RE: spider pipes

[georges 928S]

Hey Guys,

is there a cleaner or polish that i can use to bring the shine back to original color.

i dont mean (powder coating) Thanks Ed.

[Landseer]

Big 7 inch or so angle grinder/polisher/sander fitted with a fine wire brush.

And about a day.

Consider wearing eye protection and a mask.

It will sling wire.

[Pete R]

No, the casting is too porous, any wax or polish will just get in the pits. Best bet would be just a good degreaser cleaner. I used a method relatively similar to Landseers. Same theory different abrasives. I was going for "polished" but days later I eventually gave up, took a piece of scotch-brite and settled for "brushed"

[2Quick4u928]

Nice job Pete!!

[Pete R]

thank you... I spent a week on those but it took me 20 years to find the 15 minutes it took to change my mirror switch and make those work.. wtf

[Ender928]

When you did it with the scotch brite or the grinder did you cover anything up? Is there a danger of metal flakes getting somewhere they are not supposed to ?

[Landseer]

Process is to vac and wire brush the engine, then remove the tubes and stuff holes with wax paper (accounting for every last washer and bolt) and take the tubes elsewhere to polish them.

When out, the intake area of the car recieves a complete rework of rubber pieces and new intake gaskets. New fuel lines are also critical at this time ( if not already done ).

I never get abrasives near the intake without running constant vac pickup and the holes always remained plugged even when cleaning the aluminum mating surfaces.

Several guys have had intake tubes bead blasted and not thoroughly cleaned, resulting in non running cars and permanent damage to engine. Others have let sand fall into the open passages. Cleanliness is so critical. Interesting to me is how few professional mechanics take the time in shops to treat the cars as well as us enthusiasts.

[Pete R]

yes, I did them off the car, impossible on. I was in the process and rebuilding the motor. So everything was clean. The ends were stuffed with rags and then taped. When I finished I rinsed them in laquer thinner and blew them out with high pressure air ... I was pretty sure nothing was in there. I used a combination or sanding wheels (4 foot belt) for the big stuff like casting lines. then a die grinder for the detail areas, then an ascending level of sand paper grit. I have a huge selection of grinders , wheels ect where I work so it was, fairly easy but quite time consuming

[Ender928]

Thanks for the tip Landseer, I agree with you its a shame what mechanics will do. I had my car at a local shop and they put the wrong timing belt on. I noticed it and had them change it before I drove it away.Same shop that locked my keys in the car and had to pry the door open scratching my fresh paint. And supposedly they specialize in Porsches.

[Normy]

Let me give you some advice:

A few years ago, I started noticing a whistling noise coming from under the spider of my '85 S2. I felt around, and found that a large rubber hose that ran from the oil fill cap to the bottom of the "U" would change the note of the whistle when I moved it. I pulled on it...and suddenly it broke completely! Unfortunately, I couldn't find this hose- not even 928 International had this hose for my S2, and the local Porsche dealer couldn't find the part either, since they didn't have access to ROW parts. To make a long story short, I bought a US part and modified it to fit.

Problem- there was no way in hell that I was going to be able to get the bottom of that tube properly onto its metal fitting without pulling off the spider. So that's what I did- and while I was in there, I replaced ALL the gaskets, the rubber "leg-to-body" connectors, several vacuum hoses....

AND I had the entire spider powder coated.

Listen folks- I spent all kinds of time over the years polishing that thing; then I had it powder coated (cost: $125), and now all I do is wipe it down about once per year, it always looks good!

Why Porsche didn't do this at the factory I have no idea, but if I were you, I'd pull the thing, fix your vacuum leaks, clean the top of the block and heads, send your injectors out to be cleaned, and then put it back together. HUGE improvement, and you'll spend less than $200!

N!