nathan1

I am a 30 year Porsche fanatic and have owned just about every Porsche made, from 356 thru late model Porsche, even a Cayenne, however I had never owned a 928. For whatever reason they just never really captured me, but that changed not quite a year ago where I was bit HARD by the desire to find an all original OB 78-79 928. After hunting everywhere for just the right example, I found one less than 2 miles from my house! Here is what I found:

• 1979 928 12/78 build
• HellBlau Metallic on Black partial leather
• Options: Full power seats left and right, Limited slip, right hand mirror
• 100% original right down to the Porsche CR radio
• 2 owners from new, most recent owners purchased the car in 1986 when it had 86k miles, It had ~94k miles on it when I bought it.
• Sold new here in Seattle and has always been local.
• Amazingly complete right down to the original bulb box, spare timing belts, rear cargo cover/luggage net, all original keys including the rear seat compartment.

So that is the good news.... The bad news is that it had travelled just 8,000 miles in 35 years so I KNEW I was in for a period of major sorting. The previous owners luckily carefully stored it inside but would just drive it around the block every few months, so not ideal. The initial issue was that the clutch pedal was sitting on the floor and the battery was dead. So the initial work to make it drivable was pretty simple:

• Installed new battery
• Installed new clutch slave cylinder

Luckily the car started right up and seemed to run well. I tested all the various accessories and believe it or not EVERYTHING worked including the AC blowing ice cold and the cruise control! Subsequently a few items have given me some challenges, but more on that later... So I figured lets do the initial service items to include:

• Timing belt and rollers (water pump looked fairly recent oddly enough)
• Replaced every fluid/filter in the car
• Replaced every fuel line
• Bypassed the in-tank fuel pump and replaced the external pump.
• Replaced the fuel accumulator (was hard to start when hot, cured now!)
• Replaced all the various cooling hoses
• All new tune up parts (plugs, cap and rotor, etc)
• All new drive belts
• Cleaned and made dash dimmer rheostat functional, replaced all dash bulbs (amazingly all the cluster light tubes were like new)
• Replaced both power window switches
• New alternator (old one wasn't charging hence the dead battery)
• Fixed minor leaks at the cam towers
• Refinished all 4 original phone dials and installed 4 new Continental Extreme Contacts (wanted the new Pirelli P7 classics, but couldn't stomach the price vs. the Conti's.... maybe down the road)

Once I got that all done I endeavored to put some miles on it, I figured more stuff would break/leak/rear its ugly head....I wasn't disappointed.... It was running beautifully until about 200 miles in it simply started refusing to idle, the AC would simply run on one temperature (INSANELY cold) then freeze up the evaporator and the shifter started vibrating something fierce.... Next round:

• Clean and remedy some minor vacuum leaks in EGR system, now idling well
• New AC evaporator freeze sensor
• New shifter bushings (originals literally just fell apart), shifting great now.

Ok, back on the road again.... 200 miles later she was running like a charm until suddenly she simply wouldn't rev above 3,000 rpm and had NO power.... So I figured out the original Catalytic converter had come apart and was blocking almost all exhaust gases. I tried to find an OE cat, to no avail so I simply gutted the factory cat, reinstalled and all the power was restored. Works fine except I don't care for the sound on high rpm decel. Still looking for a cat....

Jumped in it again and was feeling very confident this time, all was well until I approached a stop sign and the brakes literally fell to the floor and no amount of pumping would bring braking beyond about 10%. Luckily nobody was in front of me....

• Install new brake master cylinder
• Install new clutch mast cylinder

So the good news is that with each drive the issues have gotten smaller and smaller. Little things along the way such as:

• Replaced the mirror crossover switch
• Replaced a missing windshield trim piece which was causing an annoying windshield vibration over 70 mph.
• Clean door contact switches, now interior lights work consistently
• Clean and service drivers door lock, was a little sticky, now works like new.
• Sourced a NOS service book as mine was missing.
• Sourced an original owners manual, 78 car of the year sticker and the jump post cover from Jim at 928Classics, thanks Jim!

So all that and I just completed a 400 mile trip and she runs/drives like new. What an amazingly automobile. Cruises with little effort, is supremely comfortable and handles the twisties like a true Porsche. She will also pull her original indicated top speed....

So the journey continues, on the list to complete:

• New thermostat (now that it is winter I noticed she runs too cool)
• Rebuild/replace the power antenna
• Replace engine sound pad
• Install new Intake Manifold crest
• Restitch original steering wheel
• Recreate the original rear luggage cover (does anyone make a very correct one?) as it is sun faded.
• Lower front ride height (still figuring out the path I want to take here) as it sits way too high in the front. I don't want it low, but want it even. I will follow that up with a corner balance and alignment.
• Refinish the lower rocker stone guard as it is showing its age.
• Paintless dent repair a few minor dings
• Paint correction and detail
• Install ROW 8" headlights (so sexy!)
• Starter? Every ~25 starts it makes a horrible grinding noise or you just hear a click. Turn the key again and it seems to work fine.... I head the "new" starters are junk, so I likely will pull this and have a local 80 year old who is a master rebuilder go thru it.

So if you have read all the way thru this post, the key learning is that 928's DO NOT like to sit! Be prepared for an extended period of sorting out when taking a car that has acummulated very few miles in the recent past. My car appeared to be in exceptional condition and was always carefully stored, but I wasn't naive enough to think this wasn't going to be the path! The good news is that I have enjoyed the journey so far and I have been rewarded as the car just seems to get better with each passing mile. I am far from done, but my goal is to be able to drive it to Porsche Parade 2022 from Seattle to the Poconos, ~5,000 miles round trip! Fingers crossed!

This seems to be the 928's happy zone.... Utterly composed and comfortable at speed....

Bertrand Daoust

Wow!

Beautiful car and great story.
Keep up the good work and enjoy her as much as you can.
You deserve it for sure!

drooman

Nice find and revival efforts…love the hellblau.

Instigator56

Why did you have to bypass the internal fuel pump? Does anyone know why the car needs TWO fuel pumps?

nathan1

The internal fuel pump wasn't working and after talking to a bunch of other 928 enthusiasts nobody could give me a good reason to use both pumps as they seemingly work fine with just the external pump and replacing the in-tank pump with just a filter. There was some discussion about maybe vapor lock in hot climates, but I couldn't find a good answer, maybe a true 928 expert can weigh in.

Instigator56

The reason I ask is b/c I had to replace the internal and external fuel pumps on my 89 S4. I may have to do some Rennlist deep diving to see if an answer can be found.

I'm impressed with your find and I will try to keep up as you continue your journey....

Also, wrt ride height, don't go too low--remember your alternator and A/C compressor sit pretty low in the front. I think the rule of thumb for ride height is about 170mm. Does your car have adjustable suspension?

Moreover, you may want to add "Replace ODO gears" to your long-term list; I hear that they can get brittle over time causing hour ODO not to work even though the SPEEDO does. No one want to list their car as TMU (True Mileage Unknown) in a future sales post if it can be avoided...

RennHarry

Simply gorgeous. Looks like she found the right, enthusiastic owner for her next chapter.
Cheers

Jadz928

That is the happy zone for sure! Any cruise speed around 3500-4000rpm sounds perfect. 3rd gear @ 40mph, 4th gear up to 120mph. Good stuff!
Love the perfectly broke in steering wheel and shift ****.
Thanks for sharing your story, Nathan. Best wishes for your trip east to the Parade.

79NINE28

Absolutely splendid car! I hope to return my 79 back to its factory paint Helblau next year. Thx for sharing your shark.

DeWolf

Very nice. All these early cars here are killing me. I'm still 12 months or more from finishing mine.

How about a decent length video of it doing what that V8 does best.

79NINE28

PS can you share some interior pics both front and rear if you have some? It will help me compare mine and help with sorting out what i need to consider. PPS my 79 was delivered in Oct of 1978 and is an early vin. Love these OB's so clean and refined!

hlee96

Great story and pictures!
Thank you for sharing your story and the beauty of this particular car!

PF

What a great story and beautiful car!

I am in a similar situation with a 1979 manual Moccaschwartz car. I hope to get it were you have yours.

Keep up the good work!
Greetings from Sweden

Landseer

A light blue one like that was the very first I'd ever seen. So beautiful.

On list, as you look at ride height, might be prudent to put a magnet on lower ball joint carrier. You want the carrier to be porsche-upgraded steel instead of original aluminum.

karl ruiter

Lovely. Good that you went into it with the right expectations. Car parts just break down with time and if a car has not been driven in a long time there are always a whole lot of parts just about to fail. But it can be worked through. It takes some courage, an valid AAA card and some faith.