Fogey1

Sounds like a very good idea, Alan.

Got PIX and Part Numbers?

Martin's928

Hi, sorry, late to the party. I completely feel your pain. Had similar experience with my S4 about 5 years ago. Fire started on passenger side of engine. Luckily didn't melt fender as I had an extinguisher in time but the engine bay was trashed. All plastic and wiring toast including main wiring loom on inner fender to front end equipment and lighting. Anyway, opted to fix it. A lot of work but car back in action now. I opted to go with an electromotive setup from 928 Motorsports replace the ignition system and injection wiring as it was a pretty cost effective way of upgrading/replacing burnt parts and ageing injection/ignition computers. I really like the system and the car runs really well now.

Interesting to hear your theory about the injector cap popping off. About a week before my fire, I had my injectors restored by a local injector shop and the technician commented on having trouble getting the caps back on to finish the job. My working hypothesis has been that one of the caps popped causing the fire. Your conclusions add to that. I'll be using new injectors in all future projects….

Anyway, good luck with your rebuild. It is doable and, for what it's worth, my car is better now than it was before so well worth the trouble. I found it a satisfying project.

vanster

Pumaloco
What an incredible story. I'm a ****** compared to yours.

Alan

Well no part numbers - but this gives you an idea... https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...eferrerid=6055

There are other threads on the extinguisher mount(s) and the BK quick release.
I have since upgraded the FE system a bit, but the engine plumbing is the same - simple is good...

BTW long after the sting of the initial $ticker $hock wears off the BK single handed FE release continues to be not just superbly functional but also a real enduring work of art!


Alan

Imo000

How would a popped off pintle cap cause a fire?

Livio928

The injector pops off with the pressure. I think that is the same thing that happened to mine. Martins story above sounds extremely similar to mine as I had some issues fitting the clips with a minor leak i found. It is almost a carbon copy story to Martins only mine were brand new injectors.

GregBBRD

Terminology issue. They are confusing "cap" with "clip".

All are talking about the retaining clip.

I recently had a GT (prior owner maintained) come into the shop with all 8 spring clips missing on the top of the injectors. We were talking about the danger and just pointing out the problem (touching the injectors), when one popped off....flooding fuel everywhere.

Early 1987 owners:

Replace your fuel regulator with the 1988-1995 style regulator and use my custom one piece hose from the regulator to the fuel cooler, eliminating the rubber return hose to the junction piece on the back of the block and the hose from this junction to the fuel cooler.

Late 1987-1989 owners:

Replace the rubber return hose from the regulator to the fuel cooler with the updated hose.

M. Requin

I wonder how many loose/missing clips are out there. Doing my intake refresh I found one in the valley under a few years' worth of detritus. The injector o-rings had adhered to the fuel rail, fortunately, but over time who knows.

zekgb

The engine I bought from 928Intl didn't have any injector clips. Yikes.

anav8r

Sorry for your loss! You have some options, none of which are cheap or quick. Then again 'cheap' is rarely used in the same sentence as 'Porsche.' In '99 I bought a fire damaged '86 944 Turbo that looked a lot like your 'after' picture. The fire was attributed to the infamous high pressure fuel rail line that ruptured, even though the recall for said hose had been complied with several years earlier. I don't know if the 928 has a similar issue or history. Being retired with more time than money I thought it would be a good 'simple' project on the cheap. Just replace everything made of plastic, rubber or wire that was damaged and I'd be good. My two year odyssey was well documented in the old Rennlist emails at that time and the folks on the list were what made the eventual successful completion possible. Unfortunately, along the way it became obvious that there was a lot more damage then the visible surface stuff. The extinguishing chemicals that were used went down the bell housing and ruined the clutch. Many of the seals in the block were cooked in the flames and broke off when touched. The KLR and DME boxes both apparently shorted out when the wiring fried so they were gone. I found the timing and balance shaft belts were brittle when I went to replace the melted covers. I ultimately did a complete engine out of the car rebuild. What I had hoped would be a quick, 'cheap' fix of around $1,000 ended up taking two years and closer to $5,000. I learned more about my car than most 'civilians' will ever know and it was a fun, reliable car for many years after. Hopefully the insurance company will come through for you.

current stable:
'88 944 Silver Rose Turbo S - everything they say it is and more!
'92 968 Cabriolet - great road & club weekend car, wife's favorite!
'02 Suzuki GSF 600 Bandit
'05 Scion XB - not really a car, just the box it came in!
past loves:
'86 951 - good body & interior, installing Cup clutch & ANOTHER new engine
'86 951 - rebuilt engine, cup clutch, Konis, Guru chips, "S" trans, suspension & turbo
'87 924S - 944 rear spoiler, 951 brakes & suspension
'87 944S - donor car, gave its all that others may live!
'80 931 - gone, but not forgotten
Emmick 80cc shifter kart - sold to someone one third my age

Martin's928

Sorry, quite right, clip not cap in my case.

I opted to use the aluminum billet fuel rails sold by Carl at 928MS. They don't rely on clips to stay on the injectors and seem to be much more secure. Needed to make new/custom fuel lines but mine were all melted anyway and cheaper than OEM. Not hard to put together a new under hood high pressure system with an adjustable regulator.

Carsnapper

Been following this thread and am delighted to hear you will be able to rebuild the car. Given how good the 928 is and how few of them (relatively) are left, the loss of any car would be cause for concern. Good luck with your rebuild!

vanster

i know exactly what caused the fire and how I got to the point of creating this mess.
As most know the engine was a total rebuild by GB 5000 miles ago. I was about as perfect as it could be.
Driving along the freeway a month ago it started to miss. By the time I got it home it was blowing blue smoke and water vapor out the tailpipe. Head gasket? injectors ( just cleaned) ? We chased everything. Lots of gas in the oil. Must be an injector, as I found a few not firing correctly. Bought all new injectors from Roger put them in and now a we got it run on all 7, but now #8 was not working. I tapped on the injector
to make it work which it did. When doing so I dislodged the clip, not enough to notice. The 85/86 manifolds are a bitch to view injectors, unlike the later flapper manifolds or even a 16V. After a test drive all was OK
albeit a random miss. On my way back home she blew!
The more I thought about it the more I realized it was never the injectors but I am convinced now it was the suspect used loom all along. This is why we chased the injectors and this is why I still had the random miss.
Another interesting note is that as soon as it started to miss the first time, the radio ( Kenwood) went to reset . I lost all my presets etc.
I have sent the MAF and the LH to Rich in AZ for a check up, the car goes back down to GB's and the body shop along with a donor 85 I recently bought.
I took the left front fender off and started to clean and toss a lot of melted plastic in the trash. The right fender is untouched so it's just the hood and the left fender, Bumper cover is Ok. I think once the engine comes out tit well be easy to sort out and repaint.

zekgb

Trying to understand how a properly seated clip can be dislodged in this fashion. I've r/r injectors a dozen times and once positively engaged with a tug on the end of the injector until a positive click is heard those clips aren't going anywhere unless you grab them from the end and pull. Any chance the clip was on upside down or otherwise damaged, preventing proper engagement?

mdkelly1

I admire your approach and reasoning in dealing with this situation and your resolve to repair the damage.