French 1978 928 5 speed: rolling resto

[Bootsy]

You’re still smiling the other side of all of that - that takes some strength!

Good to have your ramblings back on here

[Sam]

f*** yeah - changes! Embrace the shite out of all of it. Mid life stagnation sucks balls just as much as a beardy-cunted shake up, and its low-level nagging misery lasts way longer than any divorce. Reliability is the enemy of adventure, said a wise man’s signature on DDK once.

Come to Le Mans classic. But not on that hipster bike, that would be exhausting.

[anglophone1]

f*** yeah - changes! Embrace the shite out of all of it. Mid life stagnation sucks balls just as much as a beardy-cunted shake up, and its low-level nagging misery lasts way longer than any divorce. Reliability is the enemy of adventure, said a wise man’s signature on DDK once.

Come to Le Mans classic. But not on that hipster bike, that would be exhausting.

Absolutely right- this is not a life rehearsal - it’s it - so make sure you have a good one!

Come to LMC in anything you can- why not the 911 behind the bike?

But do come- and enjoy!

C

[misteralz]

Good to see you back here Jonny, although sorry to hear about all the shite. +1 on all the come to CLM comments above.

[Gary71]

Welcome back Johnny,

They say a man has two lives; the first then the second when he realises he only has one.

Time for part two

[hot66]

Great to see you posting again Johnny … and yes, we have a place waiting for you at CLM

[jtparr]

Wouldn’t be the same without you Johnny…..CLM beckons……

[Burma-Shave]

Thanks so much chaps for the nice words. In hard times for so many I am living a charmed life of course, but I am lucky to have such enduring buddies here too. Re CLM, would be ace. I probably won't be able to sort work in time, but will have a look.

[misteralz]

If you do, please bring some Innis and Gunn over? I'll swap you for some Texel Speciaalbier!

[Burma-Shave]

If you do, please bring some Innis and Gunn over? I'll swap you for some Texel Speciaalbier!

You're on Al! Although sadly CLM is looking on a shuggly peg for me leave-wise.

Texel looks like an interesting brewery, a Dutch island that is all about beer and sheep. Ideally, I guess, in that order. Don't fancy the Skuumkoppe much though.

OK, so the resto-spective starts with getting the 928 registered. I've used the NOVA scheme twice now and it is a funny mixture of beaurocratic and arcane. Or maybe seems like it is going to be wayyy more complicated than it is, particularly if you are registering a standard model. It was much quicker this time compared with the SC.

So it was fine, and also as humans are involved, I asked in my covering letter for an interesting plate, and/or an S suffix, which is cool-as in the early 928 world. I got one of my wishes I guess.

[Bootsy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqMNC_RzOsI

[Bootsy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AckvdGbk4w

[Burma-Shave]

Thank you Thomas, for that chilling glimpse into your youtube playlist.

Ok, so, what's next?

Now it was starting and registered, I think I did the comedy gearshift next. You may recall that it had ludicrous amounts of play. Selecting reverse was like casting a salmon fly on the Spey, but without the midges.

Straightforwardly, there is a T connector between the shift lever and box, which is famous for the rubber bushing failing. In my case, the rubber bushing had not only failed, it had left the country and set up a new life.



So, I tapped out the T piece with a punch and heat, new rubber, T piece back in place, and the gearshift was back in the room.







Fitted a generic track rod end boot over it to protect from dust, that was it. Easy. Next!

[Burma-Shave]

Talking of gearshifts, the other emergency fix was replacing the ghastly wooden knob with stock.

Could I find a stock manual 928 gearknob? No I couldn't. For ages. Then one came up, and I overpaid for it, because I am an impatient idiot.

When replacing it I noted with interest that the shift lever has been shortened, at some point, by an evil Frenchie. Ah well, now its more sporty.

This



via this



to this



Note that the shift boot frame is missing - it is broken and waiting for a replacement to come up somewhere. Fat chance.

[Burma-Shave]

..for reference, the original gearshift is quite a tall thing, a delight for passing children.



Anyway, the next satisfying fix came courtesy of eBay once again. The car had key and lock issues, which included:

- Ignition key dubious.. seemed shortened and filed, and was removeable whilst leaving the engine running. Lolz.
- The key operated the drivers door only
- Locking gas cap not applicable (locking section had been sawn off )
- Key doesn't work in the glove box (rendering my G19, Charlie, and Cutler and Grosses unacceptably vulnerable)
- Key doesn't lock rear hatch, because entire rear hatch mechanism absent and replaced by cursory insertion of what appears to be a French chrome-plated kitchen fitting of some sort. Not so much an interference fit, more of a loosey-loosey drop it in fit.

This was why from purchase, the hatch was only closed because of its own weight. At slow speeds it bounced open and shut, and at autoroute speeds the wrong-for-year spoilerrr forced it closed, thankfully.

So this was only find of the bloody year: A Key with matching ignition, glovebox, both door barrels, and full hatch latch mechanism with lock. The fuel cap would have to wait (they can be re-keyed anyway)



The set is obviously from a later car, as the key has one of those always-hopeless pushy-light doofers which I don't think were a thing in 78. And also the door barrels needed a little tickle with the grinder to get them to fit. But fit they did

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The glovebox was easy, two bolts.



And at the stern, from this



via this



to this



Unfortunately, even with a new catch, the hatch rattled like a crazy thing when driven, prompting me to realise that there was still a bit missing. And when the missing bit was replaced, it made everything lovely.





Sorted. All that was needed now, was an appropriate keyfob. A souvenir from that hot, stressful day in the South of France.