Don Carter

John,

Thanks, that's good to hear. Time to close it up and move on to the next job...

86'928S MeteorGrey

Great job... The results are fantastic!

jej3

Very inspiring and you did all of this in less than 9 months....Fantastic! I know it hurts any resale to make public proclamations but it would be interesting to hear if you've financially quantified what you have put into this project.

Don Carter

Thanks, it was a fun project, and I was highly motivated in April/May to get as much done before the Houston heat set in as possible, and we also had a 3 week European family vacation in June and I wanted to get it running before we left, which I did.

As for the financials, it's a bit complicated because I ended up with quite a few parts that I plan to sell but have not yet. I have not even taken apart the TBF engine yet. So I'd say in general terms I've got 7-8k into it, and after selling the R2 heads, the seats that came out of it, and many other parts, I expect to have 6000 to 6500 into it. I've kept track of all costs, but not hours of labor.

If I decide to sell it, I will sell at what I think it's worth, reguardless of what I have into it, and will certainly try to make a few thousand for my labor. I didn't really take on the project to make a profit, although that was part of the motivaion. I really wanted to learn more about these cars and go deeper than I had with my 86.5, and know I would end up with something worth more than I had into it (excluding labor), and let's face it, sometimes working on these cars isn't work, it's a social event, and downright fun at times. I made several new friends working on this project, and now have some skills that will save me money in the future.

The white 88 project I recently bought is looking to be even better financially, since I got into it cheaper and it included almost 2k in NEW parts. Also the replacement engine was cheaper due to the 1/2 price sale at 928 Internal. I'll probably move slower on this one though.

Mike LaBranche

There is intrinsic value in wrenching on a 928, it almost always leads to the same or more bwaahhhh than before the wrenching. Accounting for labor cost for the diy'er is usually a lost cause, we always put more in than it's 'worth' on the market. I try to wait until I've forgotten about all the labor before I sell one of these beasts... which is why I have so @#$% many.

LEADASS

I love to work on my car nearly as much as driving it. I've never gone as deep as you, I've got tremendous respect for your efforts. That takes a bit of sack. I make up projects just to work on the car, I think it's just good for the soul. You've done a beautiful job and have saved the car ,there's a lot to be proud of. Congratulations. Brian

Bill Ball

Yes. The belt should not stretch. It may "settle" a little, but if you rotated the engine a bunch times when you tensioned it initially then the tension should be stable.

Don Carter

Bill,

Thanks for the confirmation.

The white 88 came with a new Conti TB, but I think I'll trash it and purchase a Gates.