carnahanbb

New car to me. 1989 Black on Black S4 Automatic. Did a bunch of fluid and filter changes. Replaced a broken shift cable and now I'm on to the interior. Quite honestly, I was surprised how easy this has been so far. These cars are still analog to some extent and are not bad to work on at all especially the interiors. I've removed basically everything north of the seats and sent it to Robert Budd in Michigan to do leather wrap and restoration. Shifter and boot coming from Paul Champagne. Seats aren't awful but to keep everything on par I think I'm going to either have them redone or replace them with newer Porsche seats. I'm posting in order to get some advice, tips, tricks, etc. I'm going to replace the instrument cluster bulbs (I think I'll replace the 4 main lights with LED and the rest with new incandescent). I was thinking about doing the vacuum actuator diaphragms but they are pretty expensive for little rubber cups and to the best of my knowledge they are all working fine any how.

I was curious if I need to move the car is it safe to start and move with everything disconnected? What else should I think about doing?

Ladybug83

Not sure about starting car while apart. Maybe safest to push it around for now. Experts will chime in.

Roger sells some aftermarket vacuum diaphragms I think that are cheaper than factory. Definitely a good thing to do while in there.

I didn't do the Led bulbs, but I did clean the circuit board contacts and replaced the bulbs in the gauge panel.

Nice work. Sounds like it's gonna be great. FWIW, the seats will be the main focal point of the interior so my advise is to do them if you can make It work with your budget, otherwise they'll look shabby next to all your new interior goodies.

carnahanbb

Thanks for the feedback! I'm definitely going to do the seats I'm just debating between refinishing the ones I have or buying seats from a newer Porsche and bolting them in.

RennPartsDirect

I drove my '84 around with the dash and all the center console stuff removed for a long time before I parked it last. Shouldn't be a big deal... just like gutting it for a race car. You don't need all the heater controls and the rest of the parts hidden behind the dash for the car to run properly. At least that's my experience.

carnahanbb

I guess I was thinking more about the instrument cluster and stuff like that. I've been driving it without the center console (radio HVAC etc) for a while now and that hasn't been a problem.

Petza914

Just make sure that any wires that have voltage either when the car is off or running are taped off so they don't short to ground.

carnahanbb

Good advice, that's what I was thinking. Any other suggestions on things to do while I've got everything torn apart? Does anyone know a good source for LEDs for the instrument cluster? I think I want to replace at least the four main instrument lights with LED.

davek9

https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/...?view=standard

this is where I get mine, good quality and brightness

Petza914

I got my led wedge bulb kit from Jager and the custom led dimmer module from Ed Scherer. His kit is great as it uses the OEM wheel under the dash instead of having to drill and mount a new ****.

carnahanbb

I thought the Jager kit was just for the 4 main illumination bulbs? Am I wrong?

Roger recommended looking at Superbrightleds.com. They come up with three different bulbs for the dash of the 928. I'm thinking about just doing the four main illumination bulbs with LEDs and leaving the rest incandescent.

Petza914

Correct, those are the wedge bulbs and the only ones I did since I had 2 dash panels worth of the small indicator Ines to use up. One note though, once you change to the led bulbs, your standard dimmer won't work - you need an led dimmer (I'm using Ed's). One thing I didn't realize though is that any other bulbs on the black and purple wire illumination circuit also need to be changed to LEDs or when you get the pod illumination right, the others will be completely dark. This affects my vdo ambient temp and Boost gauges so I need to swap the bulbs in those to LEDs too.

carnahanbb

Can you expand on this a little? What other bulbs are on the black and purple wire illumination circuit?

I was planning on only changing the 4 main illumination bulbs so I'm hoping this wont be an issue.

Petza914

Someone else will need to chime in to be all inclusive, but things like the heater control lights, shift gate lights if an auto, etc.

carnahanbb

Oh man, I hope not...if that's the case I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. I'm glad I asked here first! I'm curious to see what others say.

carnahanbb

Do you guys think I should replace the vacuum actuators while I have the dash torn apart? It'll cost at least $200 - $300 per Roger. Also, does anyone know what these taped off plugs are for? I found them behind the dash on the passenger side near the crash tube and HVAC vent.