Nightfly

Why not? It's our cars, and lots of us make modifications. Different wheels, offsets, tires, supercharging, it goes on and on. It's not like Porsche didn't try to reinvent the wheel in lots of cases when they designed our cars, rather than use proven designs that worked just fine or better than what they were designing at the time (Yes, ze americans bilt fine V8 engines, but ve vill do it zis vey instead and zee how it verks). How about the crappy pod illumination? Hmmm. I'm sure you could get dozens of examples of 'WTF were they thinking?' as you pull your car apart over the years.

jeff spahn

I read somewhere on the forum here that you really shouldn't ever criticize the engineers for the way they did things. At the time, it was the person's best solution for the given situation/materials/time in history. We have the 20/20 hindsight of history and advances in seeing how someone else would do it, they didn't.

I'm not saying there aren't better ways that have been found, but we should respect the engineers that came up with our amazing cars. It was over 30 years ago this thing was designed. Just think what the comparable cars were 30 years ago that were being designed.

How many times have we gone, wow, this is one hell of an idea they had to do it this way!

928drvr86.5

If you want to use the Porsche mounts, I say go ahead. I have had them in my car for almost 5 years now. I would do the oilpan gasket as others mention while you're at it. I didn't do mine and wish i did, it's basically the whole MM job over again to get at it, and it's leaking some now. I may just pull the engine, re-seal the whole thing and replace those retarded stand-offs securing the valve covers on the 85-86 engines.

Speaking of engineering solutions of the times, i really think there could have been a better solution for the valve covers, I.E. like the S4. It was probably some summer project for an Engineering Co-op student.

928drvr86.5

I digress but, the relay panel on these cars is load of bull$hit too, it's akin to a bowl of spaghetti, like each was passed down an assembly line and each of 50 people had a few wires to terminate by any path/means possible.

Other than the few knitpicks, the 928 IS pretty impressive and your comparison of other cars of the era is valid, i think about that all the time.

GregBBRD

Knew you would. Most of the people here...not so much...until some cheap aftermarket part that they insisted the shop use goes bad...."selective memory" happens in a really big hurry.

I've seen dozens of threads that have "selective memory".

GlenL

It's a bit far to never criticize but this does capture the essence of outsider criticism: you didn't have to do it, you only have to complain.

A fat target is how easy it is to get more power. The engineers needed to design for 100,000 mile lifetimes on every car built and that means shooting for 250,000 or more on a perfectly-made car. And they needed to comply with emissions and noise limits. Tear out the cats and run it rich? I'm sure they'd have loved to.

Porsche was also a very small manufacturer. They put their focus on performance and styling. This is why the electronics are problems. The electronics were designed to work for ten years and met that. I'm sure that pod foil seemed like a good idea but it's not a 30 year design. We know that now.

When I look at the fuse panel I think they had them hand-made because they didn't want to have circuit boards made for permutations of engines, options and markets and then change them as the cars change. Cheaper to change the wiring diagram and have people hand-wire 10,000 a year then make custom boards (5? 10?) each time the needs change. Trust me, it is.

As to engine mounts, we all love Roger but I've gotten them for $17 on the internets and $34 at FLAPS. Don't forget to cut the little peg shorter or it'll keep the steering rack from seating right.

anpo

Is it so that the silicone oil pan gasket aint maintenance free? I've got one lying with new MMs. Not that my original cork is leaking but better safe than sorry is what I've read both here and there. However I don't wanna fix what aint broken if it will lead to extra maintenance checking the screw torque on my oil pan every now and then.

SeanR

You've got to check the bolts for the cork one all the time also. You might be surprised how many of them are finger tight right now.

ROG100

You can certainly buy Anchor MM's for $20 or less but be very carefull as they do not differentiate between solid rubber and hydraulic. One way to tell is to shake the MM by your ear and you will here the water inside if it is hydraulic. The cavity inside the MM is filled with a mixture of water and antifreeze. Once the water leaks out the MM collapses.
I sell Corteco MM's because they have a seperate part number for solid and hydraulic. We (Sean) cut down the length of one of the studs and also the locating peg. We also add the correct nuts and spacer washers.
Couple of pictures for interest.

jeff spahn

I'm gonna buy from Roger. Might as well do a cork oil pan gasket while I am down there. Gonna do the PKlamp too while I am down there. Also might as well do the ground straps from Wally's list too, while I am down there. Seems to be a lot of while you are down there's creeping up.
Hmmm. Supercharger, while I am down there. No, that will have to wait a year.