It's Coming....
10-02-2008, 10:32 PM
#46
Administrator - "Tyson"
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Lifetime Rennlist
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Damn F.I.S.H.
10-02-2008, 10:42 PM
#47
Rennlist Member
that is a beautiful car.
10-02-2008, 10:53 PM
#49
Owns the Streets
Needs Camber
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Member
Needs Camber
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Like how the tail-light shines through the tint.
Nice job.
What's 700 DZH. Is that like some metric measurement of horsepower?
Nice job.
What's 700 DZH. Is that like some metric measurement of horsepower?
10-03-2008, 12:45 AM
#54
Rennlist Member
Great looking car and excellent photos. Bravo!
10-03-2008, 12:54 AM
#55
Shark Slayer
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: 'BETWEEN NORTH STAR BOROUGH...& THE CONCH REPUBLIC'
Posts: 2,215
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on
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WOO-HOO!
Wow, Keith -- you HAVE been busy!!
I see all the 'projects' coming together... Su-weet!
Awesome job, really!
Have you thought about giving up the 'day job' yet??
Carl -- 'Ebony and Ivory' was going to be 'my line!'
Can't wait for Keith's B & W 'Poster Shot!'
Congrats to you!
Kim
I see all the 'projects' coming together... Su-weet!
Awesome job, really!
Have you thought about giving up the 'day job' yet??
Carl -- 'Ebony and Ivory' was going to be 'my line!'
Can't wait for Keith's B & W 'Poster Shot!'
Congrats to you!
Kim
10-03-2008, 04:37 PM
#57
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
OK then….
I let this go on long enough (lol). Looks like there are lot’s of questions.
First off, let me say that the pictures are non revealing and I will cover that below. The road to this point has been lo o o o n g. Long enough that I will have to start at the beginning and try to keep this all as short as possible. However, I get a bit winded and detailed along the way….let’s see what I type beyond this…
About a year ago I had found out about this car (don’t remember how right now). It was at a VW dealership outside of Seattle. The car (apparently) was a trade-in by someone. As it was sitting on their lot, someone(s) broke into the car and tried to steal it. I guess when they figured out they couldn’t do that, they tore up the console to yank the stereo. I don’t remember the asking price, but for whatever reason, I was feeling adventurous. I asked a fellow 928’er up there to look at the car for me and snap a few. He did so and gave me the scoop. I am kind of a perfectionist and his description over the condition of the car was better than what I would have given.
I called the dealership and made them an offer, while informing them of the value and what it would take to get the car back to working order. We ended up settling at $2800.00. They noted it as a “Parts Car” on their invoice…though it was a clean title. I sent them a certified check and made arrangements to head up there that coming weekend. I figured at the very least, from what I saw in pictures, I could sell the wheels and seats for more than what I paid…for starters.
Got up there and witnessed the mess first hand of what I had just bought. The car had been sitting in the rain for a while and one of the windows was partially open where they had used blue masking tape to keep the rain out. When the thieves broke in and did their dirty work, they must have shorted out several things in tearing up the console, so the battery was dead. The dealer knew nothing about the car and just wanted it gone. They said it ran when it was traded in, but the tranny was toast. We pushed the car up on the U-Haul trailer and drug it back to Portland….where it sat for several months.
I stole parts off of it to donate to the 82 Euro I was working on at the time. It seemed like a dream that I would ever have the time or money to get this car to driving condition. Incidentally, this car is going to be Jennifer’s daily driver. She made that clear when we went and picked it up…lol. She gets the keys next Monday..;(
I don’t recall now, but I guess I found the time to strip pretty much the entire interior. I think it was because the rain had gotten in and soaked the carpet, among other things. In this process, I discovered some seriously hacked, Micky Mouse wiring throughout the car. I do remember spending a weekend just pulling wire, RE-wiring things and splicing back factory wiring. To say it was a mess was would be putting it lightly. Whoever owned this car before, has to be the picture child for all of those out there that hate PO’s! I had electrical issues later on in the rehab and for example, the PO had a toggle switch under the dash that had a wire running to the driver door, around the hinge through the cowl, over the engine and down to the AC compressor…which was seized. The steering wheel had a telephone coil cord running under the dash to the KD switch. Which I recently found out was additionally wired to the dead pedal for another switch that was no more than cheap stereo wire. This came to light a couple of weeks ago when while driving, smoke began to billow up from under the pod. Talk about a major scare! I thought all my work was going to go up in flames. The wires shorted and melted to the carpet. Those are just a couple of examples of what I had dealt with on this thing.
Fast forward to June this past summer. We had moved earlier in the year and the car was hauled to the new house and just sat. I made a commitment to myself that I was drivin’ this POS outta here or it was getting hauled off by some other “eyes bigger than their stomach” adventurist. I had a vision of a “BLACK” car. I had seen a few before on the Rennlist and I had always suggested in my posts that they black everything out. It didn’t seem to be the vision others had, so this was my chance to show what MY idea was. (oh yeah…I had sumthin’ to prove…lol) The windows were already tinted which helped with my idea. The driver/pass doors have a lighter tint. The back 3 windows and even a strip above the front windshield are darker.
I got to work on the interior, patched up the wiring and piece by piece, replaced/repaired or innovated whatever I had to, to get the interior functional. I bartered, shopped and banked on the good will of others to donate items they didn’t need. I had the carpet completely removed so I rented a steam cleaner and cleaned every single piece. I did some detail work to the interior like painting the yellow parts on the steering wheel, installing a Jager shifter, aluminum trim rings to the cluster and installing LED lighting throughout the interior very much like the GTS I had done. I did so much that I can hardly remember all of it. Also fixed non working sunroof and windows, I had to replace the steering column because the ignition was destroyed, as well as the passenger door lock. I had to re-sync all the locks and fix all alarm contacts As for the seats, some may recall my offering them out on the Rennlist as they were not the best fitment for the car...and a 6’2 guy. Fortunately, a fellow Rennlister in Michigan was good enough to trade some beautiful stock 928 seats with me as he wanted mine for his track car. We’re both very happy!
So with the interior complete, it was time to address the mechanicals. Oh boy, ANOTHER can of worms! The engine was a mess and leaked fluids. The only thing to do was take it down to the block and start over. I re-routed the vent lines which is a big issue for the 85/86 cars. Seems to work well, so if anyone wants to know about that, just ask. Stripped and painted engine parts, fixed leaks, TB job and put it back together…in short. As a whole, the condition of many parts weren’t as bad as I had imagined.
I did a tranny service thinking that the slipping was due to no ATF. The thing had been leaking ATF since I had it. It remains dry as a bone now. The cats were gutted and the car had no OX sensor. For whatever reason, one of the OS heater wires was hacked and non existent, so I ran a new wire to the panel plug. Got a battery and crossed my fingers. The car fired up on the first shot, but while tuning, the fumes were eye burning and horrid. This was before the OS sensor fix. The resonators were removed from the car and with the original gutted cats, the car screamed to life as if it was just woken up from a year’s long hibernation. I threw the cats on from the GTS since I wasn’t using them and the exhaust now has a very deep rumble. If you 85/86 guys are so inclined, go with straight pipes from the cat back…a very satisfying sound which is not loud at all….just deep and aggressive.
I had a whole bunch of electrical issues aside from other issues. I ended up making a two page list of “things to fix” after the car was running. I’ve been working my way through the list and have resolved more crap than one should have to.
The paint and body. Make no mistake, there are many flaws with the paint making it a “10 foot” car. The car must have been re-sprayed by a first timer. Looks like good quality paint itself, but they painted over lots of stuff with a lot of overspray. Lot’s of drips and bubbles as well as uneven coating. The taping when sprayed was poorly done and they even tried to tape off the lettering on the rear bumper cover which came out like crap. Since I knew from the start this would not be a “puss” car, I did some experimentation on the paint and other little tidbits. I used the hell out of a pencil painter. The wheels were curb rashed and covered with CV joint grease. The liners were caked with years of crud and mud. I pretty much went nuts with rattle cans painting everything! I fixed some paint gouges and after that was all done, I hit the entire car with Mequire’s fine cutting compound followed by my favorite wax…Ultra Car Care Products-Super Finish. If you have seen my other cars, this is why the finishes look so good. I was amazed at how well this beat paint came back to life. The lenses were sprayed with VHT’s “Nightshades”. Great stuff! I ended up painting the tail lenses too dark and got pulled over by a Washington State Trooper with a warning, so I stripped them and made them a bit lighter.
The next big hurdle (I thought) was getting the car smogged and registered. I went to the local emissions testing facility and the car amazingly and incredibly passed on the first shot. I about did a back flip! Went to the DMV right after that and got it registered and received my plates….which are not personalized btw.
So that’s pretty much it in short…and believe me, this IS the short version. I have never done so much work on a car in my life. I am tickled pink that this thing is actually as it stands now. I have to go out and keep looking at it to believe it. It still has some issues, but those will be addressed in time. Whether you care to believe this or not, I am into this car for under $4000.00. I am happy with the results and it seems that since I’ve been driving it, it gets it’s fare share of looks.
Thanks for all of the comments and compliments. I enjoy these cars like the rest of you guys and appreciate the responses to the innovations I have performed on them over the years. I hope to have another completed 928 project to share in time to come….whatever that may be.
Any questions, by all means ask!
Here are a bunch of before pics….
I let this go on long enough (lol). Looks like there are lot’s of questions.First off, let me say that the pictures are non revealing and I will cover that below. The road to this point has been lo o o o n g. Long enough that I will have to start at the beginning and try to keep this all as short as possible. However, I get a bit winded and detailed along the way….let’s see what I type beyond this…
About a year ago I had found out about this car (don’t remember how right now). It was at a VW dealership outside of Seattle. The car (apparently) was a trade-in by someone. As it was sitting on their lot, someone(s) broke into the car and tried to steal it. I guess when they figured out they couldn’t do that, they tore up the console to yank the stereo. I don’t remember the asking price, but for whatever reason, I was feeling adventurous. I asked a fellow 928’er up there to look at the car for me and snap a few. He did so and gave me the scoop. I am kind of a perfectionist and his description over the condition of the car was better than what I would have given.
I called the dealership and made them an offer, while informing them of the value and what it would take to get the car back to working order. We ended up settling at $2800.00. They noted it as a “Parts Car” on their invoice…though it was a clean title. I sent them a certified check and made arrangements to head up there that coming weekend. I figured at the very least, from what I saw in pictures, I could sell the wheels and seats for more than what I paid…for starters.
Got up there and witnessed the mess first hand of what I had just bought. The car had been sitting in the rain for a while and one of the windows was partially open where they had used blue masking tape to keep the rain out. When the thieves broke in and did their dirty work, they must have shorted out several things in tearing up the console, so the battery was dead. The dealer knew nothing about the car and just wanted it gone. They said it ran when it was traded in, but the tranny was toast. We pushed the car up on the U-Haul trailer and drug it back to Portland….where it sat for several months.
I stole parts off of it to donate to the 82 Euro I was working on at the time. It seemed like a dream that I would ever have the time or money to get this car to driving condition. Incidentally, this car is going to be Jennifer’s daily driver. She made that clear when we went and picked it up…lol. She gets the keys next Monday..;(
I don’t recall now, but I guess I found the time to strip pretty much the entire interior. I think it was because the rain had gotten in and soaked the carpet, among other things. In this process, I discovered some seriously hacked, Micky Mouse wiring throughout the car. I do remember spending a weekend just pulling wire, RE-wiring things and splicing back factory wiring. To say it was a mess was would be putting it lightly. Whoever owned this car before, has to be the picture child for all of those out there that hate PO’s! I had electrical issues later on in the rehab and for example, the PO had a toggle switch under the dash that had a wire running to the driver door, around the hinge through the cowl, over the engine and down to the AC compressor…which was seized. The steering wheel had a telephone coil cord running under the dash to the KD switch. Which I recently found out was additionally wired to the dead pedal for another switch that was no more than cheap stereo wire. This came to light a couple of weeks ago when while driving, smoke began to billow up from under the pod. Talk about a major scare! I thought all my work was going to go up in flames. The wires shorted and melted to the carpet. Those are just a couple of examples of what I had dealt with on this thing.
Fast forward to June this past summer. We had moved earlier in the year and the car was hauled to the new house and just sat. I made a commitment to myself that I was drivin’ this POS outta here or it was getting hauled off by some other “eyes bigger than their stomach” adventurist. I had a vision of a “BLACK” car. I had seen a few before on the Rennlist and I had always suggested in my posts that they black everything out. It didn’t seem to be the vision others had, so this was my chance to show what MY idea was. (oh yeah…I had sumthin’ to prove…lol) The windows were already tinted which helped with my idea. The driver/pass doors have a lighter tint. The back 3 windows and even a strip above the front windshield are darker.
I got to work on the interior, patched up the wiring and piece by piece, replaced/repaired or innovated whatever I had to, to get the interior functional. I bartered, shopped and banked on the good will of others to donate items they didn’t need. I had the carpet completely removed so I rented a steam cleaner and cleaned every single piece. I did some detail work to the interior like painting the yellow parts on the steering wheel, installing a Jager shifter, aluminum trim rings to the cluster and installing LED lighting throughout the interior very much like the GTS I had done. I did so much that I can hardly remember all of it. Also fixed non working sunroof and windows, I had to replace the steering column because the ignition was destroyed, as well as the passenger door lock. I had to re-sync all the locks and fix all alarm contacts As for the seats, some may recall my offering them out on the Rennlist as they were not the best fitment for the car...and a 6’2 guy. Fortunately, a fellow Rennlister in Michigan was good enough to trade some beautiful stock 928 seats with me as he wanted mine for his track car. We’re both very happy!
So with the interior complete, it was time to address the mechanicals. Oh boy, ANOTHER can of worms! The engine was a mess and leaked fluids. The only thing to do was take it down to the block and start over. I re-routed the vent lines which is a big issue for the 85/86 cars. Seems to work well, so if anyone wants to know about that, just ask. Stripped and painted engine parts, fixed leaks, TB job and put it back together…in short. As a whole, the condition of many parts weren’t as bad as I had imagined.
I did a tranny service thinking that the slipping was due to no ATF. The thing had been leaking ATF since I had it. It remains dry as a bone now. The cats were gutted and the car had no OX sensor. For whatever reason, one of the OS heater wires was hacked and non existent, so I ran a new wire to the panel plug. Got a battery and crossed my fingers. The car fired up on the first shot, but while tuning, the fumes were eye burning and horrid. This was before the OS sensor fix. The resonators were removed from the car and with the original gutted cats, the car screamed to life as if it was just woken up from a year’s long hibernation. I threw the cats on from the GTS since I wasn’t using them and the exhaust now has a very deep rumble. If you 85/86 guys are so inclined, go with straight pipes from the cat back…a very satisfying sound which is not loud at all….just deep and aggressive.
I had a whole bunch of electrical issues aside from other issues. I ended up making a two page list of “things to fix” after the car was running. I’ve been working my way through the list and have resolved more crap than one should have to.
The paint and body. Make no mistake, there are many flaws with the paint making it a “10 foot” car. The car must have been re-sprayed by a first timer. Looks like good quality paint itself, but they painted over lots of stuff with a lot of overspray. Lot’s of drips and bubbles as well as uneven coating. The taping when sprayed was poorly done and they even tried to tape off the lettering on the rear bumper cover which came out like crap. Since I knew from the start this would not be a “puss” car, I did some experimentation on the paint and other little tidbits. I used the hell out of a pencil painter. The wheels were curb rashed and covered with CV joint grease. The liners were caked with years of crud and mud. I pretty much went nuts with rattle cans painting everything! I fixed some paint gouges and after that was all done, I hit the entire car with Mequire’s fine cutting compound followed by my favorite wax…Ultra Car Care Products-Super Finish. If you have seen my other cars, this is why the finishes look so good. I was amazed at how well this beat paint came back to life. The lenses were sprayed with VHT’s “Nightshades”. Great stuff! I ended up painting the tail lenses too dark and got pulled over by a Washington State Trooper with a warning, so I stripped them and made them a bit lighter.
The next big hurdle (I thought) was getting the car smogged and registered. I went to the local emissions testing facility and the car amazingly and incredibly passed on the first shot. I about did a back flip! Went to the DMV right after that and got it registered and received my plates….which are not personalized btw.
So that’s pretty much it in short…and believe me, this IS the short version. I have never done so much work on a car in my life. I am tickled pink that this thing is actually as it stands now. I have to go out and keep looking at it to believe it. It still has some issues, but those will be addressed in time. Whether you care to believe this or not, I am into this car for under $4000.00.
I am happy with the results and it seems that since I’ve been driving it, it gets it’s fare share of looks. Thanks for all of the comments and compliments. I enjoy these cars like the rest of you guys and appreciate the responses to the innovations I have performed on them over the years. I hope to have another completed 928 project to share in time to come….whatever that may be.
Any questions, by all means ask!
Here are a bunch of before pics….
Last edited by 928ntslow; 10-04-2008 at 02:18 PM.
10-03-2008, 05:29 PM
#59
Nordschleife Master
Keith
Great restoration
It makes me want to buy an 85-86 or any Pre S4, i am starting to like the early body
Q: What are your wheel sizes and offsets? I just bought a set like yours in 8x18 front ET50 and 10x18 rear ET 67. Curious if you have spacers on there and if so what the size is.
Cheers
Great restoration
It makes me want to buy an 85-86 or any Pre S4, i am starting to like the early body
Q: What are your wheel sizes and offsets? I just bought a set like yours in 8x18 front ET50 and 10x18 rear ET 67. Curious if you have spacers on there and if so what the size is.
Cheers
10-03-2008, 06:28 PM
#60
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Mine are 18x8/50mm and 18x11/45mm The PO put 2 different sized spacers on the rears..one is 19mm and the other 15 mm. One of these days I will change the spacers. There is enough info on the R'list to figure out what you need. It's a pretty easy thing to do...figuring out offsets. Also know that the PO rolled the rear fenders and turned up the lips...a rather crappy job. So going by my numbers won't help you a bit.