Advice for a 928 Newbie

No way Austin...you are WAY, WAY to high! I bet it is less than 50%! I know of way less than half of the Austin 928's are maintained by their owners and we have some really capable owners and shops in town...

pcar928fan;4522 wrote: No way Austin...you are WAY, WAY to high! I bet it is less than 50%! I know of way less than half of the Austin 928's are maintained by their owners and we have some really capable owners and shops in town...

I imagine things are a bit different in TX with such a high number of 928s being located there. There are folks down there who have figured out they can still make money working on old 928s... people like Sean, for example. You'd be up the creek in Nashville. The only "928 mechanic" this town ever had committed suicide a long time ago. No kidding.

I'd bet you'd be surprised by how many 928s, nationwide, are maintained solely by their owners, James. It would be neat to know the exact figure.

Thank you all for the input!

I did find a local shop that knows how to work on 928s. 928s aren't that uncommon in the Seattle/Bellevue area. Sometimes you wonder how many Porsches you can squeeze into a parking lot in Seattle Working on it on my own isn't really an option as I live in an apartment.

At this point, I am most worried about the transmission. At 150k, it will need a rebuild pretty soon. Shifting into first feels awkward. Is this a sign that the tranny is on its way out? How much would a rebuild cost?

I've spent $15k on the car already. For a 85' Manual with 150K, current belt, new water pump, new radiator, excellent exterior and decent interior. It is a really hard decision to make, but How much can I expect to fetch if I do decide to part with it?

I mean the shifting to first is awkward in that I have to bring the shifter all the way to the left to the point of running out of space, and then it would take way too much effort to engage the gear. Sometimes it would not engage at all. 3rd gear is also problematic - I feel like I'm fiddling in the dark to find the right gate, but I've learned to deal with that.

You could just have a linkage issue with the transmission, it is a common problem. If you don't have grinding of gears, then the transmission might be fine, and an '85 should have the upgrade synchros.

While you may not do the work yourself, it is good to understand the issue and therefore the possible causes. Here is one search result that might help: www.928intl.com/tips/artcl_04.html

P.S. You don't want to know what I would pay for an '85 with suspect transmission

I had the same problem with my 87 5speed. I thought was the shifter ball cup but as I removed the old shifterhandle to replace theshift rod ,I found that the C-clips that hold the rod to the linkage were missing. Insulating foam from the surround had jammed into the springs and caused the sloppy shifting. To check will require 5 min. Pull up hard on the shift knob to remove it. Remove the rubber boot and this will expose the shifter rod. Pictures and stepby step instructions are at 928 international site for short shifter install. Very easy to doand no tools required. You can tell right away if something is broken or as in my case missing.