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In 1998 I sold my boring old Honda Accord and bought an 1982 928 with 28,000ml on the clock. It was a US model with the 3-speed auto but with no side rub strips so it had a nice clean look. It was my daily driver, did auto cross and DE with it, and gradually improved its performance and presentation. After a few years of learning about 928's I began to appreciate the looks of the early cars with '70's colors and pasha interior and wished I had bought a 5-speed but it did not make sense to sell my existing car and take a hit on what I had spent only to start all over again. In 2006 after 50,000 enjoyable miles with the 928 I sold it to build a hot rod 911.
After being out of the 928-world for 10 years I happened across a petrol blue Euro for sale on Bring-a-Trailer a few months ago and much to my surprise it got me hankering for another 928.
This time I was going to get an early Euro (for lightness), and a 5-speed transmission. I looked around online and posted on the for-sale thread and within a few weeks had a half dozen or so possible cars. I really was after an interesting '70's color - petrol blue is stunning, but I also really like mocha brown, bitter chocolate and my favorite - tobacco metallic.
Several Rennlist members were very helpful with information about available cars but I kept coming back to an ad I found on the Houston Craig's List. It was a '79 Euro 5-speed. Black exterior and cork interior. Single door mirror, still had H4's, 16" phone dials, no US side marker lights, original km/h speedometer and funky Blaupunkt Berlin stereo.
Alex70 kindly went to look at it for me, confirmed it started, idled, shifted without problems and drove okay so I went down yesterday and bought the car.
I would ordinarily recommend to someone to buy the nicest 928 you can afford but here I am not following my own advice! What is worse I know all about timing belt failure as my '82 snapped in my first month of ownership. Despite all this I packed a bag of tools, new set of v-belts and fuel pump relay from 928 International and headed for Houston intending to drive the car back to Tulsa.
In person the car looked okay. Paint job is poor. Thick as porridge, fish eyes, sanding marks, must have been Stones fans as everything was painted black - even the vinyl fuel filler drip cloth! Drove okay, transmission would grind going into first and obvious oil leaks down the front of the timing belt covers but for the price seemed worth it.
From the pictures I could see the car was not originally black. The front latch panel looked to be painted gold so I assumed the car was originally opal metallic. However in person the color was much darker and looked every bit like tobacco metallic! It was destiny.
I bought it, threw my gear in and headed off. First gas station I came to I filled up and bought oil and coolant. After returning the gas pump hose into its place I turned around to see gas dripping from the rear bumper cover. Oh that's right, seemed to remember replacing that vent hose on my first car! After the drips subsided I mopped up with a some paper towels and headed north.
Engine temps were good but I noticed a misfire at highway speed. Not major but still concerning with 500 miles of driving ahead of me. In my rush to get going I had forgotten that the air filter lid was loose and I had bought 4 new straps to secure it. I thought maybe air blowing in there was affecting the CIS plunger so pulled off the highway and to my surprise saw an Autozone store. Parked and installed the straps, securing the air filter housing and went inside to purchase a fire extinguisher! Always be prepared for the worse.
Getting back in the highway the misfire was worse and with the tranny good and hot it was hard to get the car into reverse and first. I planned my return journey to stick to I-35 where there are no towns and stop lights and if I broke down more likely to get a AAA flat bed in a reasonable time. Thanks to Google-effing-Maps after selecting my intended all-highway route it ended up loading the shortest route which took my right through stop and go traffic in Dallas and half a dozen towns on the way each with 4 or 5 stop lights. Transmission was really problematic now. First was hard to find and would grind every time. Missfire was still present and seeed to be getting worse. To add to my concerns the voltmeter was swinging wildly from 12 to 15 volts. For a period it would sit steady at 14 but then start swinging again. I could not get the stereo to work and so I had plenty of brain capacity to think about what would happen if the battery exploded from overcharging. Other than scaring the poop out of me would I get covered in sulfuric acid or would the battery box contain the damage? Or would it blow the bottom of the housing and damage the transaxle? Or take out the fuel tank? So many options and so much time to dwell on it!
By the time reached the Ouachita hills the voltmeter was not moving around any longer but was in the red range. Not good. I turned on the headlights to draw some voltage. The voltmeter started swinging again and then settled at 13 volts. Peace of mind. Then the misfire got worse. Had to downshift on hills as it would not hold speed in 5th gear. Voltmeter started swinging wildly again and the speedo needle dropped to zero. Here we go I thought - systems shutting down one at a time. Indian Nations turnpike in the middle of nowhere is not where I wanted the car to go dark and have to pull over. Trip meter rolled over 928 miles and I thought the car was going to give up the ghost. But she kept on going. Misfire even went away for awhile. Only 60 miles to go and things we looking up.
Trying desperately to time my arrival at stoplights to avoid having to select first gear was a useful mental distraction. It was past sunset now and on roads I know well enough and within AAA pickup distance from my home! Speedo started working again. Voltmeter pegged in red again, but by this point I figured I could just make it. Pulled into my drive way at 7:30pm. I left Houston at 10am so 9.5hours with two gas stops and a stop at Autozone. Not bad going. The surprising thing was how comfortable the car was on the highway. It had no right to feel this good given its dubious mechanical state. Shocks and springs were working well. Metal windshield trim was rattling but overall it was remarkably solid. Steering felt fantastic. Nice and direct even with the mis-matched 14 year old tires! Coolant temp stayed mid way the whole drive! Oil pressure strong and fuel usage was decent. If it wasn't for the voltmeter behaving like a seismograph, the misfire and the grinding gears it would have felt like a well-sorted example of a 928!
lolz! Glad you made it, but we have a ton of 928 talent in the DFW area to help. Misfire sounds electrical, but who knows for sure. Could be related to the voltage swings. Trans gear selection sounds like clutch throw, that's gonna cost. Try shifting after pumping the clutch quickly see if it gets better.
Spent entire day today cleaning the car. Car was filthy inside. Not in the top eschelon of skankdom but certainly up there. The interior looked like it had not been cleaned in 10 years. Started with the rear hatch. I had checked the battery box when I inspected the car and saw the usual corrosion so first step was to fix that. Pulled the battery, scraped the peeling rubberized coating from around the rust spots, chipped away any loose rust and then hit it with battery acid neutralizer. Once rinsed with water I dried out with my hot air gun and then coated the rust areas with a rust neutralizer. The rest of the hatch area and wiring loom cleaned up nicely with citrus degreaser and WD-40. Battery terminals and ground strap sanded clean. Noted missing battery tie down. Found the missing rubber pads that the spare rests on and the fabric triangle that covers one edge so glued those back in place. Quite pleased with how it looks now.
Next job was cleaning the cabin. Simple Green is my favorite interior cleaner along with an old toothbrush. In the door bins I found an unopened battery tie down and a replacement seatbelt rose. The missing clips for the sun visors and the missing button for the drivers door storage bin. A selection of relays, fuses and best of all a little notebook from a previous owner with detailed records by year of miles covered with every tank of gas and the maintenance items performed. Magic!
Looking good, John! I need to get mine out and come see you (I keep flat spotting my tires from lack of use). If you need a hand with anything, don't hesitate to call or email - I'm happy to help out.
In the engine bay I added almost a quart of oil to get it to the full mark, not bad seeing it was registering almost full when I left Houston and the oil was hot when I measured it. I also removed the hood shocks which were wrong. Knew it immediately when I first opened the hood and it sprung up so quick it almost took the end off my nose!
Interesting wiring solution!!! Not the green wire! Have to dive into this soon and really need to fix the shifter alignment so at least I can get around in it. I think the misfire may be due to cross ignition in plug wires as they look pretty old. Previous owner installed a new distributor cap and rotor so will do wires and plugs and see if that sorts it out. Also need to pull out my gauges and check pressures of the CIS system. It was hard to start today. Would start, run and then die after a few seconds. Perhaps fuel pump check valve or fuel accumulator. Just did these on my 911 so it should not by a first time muck up for once.
Kiwiokie - glad to see you found a car! Looks more like copper metallic to me, but hard to tell from pics and the various browns can be very close: My Tabac:
VS.
Copper Brown Metallic
Sure looks like a keeper. And glad you made it without a major breakdown and/or especially a fire. I have a feeling both your seat panels and door inserts have been replaced as well so likely were originally Pasha or pinstripe as the bolsters appear to be vinyl. That radio is spectacular! Please tell me it will stay with the car (or sell to me!). You can always give the Porsche COA folks a call as well and see if they will give you the original color combo if you ask nicely without actually ordering the COA. (tell them you are just researching your car). Good luck and hope to follow the progress!
02-26-2017, 09:27 PM
Saving a '79 Euro
