Its Raining Parts...But Which One Is This?
 

I was hoping someone could help me figure out what part this is pictured below. I found it under my car today. It was on the floor roughly below the air pump / AC compressor. I have been doing a TB / Intake / Motor Mounts service so I have undone a good deal of the car. This part however, I have never seen before.

Much Obliged,
Dave

Something the cat barfed up?

It's part of the (de)tensioner, goes between the tensioner piston and the roller pivot arm. Is there a ~1/2" long stiff spring on the ground too?

Maybe somebody installed a Porkensioner when you weren't looking.

Having that fall out is not a good sign....

Do not try to turn the engine with that out.

Correct , very important piece !!!

I would assume, hope, that you have the T-Belt and idler arm and pulleys off the car at this point?

You are also likely missing a few other parts like the spring and washer that goes between this piece and the tensioner boot and the screw/washer that holds the circular tab onto the idler arm.

I suggest you look at Dwayne's writeup to see what parts go in that area of the tensioner system.

Also, your part doesn't look correct for an 87. The original part has a thin flat brass bar connecting the nipple to the top of the idler arm.

You can see this part in the lower right hand corner of this picture along with some other parts of the tensioner system. Hope this helps.

Attachment 479357

Thanks all, that makes sense now. I pulled the tensioner and related pieces out a few weeks ago, so I guess it fell out at the time.

The follow on to this questions is whether this piece (and related bits) matter if I am going to install a Porkensioner?

I will have a closer look. I have a whole bunch of wood under the engine as a jack stand insurance policy.

Only in my dreams :-)

No danger of that, with the air pump, tensioner, water pump, and oil pump out of the car.

Thanks for the photo. I can't speak to type of part since I don't have a very good history on the car...I have Porsche service records from 0 - 40K, but then verbal records from 40K - 69K. The PO -- who seemed like a pretty straight shooter -- told me the original owner (I am the 3rd) had changed the belt, but who knows. Any chance this is an item that someone might have swapped out / updated as part of TB service.

Thanks,
Dave

It's part of the tensioner, the one you have out of the car. It sits between the end of the installed tensioner piston and the tensioner arm. Look at the PET diagram and at the WSM and see where it works with the little coil spring. Bub U's parts photo above is missing the spring, but it fits comfortbly over the plastic sleeve on he part you "found".

The part shown is an upgraded replacement for the flat strip, which would occasionally break and cause false warnings.

Others may disagree, but I make it a point to keep all usable parts removed from my 928, especially if I am installing different parts. The car may never be a valuable collector's item, but if so, the parts will be with it.

As an aside and an example, some of the most expensive and difficult to get parts for restoring a USA muscle car of the 1960's and 1970's are the emission control parts that we all stripped off and threw away...

It's in the pic. Unfortunately, the idiot that took the pic (me) had it standing up. It's between the boot and the part in question. I also have a washer that goes between the spring and the plastic nipple, which I assume is to protect the plastic from being beat to death by the spring.

Thanks Bob and Dr. Bob. I had a look at Dwaynes write up and that cleared it all up - wish I had thought to look there first. Based on what I see, it looks like I will be ok w/o the parts since I am going with a porkensioner. Still, Wally is right in suggesting we save these parts since it could matter to a future owner that is looking for a fully stock car.

Sage advice from Wally. As a previous victim of PO abuse of this type, I'm pretty anal about making sure all the original parts are kept, and that nothing I do to the car can't be unplugged or unbolted to bring it back to original. Everything except the AC o-rings and frean that is. Anyway, there's a supprisiingly small box of stuff that I've replaced in the 13+ years of stewardship. Hopefully, after I'm gone, some lucky collector will pee himself with glee when he gets the whole docs and parts package with the car.

I am not sure I have seen a box big enough for the parts I have replaced, and there is no going back on mine.