Emboss

My new-to-me 928 turned up today - 1988 S4 in cassis red, burgundy interior. Not sure if it's was the smartest purchase I've made, since it's been hibernating in a garage since late 2004. I'd been 928 hunting (in New Zealand) since June-ish, and found the cassirot/burgundy combination a refreshing change from the usual white/black ones that I kept running in to.

The good:

1. Low mileage - 51000 km (31700 miles), but see below ...
2. Exterior in pretty good shape. After you clear off the gunk that it picked up through the 1100-odd km of transport (including a ferry trip and one of the worst storms New Zealand has seen for a while) the paint comes up pretty good.
3. The interior is in reasonable shape.
4. The steering wheel is on the correct (ie: right hand ) side of the car. I'm not sure if it's due to my height, but I find the visiblity out of the 928 somewhat limited. I tried a 928 with the steering wheel on the left and it was utterly terrifying.

The bad:

1. The big, scary one: basically no service history. Yeah, I feel lucky
2. The (factory) alarm goes off whenever I open the bonnet - locking then unlocking the drivers door makes it go quiet again.
3. Odometer is broken. I'm pretty sure the mileage is close to correct, given that the WOF history shows it increasing right up until the last check before going into storage. Extrapolating out the previous rate indicates it may be, at worst, 2000 km under.
4. None of the interior (or hatch, or under-bonnet) lights work. I haven't rummaged through the fuses yet, but hopefully it's just a case of the fuses being removed during storage or transport.
5. Very stiff accelerator pedal. First stop is to check the pulleys.
6. Squeaky brakes, and the odd creak from the suspension. Not too surprising given it's been in storage for a while, but I'll be having a bit of a good look at it.
7. There's a couple of sets of scratches, one on the nose and one behind the rear wheel. Neither of these have broken the paint so they'll probably stay like that. More serious is a bit of a gouge by the rear license plate - this one's small (2-ish cm long) but has gone down to the plastic. The paint is flaking a bit around the area. Long term it'll need to be fixed properly, but for the short-term I was thinking of using some flexible clearcoat to seal the area and prevent it getting worse.
8. There's some reasonably heavy wear on the drivers side seat bolster. It's worn down and lost the color, but itsn't torn or cracked. It's just something I'll have to be careful of I think.
9. There's a few loose bits and pieces around the interior, and a collection of bits in the glovebox. A weekend of trying to reunite part A with hole B should get it sorted.
10. There's a bit of dampness around the tail light/spare wheel area (but the carpet is dry). I'm guessing it's the standard leaky hatch issue.
11. A number of the "original" things are missing - no cargo net, aftermarket though tidily installed head unit with amp & CD stacker (Sony CDX-J10) in the hatch area, no manuals.

The "immediate" work list (ie: no running the engine unless it can't be avoided), besides the non-critical things mentioned above:

1. Timing belt, water pump, tensioner. Even if it was done just before going in to storage, it's overdue now.
2. Fuel lines. The hoses still look fine, and are still soft, but I really dislike engine fires.
3. Flex plate. The potential wallet grenade here ... I wan't able to get it checked beforehand, but hopefully the low mileage reduces the risk here.
4. The 101 other things I expect to discover in the process of fixing the above.

edit: Forgot the images. Turned up right as I was leaving for work, so didn't have time to get much besides a couple of basic ones.

Landseer

welcome.

You sure have done homework and dialed-in on the right priorities. Grounds can be cleaned in the process, too. Pictures!

Hilton

G'day and welcome.

Landseer has already added the other important item for the list - cleaning all the grounds, and I'd add to that a clean of all the fuse and relay contacts. It'll make hunting electrical gremlins much easier.

Where in NZ are you? You can find more 928ers on the nz928 list. Although it's pretty quiet on the list generally, there's a good bunch of people and excellent local knowledge available there.

I've found on the odd occaision I've had a request, I got a bunch of replies in sort order from it (I bought one of my 928's from a block in Auckland - so got recommendations for a garage etc. to inspect it).

You've done it the right way round in my opinion - a cosmetically good car is a much easier save than one with good mechanicals but needing paint and leather.

ammonman

Welcome Emboss! Congrats on your new shark. You have come to the best place for info and guidance on getting her properly sorted. Is the car a manual or automatic trans? If an automatic I would add replacement of the fluid hoses to your immediate list along with replacement of the PS hoses. The ATF used in both is quite flammable and both systems hoses are very near hot exhaust parts. More than one fire has been attributed to a PS or trans leak.

Mike

Emboss

Thanks for the welcome & info guys

It's an auto - I only came across one manual in my search, and someone else grabbed it before I even got a look. For the ATF lines, it sounds like the easiest time to do it is when I've got the exhaust out for the flex plate? The power steering lines look like being a bit of an adventure ...

Landseer

Damn, that's nice!

ammonman

I dropped the exhaust and heat shields when I did the trans lines on my '90 S4. The PS lines are not too bad once you get the alternator out. The only PS line that I did with hose and clamps was the piece from the "cooler" (loop of hard line in front of the radiator) back to the reservoir. The line from the rack to the "cooler" I replaced with the Porsche part as the hose diameter is diferent on each end. The line from the pump to the rack and all of the trans lines I had reconditioned at a local shop. They did an excellent job for about 1/3 the cost of new.

Mike

S4ordie

Welcome! Always like to see a good save. I agree the cosmetic stuff is harder to attend to. I would add putting on an additional flex plate clamp. If you are one to put the most secure/strongest component on your vehicles then I would go with one of Constantine's "Super Clamp" or, you can buy a "PK Clamp" for now and until such time you need to pull the torque tube (TT).

I would also inspect the in-tank fuel/petrol pump as it seems almost all them are at least corroded. Of course as you get the car running you may encounter a number of things relative to poor/malfunctioning sensors that affect all manner of issues relative to how the car idles/runs. Many end up doing an intake manifold refresh to replace the sensors gaskets and other hard to reach soft bits and injectors.

It seems as if you have already done this, but just in case, readt the "New Vistor...." thread at the top of this forum in it's entirety. you wil gain great information from the collective wisdom of many who frequent here.

Good find and good luck!

P.S. I lived in Westmere, Auckland suburb for a time a few years ago. Miss the "land of the long white cloud" very much.

Mrmerlin

I would inspect the ATF lines with the low mileage they may not have to be changed. BUT if the the hoses are wet where they are swaged then yes by al means RnR the lines pay attention to the routing take a picture first where they are routed up by the front clamps on TT if you dont get them back up into position they will rub on the heat shield. .
You may also need motor mounts ,
and a brake master cylinder,
a brake flush will tell you . It would best to go through every system first before you try to drive it. get a fuse relay chart hear 928gt.com on page 2 under tips and links. use a pencil eraser to clan the fuses and CE panel fuse connections