I have a '78 928 with some deer related collision damage. Got a replacement fender from 928 International over the weekend and new headlight assembly off e-bay. I consulted my PDF manual for details on the procedure to remove the front bumper cover and left front fender but the manual I have says for vehicles made from '87 onward...

Would anyone have the pages I need for performing these operations on a '78 or is the procedure largely identical?

Thanks.

Craig

 

It's largely identical. To make the job easier, remove the headlights first by removing the bolts on the actuating bar and then the two bolts that go into captive nuts under the inside lip of the fender.

The headlights wiggle out easily.

Then you can get into the pesky inner fender/front bumper nuts that are hard to get to otherwise.

Then you can remove all front trim, wheel well covers, and lights without too much hassle and then unbolt all nuts and bolts inside of the fender along with all of the ones on top and it should come right off.

I know I left out a few things but they will be basically the same for an S4 like taking off the wiper cover among other things.

I hope this goes smoothly for you.

 

Your turn signal trim is gold. Unique to the '78. Don't misplace or damage it.

 

i think there is a lot of glue holding the fender to the frame. get it started and the fender rips right off . but getting it started is a bit of a chore.

 

That 'glue' is replaced with 3M "Stripcaulk" available from your bodyshop supply store.

There's a plastic welting between the bumper shell and the fender, originally stapled to the lip on the bumper shell. The staples are a bit unique. Replacements will be Monel (stainless with extra strength) and have a chisel tip that doesn't twist the welting as it's pushed in. I think there's an adhesive-backed welting that works OK for this duty.

The screws that hold the front shell on are usually pretty corroded. Consider matching up some SS fasteners at your local hardware supply store as replacements.

The 10mm flex-head gear wrench is your new best friend.

Roger has some of the grill pieces IIRC, if yours is broken.

 

The rear fender bolts are usually covered in undercoating if original. We take a torch to them and burn off the coating but at a minimum you will have to cut it away.

 

Ok getting closer, got the bumper cover off what a pita! There is one bolt left on the fender but it is blocked by a plastic thing that looks like a bunch of cannonballs stuck together. I can't figure out how to get it out of the way, where is it fastened from?

Part two is the bumper cover has a pretty good crack in it where I hit the deer is it repairable, not sure what it is made out of abs?

Hate to pony up another $350 for a used one...

Thanks!

 

That is the vacuum reservoir for the cruise control. If you feel towards the center of those cannonballs, there is a 10mm (maybe a 13mm) bolt that secures the whole assembly to the fenderwell. After you drop it out of the way, you can access that last bolt.

 

Thank you sir, it is dark in there and my eyesight is poor.

 

The bumper is polyurethane and can be repaired using plastic welding technique. It's a lot like low-temperature 'soldering'.

Many body shops have the equipment and expretise to do this, and the cost isn't unreasonable if you do all the clean-up and prep first. Or drop the whole thing with them, and have them repair and finish it with paint, along with the new fender. Negotiate a good price with cash and you'll likely be happier and richer than trying to get everything together to repair and paint yourself.

 

Well I got all the parts off that needed to come off and I carted them off to the body shop. They are telling me they don't want to paint the fender until they can fit it to the car. They say the fender is tweaked. Could be, it is used and looks like it may have been handled a little roughly in shipping.

They say they can repair the bumper cover.

So far they have not given me a figure, I expect it to be a big one.

I am reluctant to pour huge sums of money into this car at this juncture.

I suspect I will have to have the transaxle gone through as it makes some whining noises. Expect that will be something on order of $3000?

The car only has 53,000 miles on it and early 928's do seem to be going up somewhat in value.

Need to press them for a figure to paint and make a judgement call.

I am into the parts for collision repair to the tune of about $700 the way it is.

 

Finally got the car back together, looks okay, just don't look to closely, that damn deer cost me more than $1600!

 

I guess a before would help...

 

That's a good looking repair.....nice OB...hope mine looks that good one day.

 

I hate to suggest it at this point but it looks to me like your front bumper bar (under the cover) is collapsed a bit on its shocks or at least on the drivers side. The reason I think that is because the back edge of your running lite bezel is not quite visible, and I think it should be. Those lites are mounted in the bumper bar, as I guess you know by now.