[911968]

Hi everyone,



I've just joined the forums having purchased a 1992 968 coupe. The car is generally in good condition but I have plans to bring her back to original condition. So far I have replaced all of the seat leather, and extensively restored the interior and it heads off for a full exterior respray in a couple of weeks.



The colour is the very rare Tahoe Blue - which I absolutely love!



Will start a thread for those interested in following the restoration <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.png" class="smilie" alt="" />



Regards,



Nick

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Rap]

Great color indeed!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[tamathumper]

Nice! Welcome to the forums.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[craigawoodman]

Welcome again. It is a pretty unique colour. Have you asked Porsche Cars Australia how many cars were imported in this colour (I am assuming it would be a low number).



Welcome to another Aussie.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[optigolf]

Like very much the color, I was looking my self something like that, light blue, but must settle also not so common darker blue/burble color; Iris Blue Metallic.

Welcome from an Finnstralian now in USA (Finnstralia = 40 years in Finland 20 years in Australia). Enjoy the ride, Mark.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[95SGcab]

Wow, that color is even better than I expected. A reflection of the sky. It would be especially beautiful near the ocean. Nice seat work, and its a TIP... its interesting that the tip gate is closer to your driving position...



95SGcab

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[hot968]

beautiful color, and the new interior looks fantastic. Is that a new steering wheel? What color is the new seats? It looks like they were black and r now dark blue.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[911968]

Hi everyone,



Thanks for your welcomes and comments!



Yep it is a gorgeous colour indeed. I haven’t been able to find out how many were delivered in Australia in Tahoe Blue but I imagine a very very low number given that only 6 Tahoe Blue Coupes were delivered to North America and that was the largest market. For all I know it was the only Tahoe Blue delivered in Australia!



The steering wheel is the original. It was in a very used state when I bought the car. I can thoroughly recommend anyone to buy a “leatherique” leather restoration kit. I will start another thread on the steering wheel but essentially you get a few different grit grade pieces of sand paper and you wet-sandpaper the whole surface (it was terrifying at first), let it sit, sand it again, let it sit, sand it again and then apply 3 or 4 coats of black leather dye. It came up looking absolutely brand new and all of the stitching looks great too.



The seats are black – it is just that I used my iphone and it was overcast outside of the car and dark inside. The leather seat kit has more of a finish closer to the seats in my 996 911 and newer porsches – and also the old ones had some really cheap and nasty seat polish on them so they looked a deeper shade of black.



Other bits and pieces I have done so far include:

• Leatherique restoration of steering wheel/horn pad (as above), gear knob and handbrake lever
  
  
• Installing H&R 1 inch lower springs on the front
  
  
• Stripping, filling and re-painting all of the wheels (previous owner gave it gutter rash)
  
  
• When the steering wheel was off I used plastic polish to give the instrument cluster and clock a cut and polish (so nice and clear now!)
  
  
• Couldn’t find a factory Ausralian Blaupunkt head unit so I put a new Bluetooth Blaupunkt head unit in it (practical with iphone compatibility and still Blaupunkt like the original which I thought was a reasonable compromise)
  
  
• Full service including timing belt/water pump/rollers etc as I wanted to have a clean slate from a servicing point of view
  
  

It goes in for a full respray in 2 weeks. In the photos it looks like it is in great condition but up close it has some stone chips and shopping centre car park dings so I want her to look immaculate. To assist with that I have now in my possession:

• New seals for the whole exterior
  
  
• New tail lights on the way from Pelican Parts as we speak (old ones okay but a bit hazy and they make all the difference)
  
  
• New front badge
  
  
• Tracked down a front bumper plastic protector which is unique as it is listed as NLA in Porsche Australia but I managed to get one from Gert at Carnewal for about $500 AUD delivered. These commonly broke in spoon drains/bumps and people didn’t replace them – which makes the front appear to be sitting higher than it is.
  
  

Beyond that I am having the calipers removed and restored and all new discs and pads fitted. The interior is great now that I have done the leather wheel/knobs etc and the seats. The carpets are in pretty good condition and I have fitted new floor mats over them and replaced the centre console with a new part (had the common broken plastic hinge). She is coming along nicely – and I look forward to keeping you all updated!!



PS it's great to talk with so many people all over the world and to also see some fellow Aussies here!



Regards,



Nick

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[911968]

Love it when boxes arrive at work! Today, the new tail lights arrived - just in time for the respray.



I think new tail lights make a huge difference to the look of a car - especially when it is freshly painted.



Gorgeous!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Inkedupfatboy]

Nice car! Keep us posted!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[hot968]

WOW! love the new tail lens fantastic look when new, I think mine on the 93 maybe faded a little. Your car seems to be coming along great keep the posts and pictures coming. I need a lot of what you r doing to my 92 but I don't have the know how. Do you restore cars a lot?

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[psuphoto]

Holy cow! That is an awesome color. How hard was it to restore the seats? How much did it cost? I would like to see more dialed pictures of the process.

the only interior problem I have are the front seats. Ps welcome. Your enthusiasm is infectious

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[psuphoto]

Just got done reading Billy Brysonsbook on Australia. Awesome. Specifically sheer are you?

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[DaveN]

I use Leatherique quite a bit for my yearly conditioning, works well. Curious as the the Aussie version of the 968's steering wheel. That's a 944 wheel but it's original? So the airbags were not mandatory in '92 maybe?

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[911968]

[quote name='DaveN' timestamp='1374518931' post='145977']

I use Leatherique quite a bit for my yearly conditioning, works well. Curious as the the Aussie version of the 968's steering wheel. That's a 944 wheel but it's original? So the airbags were not mandatory in '92 maybe?

[/quote]



Yep - it's exactly the same wheel as the one my dad had in his brand new 944 back in 1984! The airbags came here on 1993 onward cars so 1992 was the only year that missed out. I could be wrong but I am 99% sure that airbags are actually still to this day not mandatory in Australia - but of course are standard on just about every car sold here and probably have been since about 1994 or 1995.



It didn't bother me heaps in buying the car because I am really just restoring it and probably won't drive it very much apart from on the odd weekend or to some local Porsche Club events so fingers crossed I never need it! At least it has ABS!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[911968]

[quote name='psuphoto' timestamp='1374360846' post='145922']

Holy cow! That is an awesome color. How hard was it to restore the seats? How much did it cost? I would like to see more dialed pictures of the process.

the only interior problem I have are the front seats. Ps welcome. Your enthusiasm is infectious

[/quote]



Thanks! The seat restoration was fairly involved but straightforward enough. Probably the majority of time spent was cutting new seat foam perfectly and making sure that none of the spring/clips inside the seat were broken or worn out. But aside from that all it is a matter of doing is removing the seats from the car and taking the old seat leather skins off and putting the new ones on. I bought the kit from the USA (it was cheaper to buy a German kit from the USA than it was to have it shipped directly here!! Go figure!!) and then installed it. I will track down the name of the place I bought it from. Great investment! I will post some more pics asap!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[911968]

[quote name='hot968' timestamp='1374277119' post='145910']

WOW! love the new tail lens fantastic look when new, I think mine on the 93 maybe faded a little. Your car seems to be coming along great keep the posts and pictures coming. I need a lot of what you r doing to my 92 but I don't have the know how. Do you restore cars a lot?

[/quote]



Thanks! I spent a few hours polishing and using a tail lamp restoration kit and my original lenses came up well (no more scuffs and became very clear) but the actual red colouring had faded a lot so they were never going to be like new unfortunately - hence buying the new ones! Very happy to see them and can't wait to see them in the car.



I have always enjoyed tinkering with cars but would say I am very much an amateur when it comes to restoring a car! I think as long as you are very thorough in your research and just try to make it as original as possible you can't really go wrong. I have found that my local Porsche dealer has been amazing with advice and sourcing diagrams, pictures, option codes etc and thankfully parts like seals and rubbers are readily available still and cheap. Apart from the dealer and trawling the internet - this forum is a solid gold source of information and resources to help!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[911968]

Ok! Dropped her off at the painter on Saturday!!! Now the wait begins!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[911968]

Hi everyone,



Not much to report except I thought I would post some pics of progress!



The car has been dismantled and is now in the process of being painted. I only got time to drop down and see it after day one of removing panels etc.



My repairer finally solved a rattling sound coming from the front end which was driving me insane - all of the clips were missing or broken where the headlights joined to the body so there was metal/plastic on metal/plastic - noticeable when at a stand still.



Other numerous broken bits and pieces like the front mesh - luckily one was in stock at Porsche so that will go on the front bumper before refit.



Anyway - here are a few pics of it during deconstruction!



Nick





























Also - my repairer is fixing the rear glass "de-lamination" problem by re-bonding it and painting the peeling black paint with a 3M glass paint. Should come up well!

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[DaveN]

Yikes, did someone put weather stripping around the rear hatch lip to fix a squeak or leak?

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.