be graduating from UVA Law school in May. Maybe we can catch up then.

Also, Is it my imagination or does every 928 that sits for very long require a replacement fuel pump? I know that both of mine were badafter sitting for extended periods of time, and I seem to remember several others in the similar situations

 

Welcome, sounds like that one got into the right hands.

 

Welcome and sorry to hear about the air pump. Had the same problem on my '84 also about 6yrs ago. Just get a smaller belt as suggested and roll it on fan pulley by turning crank. You can loosen fan also.

 

Thanks- I'm shopping for a shorter belt tomorrow...

Next on the to do is:

Wheels (3 out of 4 rims are bent)
Speedo (inop)
Odometer (inop)
Fuel gauge (stuck on 1/4)
Clutch (slips)
Climate control (cold till set on max heat)

Then I'm good to go ...

 

Hey Lamar,

Great to see another tar heel here on the list. I removed the air pump on my 79 Euro and you are welcome to it if you like. I am just north of you in Wilkesboro. Would love to meet you and compare sharks some day

 

I was going to go with the shorter belt without the pump, but could not seem to get the correct size belt. I tried all of the suggested sizes with no luck. I ended up gutting the air pump and replacing the bearinigs which they had on hand at the local NAPA store. Congrats on the purchase. I have an 84 also.

 

Congratulations! Sounds like the right attitude...

Try cleaning the connectors in the forward corner of the spare tire well, and see if that revives the speedometer/odo.

 

An alternative to the shorter belt....Convert to an electric fan on the engine side of the rad! Many of us have done so and are quite happy with the results. Plus - really frees up some space to get to the area between the rad and engine!

 

Thanks all for the info. I'll post some pics soon. Happy Holidays!

 

Thank god another one in NC... I thought Rixter was the only other person around crazy enough to have a 928 in this state.. welcome to the madness... I've been driving mine in this wonderful April... er December... weather.. Roof open and windows down 78degree in Dec never felt so good as it does at 90MPH on 40..