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1985 Porsche 928s
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928 - First driving impressions
I have been driving my ’85 928 for a few weeks now, having recently finished a complete engine rebuild that took me the best part of three years to finish. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts.
I’ve had some nice cars in the past, cars that I have really enjoyed owning and driving. I have to say, though, that I have never owned anything before that makes me feel this special. Everywhere I go I get positive comments and thumbs-up. I have even had people stop and take pictures of it. A common scenario seems to be people come speeding up behind me, get really close for a while and then back off – presumably, wondering what the hell it is. I’ve got 255 series tires on 9” Cup 2’s with spacers on the back so it looks pretty freakin’ wide from behind. Love the stance. Aside from the sense of immense relief that the engine actually works and seems to be running quite well without any leaks after rebuilding it, I really love driving this car. BTW, a huge thanks to all on this forum who have helped and to anyone who has posted anything on the internet relating to 928’s in general. Tackling this sort of project without those resources would have been almost impossible. A big thanks especially to Roger at 928sRus for his advice and for shipping me the right parts every single time. There have been some scary moments and plenty of sleepless nights but that’s all behind me now (I hope). There are bound to be problems that crop up, like a recent fuel pump relay that died, but I think the major stuff is out of the way. Until I got it back on the road recently, it had not been driven for 18 years. The previous owner stopped driving it 15 years or so before I got it and kept it in a garage. When I had a pre-purchase inspection done I was told one of the head gaskets had blown. In retrospect, I’m not sure if this was correct. There was a lot of oil in the valley between the banks of cylinders but I think that was caused by a leak at the base of the oil filler neck. There was no service history available as the owner was ill in hospital and subsequently passed away. It was a bit of a gamble, but my desire to own a 928, running or not, got the best of me. So, the engine internals are all fresh but most of the peripheral bits are original. I rebuilt the brakes and replaced the differential oil, though I still need to do the transmission oil and filter. The shifts are a bit harsh at the moment and I know I need to jump on this before doing too many more miles. The engine pulls really well, though I’ve not really hammered it yet. It has good torque and doesn’t seem to want to downshift unless it’s really pushed. This could be due to old transmission fluid or a vacuum fault, though I’m not overly concerned right now. There are absolutely no vibrations or wobbles when driving at highway speed; it seems to get smoother the faster I go. Pulling away from traffic at lights is effortless and sounds great through the stock exhaust. It takes corners at speed without hesitation – this is where you can pull away from someone behind you on a winding road ‘cos you don’t have to slow for corners anywhere near as much. It corners flat and smooth with hardly any body roll, and then there’s that torque accelerating out of a bend – great stuff. It takes all but the harshest bumps without complaining even though I’ve done nothing at all with the suspension. Some fluid from the viscous fan clutch has leaked out so she does tend to get a bit hot in traffic. Out on the open road, though, she runs cool with good oil pressure. I will try to replace this fluid but might go with an electric fan conversion at some point. Are there any negatives? I’m a pretty tall guy so I have to have the seat pretty low down and reclined so a lot of my weight seems to be on my tail bone. After driving for any length of time I find the seat pretty uncomfortable. I’m surprised that there was no lumbar support adjustment in a GT car that was designed to cover long distances. My seats are not heated either, which would have been a nice option. Headroom is pretty good, even with the sunroof. With the sunroof closed, it feels a tad claustrophobic. I’ve heard people complain about wind noise but have not noticed anything excessive. With the windows and roof open, the amount of buffeting in the car is minimal. I can’t help but think that, had I bought one of these cars new, I would have been disappointed in the interior. Perhaps this was par for the course back in the eighties. The dash is a nasty hard plastic (the upside being that there are no cracks), some of the knobs are ridiculously large (for German sausage fingers, perhaps) and it just feels a bit boring. My interior is brown and tan, which I’m not a fan of. The carpet looks like the same material you’d make a stuffed teddy bear from. The Blaupunkt Monterey stereo sounds OK, though I suspect my speaker cones are hard and crusty after all these years as I’m not getting a lot of base. Anything you put in the trunk will reflect on the inside of the glass, but I’m being really picky now. The steering is a little on the heavy side at parking speeds, but that’s probably due to the wider tires. I’m not particularly relaxed driving it right now as I’m listening out for every little noise, watching the temperature and oil pressure gauges like a hawk and keeping a very close eye on my speed. Oh, by the way, did you know some cops are also complete *******s – just thought I’d mention that. I’m also probably subconsciously anticipating the next lumpy gear change. I expect I will relax in time. Overall, though, very happy and impressed. This car has brought back the pure joy of driving for me and, after many years of just driving to get somewhere, I find myself just going out for a drive for the hell of it. It really needs nothing right now, though I’d like to circle back and dress up the engine bay a bit; I meticulously cleaned everything when I put it back together but did not want to spend a lot of time on cosmetics until I knew that it was going to run. I’d like to replace the hood liner and get the air intake powder-coated. I was going to get the valve covers powder-coated but you can’t really see them anyway, plus I’m sure I would have scratched the hell out of them putting it all back together. As I said earlier, I think an electric fan setup is on the cards. Further down the road, I might do a color change on the interior and might even tackle a 5-speed conversion, though I’m taking a break from lying on cold concrete for now. I would like to upgrade the headlights and the stereo. The tach is giving a low reading and the instrument lights are not very bright (like me). Apart from those things, nothing major planned for the next while other than keeping it going. Here are the areas I worked on in case anyone needs help with any of these things specifically (1985 32v); Engine removal & installation Engine teardown Engine rebuilding (cleaning, machining, rings, bearings, seals / sealant, gaskets, cylinder head overhaul, camshaft installation) Water pump replacement Timing belt replacement Timing belt tensioner rebuild Brake overhaul Differential and Transaxle maintenance Wheel replacement (help with calculating offsets etc.) Fuel delivery issue diagnosis Fuel tank refurb. Cold start issue Last edited by 5l32v4c; 05-30-2016 at 09:23 AM.. |
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05-18-2016, 11:44 AM
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Registered
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congrats on getting it on the road - I too recently got mine up and running after owning it 4 years - I know what you mean about not being relaxed - this car hasn't been driven in some time and it has to prove itself to me - so far I've gone about 400 miles but all pretty close to home - hopefully (if it keeps running well) i'll trust it to go further - enjoy the ride
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84 928 S - SOLD 2012 Cayenne S |
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05-19-2016, 02:41 PM
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1985 Porsche 928s
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Congratulations on your "new" ride honerboys. May you have many miles of trouble-free motoring.
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05-19-2016, 04:37 PM
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1985 Porsche 928s
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Took the old girl (the car, not the wife) on a little road trip this past weekend, around 300 miles or so. She ran great and I even got a "thumbs-up" from a 911 driver. A quick plug for Mother's Quick Detailer which gives a fantastic [after-wash] shine between polishes - smells good too,
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05-24-2016, 07:58 AM
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 4
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Congratulations on getting her back on the road. I'm buttoning up my S3 after six months of the engine on a stand for a burnt exhaust valve and am equal parts excited and nervous about the initial start up. I wasn't as brave as you and didn't touch the bottom end, here are some in progress pics of my work, do you have any to share?
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05-26-2016, 08:02 AM
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Registered
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore Md, USA
Posts: 347
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What size spacers are you using with the Cup II's and what offset are they?
Thanks |
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05-27-2016, 12:18 PM
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1985 Porsche 928s
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Quote:
The original wheels fitted to my car were 7 x 16 ET65 front and rear, so the only change to the fronts were that they were effectively pushed outwards by 10mm. On the rear, I gained 2 inches (50.8mm) overall width. Without the spacers, this would have meant 15.4mm closer to the inner wheel well and 35.4mm closer to the inside of the outer wheel arch. The rear spacers effectively cancel out the width gain on the inside of the wheel meaning that almost all of the 2” width gain is on the outside. Without the spacer, the rear wheel might have rubbed on the inside but I never tried this. Last edited by 5l32v4c; 05-30-2016 at 09:21 AM.. |
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05-30-2016, 09:19 AM
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1985 Porsche 928s
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Quote:
I took a ton of photos along the way and will try to find some way of organizing and sharing them. I took extreme precautions when starting mine for the first time. I did it well away from the house and had buckets of water, wet towels, a hose and a fire extinguisher on stand-by. I had my son looking out for leaks and had the battery exposed for a quick disconnect. We did have some fuel leaks due to me not tightening things properly and some perished injector seals. Good luck man. Tell us how it all goes. |
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05-30-2016, 09:37 AM
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Registered User
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Enjoyed reading about your prespective on the 928. A lot of what you wrote mirror my thoughts exactly, though mine is an 84 and suffers some in the performance area (at least compared to an 85 anyway). Quite the accomplishment, getting a car road worthy after that length of time sitting.
If you ever decide to convert the trans, homerboy could probably offer some good advice. He changed over his 84. Thank you, for sharing your thoughts. Hopefully, your next topic/post will contain some pictures. Brian. |
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06-01-2016, 01:52 AM
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