Got the car home last night and took some quick pics. I will not be doing any work to it untill the weather breaks, so it is going into a storage garage today. Need to sort everythng mechanical out and do a lot of detail work to the car. The shifter needs work as some idiot at a shop did something wrong and the boot will not stay on. Just for dreaming purposes, what will be my best bang for the buck to improve performance. It is an 87 S4 with 5 speed. I do live in a state that I do not need to worrry about smog test. I will be sorting the maintanance out first but I am just looking for ideas for the future. I probably will not be supercharging but just want to bring the car back to new performance or hopefully just a little beyond. Car appears completely stock right now with 110,000 miles.

 

VERY nice.

 

Conventional wisdom is to do X-pipe first (with or without high-flow cats as you prefer). And of course, get a good baseline with fuel and ignition systems.

 

Great looking car.

I think Landseer has said this already.
Clean all ground points. Check ground strap (Cut the rubber on both ends)
Fuel lines (Roger at 928sRus will sort you out.)
TB/WP and tensioner R/R. Tstat and inner and outer tstat gaskets.

Might as well check the front main seal, oil pump and PS pump seals. Clean everything really good.
Chris (Landseer and I ) did mine. You may get an idea of a project list from Jadz928 and myself (Almost the same list) . We both have 87's

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...ct-update.html

 

Very Nice find

 

Once the car is running properly, then as Tom says, the X-pipe is the best cheap power adder.

However the best bang for buck on an S4 is usually to fix the knock sensors, intake leaks etc. (knock sensor fault retards the timing permanently by the ECU as a safety measure), check/replace the plugs, plug wires, caps and rotors, and put all new filters on it. The other good maintenance item for an improvement in feel is engine mounts.. makes a big very noticeable difference to smoothness

 

Congrats on the Purchase!!
A bone stock 5-speed S4 is a GREAT platform to start modding!!
Looks like you are half way to getting that short shifter installed!!

 

Yea, the shifter was a hack job by a poor mechanic. The new boot is there though. The other big problem with the interior is the dash. I already have a strong suspicion the mounts are gone. The car does have some vibration that should not be there. Per instructions of another member I looked at the engine while increasing rpm. It stayed dead still so I guess that means the vibration is getting routed throughout the car. It looks like the intake was refreshed about 20k miles ago from the records I have. Will be going through the wires, plugs and cap at the same time as the TB belt. Also will be looking for vaccum leaks. All this will be a few months before I make any real progress though. I feel like I am asking a stupid question here, but what does "getting a good baseline with fuel and ignition sytems" actually mean?

 

I'd say that it means making sure that:

• the fuel lines are replaced
• fuel pressure is within specs per workshop manual
• there's no fire-flys on the plug wires (grounding issues)
• there's good spark on all cylinders with no stumble higher up the rpm range
• caps/rotors/plugs are all in good condition and not too much pitting or carbon build-up
• edit: get MAF checked/rebuilt (added after seeing Tom's post below)

Its really about reducing the possible problems to face when troubleshooting fuel/air/spark. Knowing those easy-to-do bits are all good will save a lot of headaches and hopefully reduce a few compound issues to simpler solutions like a non-working sender/sensor, vacuum leaks, etc.

 

Sorry, that was a bit obtuse ... trying to say make sure ignition and fuel systems are in peak condition.

That can be a fairly good amount of work, in my case ... recalibrate MAF, replace O2 sensor, new fuel pumps and hoses, caps, rotors, wires, plugs, etc. Manifold refresh and vacuum system probably fit under the 'baseline' idea as well ...

Gee, is this why some people think it's expensive to own a 928 ??

 

Congrats!!

 

Thanks Guys for not calling it a stupid question. LOL. The PO did just put on rebuilt MAF. Is there a procedure for calibration or is that done with a rebuild?

 

Nice thread Cpayne, It really is awsome to learn so much with the help of these great guys.

 

Injection Labs is who I used. Kevin there bench tests them before and after. Also included Lifetime warranty on MAF failure. Like most warranties I have ever tried to invoke, they are made out of unobtanium.

 

If its just been rebuilt, and you have a receipt for it with date from a recognizable rebuilder, then its probably ok.

For cars with O2 sensors and cats, no calibration required as long as the MAF itself outputs the correct voltage range per Bosch's original specs - once they're out of spec, they require a rebuild. Calibration is carried out by the O2 loop on the car, and is just a matter of driving for 10 mins or so after a battery disconnect until it behaves normally (until then you may get hunting idle rpms, and slight surging).

For non-cat cars from factory, there's an adjustment potentiometer which is used to calibrate the emissions, as those 928's have no O2 sensor. All North American S4's had the O2 loop.