Majestic Moose

So my '83 now has a younger brother! I saw it here in the classified section and really liked the color inside and out and that it was a late model 5 speed. It was in the back of my mind about two weeks before I contacted the owner. I ended up flying out to Illinois to check it out on Saturday, inspected the timing belt, fluids, spark plugs, and the general condition of the car. I bought it and had nearly 800 miles to figure out what worked and what did not


I don't have much back story on the car and no original documentation. The owner got it after his best friend passed away who had bought it from North Carolina around 2005, judging by the last safety inspection sticker (Illinois only does emissions testing).


The owner had it in his possession the last six years and drove it very little. Three years ago he hit a deer with the headlights up that broke the right side one off and damaged the fender. Since then the car sat in his garage.


That is all the time I have for now.




I really like this ad:


To be continued...

skpyle

Excellent!
Looking forward to seeing more of this one...

dr bob

Great score! '89 is the best year for 928's of course, and a good 5-speed is pretty rare. Spares you all that annoying gear whine from the GT diff.

Enjoy it!

worf928

Yup! '89 S4 5-speed is a good vintage!

BC

Dude I texted him and he said someone was coming from the east coast. If you didn't, I was going to arrange to get this car. Can't pass that deal up and even if this car needs work its like a 20k car with a fixed fender and headlight.

Bertrand Daoust

Congrats Alex.

Great find.

Chris Lockhart

Nice! I'm kinda partial to '89's as well.

kmascotto

Me too

drscottsmith

Nice Alex! I am sure number 1 is happy to have a sibling!

-scott

Petza914

I don't know what you guys are talking about - that's a decade too new

Congrats - looks like a nice find and must have been some precision driving for the deer to only clip the headlight and not the surrounding panels - like the Transporter barrel rolling the Audi to clip the bomb off the bottom.

skpyle

Watch it...Jason Statham fan here.

Majestic Moose

Part II

While checking things out we found a huge mouse nest on the air filter covering at least half the surface area. Luckily it had a K&N filter and I say luckily because it was the wire construction that prevented the mouse from chewing through and dropping debris directly into the intake as it surely would have with a paper filter.

The oil level looked low but the PO said he topped it off the day before. That was a little worrying but I decided to go for it and once we made our transaction I took off in a downpour following his neighbor who led me to a parts store and picked up a couple quarts of oil. About 20 minutes after leaving there the rain stopped so I pulled over to check the fluids - everything was OK, I think it was the slight slope the car was on that caused the low oil reading.

Oh, when I removed and reinstalled the timing belt cover and distributor I switched two plug wires so it ran a bit rough and wanted to stall at idle. It is pretty difficult to trace the wires with the way they cross over to the other side of the engine but I found and corrected them. From there it was a smooth ride all the way. The cruise control worked beautifully for hundreds of miles at a time on the nearly empty Route 80. Actually this motivates me to fix it on my '83.


I'll make a short list of what works first:
The 5 speed transaxle and clutch shifts smoothly.
Electric cooling fans cycle on/off properly.
Windows and sunroof work but the window switches are at end of life.
Remote hatch unlock works.
Wipers and windshield washers work.
The interior is really in remarkable shape, though it is vinyl except the seats and rear quarter panels.
The seats!! I haven't heard mentioned how much better these seats are then the older styles. The adjustable lumbar support is wonderful and they adjust down much lower. In my '83 with the seats all the way down my hairs touch the roof. In this car I have about 1.5" clearance and the seat is not all the way down.

Some of the problems:
Instrument cluster only comes on when turning on the parking lights and flash a check coolant level constantly even though the level is fine. No warning lights function, the turn signal indicator always flashes - it acts flat out crazy. It only showed about 8600 miles when I got it so it was replaced before. I will post a video later.
Fog lights do not work.
Horns do not work.
HVAC is all heat all the time or nothing.
Rear interior leather quarter panel is dried and shrunken.
AC compressor does not even have a belt.
All electrical connections have powdery corrosion.
The engine needs the works - intake refresh, oil pan gasket, fuel hoses, power steering hoses, rebuild AC compressor and hoses, and all the 'why not' stuff.

So as I said, the car sat in the PO's garage the last three years. He washed it to sell it of course but there was still mold/mildew in all the hard to reach places and in the engine bay. Once I got home I spent about 3 hours washing and changing the black water in my wash bucket. Also I flushed out tons of old leaves from around the hatch opening and trims around the car. I vacuumed out tons more leaves from under the cowl. The paint is in really nice shape, just some small nicks and scratches and the clear coat is peeling off the top of the mirrors.
This is aside from the right fender of course.

This shows some of the muck.


I am all ears to any recommendations for body shops in Eastern PA or NJ. It should be possible to massage the fender back into shape.
Color is Taubenblau Metallic.



Built August 1988:


PO included a new headlight assembly:

dr bob

Alex --

I recommend that you do a relay-relay-relay-relay exercise to include the X-bus relay. I suspect that will take care of several of your non-functioning electrical items like horn, fog lights, and more. It's a standard 53b type.

GT6ixer

Nice find! That's one heck of a padiddle! I like that color a lot. Huge bonus that it made it home with no real major problems.

Majestic Moose

Part III

So to finish up, here is what I found in the rear. The tool kit is complete except pliers and screw turner with flat blade.


The spare is missing but in its place I do have the air compressor and jack, probably original spare belts, one of each version of towing eyes, battery hold down bracket, cargo net, and some parts I don't think belong to the car.



Here is the option sticker:


Spare tire warning:


So that is where things stand before I do any work. I have to finish my '83 before I start tinkering with this one.
Dr bob thanks for the suggestion, I will remove and clean the CE panel and replace the '53' relays.
Thanks to everyone else for the supportive comments. I spent a few hours today cleaning some small stains in the carpet, conditioning the leather, applied 303 aerospace to the vinyl parts, and applied a plastic restorer to the wing and rubber around the mirrors. Sorry no photos, it was getting dark.
There are some small mold stains in the seats still, I will try a vinegar/water solution to clean it off.

Almost forgot the original radio. I don't know if it works.