Car's been sitting for 10 years. Showing progress.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thio
  • 49 comments
  • 2,040 views
Thio

Thio

Messages
3,422
My dad's got a car sitting in the garage for the past 10 years and now he wants to bring it back to life. The thing is though, he doesn't want to ruin the motor. Is there a special way of starting cars this long? Obviously, we need to change the battery, but it's a rare car. I just don't want to wreck this one :sad:

Any suggestions?
 
If you and your dad are mechanically knowledgeable you need to:
A. Change the oil and filter.
B. Attach and electric drill to the oil pump
C. Spin oil pump motor for a full two minutes to circulate oil so you don't have metal on metal friction.
D. Start motor.
You may also want to ensure that spark-plug and distributor wires are in good shape.
If its a pre-1970 mocel car. Do all the tune up stuff incuding replaceing the rotor and setting the points.
Also ensure that all fittings to the carbuerator are intact and not leaking.
On start-up one of you need to be ready with a fire extinguisher, just in case, things go bad.
 
Another way to do it is to pull all the spark plugs and squirt a pump or two of oil into each cylinder. Depending on the engine layout, with the plugs out you should be able to hand-turn the engine with a 1/2" drive breaker bar on the pulley end of the crank shaft. This will also operate the oil pump.

Definitely change the oil and filter and plugs. If it has a distributor cap, pull that off and make sure the contacts are clean.

If it's carbeurated, you'll want a can of starting ether on hand, but use it sparingly. And like Gil said, keep an extinguisher handy.
 
Well here is a tip after you restore it. A car's engine shouldnt sit still for too long (months and months) or the oil will drip out of the engine. My dad runs the engines of all of his cars at least twice a month (or takes them out for a nice drive, get to see lots of people). There is just something about an old car that makes you feel warm and want to smile. People wave at you, older people come and tell stories of when they were young and had/raced one of them. Its alot of fun...
 
Don't go into shock:

1978 Porsche 928 with a double clutch and a racing-style transmission. 1st gear is closest to the body.
 
Thanks for the tips! I'll see what I can do with it. Right now, that poor machine's sitting doing nothing, and my dad says I can work on it :D but if I bust the so-called "project" then I won't drive :(

It's inevitable though :)
 
Unfortunatly, every piece of rubber and gasket material has become brittle and will either leak or come apart. All of the suggestions above are good ones. You will also end up replacing all of your brake components. Brake fluid is very corrosive, it is hydroscopic, which means it absorbs moisture from the air. It will most likly end up to be a full restoration project. Ten years is a very long time.Gasoline starts to lose it's potencxy after about 45 days. it also tends to form a varnish type of coating on everything in the fuel system after about a year.I think you have a major project on your hands, but if you have the right service manuals handy, some money, and the time, it could turn out to be a real gem. There are many, many porsche part web sites, I'm sure you'll find everything you'll need. If it's worth doing then it's worth doing it right. Good Luck.
 
Another thing to keep in mind with the 928, is that even under "normal" circumstances it is quite hard on clutches.
If your clutch has more than 10,000 miles on it, it will need replacing very soon.
Having been clutchless in two different cars, I can tell you that it sucks bad.
 
What do you mean? Do you mean on how long it sat in the garage? If so, then we need to replace that also :(
 
Okay. First of all, do you know what car this is? If you don't, I suggest you to go to google.com and start researching about this car. This car was the first car to ever be nominated as the car of the year on road and track. Do you know how prestigious that is? And that was back in the 1980's. Geez, you really got me started :mad:
 
Originally posted by Thio
Okay. First of all, do you know what car this is? If you don't, I suggest you to go to google.com and start researching about this car. This car was the first car to ever be nominated as the car of the year on road and track. Do you know how prestigious that is? And that was back in the 1980's. Geez, you really got me started :mad:
Click to expand...

But hee probly wanhs u 2 sell da stoopid eurpean car an by a HonDa1!1!
 
argh. I bet my Porsche can beat his tricked out civic! geez ... even with it's old tech, 16-valve. I can't wait to bring it back to life :D With all of these things on my checklist, it's gonna take a while *sigh*
 
Originally posted by Thio
argh. I bet my Porsche can beat his tricked out civic! geez ... even with it's old tech, 16-valve. I can't wait to bring it back to life :D With all of these things on my checklist, it's gonna take a while *sigh*
Click to expand...

Good things take time, and when you're driving around in your mechanically sound Porsche, you'll thank the fact that you didn't rush it.
 
Yeah. You're right about that. That principle applies to everything in life IMO because once you go slow, then later on it'll be like a reflex. I should post pictures of the projects when we start. It's a good project :)
 
Its alot of fun to restore cars. Helped my dad with a few. Lots of fun and you really get to see how the car works. Then the feeling and sense of accomplishment of knowing, you practically built a car and it runs and looks great. Kind of like a trophy, but you can ride around in it :lol:...
 
you dont have an idea of how much I envy you right now. you and your dad are going to restore a damned racy porsche 928. damn. you are LUCKY. I wich I could do that with my dad... even to an old VW. it should be pretty rewarding man. and all the tips given are good ones. Id also check every electrical component on the car before starting it up. every wire, everything, even to lights and stuff like that. electricals are a pain, and you dont want to set the car on fire @.@

restore the thing. it is a helluva project.

Cano

lucky! one day I WILL build something with my son. I swear ¬¬
 
im restoring a 1971 HOLDEN HG MONARO GTS 350 with my dad........the most fun ive ever had (most of the time):)
 
Originally posted by Thio
What do you mean? Do you mean on how long it sat in the garage? If so, then we need to replace that also :(
Click to expand...

Actually, There was a time not too far in the past when Road & Track magazine did a "Used Car Classic" piece on the 928.
I remember reading that the manual tranny cars, were extremely hard on clutches.
If you already have a stronger aftermarket clutch in there you may not have any problems at all. It's just something to be aware of. I've had clutches go out on my twice. It was never close to home when it happened. One of them gave no warning at all, in fact, it had been recently replaced.
I was suspicious of the clutch in the other car, and had been for a couple of weeks.
Luckily, we were in a place that had parts availabilty for my car.
If we'd been at home when it went out, it would have been at least two weeks before a clutch would have been available. Worse, it was the state the cars were built in.

For the Record. the Porsche is/was the best of the water-cooled Porsches. It didn't sell as well as it should have due to all the "rear-engine purists" not accepting the car as a "real" Porsche.

For a good laugh you might rent the movie "Risky Business" with Tom Cruise. A 928 is featured prominently in the film.:D
 
I'll take a look into that movie Gil. As of today, I've seen about 3 928s on the road. lolz, one of them was racing against a Camaro on the freeway. It was fun to watch, even for 20 seconds as they disappeared into the horizon. Guess who was in the lead :p

Gil, the clutch is a dual clutch aftermarket, so it may last a little bit longer, but I still think it needs replacing after what my dad did to it before it sat in the garage:irked:

As for the project, we might start on it tomorrow during the day. It depends if Kragen opens tomorrow and if we can find the right tools to crank the engine :)
 
Originally posted by Cano
you dont have an idea of how much I envy you right now. you and your dad are going to restore a damned racy porsche 928. damn. you are LUCKY. I wich I could do that with my dad... even to an old VW. it should be pretty rewarding man. and all the tips given are good ones. Id also check every electrical component on the car before starting it up. every wire, everything, even to lights and stuff like that. electricals are a pain, and you dont want to set the car on fire @.@

restore the thing. it is a helluva project.

Cano

lucky! one day I WILL build something with my son. I swear ¬¬
Click to expand...

I'm sorry about making you envious. That's why I didn't put the name of the car in the first post :(

I wish you luck on working on a car with your son. You can probably teach him how to replace spark plugs in a car or how to change oil ;)

Actually, my dad is letting me do all of this myself :eek: He's just going to stand next to me and watch what I do so I won't mess it up :p
 
Originally posted by Gil
Actually, There was a time not too far in the past when Road & Track magazine did a "Used Car Classic" piece on the 928.
I remember reading that the manual tranny cars, were extremely hard on clutches.
If you already have a stronger aftermarket clutch in there you may not have any problems at all. It's just something to be aware of. I've had clutches go out on my twice. It was never close to home when it happened. One of them gave no warning at all, in fact, it had been recently replaced.
I was suspicious of the clutch in the other car, and had been for a couple of weeks.
Luckily, we were in a place that had parts availabilty for my car.
If we'd been at home when it went out, it would have been at least two weeks before a clutch would have been available. Worse, it was the state the cars were built in.

For the Record. the Porsche is/was the best of the water-cooled Porsches. It didn't sell as well as it should have due to all the "rear-engine purists" not accepting the car as a "real" Porsche.

For a good laugh you might rent the movie "Risky Business" with Tom Cruise. A 928 is featured prominently in the film.:D
Click to expand...

Man, that must of sucked. Especially when you weren't close to home :( I hope that doesn't happen to me when I start driving. So what precautions are you taking in order not to blow out another clutch?
 
Imagine being a large black man travelling thru the hills of west Tennessee with a white woman and two mixed race babies at 4-5am when the clutch goes out.:eek:
After all the stuff that people kept saying about "Southern Hospitality" the guy that stopped to help us was from Maryland.
Plus, the first tow truck that came had this skinny, toothless, little redneck dude. The truck itself was about 15 years old, and not equipped to tow a front driver...Thankfully, a more modern tow truck was called by the Highway Patrolman that showed up. The guy from Maryland went on ahead and called my folks, and he came back to let us know that he had and to make sure we were okay. We were only stuck for about an hour. But is was one of the longest hours of my life.:lol:
As for precautions:
After each shift take your foot fully off of the clutch.
For normal driving don't downshift when coming to a stop, just use brake and clutch. (I confess, I don't do this faithfully). It's cheaper and easier to service the brakes, than to service/replace the clutch.
Also, don't ride down the road with your hand resting on the shifter, it wears out the throwout bearing.
 

Latest Posts

Back