granprixweiss928

Hello 928ers...

Some of you saw the other thread for the Bay Area Craigslist 88 S4 "with issues" and have heard about this car. Let me introduce it now in this new thread, which I will use to keep a log of the work being done to resurrect it.

through the other post I came across this car and then went to look at it the same day, making the deal with the seller the next day.

The seller owned the car 17 years, and was selling it because of an engine stumble that caused him to tow it in to his shop. The shop, scared, refused to work on it and it sat two weeks.

So he decided to sell it. and I bought it, perhaps a great deal and perhaps a project that I may regret [?]

Turns out the "stumble" was a loose coil wire and the engine fired up. I actually bought the car without hearing it run, or of course driving it. A big risk. upon getting it running, I drove it home about 30 miles.

The owner provided service records- and there was several which included some big items- WP/TB 8K miles ago, Rad, power steering rack, Y-pipe&cat, torque tube rebuild (via DEVEK) and some others.

Overall the car is not too bad, but its the worst kept car that I have ever bought. Its got some bruises and scraps here and there, a repainted front nose and rear bumper, maybe the pass door. needs a polish/wax badly. several electrical issues, lights on and off on the dash, soft worn suspension, but good brakes and good working automatic transmission. Engine needs a cleaning and an intake refresh and probably more. All stuff I can handle. Its not had a good cleaning in or out in YEARS.

and that all changed today.

With a good wash and vacuum. I vacuumed for hours.











A long list of to-dos awaits me which seems a little daunting right now but I want to take my time and not ignore my other cars (or my wife) and go thru each system one by one.

hope you enjoy following along.

Mark.
Norcal 928

geschwindig

Hi Mark,

Nice find, looks like a winner at that price. Nice when a gamble pays off!
Looks like a top end refresh, some powder coating and all the normal little neglected stuff that will keep you busy for a few months, (don't ignore the wife...Yeah, good plan! Learned that one the hard way.), Good luck with the resto, and keep us posted.

Kevin

Dave H.

nice project for the price.

Hilton

score - looks excellent for the price in the other thread, especially as you drove it 30 miles home!

If you fit a jump post cover and a factory air filter it'll pretty much double in value

Nicole

Congrats! It looks like you have some work ahead of you - but sometimes, that's what makes a project the most interesting. I just recently talked to a Porsche owner who lost interest the moment he completed his restoration...

One thing you have not mentioned is the front spoiler and belly pan. It looks like it has neither the spoiler, nor the front pan. Is the secondary belly pan still in place? All those things can get expensive... you may have to pick some battles, given the age and miles of this one.

Mrmerlin

Nice car you got , I hope you dont find too many other other issues.
NOTE I would replace the fuel lines before any other issues are solved

karl ruiter

Nice looking car and an excellent starting point. One point of advice based on my resurrection of my '88 is that if you do anything on the top end, just bite to bullet and do a FULL intake refresh. I'm an incrementalist and generally prefer to do things one at a time, but in the case of my S4s under-maintained top end, once I started working on it, all the things that were deteriorated but had been holding together fell apart. So I ended going in time and time again, and the car was down for a very long time and it is STILL not quite right as I STILL did not replace the throttle valve and flappy valve seals and the idle is too high.

granprixweiss928

Got the car registered and insured this week and did some interior cleaning mostly. Today I had it steam cleaned under the entire chassis and the engine. the place let me pull the wheels so they could really get in there. Took a bit of cranking but it started again afterwards, and I drove it to work!

This weekend I will take a look more indepth look at the engine and what it all will need.







much less greasy.

gcthree

That is one bold move! I would never expected the car to start after the steam clean. Pretty neat idea...

OTR18WHEELER

does a '88 intake pan hold an inch of water like the '85?, I can imagine what a submerged 7 way vacuum splitter will do with a few disconnnected lines.

Bonton

Get those fuel lines replaced right away before it catches fire on you. Great find!

granprixweiss928

the steam clean guys do this all day long. the steam comes out with 350 deg steam and some hot water soap/degreaser solution.I removed the air tubes and they put gloves over intake opening them to seam em up, as well as the distros. Im sure there is some water still in the valley, but that will evaporate. I also did this to my 81 when I got it and it had no issue restarting.

granprixweiss928

Opened her up today to start intake refresh.







now,

1. sort thru parts that I need and order.
2. clean clean clean.
3. pull rad and fans
4. open up covers and inspect TB/WP and related parts

Speedtoys

It does, but that vac line is a LONG way from there.

A fresh 928 can take a lot of water..but steam just fogs the dist caps some.

A 928 with 10yr old everything..lots of weak points.

jcorenman

I would strongly suggest stuffing something in the intake ports. Gravity is not your friend, here.

Other than dirty, and creative use of sealer, how do the hoses look under the intake?