utjmac

I've been a 911 lover for years, but yet to be able to buy a project. I've started looking into 928's as they seem to present a great value for the dollar/power/quality of the vehicle.

So, I found a 1979 928. The gentleman told me it jumped timing while in his shop, and hasn't been run since. He took it to a mechanic, who removed half of the front end to get to the timing marks and then their mechanic went belly up. I already have a feeling I should run before taking a look, but I thought I'd get an opinion from the group.

The owner sent a rollback, picked up the car, and parts and it sits in the garage, "taking up space". He's got a handful of other classics, including a new Porsche, so I don't think he's junked it up, but he obviously isn't interested in finding someone to fix this one. He listed it as running very strong before hand, with only 85k miles on the car. He's only owned it for a year, the last 4 months, it's been sitting up waiting on someone to save it.

I don't know enough about these to know much. Is an engine that just suped timing salvagable or should I run. He's asking $3000 for the car.

Thank you in advance for your insightful responses. I know there is a wealth of knowledge on these forums, and I hope to be able to contribute as a Porsche owner sometime in the near future.

John

shmark

If a 79 jumps time it's no big deal. Line up the timing marks, install a new timing belt, button the rest back up and you just might have a deal on your hands. Sounds like the owner might have taken care of it too, so it could be a great deal. Definitely worth a followup.

Mrmerlin

If the car looks good and you like it then you can save it the early engines are NON interference so simple putting the timing marks where they belong will have the engine running again.
BUT to be sure you want to find the engine code on the block you have some choices to find
M28/04 77-79 Auto
M28/03 77-79 5sp
M28/14 80 Auto
M28/13 80 5sp
M28/16 81-82 Auto
M28/15 81-82 5sp
If you find any other choices please post them
The numbers will be found just under where the big hose attaches to the water cross over near the right center ( this would be left of center if your looking at the engine)of the engine ( my guess is that the hose has already been removed) there should be a small rectangular block with these numbers on it. It may be filled with crud there should also be another set of numbers under the M28 this is the engine serial number

JHowell37

$3K is a lot for a '79 that isn't running at the moment. If the rest of the car is in good condition it might not be so bad, but '79s that aren't running, usually aren't great.

pcar928fan

^^^^^^
I agree... Everything would have to be EXCELLENT for me to buy a non-running '79! Exterior and interior would have to be AWESOME and exactly what I am looking for. I have bought decent runners for $4000/$4500 and that was about a decade ago, now 10 years on...non running $3000...it would really have to be something!

bronto

agreed on the price. If the owner wants a fair price he needs to put it back together. If it's truly in excellent condition otherwise, he'll get a lot more money for it. But the fact that he won't do it suggests that he either doesn't need a good price or that he doesn't want the buyer to know all it's faults. I'd say $1500 tops, if everything else LOOKS excellent. If not, even lower.

RicerSchnitzzle

I have a 78 available for less than half of that. And engine runs. Just needs paint, clutch master cylinder and a couple fuel parts. I can deliver to Birmingham. Check out add on Mobile, Al Craigslist.

utjmac

wow. Thanks for the quick follow up, I'm excited about learning about these. They owner said he'd take an offer, so I'm sure it can be had for less than $3k.

Let me see if his story lines up. He mentioned him looking at the timing marks on top that were mismatched, and the mechanic pulling off all the parts to show him the bottom end. Does that make sense?

Verbally it sounds like he took care of it. Its got fresh paint and he seemed to love driving it, but seems like he doesn't want a project car.

I'll go take a look at it this week and post what I find on the boards.

Any more comments are appreciated.

And if anyone had a nice example for cheap around me, I'm ALL for it, but my preference is to pay a slight premium for a stock, well cared for example with history, rather than a DEAL. I'm just trying to gauge if (at any price) this may be a well cared for deal. We will see!

John



John

Sailmed

Does that include the trailer....

RicerSchnitzzle

Something can be worked out....

Sailmed

PM sent - excuse the hyjack - but what do you expect from the resident pyrat

Giovanni

Hi John, I am in birmingham and if you are serious about the car I can take a look at it. In the beginning I was interested in the car if it had the factory paint (good paint), good interior, 5 spd and if the owner had it for a long time AND most important if he was willing to come down on the price A LOT. Since it has fresh paint and owned it less than a year I would pass on the car.

I bought a 1984 Automatic in non-running condition for $1800. Spent almost $2000 in parts alone to get it running just to find out the tranny and almost everything else was needing some type of repair. At that time, I had about $4000 in the car. Besides mechanical repairs, it still needed paint and interior work. I ended up giving it to my wife's uncle for free.

Don't ever buy a non-running Porsche unless you are willing to take a huge loss (BTDT).

Sailmed

Or you can get lucky like I did with the '78 Euro 5spd - I paid $1,000 for it.
It received new tires, TB/WP, fuel hoses, vacuum hoses, and a fuel pump in the first couple weeks - total investment under $1,800 - and I put 28k miles on the car this year. It's now my sons "hand me down" and he drives it daily.

Just sayin - I wouldn't "bet" more then $1,000 on any non running 928 - especially a automatic!

Giovanni

LOL, if the guy was asking $1000 for a 5 spd Euro the car would be sitting in my yard. Lesson learned from the 1984, Not Yet! :-)

utjmac

Took a look at it today. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the number you were describing on the engine block. I did find a longer number 928.101.106.6(or G)RM. I didn't see a plate with any of the numbers described elsewhere.

It's a 5 speed. The paint looked good (however there was a spider on the rear bumper where it has bumped something), the owner painted it last year. He said it has a new master cylinder, new brakes, new gas tank on it. He drove it maybe 4 months before it jumped time.

I saw his other cars, and it litereally, is just in the way. Interior looked ok, not great by any means. Cracked dash, couple cracks in the center console in the rear. Seat leather looked good, but small stuff like door handles being broken off, sparetire missing, etc, let me to believe there is probably a lot of little things wrong.

So, does the engine number mean anything? I've got a few camera phone pictures of the car and engine compartment, that I can post up tonight. Opinions?

FYI- apparently I can't see my PM's yet. It "Needs approval"