Can anyone tell me if the 928 S4 '91 (European model) should have a plastic lining all the way round the rear wheel arch on the side where the petrol filler is? I have just had some work done to my car, and having looked properly for the first time, there is a lining to the front of the wheel arch, but no cover at the rear (so I can see the inside of the bumper). I have been told that this is the way the car was built (unlike the GTS which has a cover all the way round). I am asking because all the other three wheel arches have a plastic cover all the way round, so I am surprised that it is not the same on this wheel arch.

 

Yes it goes all the way 'round and has foam insulation on all three sides. Took mine off (very gently, as it cracks if you breath on it) a few weeks ago

 

Yes my 91 S4 has liner at rear of RHS rear arch. Was pleased when I acquired as my previous 88S4 did not have liner in this area, and a tremendous amount of crud gets kicked up into that area.

 

Can some one post a pic. I have a 89 S4 and it has no liner at the fuel side rear. I thought that was normal...but I may be missing something.

 

Here you go.
Pic 1: front of car right side of picture
Pic 2: front of car left side of picture
Pic 3: liner insulation

You may be able to see that it is about as delicate as an Egyptian mummy now. It did however do a fairly good job of keeping the crud out of the wheelarch.

 

Dean, an '89 has no liner (unfortunately), but you can make your own, see here: https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...sh-shield.html

 

occurs to me that it might be useful to show what a wheel arch underneath the wheel liner looks like. This car spent all its life in the UK (salt/grit/rain).

The first 4 pictures show a sort of inside panorama shot of the wheelarch starting fron the front of the car, then two shots of the top showing the expansion tank, last photo it the tank.

The 5th photo shows the effect of UK wheather on springs and tank cradle and mine is not really that bad. I guess if you live in a dry climate the main benefit of the line is noise insulation.

 

Nice - looks like the covers do protect very well. Your fuel lines are in great shape compared to most UK S4's

91 was the first model year to get the complete rear arch liners.. I'm hoping one of the aftermarket liner makers produces a viable solution for earlier S4/GT's which both fits, and is shippable.

 

Jerry Feather is working to develop replacement liners for the R & L sides of our cars. See some of his threads on fender liners.

Gary Knox

 

Thanks Gary for the plug.

Yes, I am working on the development of a new design of rear wheel well liners that will provide one design for the GTS cars and another for the GT, S4, and earlier cars. I have another project that I have to get done before I get back to finishing the liner project, but hope to have that done in the next few days. I did get my shop rearranged some in order to get the space to work on the liner project, so that problem is kind of solved. I still have a bunch of stuff to get up and out of the way, but it is not holding me up now.

You can see the descriptions I have posted in the other thread so I wont go into it much here. The new liners will each be two-part and will have a seam up and over the middle, front to back. The inner half of the liner will be the same for all the cars, but the outer half will be different. The GTS has a wider "butt" so the wheel opening is out about an inch or more farther than the other cars, and the shape of the wheel opening is a little different. Fortunately Gary sent me a pattern of the GTS opening and that is going to be a great help when I get the forms started.

I have just about all the material I need to finish up this project including the material for the forms and a small stock of plastic to make several sets including whatever might turn out to be prototypes. I do need a little bit of electrical material, but just wires and conduit since I have the other components to wire in already.

One part of the design that is going to be a problem toward the end is developing the mounting system since I don't think too many of the early car guys are going to want to drill the GTS-like holes in their "frame" for mounting, and the earlier cars do not have the two mounting points up in the top of the wheel well like the GTS and perhaps the GT and later S4 cars. You can see one of those mounting points in one of the pictures shown in this thread.

I have enough S4's around here to do the mounting development, and that may very well carry over to the GT's, but I am going to hope someone will be willing to drive their GTS cars here for a weekend when I am ready and help me design the mounting for them.

I hadn't really thought there was going to me so much interest in these liners for the cars earlier than the GTS, but with the interest shown in this thread and other imput I have recently had, I am beginning to see some large potential for these in the earlier cars.

I hope to start having some progress reports again fairly soon.

Jerry Feather

 

Thanks Hilton - Yes you are right the liners kept the solid fuel lines in order. In the next few days I'll find out if the liner did the same job on the other side.

Jerry, I am watching the other thread and look forward to the prototypes. Two part might mean easier shipping for us overseas.

 

I think two-part means that I might actually be able to make them because I don't think I can do it in one piece. I think it will be an advantage in the case of the GTS cars because only the outer half will need to be removed to service the PSD. I think two-part will also make them overall easier to remove and replace without the current tendency to tear them up. And, finally, you are right, two-part will certainly make them easier to ship, anywhere.

Jerry Feather

 

Thanks for the response. In fact, there is some info on Rennlist on this topic but as the terminology is variable, it is not easy to find (e.g. cover rather than lining, fender rather than wheel arch). It does seem that pre-91 928s did not have an inside cover (liner) to the rear of the right wheel arch (fender). Although my car was registered new in 91, it is a 90 model, and that is why it does not have it.

Anyway, the link https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...sh-shield.html is really useful, and inspired me to make my own. I made it not from a dustbin but a black waste paper basket, having cut the round base off and then split the side to create a rectangular shape. I then removed the rear left wheel arch cover (the one above the bumper), and used that a as my template. Following some minor trimming and sticking bituminous tape around the edges to make a snug fit, I attached it insider the wheel arch with two cable ties through holes I made in the cover. Unfortunately, I cannot work out how to attach a photo of the finished product, but it did not take long to make (and of course, cost next to nothing).