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I didn't grow up a Porsche fan. Being from small town Texas meant Trans Ams, Corvettes and Camaros. By random chance I got into Toyota MR2's 15 years ago and now I own ATS Racing in Denton, Texas..basically MR2 horsepower world headquarters.
When Christin and I married she was driving a Grand Am that her parents bought her. As a wedding gift they made us take over the payments. Yuck. My dad found a 1981 924 turbo with a Carerra GT body kit on it at a dealer auction. We bought it and handed the keys to the Grand Am back to her parents (that felt good). Sadly I have no pictures of the 924. It was red, with super wide fenders and stock turbo wheels...so it looked goofy and any angle except a side profile. The only work I had to do to keep it running for Christin was a wastegate diaphragm.
Through the same dealer auction we also bought a 87 924S, and a another 81 or 82 924 turbo (in awful condition).
These were all sold off by 2002. In 2007 I bought a 1983 911 SC Convertible. It was in great shape except for a few door dings (that I had PDR'd) and needed a new top (that I had installed). It drove like a 911..basically awful. It felt like a beetle with a body kit. The flat 6 did not sound cool and the transmission shiffted like it was sending my inputs through a telegraph..awful. I sold it in 2008 on ebay to a dentist in Italy.
In 2009(?) we bought Christin a used 2005 Cayenne Twin Turbo. At first I loved it. We were driving a $100,000 SUV for $32,000. Then the absolute stupidity of modern Porsche began to show up. The thing has like 15 ecu's that all attempt to communicate with each other they get it right about 85% of the time.
One of the dumbest things is the transmission diagnostic procedure happens only when starting the car. Not before starting the car, not after starting the car..DURING CRANKING. So if your battery is even slightly old the transmission ecu can't finish the diagnostic and the car shuts off the AWD system. Stupid.
Then the water pipes cracked in the V of the engine. That I was aware might happen. During the process of replacing them I lost all faith in the car. All the vacuum lines and much of the wiring in the engine bay had the durability of blown glass. Audi perfected the two owner car years ago...Porsche has apparently copied their technique.
Yes that is a green interior. We traded Cayenne in on a new (leased) VW Tiguan (which I actually still enjoy).
Christin was recently asking about another Porsche. She likes the newer 911's, but we've already been burned by modern Porsches and we know about the IMS bearing issues. She mentioned liking her old 924 Carrera GT and that she'd like a 944. I managed to convince her to go look at a 1984 928S that was on Craigslist nearby. The seller had just bought a Ferrari Mondial and didn't have room to keep both cars.
We drove our 78 Ferrari 308 GTS out to take a look at the 928.
The Corvette is a 1988 Callaway Twin Turbo. Can you tell I like 80's cars yet?
The 928 was decent. Most of the stuff worked. There was a warning light on about non functioning parking and stop lights and lots of motor vibration. The back seats were OK, the front seats were worn and torn.
A huge dent in the DS 1/4 panel and flaking clearcoat/missing paint on the 1/4 and rear bumper.
Hail damage on the hood. I took the car to a body shop to get an estimate.
$6500 for a basic base/clear paint job. YIKES That's more than I paid for the car. They wanted $2100 to repair and paint the rear bumper, hood and 1/4 panel.
Well, I've always wanted to try body work....I read a book about it about 20 years ago, and I watched a few YouTube videos.
It took about two weeks of nights and weekends. A week of that was wasted because I didn't buy GOOD paint supplies from a real auto body supply shop.
I got a used hood off of Ebay in the same black color.
Now she looks like this:
I bought a set of the $400 seat covers off Ebay. They were pretty easy to install, just take your time disassembling the old covers and pay attention to how things are put together and it isn't too hard.
New passenger cover vs old DS.
Both covers now installed.
We still have a few projects left. The leaks like a stabbing victim right now.
Come on guys, he already told us he's from Texas. Where else on earth can the residents make a single syllable word into 2 or 3 syllables without missing a beat? It's just a multi-syllable introduction.
Welcome Aaron!
The DFW 928 group is very active and you just missed the monthly breakfast GTG held on the first Saturday of every month.
I just missed the fall event too. We led a group of 20 MR2's down to the roads outside of Kerrville, TX that weekend. I spotted a couple of red 928's at a gas station as we passed through Marble Falls.
Nice job getting it in very respectable cosmetic shape in and out. There is a great benefit in doing it yourself and making it an attractive 20 or 30 footer -- you know you can make it that way again if you need to for almost nothing. It means you can park it almost anywhere and no worry I wonder if the fit of the seat covers, after many long rides with bodies in them, may improve over time. Like the wheels. Chromed or polished D90s?
Another thing I learned after I finished both seats is that it is basically impossible to get that fresh square edge on the pleates without replacing the foam.
The PO put those seat covers in my car, botched the job around the hinges but they have held up very well. One comment I would make about your car is that the front ride height appears to be very low- not good for handling and very hard on the front spoiler. I enjoyed all the background in your first post BTW.
01-08-2015, 07:32 PM
My Porsche story and my 84 928S
