OTR18WHEELER

if you can buy the car for $300, I will pay you $500 delivered to my house!

Landseer

84 would be great for your purpose, especially with the heavy Mercedes sedan automatic, which is what it has. Check this forum for stories about the LeMons 84 auto, the "estate" or "flying brake", that is still racing after multiple seasons.

Retro-ing a manual is not easy. If you do go down that path, you'd want to harvest a post-84 manual box, which are getting hard to find. Unlike 944, firewall for 928 auto is not same as 928 manual, so conversion gets complicated. I've not swapped auto for manual, but others have. Expensive to do right, need a full manual car really as a donor.

BTW, later S4 automatic box also will fit the 84 body, in case another auto swap is needed later. I mention it because it opens-up the parts availability sphere a bit.

84 USA engine is good, very reliable, but it those racing it for the LeMons series discovered that utilizing the pan oil pickup from an earlier 4.5 liter was superior esp. in high-G turns. Those posts are very informative and are here on the forum.

TB/WP job has some nuances -- pivot bolt, rollers must be perfect, wp really must be a new unit, not rebuilt, as rebuilds are plagued with shaft shift, grinding out block, unlike 944. Yes, you can pop cover to check tension and tracking, but need to do the whole job, no shortcuts, for racing reliability. Parts sources post here in this site by a couple of reliable independents, 928rus and/or 928 intl.

I've had 944 and 84 928 side-by-side in garage, working on both. Big learning curve / differences mechanically and electrically from each other. Very different cars. You can tell they are related, but more like cousins than siblings.

This will not be a cheap endeavor. Car for $500. Add $3500 to refresh the suspension, brakes, TB/WP, a handfull of simple sensors, green wire, and rubber intake parts.

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Hey big spender......

95carrera

I bought one sitting like that, verified the engine turned over and towed it away. Put a fuel pump in it and added tires, drove it awhile and made some money while having a lot of fun. Reading all this pessimistic stuff about these cars, why would anyone ever buy one. I am looking for another after having sold my 993. A car that everyone said was bullet proof butand yet I had a big repair that could not have been found upon my PPI or anyones.

danglerb

The reason people buy them is hope from the story by one person in twenty where its "just a relay" or some other simple part in an otherwise well maintained car, and discard the experience of the other nineteen who get cars with years if not decades of no fix as long as it will run, then parked a few years when it stops.

Landseer

Realistically, most I see are quite old and need cursory refresh that costs $3000 min just to be roadworthy.

993 bulletproof? That's new. Thought it was opposite, IMS/RMS bearing and such.

Hai gebissen

I'm not sure I would say the comments have been pessimistic...more realistic. I bought my non-running S4 earlier this year, and though I was told by the PO that it ran and drove when parked in 2009 or so...I couldn't confirm that until I spent thousands on parts and did a lot of work. I was fortunate (and relieved!) when the car finally fired up and ran strong, and even more relieved when I found the transmission (manual) was fine too. I then had to find some body panels as you can see from my avatar, but I knew that part going in.

I have converted Saab 900 automatics to manual, and I've done it correctly so that only the VIN revealed the original configuration. It is a lot of work and takes a lot of parts...having a donor car is essential. I would strongly recommend the original poster find a manual transmission car to refresh/restore, since that is what he really wants and they are out there in all conditions of repair/disrepair.

Niles

Here's an 88 5-spd parts car in Denver: http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/4209688647.html Of course - no affiliation.

Hai gebissen

The OP would probably be better off buying and fixing that car...

Hilton

Hmm.. advertised as "blown head gasket". There's a good chance its actually just a failed radiator cooler.

Stan - looks like a good one for you? (edit: ah oops, just remembered you moved interstate )

At $3k thats not even a gamble, someone buy the car. There's more than $3k in parts right there as its 5-speed, and a reasonable chance a 50%-off used radiator will fix the engine.

95carrera

You are thinking of a 996.

Landseer

Yes, my mistake.

Anyway, these 928's have been pretty darn reliable for me, after first refreshing the sensors and wear parts.

STRIKEMASTER

I picked up an '83 Euro S 5 speed 9 years ago from Black Tie Calssic Autos for $3500...It sat on their lot FOR YEARS before I got it. (My 'First 928' LOL) I did about 2 years Due Dilligence on it before I put the money down. I even researched the VIN # here on Rennlist....It had a steering rack leak, a so-so repaint in Cobalt Blue and re-done interior and dry rotted Dunlaps on it, but it fired up and RAN...It has the 300+ HP M28-11 engine in it AND as it turned out Matching Numbers! It HAS to be THE RATIEST 928 you've ever seen. But it runs "like 40 Bears" So far I've put about $6K in parts in it. the clear coat on the car is flaking off now. BUT I DON'T CARE....NO WAY could I that kind of "nail you to the seat performance and Head turning style for the $10K I have in it.. While they are "involved" to work on, they are not technically difficult. They don't make cars like this anymore. The "NANNY-STATE won't let them.LOL

captainOCD

I challenge the rattiest looking claim. Sounds like you're in about the same boat as me though, runs good but looks like a parts car to most people.

WyattsRide

Ahhh...This thread is almost 6 years old. Good advise, but a little late.