Houston Appraisal

SolReaver · 11:17 PM

Hey Folks! The Eagle (or rather Shark) has landed! I now have a 1984 928S Project sitting in my Driveway here in Houston. Ohhh Happy Day!!

Now that it is clean and ready for company... I was Wondering if any of you Guru's here in Houston would be so kind as to take a look at it and let me know what they think. Many of you were kind enough to offer while I was looking around. I would appreciate some experienced input. I will be working on it this weekend and probably for many days to come. If you have been watching the Posts or are a member of the Houston PD, you know that I am in SW Houston, Brayswood off of the 610 (ish)

Come meet the new shark on the block.

If you are TRULY old school in the 928 community you may even recognize it as the PO was an original RLer and very active in several owners groups. IOW this shark has a pedigree! I consider it an honor to re kindle the torch that has been handed off to me.

For those of you who do not Live in Houston (don't worry I WON'T hold it against you) I will post pics and observations. I am putting together a to do list, parts list, and prioritizing. Just to let you know TB is a for sure. WP was changed at 40K, she is showing 78K (odo broken) The car is running and driving like a champ, but has been in storage for 5 or more years. I am currently cleaning the connections, relays, etc...all the usual suspects. I drove it 150 miles from Austin...So...I think the "Wake up" is pretty much a done deal.

The back hatch latch is broken and the lock cylinder is buggered....Any suggestions as to how to open the darn thing from the inside? I am a little stumped on this one.

Before you say it...I know...I know driving on a TB that was last done 50K and possibly a decade ago was a bad thing. Maya Culpa, Maya Culpa, Maya Maxima Culpa...May the Porsche gods forgive me my transgressions. I plan on doing much groveling under the vehicle in penance for my sinful ways.

rhjames · rhjames's Garage

sol-

I'd be happy to when I get back into town......currently in WVA for the weekend at least.

see my post about Houston get together (April 4).

hopefully we'll have a bunch of cars/owners to visit with, and you'd (your car) get a good review.

--Russ

SolReaver · 03-06-2009, 11:30 PM

RHJames: yep, Been lurking on that one. I was Hoping to have her all together by then. Luckily, I am starting from an unmolested car that was show worthy before being stored. Who makes a good paint match to "ruby red Metallic"?

Danglerb · 03-07-2009, 12:09 AM

84 TB is no issue, now running a tank of old gas through the injectors, likely did not help.

Replacing all the rubber in the fuel system should be on your short list.

SolReaver · 08:34 PM

Dangerleb: Yes the rubber components are all suspect. Most of the coolant hoses look Ok. The belts are trash. The fuel lines are all original as far as I can see and although they are holding well..Are indeed on the Short list to be replaced in the forthcoming engine refresh. What little gas that was in the car when we got it was drained around the corner at the gas station. The car was then topped off with premium and a half bottle of injector cleaner. The old gas went into the chase vehicle.

Today... I changed the oil and pulled the wheels to clean and inspect. All calipers, rotors, and pads look good. I replaced the locking lugs with standard lugs and cleaned the hec out of everything. The Tires are not surprisingly....junk. What isn't worn is dry rotted. They made it here, which, is admirable, but, I found a deal on 4 new treads for about 3 bills to the door. If the current skins can make it through the next few weeks until the new ones arrive I will have nothing bad to say about em. They did not blow out in the middle of the night halfway between Austin and Houston so, Who am I to complain?

The brake fluid looked good, but I will be replacing it anyway. The leather is on its second round of moisturizing and responding well. The whole car is actually responding well. I get the feeling that it wants to live. The suspension seems to feel better after being lifted up to do the wheel refreshing and brake inspection. I know that these vehicles settle back in after being lifted, but it seems different than that. My best guess is that the suspension settled really far down from sitting all those years and jacking her up give her a chance to "stretch her legs" so to speak. I will test drive her tomorrow and let you all know if the struts and suspension are feeing differently. One of my main concerns is that so far, the suspension feels more like a go cart than a Porsche. I am hoping that the struts fore and aft may come back on their own. In the eventuality that they do not I sprayed the strut hardware with penetrating fluid in case I need to take them out.

I started taking off the C coat on the hood and picked up the closest matching paint I could find to fill in the missing paint on the bumper. The sanding process is really slow as I have opted to start at 800 grit wet. It will take a while to get all the clear coat down with it, but I really don't want to cut into the paint. Underneath, I have located one of the many exhaust rattles and determined that I should probably remove and re hang the exhaust from the Cat back.

The coolant is wayy too thin. I will dump it and get some good stuff when I take apart the coolant system and pull the radiator to do the timing belt.
I still haven't figured out how to get the blasted trunk open with the broken latch and buggered lock.

So far it is pretty much as I expected. A project car with some good potential and I am having all the fun!

MPDano · MPDano's Garage

That's a good analogy about the handling as mine is doing the same. I can feel everything, seems too firm, but mine was down since 2002. Maybe a few more miles and she may wake as yours did.

ice-hot · ice-hot's Garage

Congrat's on your new Shark, now start feeding it $$$'s. I've had a "78", "79" and "82" and they can definetly go on feeding frenzy's! But, I can't imagin not having one! (currentlly feeding a "79" US auto, soon to be manual) You can save alot of time and $ with the shop manuals, if you dont have them, get them! If you can't find the originals buy the CD off ebay and print what your working on. I am a mech. by trade and can guarantee an hour with the manual can save days under the car!
Ok, I've found 2 ways to get in the hatch. One is drill out the lock cylinder, the other is from inside the hatch compartment. I would recomend trying the latter first, (less chance of damage). From inside the hatch compartment pull out the tool tray, from the top it tilts in and then out. Be careful, its molded plastic and the the retaining tabs can break! Now you will see the release motor (if equiped) Remove the two mounting bolts for the motor from the upright mounting gusset and rotate the bracket and motor assembly to gain acess to the operating rod. Pry the plastic retainer from the ball mount on the motor. This rod operates the release mech. for the latch, move it up and down. If this does not open the latch, follow the rod up to the latch mech. the white triangle shaped plastic is the release. Slide a thin peice of metal (an expendible butter knife works well) up the receiver and past the white latch mech. (it will push in) and the hatch should open. If the motor was not present, just start at the last step.
Hope this helps, keep us informed on your progress and good luck!
John

sonett3 · 03-08-2009, 11:59 AM

Who makes a good paint match to "ruby red Metallic"?

BASF or spies hecker

Danglerb · 03-08-2009, 03:00 PM

Take off the gas cap flap cover thing and take it to a paint guy to get a match.

SolReaver · 03-08-2009, 03:42 PM

John: there is a motor and there is a shaft that connects up to the mechanism. I did try pushing up and down. The linkage connecting the lever to the release or something is broken. I tried to slide a thin piece of metal up in to push back the white plastic wedge. It doesn't seem to be happening. There is solid metal in front of the wedge. I cannot get into it. I tried sliding up over the metal and sliding down under it. The project car came with 2 extra latches and I can see what you mean. With either of the latches there is some room above or below to slide something thin in there. The latch that is actually in there seems to have solid metal all the way to the top and well below where the latch goes down into the receiver. Rats. How many latches do they make for these things?

I am thinking of drilling a small hole just through the front metal that is blocking the white wedge and then pushing it back with a small drift or stiff wire. There seems to be about a quarter of an inch gap between the trunk lid and the body to work with. My other thought is to drill out the lock of the latch from outside. I don't like either of these "solutions" so I am going to research what else I can do. There is a lot of devastation to the area already and I would really like a more elegant solution that is not quite so destructive.

Sanding off the bad clearcoat on the hood and re spraying went reasonably well. I don't like what it looks like currently so I might sand it all down again after it dries. There was not a whole lot of paint to work with so there is a bit of variation as to color due to varying degrees of oxidation and thickness.

SolReaver · 03-08-2009, 04:17 PM

from my research I am thinking the latch that is in there and giving me trouble is a 78 or so. It looks like this one.

As you can see...there is a pretty good plate that blocks any attempts to push the latch to release it. This is a really secure car! Of course, it is secure from opening the trunk from the inside. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense when ya think about it. I tried sliding something in from underneath. No go.

Danglerb · 03-08-2009, 04:18 PM

Any chance you could find a key for the hatch? Or have a key made for it?

Does anybody make a pick for the 928 locks?

SolReaver · 03-08-2009, 06:15 PM

Dangerleb: the lock is buggered. The cylinder has been forced. My expertise in lock picking is limited at best and those odd angle security cylinders that Porsche uses make picking pretty difficult for a pro. The latch is from an earlier model and is sitting in an 84 hatch. I got the keys that go with the car. Not he key that fits the lock. However I don't think that would help me given that the cylinder is buggered. The PO changed the latch for some reason. I am afraid that a 78 latch just doesn't work in later models. The later latches allow you to (with difficulty) get something in there and push the white plastic wedge back, allowing the hatch to be opened. The earlier latches (like the one in my hatch) have that nasty plate running the distance. I spent a while with various shims, screwdrivers and a couple of twisted butter knives. There is just no way to slide anything in there that I know of.

I have about a quarter inch to work with between the hatch and the body. I still think my only options involve a drill.

ice-hot · ice-hot's Garage

Hi, The mech. you have pictured is the latch mechanism and the correct part you need to move (the white plastic part). There are only two receivers used in the 928 -- but there are also two latch mechs used. One, is with alarm -- one is without. If you have the one with alarm you may have a harder time with the latch mechanism -- but it can still be done in the same way as previously described. One of the problems you may be encountering is the lid release spring that's located within the receiver (the part mounted into the body is the receiver). This spring puts pressure on the latch mech. and pops the lid up when the latch is released. Try having someone hold down on the lid while you operate the release rod. The release rod is attched to a metal actuator, that may be where you are getting hung up when you try and slide something up to the latch mech. This actuator is held in the receiver by a roll pin. I'm not sure if it can be removed while the receiver is still in the vehicle. (Am not at the shop and that's where cars and parts are). I will try and post a few pictures of the receiver and latch mech. if I can find them to give you a better idea of how they work. The latch mech. with alarm is a little different than the one you have pictured, but still operates and releases the same way. Although, it is possible that the lock cylinder is jammed inside the latch mech. and is not allowing the white plastic latch portion to release, but I've never seen that happen. You seem to have a pretty good understanding of how it works, here is a link to receiver. Good Luck, John How do you post images? http://www.mailordercentral.com/928intl/prodinfo.asp?number=928%20512%20055%2020

SolReaver · 03-08-2009, 07:28 PM

hey hot: I did have my brother pushing down on the hatch while trying to slide something in there to release the white plastic wedge. Nope. the angle on the upper part of the wedge is there to prevent such meddling. I would love to try it from underneath, but, the actuator is in the way. It does have an actuator. The release rod is non functional. It is there and everything and attached to the tiny lever gong into the receiver. Moving the lever does nothing. I think the receiver is broken internally. The receiver screws in from the top and does not come out unless you have the hatch up. The latch is held in with hex socket bolts, so I can't unbolt the latch. BOY! is this thing secure!

SolReaver · 03:47 PM

Hey folks...I just resurrected the XJ6 and it now moves under it's own power. This means that the 928 gets one of the 2 coveted garage spaces. I put it up on jack stands AND ramps (can't be too safe) and did a proper cleaning and inspection. I am also thinking of pulling the front shrouds to peek in at the timing components. The hood insulation was dropping so much junk on the engine that I just put a drop cloth down and scraped it off.

From underneath, I found evidence that some dummy tried jacking in the wrong place. the "rails" are still good, but not pristine as I first thought. The BOGE shocks in the back are probably gone. and there is a link on the passenger rear that is bent slightly. There seems to be a "gouge" in the at end of the passenger frame rail. I have no idea how THAT could have happened and I am guessing some kind of road debris while traveling backwards at a high speed. WTF??? The bolts on the CV's look buggered and I think I should replace em. I may be dropping the tranny anyway because....

The intermittent, annoying sound that I hoped was an exhaust rattle from up close and beneath seems to be coming from the Torque tube. I guess I will have the fun and excitement of doing THAT. I can hardly wait.

It didn't present as a grinding, or marbles rolling around but sounds more like an intermittent pinging... In retrospect it does sound a little like 1 marble....Anyhow once you are under there it gets pretty clear that it is coming from up above the exhaust. I will have to stethoscope the TT or use the screwdriver in the ear thing to be sure. I am thinking of the Kit rather than mailing the whole thing off to be rebuilt. Anyone who has an opinion...well..let me know. In either event I need to be looking around for a good transmission jack.

The trunk now opens. The butter knife, shims and struggling are a stupid idea. Ten minutes with the drill straight through the plate and the deed is done. The mechanism is out now and I will have to switch the cylinders. The interior cleaned up nicely and my brother has been tasked with putting all the back panels in order.

RHJames: Sorry 2 say the 928 just got up there and I am thinking that the refresh/ rebuild will take a bit. Additionally, I might have to run off to CA to take care of a few things so I can't be there. Possibly next time around. However...My Brother will probably be interested and it IS his car as well....I will let him know.

SolReaver · 08:42 PM

The parts from Pelican arrived. I have the TB, replacement belts and spark plugs. It is time to pull the shrouds. I was thinking of sending the radiator out to be rodded while I pull down the front of the engine to do the TB. Drained the coolant and ran the car up to temperature on distilled water only to clean it. Got some gunk out of the system but noting to write home about. There is a lot of coolant in the block. Knowing about those two little bolts makes a difference. Last night and today resolved (with the help of community) what to do with the mismatched rear shock towers.

Danglerb · 04-02-2009, 11:48 PM

Radiator can't be rodded, the passages are flat and deep rectangular cross section, but maybe back flushed? I would not take off the side tanks without good reason like replacing them due to a leak.

I would do the thermostat and all related seals.

SolReaver · 04-08-2009, 07:04 PM

OK, have the Exhaust off and the shields off. The timing belt covers are off of the engine. Funny thing. I had to remove the oil dipstick and the filler tube to get the lower shield off. Upon inspecting the engine after cleaning it some more.. It seems the oil pan gasket is...well...weeping an itsy witsy bit..

. Not a lot mind you, but it does make the lower part of the engine pretty grungy. .The coolant bridge needs to be rebuilt. There is a white powdery residue all inside the coolant system. The cam tower at the rear and the oil pan seem to be "weeping"

. As I will be taking the transmission out AND the TT....Sigh...I was thinking of pulling the motor to just be done with it all. My brother is in favor of the motor pull, but, he is not the one turning the wrenches. I dunno...It does seem like a lot of work. The thing is I am already this far in.....

What do you guys think?

I have the front covers off already. I don't see any other way to do the oil pan and how the heck are you supposed to get to those caps at the rear of the camshafts? Just think how clean I can get the motor and the engine bay!

OK, seriously...How much MORE is it from here? I will have to pull the spider and the Trans and TT are already slated to come out. IS it worth the aggrivation? AND what more could I possibly need to do? I mean is this it? No more surprises? Does it get any deeper in than this? The WYAIT are getting a bit much, I am just hoping that I am running out of "THERE" to be in.

Danglerb · 04-08-2009, 11:54 PM

I'm of two minds, one side is drive it until you have to go in, then pull the motor, and the other is pull it and make the car right day one.

WYAIT can be as big as you want, but the essential list is pretty long to start with.

Slippery slope, I decided that every 20+ year old 928 motor should be fully disassembled, hot tanked or whatever to get it really clean and get new bearings, rings, gaskets, etc. Since that is a big job, I've also kind of decided nothing but Euro hybrid motors are going back once I take the old motor out. Oddly that leads back to drive it as is until you have to open it up, or you have the new motor finished and ready to drop in as a replacement.