thinking of a 928 restore project...

[Surfaccing]

im 17 and im going to work full time in the summer and during the next school year and im investing in stocks. im going to earn about $8,000 to put into a car by the end of summer. im considering trying to build a 928 from the ground up in 2years for college.

i've seen the pricing for most of the parts and i know their expensive. i wanted to buy a body and gut it replace the basic parts for now. i was thinking suspension, axles and brakes to start, along with body work and paint.

the only thing i don't know about is a full wirring harness replacement and the price of completly rebuilding a engine.

how much would it cost if i had a seized motor. and i wanted to completely rebuild it from the ground up? i litteraly want to do anything.

also i want a 32v engine, maybe bigger pistons (not a necessity though), but i want to replace everthing... what would that come about costing?

[MPDano]

Cost...A lot! Experience...Priceless. Get a good running one and work from there. $8K is for sure not enough for what you sound like you want to do (ground up).

[Surfaccing]

i want to start with the engine, cooling, suspension, brakes, then finally the body and interior. in that order and when money was saved enough to complete the project.

[Surfaccing]

i was thinking i could just take the $8,000 and get a good running 928. but im still wondering what is the cost to build one up from the ground up to a brand new status?

new engine-cooling & trans, suspension and brakes and then a full wirring harness.

i have done a few basic VW based rebuilds including engine work so i have some experience. but coming out of the VW world i don't know the relitave price of porsche exept expensive! but i don't know how expensive.

[rhjames]

Wally Plumley has always said to buy the newest 928 you can afford.


That said, your $8K is just into the S4 category.


There are several less than $5K S4's lurking around at the moment, with issues.


You say you want a 32V, so 85 will be the OLDEST you can go.

I suggest the 86.5, as it was the crossover from early OB's to S4 style body work and drive train. With the 86.5, you will find the 32V, Brembo 4 piston brakes, and updated transaxle.

If you go with an S4, you will have just another S4.

I prefer the older Euro/ROW cars, as they are lighter, have nearly the same HP, and are somewhat easier to work on. In addition, many of the newer parts are interchangeable with the earlier OB's.

Good luck!








--Russ

[Danglerb]

Originally Posted by Surfaccing

im 17 and im going to work full time in the summer and during the next school year and im investing in stocks. im going to earn about $8,000
g... what would that come about costing?

Where do I sign my son up for a summer job with $8k after tax pay?

****

You should have a long talk with Brendan "the disassembler" before setting your plans in stone. A MUCH better choice would be to buy a nice running car, and work at keeping it nice and running.

**** Below is going to sound a bit negative, but its accurate.

Do all the labor yourself, maybe $35k, but could be $50k easy. Most people end up spending between $10k and $15k to get a rough car back into good reliable running condition without doing any cosmetic or performance enhancing work.

Depending on how much you can do yourself a high performance 32v motor will run between $10k and $30k by the time its in the car and running well. Low end of the price range is using a stock short block, high end is with a stroker short block.

The reason most of us can drive an old 928 is that many expensive things don't have to be replaced, or can be replaced with good used parts. Wiring inside the car is generally fine, the two harnesses on the engine are generally toast, fuel injection harness is $1200 from Porsche, Carl sells a front harness for $500 or so, and the rest large wire runs like from the battery can be replaced individually, with maybe $100 in ground straps.

[Surfaccing]

im getting my A+ certification at school. in otherwords ill be working as your computer tech guy. not a bad job. plus add up 2jobs at 40hours a week and money coming out of the stock market i should have a good pay. also ill work with the company to get me a job through about half the school year so maybe like 3hours a day through the week and as many as i can on the weekends.

computer technician work is a good job and its good money but the training to get their is expensive, but im lucky cause i get to train to it through school.

[Surfaccing]

danglerb thanks for the info
and
rhjames i was already looking into the s4 models

ill give u guys a little info on my background. my father was a ex-porsche racer for the canadian club back in the 80's. he was also one of the instructors and race taxi's aswell. he was the porsche club president down here in san antonio tx for like 4 years and the renound texas concord 944, 928 and a little 911 judge.

basically my dad can tell the best 928 or 944. so im really counting on him to get me a good deal. but like me he and i want anything over the 1985.5 model

[MPDano]

Dude, you sound like you are way to mature and got things together then I did at 17. I'm still not thinking that way and I'm over 40.

[Danglerb]

This is so Deja Vu, somebody posted very similar to this a few months back.

Many places charge a BUNDLE for computer training, I met a guy working in Home Depot that paid $54k in total to Devry for a technical degree. Kind of interesting what a large industry exists just to try and make MS products work properly.

Seems like you are on the right track, work with your dad to find a NICE car. You just had us concerned for a minute with the restoration talk, which is insanely expensive, and not really needed with a 928.

[Surfaccing]

alright ya i kind of figured a restoration project was going to be expensive. throwing that out of the water till after college and i get a good career going. so wait a decade or so and ill be back trying to do a full restore project on some 928 model. but i guess ill need like what $40k-$50K?? to bring it to a full Brand New status.

ya i've been asking because im torn between a 2004-2005 sport bike or a 1985.5+ porsche 928. i know bikes are dangerous and blah blah blah, but the only thing im conserded about with the 928 is that if anything goes wrong i won't have any money to fix the thing. with a sport bike i could spend like $5k on the bike and still have $3k to dumb into the bike. plus the bike is newer, less miles and they don't brake that much. unless the rider does something stupid

depending on what my mom says (if i can convince her to let me buy a bike) will depend on what i buy.

[Danglerb]

If you already have medical coverage, yeah, bike would be cheaper I think.

OTOH few safer cars than the 928 were ever made.

At 17 my only advice is think about how long a decision needs to last, because your world can change very quickly making previous choices less than ideal for new circumstances.