Ross

Mike,

I just found a cheap flight up there, under $200, so I may fly and drive it back now. I've got to find out if I can get a wheel and the A-arm fixed up there reasonably. Unfortunately the current owner doesn't know which wheel is messed up. He just swapped wheels with someone and the vibes went away. Damn, Mille Miglia copies anyway.

Ross

Bill

Poorporsche,

The best alignment shop that I have found in our area "BAR NONE" is:

Custom Alignments
2599 Wyandotte
Mountain View
(650) 961-5311

I had my NA aligned 3 times after lowering it (-1 1/4", bushings, 200lbs weltmeister springs, Koni yellows) and it was never correct until I went to Custom. They performed a four wheel alignment and corner ballance. It rides like glass now.

When I installed a set of 17" cup wheels on my 951 (longer lug nuts, spacers) the wheels were badly out of balance. Down to a local tire shop, who balanced them off the car and they still shook. Took it to Custom and they high speed balanced the wheels first off the car, then on the car. Perfect. They even put indexing marks, so if I remove the wheels, they must go back on in the same position.

The four wheel alignment was around $300 and the balance was $90. Well worth the money. Perfect ride and the tires do not wear like they used to.

Luke

Midas does Porsche allignments!!! And they do a good job. $50.

Russ Murphy

So does NTB (National Tire & Battery). Computerized 4 wheel alignment equipment rack
that my extremely low car can drive up on.
They charge $90.00, do a great job and quarantee it almost forever.

Peckster

That's the best you guys can come up with? Rattles etc.? Sounds like we're all laughing.

Here's a tip for those who're complaining about high repair rates. If you pronounce it Por-sha, they auomatically up their rates by $25 an hour.

Yes we pay more in Canada for everything except for two by fours because our dollar is down to 62 US cents, but our climate makes up for it all

jp

Danno

Bill's right on about this. I've never had a car that leaked and weeped from every single seal, pore and orifice as much as my '86 951. I'm tearing out the bottom this weekend to do the rod-bearings, oil-pan gasket, motor-mounts, front crank-seal, etc.

I just think back to my younger, more innocent days as a teenager in Saratoga and getting my 1st car, an '86 Supra. I didn't know sh*t about cars and just drove the thing like a wannabe rally driver up in the Santa Cruz mountains.

In all, it went 250K-miles before it rod-bearings wore out (230K of that was mine). In all that time, I never had to replace the following (which I've had to on the 951):

• wheel bearings
• A-arms & ball-joints
• sway-bar bushings
• water-pump
• motor-mounts
• engine seals of any kind
• headgasket
• clutch (yes 250k miles on stock clutch)
• timing belt (once at 125K-miles)

Ok, so the Supra only had the performance of a 944NA, but I certain wrung the h*ll out of it way more than my 951.

I guess the clues to durability is in the manual where it says that up to 1-quart of oil-consumption per 1000-miles was NORMAL... yikes...

Luke

yeah! But you really can't compare the oil consumption between a Naturally Aspirated and a Turbo charged car.

Danno

Yeah, but those missing quarts are on my garage floor! When I replace the stock turbo with the Huntley ball-bearing Turbo-II, the smoking exhaust on full-throttle was reduced by quite a bit.

BC

Ross.

I saw your 928 picture. It made me stop for a second until I saw the tires and rear type designation. I bought my 89S4 from texas, and from a driveway just like the one pictured, but my "928S4" type designation is black.
Anyway, I know you owned one, but uh, I will have to peep in here a bit:

Yes, Stroking and supercharging are popular options.
Did you know they you can turbo charge it as well?

BUT: (and you can't say that the 944 turbo parts aren'r this expensive) I can also increase power with:

Exhaust (Header/exhaust) proven 22/30 (hp/lb) to the ground by www.devek.net
1700 for full works, many do it for less.

Head work - ~50 hp to the ground, a little less torque. Not cheap on the S4. ~3600 for both heads.

Throttlebody enlargement - Ah, not alot of proven power, but about 350.00 for the job.

Dastek computer - oh, about 15hp for a 500 dollar computer. You have to tune it though. You have to tune the ARCII though for your turbos.

Okay, I am biased - but not that much - I love 944 turbos. I may get one, but make it an 951S, preferably 89.

Just shooting out some ideas.

Thanks for reading,
Brendan Campion
928S4 5spd. - 89
928 auto - 81 - hers

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VectorGuy

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned brake squeal yet. Maybe it's just an "S" problem, but I know of a brand new turbo S that went back to the dealer under the "lemon law" because they couldn't quiet the monster Mo30 eyeball-popper-outers. I've tried several brake pads, and all off them let me know they are there under gentle braking. (If they are worth a darn when it comes to working) Documentation from my car shows 3 visits to the dealer with under 20K complaining of the noise, and all three times the dealer wrote "brakes check out normal". The p/o must have been pissed! Man, you should hear my Hawk Blues scream when the temp is just wrong at Mid-Ohio.. Yikes! I've learned to live with it, but there is probably some goop I could use, or maybe a anti-sqeal piece missing.
People think there is something wrong with the car, like the brakes are shot.. actually, the opposite is true.. TOO much surface area is part of the culprit.

Can't wait for spring...

adrial

Stan, (vector guy)...I know what you mean...my brakes squeal horribly.

Ahh well...

86944turbo

I feel that posting to this question borders on betrayal. Most of these can be attributed to me and the fact that I am not as mechanically inclined as most of you. I'll only deal with some of the problems with the logistics and related problems of having the motor built in MA.,and installed in CA. First, I had to locate a good 968 block. Then a 2.7L head. Both found in different locations in the southern U.S. The head was in the box (new). Those were shipped to Milledge in MA. The 6 spd. belonged to a man who lived in Santa Rosa, CA. However, it was in Jon's shop in MA. I met the man at a Porsche event and bought the tranny. Then I was trannsfered to So. CA. Located a shop that could perfrom the installation and some fabricating. Delays came from the liners (apparently stuck on a boat from Portugal). The building of the Barrel Valve manifold. The CNC shop was busy building scooters. Then the piston, when coated had a couple of specs of ceramic in the rings and had to be sent back. The motor was shipped out to So. Ca. and Jon came out to cover some of the fine points. Jon was in regular phone conversation with the shop. It is difficult for a shop to work on what they consider someone eles's project. After installation and several returns to adjust things, found out that the shop had not routed the oil cooler and air/water heat exchanger in parrelel. In addition, due to the extremely high sping loads one lifter was not pumping up when cold. Had another shop re-route the oil and install another set of lifters. Jon paid for the lifters, very nice. At the time the car was smoking ever once in a while. Jon surmised that the rings were unseated. Got transferred back to No. Ca. On this drive the rings seated. The car was now explosive. Started burning out fuel pump fuses. Had fuel pumps re-wired (the same way Jon had asked the shop to perfrom it in the first place (parrelel). Then found that the MoTeC wiring harness had been probed. These are air frame wires and by probing them, connections had been loosened. Sent harness to MoTeC and installed. I assisted in the new pump config. Found that the pumps (2 x Bosch .044's)were drawing 11-12 amps each at idle. Replaced 20 amp fuse with 30 amp. The 30 amp fuse is borderline, so I removed it from it's air tight enclosure. Seems to be fine. Then the spray bar motor burned. Replace motor and added filter. Fixed. I changed to R-134A (street car) and promptly tore all three bolts off of the clutch on the new compressor. Motor comes on boost so rapidly the clutch could not handle. Replace clutch (warranty) and use the air only on low boost. Burned out the Sach's 4 puck clutch in 3500 miles. I'm sure there is a lot that escapes me at the present. I have done this before and I have burned valves on motors that had Mass air flow and larger turbo's added. This is a more expensive and longer process, but the results are far more than I expected. I do not have low expectations, but I've learned to be patient or do it myself. That being said I have the greatest amount of respect for the car as it demands full attention when on the boost. I have been able to accelerate (in moderate traffic) to 150+ so quickly that it is easy to forget you're double the speed of traffic.
So, I'll keep her. Oh, did I mention the price of racing fuel.

Mike S.

No cup holder

Mike "now at risk of losing his 5-star rating"

P.S. Somebody had to say it after 42 posts.

P.S.S A-arms w/o replaceable ball joint.

Mike "trying to sound credible to retain the 5-star rating"

Luke

What!are you talking about mike? YOu have very nice cup holders. They are in the glove box door!

Peckster

Both my cupholders are vertical, because the little plastic arms that hold the door horizontal are broken. Anyone have a spare?