[Addlight]

Extra credit to anyone who can guess what job I am currently halfway through.

Some hints: I am replacing a part that commonly fails, and I believe it is the same part for all years.

[worf]

First thought was attaching a/c hose to low-side port.

But, that ain’t it.

[N_Jay]

I was going to say "bathing a cat"

[Zirconocene]

Power steering hose (high pressure)?

[Addlight]

No correct guesses yet, and no animals were harmed or harmed me during this job.

This is sort of a trick question because there many jobs on a 928 that end up this way, but I will add another hint: it is not in the engine bay.

Matt

[worf]

This is sort of a trick question because there many jobs on a 928 that end up this way, but I will add another hint: it is not in the engine bay.

I’m going to guess either front shift rod ball cup or rear shift linkage at the transaxle. But, I don’t recall those jobs biting me as badly.

@Zirconocene H/P hose at pump was a damn good guess.

When prepping a motor for pulling I have additional non-WSM steps that result in my arms being worse for wear, but that’s not operative in this context.

[Addlight]

The answer is: door handle hinge. Driver side.

Part of my scrapes can be attributed to this being my first time doing it, another part being I am 6'5" with correspondingly large hands.

It's not a technically difficult job. It's a pain in the ass because of lack of space and the angles of access. And all the damn washers that fall off the bolts and studs and disappear into the door cavity.

One tip for anyone doing this in the future: DO NOT REMOVE the 13MM bolt that holds the backside of the security shield. Just loosen it enough to slide the shield free. I learned this hard way and spent 30 minutes trying to blindly move the crash bar and the the mount 1 mm this way and that so I could reinsert the bolt. I ended up having to file a slight taper into the end of the bolt.

I may start entering and exiting the car Dukes of Hazzard style so as to never have to replace a door hinge again.

Matt

[Crumpler]

In contrast, I have a buddy that looks like this trying to change spark plugs on his 997. That would be maddening to not be able to get to anything, ever.

[Addlight]

It's nice to know there is a car with tighter packaging than the S3. Before my 86.5, my experience with old cars were 60s Fords, where I could reach everything on a big block, or stand in the enginge bay alongside a straight six.

[worf]

DO NOT REMOVE the 13MM bolt that holds the backside of the security shield. Just loosen it enough to slide the shield free.

Rookie mistake. A priceless experience. Right of passage.

You are officially a 928 technician now.

No… seriously: that experience will stick in your brain and will cause you to reevaluate which things to remove versus loosen. Or leave the fuck alone!

Of course the real question is: were you man enough to put the security shield back in? Or is it in a box?

[Addlight]

I am proud to say that everything is back in place, including the security shield. (There were moments where I considered getting rid of it and wondering when someone was going to try to jimmy the lock on a 5-speed 928 with a dogleg). I also realized too late that I could just put some tape over a wiring clip inside the door that was the cause of most of my scratches.

Question for those who have done this job: did you disconnect the door lock actuator and move it out of the way or leave it in situ? I didn't want to go down that rabbit hole, so worked around it. Not sure if that's the right answer, though.

All told, it was about 3.5 hours. A half for door panel R&R, two hours of dropping washers and lowering and raising the window to retrieve them, and an hour for the actual hinge R&R.

Matt

[worf]

I am proud to say that everything is back in place, including the security shield.

Question for those who have done this job: did you disconnect the door lock actuator and move it out of the way or leave it in situ?

There are many 928 jobs I’ve done so many times - like Timing Belt service - for which I can recite the optimized task flow and each tool required from memory.

But that’s not one of them.

I’ve done it several times, but not enough to have committed it to memory. Except for that 13mm bolt. Last time I did it was several years ago.

Folks with high-mileage 928s (~125k+) and no records for previous replacement for the driver’s side should probably get that inner handle “in stock” and plan to replace it next time the door panel is removed. I suspect that we are at the end of the lifetime fatigue bell curve for that part (on the driver’s side) and that failure rates will soon be spiking.

[Zirconocene]

Apologies in advance for being obtuse but...

Can you tell me which parts you're talking about in the door? I've set a goal for myself to get my project GT put back together and I'm starting with the doors. To this point I was thinking that I would tackle the window bits (guides mostly) as the most important WYAIT (along with general protection of the door cards themselves, and new vapor barrier). Now it seems there's another system I should be worrying about while I have full access.

Any info would be greatly appreciated. I have PET open right now and can't really discern what I should be worried about.

Cheers

[worf]

928 537 063 04 is what you’re worried about.

928 537 333 03 (04 if ‘89+) is the part you wish never existed and presents the ‘are you a real 928 mechanic?’ test.

There’s a bunch of stuff to worry about in the doors.

Number #1 worry is: what’s not right here because someone else messed it up?

After that in no particular order:
window gaskets
scraper felts
window guide wear
corrosion on motor terminals
motor wear
door stay
harness covering where harness flexes getting hard, shattering and turning into a knife.
door end light
vapor barrier
brittle cracked plastic for the screws on the “handle piece” from over-tightening and/or fatigue
inner door handle (928 537 063 04)

Stan can probably think of more.

[worf]

Oh, and all the little black/white door card retainers…

[Addlight]

Apologies in advance for being obtuse but...

Can you tell me which parts you're talking about in the door?

On this particular job, I replaced the internal door handle hinge (928.537.063.04) that connects inside the door to the external door handle. It is sandwiched between a security shield (928.537.333.03 - meant to prevent the door lock from being jimmied) and the exterior door panel right behind the exterior handle.

The hinge seems to be made of pot metal that fatigues over time and breaks, leaving the exterior handle useless.
This job is a royal pain because you do not have direct access to the hinge due to the door lock actuator and the door construction. So, you are working in a few inch cavity without being able to see clearly where the bolts and nuts are and with no room for anything but a box or open-ended wrench. A small LED worklight is a blessing. If you have one with a magnetic base to mount to the crash bar or to drop in the cavity to shine up on the job, even better.

If you've never had the door panels off, there are other jobs to either do or parts to examine. This echoes what Dave said in his list, but here is what I can think of:

- clean electrical contacts for the remote mirror, speakers and lights.
- inspect/replace window felts.
- lube window guide tube and inspect/replace window guides (if you're window rattles when halfway down, worn guides are a likely reason).
- clean the window motor including the brushes/armature.
- inspect/replace marker light in door end, and inspect/replace the connector.
- replace all the broken clips in the door panel.
- inspect the arm rest mount and repair if it is cracked/broken at the hinges where the arm rest swings out. A plastic epoxy MAY work.
- check the vinyl in the door pocket and reglue if needed.
- Replace the inner window seal (if you're a Rockefeller).
- Cllean debris out of the door cavity.
- Get a plastic shower curtain, cut it to size and with holes in the appropriate places for fasteners and the door handle, and seal it to the interior door construction to replace the one you removed when all your work is done.

I'm sure there is more, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.

Matt