New '86.5 owner saying Hello Rennlist!
 

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'86.5 is the best year (but I may be biased!). In all honestly...that car is going to need a lot of expensive work. There's little chance of it being cost-effective to get it into shape, BUT if you're in it for love and have the money and ability, then go for it. Or, you could part it out and easily make money on the deal, to put towards a car with fewer problems.

Not to be a vulture, but if you do part it out and your dash and pod are uncracked and unwarped I might buy them :D

Thanks Jeff! I do enjoy working on cars. I've done a '91 BMW 318is and a '99 BMW 328i for my boys. This is the one car I have decided to do for myself. That said, I'm not opposed to putting money into her, but need to know that the body is straight or will not cost stupid money to put right. I've already thought about parting her and getting another for a few thousand more. So, I'll let you know as this progresses.

Al

Hey Big Al, as a fellow 86.5 im glad to have you in the game and welcome aboard. It sounds like she is in good hands, I hope you can save her but we will all understand if the frame isn't straight. Do you know anything on title history? Clean or salvage, etc.
Dave

Dave,
The title was clean. I just did the title transfer to my name las week (just before the 30 day penalty mark).

Al

Welcome aboard Big Al.
Great work so far - An ambitious effort for sure.
An 86.5 manual is worth some extra effort IMHO.
Good luck - I sure hope you're able to save her.
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Oh, and thanks for the welcome. Glad to be aboard!

The first thing I would have done before I started taking it apart is look closely at all of the gaps. First I would check the doors and see that they are fitting correctly all around with even gaps. If they are not even all around and on both sides, then you need to determine if they can be evened up with some shimming at the door hinge points. If not then you can suspect that the whole body is tweeked. If the doors are gapped evenly all around and/or you have been able to even them up with shimming, then I would look at the gaps at the front of the doors between them and the front fenders. If they are even up and down and from the left to right sides, then look at the gaps with the hood.

If the front door gaps are not even top to bottom that suggests that the front frame rails are tweeked, probably upward. If the front door gaps are good and you find that the hood gaps are off that probably means that the front has been pushed to one side or the other. If the gaps are good then I would not likely be spending money to have someone put it on a jig.

With it apart they way you have it now at least I would start doing some diagonal measurements from some fixed rigid points in as many different directions as I could get to with my measuring devise, whatever it is. That may also tell you where the frame has been tweeked, if at all.

If all the gaps were even and all of your diagonal measurements are true, Then I would start addressing the various monkey repairs that you seem to be concerned with and do them over correctly. You might even get a better pair of front fenders and start over with those and then get the headlights correctly adjusted to the holes.

Just my thoughts.

Jerry,
Thanks for that. With regard to the gaps, I can say that I wasn't as detailed as describe upon initial inspection of the car. I did a quick look and all seemed good, except for the rear lid not closing.

My son and I did a diagonal measurement, like you suggested, from the top most fender screw hole on the top rail of the engine bay to the front most portion. It was off by 5/16 in. Now, not sure if that is something that can be pulled out or what, but I don't want to give up without having it professionally evaluated. I would imagine that I could recoup that money, if I part her.

For 400.00 I would have jumped on it too. I would approach it the same way, it would be a hell of a save if you have the desire -- and it looks like ya does...

And yea, the G28/11 manual tranny alone is going for three times what you paid for the whole car brother.

Hi Al !

I am really impressed by your work and progress so far.
I wish I knew more about body/frame work, so I'll be following along for sure....
The guys here are amazing, tons of knowledge and assistance for the asking...

Thank you so much for taking the time to upload the photographs. They are very interesting and instructive. Good luck !
Dan

Welcome, Big Al!

Best of luck on your big endeavour.

Thanks! Appreciate it.

First off...welcome to the 928 world.
 

Looking at the last picture and to my eye, and it may just be the camera angle, but the engine seems to be sitting in there slight tweaked to the left (looking at the car). The radiator seems to be angled back on the passenger side, too. The radiator bolts directly to the sub frame, so if it is in there crooked...then that's not a good sign in my book.

I guess it all depends on what you want to end up with with this car. A driver or nice restoration or something you may resale and have to disclose all of these issues. You'd have a small fortune into this car if you were to finish it off nicely or to its original state. Especially, if this respray has been done poorly or you have to buy a new front fenders, because of the headlight issue.

Me, I would not spend another dollar on it (alignment rack and renting trailer).

Might see if I could get it running, and if it does, remove the engine for resale. The trans might be worth a fair amount of money, too. You probably would make out okay, just parting it out. Yes, we'd like to see them all saved...but sometimes you just have to be realistic. There are much better project cars out there. You could, easily, have fifteen thousand into that car before you knew it...and that's not counting your labor.

Parting this car out will give you valueable insight to the workings of these cars, and will only benefit you in the future.

Look at some of the other projects here and this may help you decide on what road to take. Give yourself a couple weeks of studying the car, before you go to the next step. Maybe, there is another rennlist member close by that can give you a solid second opinion.

Good luck, with whatever direction you take.

Brian.

Thanks Brian. I had hoped to get feedback from all you more seasoned owners. I sincerely appreciate yours and others feedback (and welcome to the community). Thanks very much to all.