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I've done a bit of work on these cars, here and there.....nothing serious, just fuss with one here and there.
Trust me:
They weren't easy to work on when they were new. They weren't easy to work on when they were a few years old and only needed maintenance. They certainly are not easy to work on now that they are older and have multiple ailments and have been worked on by multiple idiots.
I just finished a '91 which had been through 2 sets of "do it yourself" people....one who was very active on Rennlist. Literally....over $15,000 worth of "redo" work and work to repair the damage these idiots had done. It took me over 10 weeks to find all the "landmines" and completely stupid things done. Just when I thought I found everything, I would take it for a drive and find 3-4 more things wrong. I asked the guys in the shop if it was ever going to be done....and they said "Only if you quit looking at it., driving it, and finding things wrong."
There's something I really wished....that the idiots who had no idea where the proper parts go would just put all the left over pieces in a baggy in the glove box. My Porsche parts orders for missing pieces has got to be the main reason the German economy is doing so well....I probably support more than half of the European Union!
What the hell do people and shops do with jump post covers?
I'm stunned....literally blown away when I lift a cover to the battery and there is actually a battery hold down bracket! Mary orders them by the handfulls.
Where in the world do all the brackets that hold the alternator duct to the inner fender go?
Rear undertrays? The brackets that bolt to the chassis to hold the rear undertrays?
It's endless!
Seriously, I can install every single correct screw, washer, and bolt on an undertray and send a car home. The owner will take it somewhere 5,000 miles later for an oil change close to home.....and when it comes back to me, it has every single correct screw, washer, and bolt missing. Phillips heads, dry wall screws, American size heads, completely missing screws....nothing original.
Is there a reward out there for the correct original hardware? Does it get sold on Ebay? Is it like socks that just vaporize? Do they take it out and throw it away as they remove it? Where does it go?
I admire you guys that can actually repair these cars correctly, at home. You are a very rare group!
You would love the project that got shipped to me. I'm on week 9 (not continuous) of fixing crap on this car that 2 other 928 "experts" have had their hands on. One of them was paid about $40,000 for the crap stuck on this car. Sad thing, I've only driven the car 1/2 mile before parking it to take care of the obvious issues. From crap suspension to a 5 speed conversion using a racing clutch to every warning system lit up on the dash. I will never recoup the time I've put in this one.
The local peeps have been kind enough to not take pictures of the car for fear of embarrassing the owner as he's a frequent poster here.
The local peeps have been kind enough to not take pictures of the car for fear of embarrassing the owner as he's a frequent poster here.
I feel sorry for the guy. Really nice guy. I know he paid a BUNCH of money for things done to this car and he got crapped on by previous "mechanics."(the most loosely version of the word you can imagine)
I feel sorry for Sean, too since he has to straighten out previous screw-ups or things done incorrectly. It's hard to tell an owner time after time after time, " Yeah well, I had to fix XXXXXX just so I could make it work so I could fix ZZZZZZ."
^^^ I'm more than casually OCD about cleaning and working on clean cars. If you can't put your sandwich down safely and pick it up and take a bite out of it, there may be some cleaning needed. A few local car owners are amused, but in my limited experience working on clean stuff is a whole lot more fun than on the cruddy ones.
In the very early decades of wrenching on things, I had the luxury of being able to have things cleaned for me before I would consider actually touching them. Not so much now; I get to do my own cleaning. Still worth it to get it all done at once and be done, vs. cleaning a little section at a time to work on it.
Last fall ther was a hint of a drip from the OPG. Might as well do MM's and a bunch of others stuff at the same time. All for a couple drops on the floor during previous winter storage.
Last fall ther was a hint of a drip from the OPG. Might as well do MM's and a bunch of others stuff at the same time. All for a couple drops on the floor during previous winter storage.
Bob,
I was blooded on British motorcycles- the only time they did not drip was a bad sign- no oil in the thing! My first bike was a British made Royal Enfield Continental [should have been called a Royal Oilfield]- really quite a nice little machine. Could not stand its penchant for dripping oil so pulled it apart with little more than a pair of pliers and a screwdriver. I actually managed to stop it dripping, then of course sold it to purchase a Triumph 650 twin when I got my full license to run rampant and then had twice the number of leak sources! Pulled that apart and made it oil tight [more or less].
Age has taught me to live with some things but in principle I hate to see oily gunge. My sump gasket was weeping a few drops here and there- just tightened the sump bolts [some were loose] but nothing silly- let's see how they hold up. The worst bit was I foud they were a bit loose after refitting the a/c compressor, the PS pump and the alternator- i.e. the things that get in the way of the bolts- grrrrh!
I see a sump gasket job in my near future but not for one or two drops of oil as long as they stay on the undertray and do not fall to the deck!
... I see a sump gasket job in my near future but not for one or two drops of oil as long as they stay on the undertray and do not fall to the deck!
I suppose the 928 world can be divided into two types of owners: 1. Guys who keep these horrid panels installed on their cars, and 2. those who lean them up against their garage walls, behind their spare sheets of cardboard, forgotten except for a bag of miscellaneous fasteners that refuses to settle to the bottom of a box labeled "old 928 parts - keep".
The cars were designed and assembled by mere mortals like us.
I agree... but they didn't have to deal with 39 years of rust, corrosion etc, and they had proper and specialized tools. So it takes some of us a bit longer now.
I'm reading this with my engine out for the second time thinking, 20 years from now someone is probably going to be bitching about the work I'm doing. Hopefully, it's just me again.
Seriously, I can install every single correct screw, washer, and bolt on an undertray and send a car home. The owner will take it somewhere 5,000 miles later for an oil change close to home.....and when it comes back to me, it has every single correct screw, washer, and bolt missing. Phillips heads, dry wall screws, American size heads, completely missing screws....nothing original.
hahaha! I'm dying of laughter here, but only because it's so true! Dry wall screws! I'm far from a competent mechanic, but I don't know how many 'redneck engineering' fixes I've seen on older cars, and for some reason while a Chevy Silverado won't be buggered too much, a Porsche 928 attracts the finest! I usually expect to find a few Band-Aids wrapped around wiring connections under the dash, especially if there's an aftermarket stereo installed.
When I moved from the rural Midwest to San Diego about 20 years ago, I decided that if there was anyplace to own a Porsche, this was it. So I bought my first 928 ('82 Weissach) and with the help of this forum, I was able to do quite a few projects myself. A well-reviewed independent Porsche shop handled a bigger issue for me one time. Honestly, before the internet, or while living in farm country, I would never have been able to keep a car like this running.
04-14-2017, 11:07 AM
