gjm

Thanks Cheyne.

Very fair. I work on old Mercs, and old Porsches. Not for a living, but because I am an incorrigible masochist. I do it for fun (and occasionally for reimbursement.) I love the old cars, and the engineering. My ex-landlord had a 1973 Porsche 911 that had been fitted with an early 80s 3.0 NA engine. I agreed to do some work on it, with the proviso that he understood anything extra I found, and showed him, would need to be sorted too. Paid off 6 months worth of rent, and (commercially, based on an hourly rate) I was very, very cheap. Bloody good job when I'd finished though - I was very pleased, and so was he. Old Mercs are great cars. Unfortunately many have been (previously) owned by people less than interested in doing a job properly. I think they are worth the investment of biting the bullet and sorting things, but I enjoy the process as much as the result.

The R107s are pretty straightforward to work on, but looking for a knowledgeable specialist is fair enough. Yup Glenn does MBs, too. Peter Gawn is ex-Coutts and runs Motor Service in Mt Wellington. I've no personal experience of him, but as he also works on BMWs and Mercedes, perhaps someone here knows more.

Here.

Mine too.

I'm assuming a worst case scenario with no paperwork or providence. In which case, I suspect it'll be good for spares or track, but not much more. I'd like to be proved wrong! However, I've not had much communication with the seller, yet. Obviously I will, long before any sort of deal is struck. It could turn out to be a case of 'I imported it, but was offered a better car [maybe a RHD?] while I was waiting, and never got around to registering it' story. I know that's happened before. Getting back to basics, let's assume it can be shown to be a private import (say) 4 years ago, and that paperwork is available. Is there any reason anyone can think of why it couldn't be registered here, under those circumstances?

It's been here a little while. I know some history, just not enough (yet). Yes - I too think it would be worth more if registered. I'll be treading carefully. Hence questions here, but I'll back them up by speaking to someone who does this sort of thing officially. I also recall the bit about how a car must be over 20 years old at the time of import, and not at the time of first registration in NZ. This one was built in 1983, so unless it's been here for over 10 years, that shouldn't be a problem.

It's a European-manufactured car (I think!)... Shhh... A Porsche 928. So it is at least a little out of the ordinary. As I said, I know there are LHD models around. I'm just unsure how easy (or difficult/impossible) it would be for someone who didn't personally import it, to get it registered and so on.

I'm hoping this is a straightforward question... I've been offered a car I would very much like. It is over 25 years old, is in NZ, and is identical in every way (other than steering wheel position) to the same model which was sold new here. This car has been here for a while. I don't know how long exactly, or even who imported it. I can find out - there is a paper trail. Question is... Can I register it for use on the road in NZ? I know there are other similar cars, also in LHD, registered and driven here. The issue I can see is proving ownership, but other than that...? Anyone know anything about this? NZTA are, of course, entirely happy to point me to their online resources which I've read, but which don't seem to make it particularly clear.

We had a 147. Gorgeous - black with tan leather. Bought ex-dem, serviced regularly, never gave any problems. A friend in London had a 156 he couldn't kill. He tried. My only other experience is with Alfas from the 70s and 80s. They had their own problems of course, but as usual - look after them properly and they're not so bad.

If your car was manufactured with fixed height suspension, and you fit anything which allows you to alter the ride height, then I think your car needs to have this modification certified. That probably also goes for any suspension mods which aren't adjustable, but change the ride height from standard, although I can see that being far more difficult to enforce. BMW Motorsport suspension optionally fitted during manufacture to an otherwise standard 318 saloon, Mercedes Sportline... Both mean a different 'standard' ride height is possible on otherwise identical cars.

I have two sets of Style 73 - 17x7, one set with 205/50-17 tyres, one with 215/45-17 tyres - and a set of Style 45 - 16x7 with 205/55-16 tyres. Price depends on which set, of course, but won't be expensive.

Is there anything online (on Youtube?) which does cover this? (I'll look another time, but if anyone has a link, let's be 'aving it! )

Not looked at TPS yet. Timing may not be quite spot-on, but it's less than 1 degree out. Worryingly, VW are on record as saying that it may be necessary to replace the ECU to resolve some issues such as these. Not that there was a recall or anything like that, of course...

Still got the hesitation issue. Driving at a constant speed - say, 90kph - and with no conscious movement of the accelerator pedal (no cruise in an old Polo!) it feels as though the engine is starved of fuel. It's a 'nothing' rather than a misfire. I've fitted new plugs, rotor and dizzy cap already. Certainly starts easier since replacing the vacuum hoses.

Swapped the vacuum lines that can easily be done. There's one that goes through the firewall which is going to prove tricky. This does seem to have helped smooth the idle. Now I just need to work out how to get the idle speed up. I can bodge it on the throttle cable, but bodge is all that would be. I've read that the speed is hard-coded in the ECU, but there must be something, somewhere that'll offer a more manual adjustment... Surely?

The top end is much cleaner (I'll not say clean) but I've not pulled the whole thing off the car (yet). I suspect there is a base gasket or similar so obviously want to have a replacement to hand when I do that. I think the ICV is a part of the throttle body (on this car).

Hmm... And this morning the car was reluctant to start. Probably need to investigate WURs and ICVs.

Well, we've got the WoF behind us. Rear wheel bearings needed adjusting (they've need that for the past two WoFs, too... ) and a steering rack gaitor needed replacing. Not so bad. A quick poke around this evening suggests replacing the vacuum hoses might be a good idea. Certainly that'll explain the rough idle, but obviously not the hesitation at constant throttle and normal driving speeds. Still, one thing at a time.

The VIN doesn't come up on any search I know of.

It's not the first time it has been done, but those conversions I've seen using the Lexus V8 have also used the Lexus gearbox. See here for one example. There was an E28 ex-535i fitted with a Lexus V8 for sale on TradeMe recently, also (I think) turbo'd. IIRC that used the Lexus 'box.

I've spent a lot of time with Porsche 928s. Typically, the standard autobox fitted to them is expected to handle more power and torque than the manuals. That's not always the case. Ultimately, the way you drive will be more important than the gearbox you use. Slamming an auto through the gears will break it.

No doubt that the thermostat swap has worked. There's even warm air through the vents! Idle needs some work - it's too low. I can fudge it by adjusting the throttle cable, but I suspect the throttle body (with incorporated idle control valve) needs removing, cleaning and replacing. I anticipate there is a gasket involved so that will wait until I can get hold of one. There is one more issue. When driving at constant speed, level road, constant throttle, there is sometimes a very brief deceleration. No change in throttle position (inside the car) but it's almost as though fuel supply has been cut for a fraction of a second. It's a hesitation. Doesn't seem to be speed related, but is (I think) happening at marginal throttle, so while cruising rather than accelerating. Could this also be an idle control valve issue?

Replacing the thermostat appears to have resolved the temperature problem - no sits solidly at 90 degrees on the gauge once warmed up. That's what I'd expect. I took the expansion chamber off and ran some descaler through it to shift some muck that had accumulated in there. The tickover issue is a funny one. Throttle cable adjustment appears to be rudimentary - slide a ribbed section through a metal ring, and use a clip to stop it sliding back. The clip was the wrong side of the ring to actually do anything - it would let the rubbed section slide and slacken the throttle cable - so I've swapped that and set things so the car ticks over now. Of course, this is tickover adjustment by throttle cable rather than how it should be done - I'll check that later. I took the opportunity to squirt some cleaner into the throttle body. It was filthy, so that won't hurt. Seemed to make a bit of a difference. The crankcase breather pipe that connects to the bottom of the airfilter housing has mayonnaise in it. Not unusual, I guess, but disconcerting. I'll look into cleaning that out properly, too. New airfilter needed. Repco/SCA want a fortune for one, and I can get an air filter, oil fitler, and fuel filter shipped from Oz for half the price of an air filter here. That said, for GBP 15 I can get an airfilter, oil filter, fuel filter and 4 spark plugs from the UK... Even if shipping works out to $50, it'd be worth it!