worf928

James, you have, of late, consumed so much of the Official Factory Porsche 928 Kool-Aid that you have, temporarily, forgotten that the original purpose of the 928 was to replace the 911. Had management not undergone a seachange and had, therefore, Porsche carried through with the 928's original intent, you can damn well bet your boxers the 928 would have been raced.

As it was, Porsche had to concoct a DoubleThink excuse for the 928 so they pushed it up-market to SL territory and stuck skinny tires on it to reduce drag. Later they went so far as to threaten any organization that attempted to go racing with the 928 - like Brumos.

worf928

I never figured that out. What's with the C4 hate anyway?

blown 87

Dammed if I know, but some of the car snobs are serious, does not matter that my old car can run off and hide from their more modern, better cars.

You have seen it there, it is getting worse every week.
You can imagine if we put the OB guys as well as the OB's down how bad it would get here.

Better class of folks here, like we have talked about before.

Hilton

The hook has started to dig in... You don't have to go further than the site sponsors

928 Specialists
928 Motorsports
928srus
928 International

They all have at least a few performance bits for sale, as well as their own specialty.

86'928S MeteorGrey

For superchargers, there are actually quite a few different mfgs... It all depends on what you want to spend and what type of SC you like. Do some searches in this forum, and you will see many debates and opinions on what's best. I suggest PM'ing some of the members that list a SC in their signature. You will get unbiased reports from PM's in my opinion...YMMV. Before worrying about a SC, just drive a well tuned stock S4.

The beauty of the 928, is you don't need to modify it to be fast...



I think the hook is set.....

pcar928fan

Dave,

If you think I forgot that then you don't know me very well... I don't forget much and certainly not an important 928 fact like that... just watch my DVD and you will hear me say the words you just typed.

Keep in mind that the 928 design was finalized in '71, so by the time it came to market in '77 (as a '78 model) Porsche already knew they were going to be able to keep the 911 alive and thus changed the strategy a bit right out of the shoot. That said, the early cars handle better than the later cars and I think that is because they were in fact still working in part with a design (and probably some folks in the company still wanted the 928 to THE PORSCHE) that was in the beginning supposed to be THE PORSCHE for the future (racing and all).

After the corporate position became clear that they were going to keep making and racing the 911 they changed (like I said, before the car even came out) the strategy for marketing the 928 and made it the UBER GT car that it still is today. Thus they undertired it from the factory from day one so that it in fact would not supplant the 911 in the racing world. Also it does help with frictional losses, rolling mass, overall mass and aero drag going with the smaller (narrower) tires.

Imagine if they have put 8" front and rear tires on the car from the get go...heck, how about 9" wide tires? OMG the 911 would have been DRT (Dead Right Then [or There])! More Tq, more HP (of course more weight too...so power/weight probably pretty close) and MUCH better handling characteristics, EVERYONE would have been racing a 928!!! The other problem (and again this might have happened because it became clear they were going to be able to keep the 911) was price! The car was damn expensive! 50% more than 911's in some production years!

soontobered84

"The car was damn expensive! 50% more than 911's in some production years!"

Not any more, though! Which is good if you're buying and bad if you're selling.

IcemanG17

Whats really funny is both 944's and 928's are the "bastard stepchildren" of Porsche...being front engined and watercooled....

Both can be good track cars...but its hard to argue with a bone stock car with adjustable coilovers on every corner, big 4 piston brakes on every corner, the ability to fit HUGE tires easily, easily under 3000lbs when track prepped with easy 300whp out of a stock motor.....that makes for a fast race car on the track...or a 210mph ORR race car.... Heres a video of me (novice driver) chasing down a $200k 911 Gt2 on the track & the Ferrari F430 spyder for dusted...all in a 20 year old "stock" car...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=386X2Wehh5I

GregBBRD

Having prepared both at all levels for track use, there is a difference. The 944 has a limit of how fast it will go. Since this is the West Coast and pretty much everybody understands "Willow" lap times, there is a magic number for the 944's. They can reliably turn 1:28's... takes a bunch of effort, but they will do this and stay together. Get or try to get into the 1:25's and plan on spending an incredible amount of money to do this...and it will not continue to do this, for long. It is a completely futile effort....you can't order replacement pieces fast enough to maintain the car.

The 928 will reliably turn 1.25's...and faster, virtually forever, without continually needing replacement pieces. The suspension and chassis is robust enough to enable it to run lap times this fast and live. The engine is relatively non-stressed and will survive. The drivetrain will also hold up to this torture, as long as "Mongo" isn't driving.

worf928

James, James, that's why I wrote "temporarily."

The big management shakeout was 1974 IIRC. And I suspect that what you refer to as a changed strategy was the new management drinking their own Kool-Aide and making a decision to keep the 911 alive as long as possible no matter the cost. I don't think they "knew" with any engineering certainty that they would be able to keep the 911 alive until the mid-80s.

One of the concerns that spawned the "heavy" 928 was Porsche's fear that increasingly-stringent crash standards would spell doom for the 911. Lucky for the 911 the standards never got as harsh as they expected. But, they didn't know that in 1974.

I've written the story here at least once before of a conversation I had with an ex-Brumos driver. He told me that in 1980-ish that they were easily keeping up with mildly-prepped 911s in a 928 on the track. With the windows up and the A/C on.

m73m95

Alright, alright, alright....

So, when looking for a good used 928, are there any special things to look out for? Is a clutch the same pain in the nuts that the 944 is? How about the hatch separation?.... I'm looking for the stuff other than "having receipts and records". I already own a porsche lol. I want the 928 specific things. How is the maintenance compared to a 944?

I'm not sure about "the hook" being set......yet . I'm trying to weigh my options. I'm planning on swapping wheels/tires, suspension and an LS2, into my 944. All of this is going to cost between $15-$20k, which is a lot of money for me, but the plus side is having a "new" car without the problems of the 944. New clutch, no more timing belt to mess with.... etc.

However, in the few days I've been looking around at the 928, I've seen I can get one HELL of a 928 for $20k...

I think I got really lucky with my 944. Its relatively unmolested. The PO didn't cut holes in the body for speakers, no crazy mods, had all of its regular maintenance, including a clutch.....Of course I've had to work on it, but nothing major. I don't know if I could get that lucky again looking for another 20+ year old porsche.

decisions, decisions, decisions.....

Landseer

No hatch separation. Clutch is expensive, but not so hard to replace as 944.

85 or later 5 speed is where you want to be. Good syncros in these.

Looking for smooth running, stock, cared for cars.

Layers of electrical and mechanical systems, thats why receipts are more important, to see what if anything has been done to maintain.

That said, for around 20,000, I'd buy one of the six late model vettes on my local dealer's lot.

blown 87

That is going to be far from a new car.
It is going to have it own set of issues and problems, and a lot of them.

You can buy a really nice 928 for 20 grand, just get some one that really knows the cars to be on the look out for one.

hacker-pschorr

It's easy really, quick history lesson:

1. 911's are Volkswagen's
2. 944's are Audi's
3. 928 = The first street car to wear the Porsche badge started from a clean sheet of paper......at Porsche

It's a resentment thing.

Any questions?

/closet 944S owner......

S4ordie

m73m95 - read the "New Visitor....." thread at the top of this forum. Four pages of posts all about the 928. you will learn mucho about the 928, the different models, common maint issues as well as how best to care for your car. It is a MUST read if you are serious about owning one of these cars.

I also recemmend spending some time at www.928registry.org. There is great info there and if you do come across a car you are interested in you may find it listed here with some history about it and where it's been. Can also see things like the appropriate wheels for the different MY's as well as the original color and numbers MFG for the U.S.

In comparison between the 944 and the 928, in my experience, "Once you go 928 - you can't relate."