In reading the forum many people indicate a certain shyness about working on their 928s as if it takes some kind of magical talent. The truth is everyone has to start somewhere. We were not born talking and walking although I am sure a few people on this forum were born with a wrench in their hands

I have completed a page under the tips section of my web site with some simple suggestions that might encourage more people to attempt repairs. Let me know what you think.

http://www.kondratyev.com/porsche/te...l/Misc/DIY.htm

 

I think you are slightly full of **** with this one

But over all, pretty good write up.

 

A customer may want me to marry the car because I touch a two dollar seal, but I aint that easy.

 

There is a walrus down the street who takes care of all my seals for free. Look, it may not be rocket science, but encouraging someone to change the timing belt on a Fiat will cost them about 500.00 if they screw up. A 32 valve engine will cost a lot more than that if you screw it up. And they do get screwed up.

If someone has never done a timing belt, but has a lot of mechanical aptitude, doing a 928 belt is fine. If your last mechanical adventure was failing to take a broken bulb out of a socket without help, you probably want to get some assistance.

 

How about a few words from a "rocket scientist" who may have been told he is (per the previous note) "full of ****. I say "anything that makes the job of working on their car easier is OK in my book".

 

My opinion is if you read the manual you probably won't be able to do the job, unless you are a mechanic. If you ask for help from the great people here and have a little mechanical knowledge and tools you should be able to do the job, if you have no knowledge or tools pull out your wallet and pay a qualified mechanic it will be cheaper in the long run.

 

we have our own methods of dealing with seals and walruses.

there are many levels of pro shops but very very few can truly handle all aspects of the 928.....Sean is one of the exceptions that can

 

I used to run a repair shop, an auto wrecking yard, rebuild cars from total wrecks and had a factory line restoration shop for VWs - one of the only in the country - and both a machice shop rebuilding engines and transmissions. I fully understand the economics of repair shops. The shop's motives are different from the owner. They have to be. The owner takes a gestult of the car, the shop focuses on one area of repair and attempts to find other high paying jobs. Some shops out of good will will fix small things and not charge the customer in the hopes of keeping good customers.

Sad to say the way the industry is constucted with current regulations - at least in California - many corrupt shops thrive. The district attorney in SF some time back brought a suit against a lot of shops for charging book over actual time spent. In one case at the Mercedes agency I was charged .7 hours for rotating the tires after they had just completed brakes. It was book, but it does not take .7 hours to roll the tires from one end of the car to the other. For a novice understanding the basics they can avoid such bogus charges.

Sadly of all the cars I have seen butchered by "professional" mechanics the 928 is the most abused. One case I found a Honeywell industraial temperature controller with a long probe shoved into the radiator as a heat sensor for the fans. In all fairness it was adjustable. In another case the shop failed to replace the tension arm bushing. When the light came on the shop tightened the belt until the light went off. The belt fed forward rubbing on the damper eventaully wearing thin enough to break the belt. The shop owner never offered to make the job right and blamed the problem on 928 being a troublesome car.

I was not suggesting that someone who just failed changing a light bulb try a timing belt as the first task. In fact, I put in the list as a timing belt as one thing left to professionals - that is if you read on. But anyone with a bit of experience can change distributor caps, plug wires, clean a circuit board, clean grounds, change batteries, wiper blades and check the basic functioning on the car. I also suggest that they look to forums like this one and write ups on the repairs. The manuals are a big help if they are read several times in conjunction with the repair. The manuals also contain important information such as torque specifications and capacities that is not often put in instructional pages. Parts break down pictures show how things go together and give a clean overview.

One thing I did not list is brake and suspension work. It was some of the first things I did on a car years ago. It is probably one of the easiest things to do and too often left to professionals. I changed out king pins and upper pinion pins and set the alignment with levels. When checking at the shop the alignment was right on. Almost any one can change brake pads and rotors.

I know people want to feel macho but much of the work on a 928 and most cars can be done with a little patience and thinking.

 

In your tech section, "frustration level 4" seems very familiar

 

My view is try anything, but don't be shy about changing your mind.

 

I'm picturing a potato being used to torque a cam sprocket bolt... for some reason.

 

--- you mean by ---Edit --- a priest, a lawyer and a doctor?

 

I think Dan's write up is spot on- a very good insight. Most people have no clue what it takes to run an automotive business and stay in business yet alone make money in the process. Some good folks fall by the wayside as was the case with Devek and the 928 community was worse off for it.

Only those who have tried it know just how difficult it is just to survive. Even when our prime 928 parts suppliers get something wrong or have problems the whole world knows about it in no time. To develop something new invariably takes a lot of time and effort but trying to make a return on that time must be nigh on impossible on small volume businesses like the 928. It is not like the Mustang market for instance.

When motor manufacters quantify chargeable hours they have to take into consideration time and cost for things that invariably go wrong and therefore lose this in the general overheads. Whether they do this fairly is another matter but at least it is a consistent approach. Can those who do engine work realistically charge you for the time it takes to recover from a snapped head bolt that seized in the block long before trying to remove it?

A professional mechanic will invariably do the job much quicker than a DIY'er. Over the years I have made mistakes- not long ago I applied a torque setting that I misread and nearly caused major damage on one of the lower suspension arm caps- it never dawned on me that the front cap bolts would have a lower torque rating than the same size bolts on the rearward cap!. Fortunately I was mechanically savvy enough to feel something was wrong as I was applying too much torque. Hopefully what I felt was the bolt stretching and not the captive thread in the chassis. When I replaced with correct torque it held OK.

Bottom line is some folks ought to carry a Government health warning if they go near a bag of spanners- others are very competent even though they are not professionals. I remember once putting the head back on my friends BSA Bantam two stroke motorcycle some 40 years ago [crikey!]- I felt there was something wrong- there was- a washer between the barrel and the head!

Sh*t happens! -Ya pays yer money ya takes yer choice!

Regards

 

I must be a bit lucky with my local wrench. I can do most things on my car - TB & Water pump was my first job - having been doing almost everything on my own cars for many years. There are some things that are beyond me, or my equipment wont cover the job, so I have to get help. The local guy has quite a few customers who bring in cars like a 930, or an early 911, and say "rebuild the engine & gearbox, whatever it takes", but he knows my bank balance is not in that territory. So he advises me on process, and/or provides tools, or lets me work on the car in his workshop on slow days, and I do most of the work under direction - eg AC overhaul - I do the R&R, he does the gas work, gets the compressor overhauled etc. Seems to be an ideal mixture for those in similar circumstances to mine. Once he had a failure after a 928 32V inlet manifold cleanup - failure to fully clean out the grit lunched the bores and pistons etc. He rebuilt the WHOLE engine top to bottom, and ate the whole cost, as he should, so he is a very honest guy in my book.
What I am getting at is, for the amateur, you need to be aware of your limitations....but you should be ready to give most things a try.
jp 83 Euro S AT 54k

 

JP,

You are a lucky man indeed. Old fashion shops are pretty much a thing of the past. I was lucky enough to talk a guy into teaching me A/C in exchange for sweeping and some Butter Finger bars. Most shops due to insurance will not even let you watch these days - much less let someone use the facilities.

One thing a novice can do to keep costs down is understand the job and even source the parts. If a repair is well defined then there are less misunderstanding. Another helpful thing is to have a clean car. A clean engine is easier to work on and makes it more accurate to find oil other leaks.