[williamoss]

Does anybody know what purpose the 1 inch plastic plug is for, on the right rear bumper? There is nothing behind it, so it is not for a screw in tow hook. I have one on my 95 coupe and a friend has one on his 94 cab.

William Moss
Tigard OR

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[jaap]

On my 92 there is actually a connection for the tow hook behind this cover. This feature probably got deleted (as some others) for cost reduction reasons.

Jaap

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[Johannvb]

William, it is for the tow hook, the screw in tow hook is in your toolkit.

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[flash]

later cars deleted the rear tow hook - not sure where the cutoff is though - i think it was 94, as i seem to remember a guy with a 93 that had it - probably happened at the same time as the other '94 deletions

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[rl968]

My 93 has the tow hook in the front, there is nothing behind the plastic cap in the rear.

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[flash]

hmmm - i'd love to figure out where that cutoff is, and if the parts are available

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[kwikt]

My 92 has nothing behind the plug also.

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[flash]

hmmm - might be the early 92 to late 92 change - there are a lot of other changes there at that point

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[Carl968]

Nothing behind the plug in my '92.

Carl

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[968kid]

It's where you can plug your 968 into the Matrix

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[rxter]

Welcome, to the real world....

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[williamoss]

William, it is for the tow hook, the screw in tow hook is in your toolkit.

Maybe your tool kit had one mine did not, I had to borrow one from a friend recently. I checked with Sunset, in Portland OR they can be had from Germany for about $65.

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[flash]

pelican is your friend- $18.25

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/...4%20Turbo%20all

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[Johannvb]

I never bothered looking to see if there was something behind the plug, but since mine is a 94 I guess I have nothing as well. Makes you wonder why they did not changes the moulding for the bumper. I mean why have a plug if there is nothing behind it??

Edit:
Now that I think about it, this must have been the beginning of Porsche going on the cheap. Toyota came in to help with the production of 993, to teach Porsche their "just in time" philosofy and also to how to not over (read properly) engineer a car. So maybe the 968 was also "benefiting" from the advice Toyota was giving.

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[williamoss]

[quote name='flash' date='Jul 11 2010, 10:23 PM' post='95904']
pelican is your friend- $18.25

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/...4%20Turbo%20all



Thanks for the tip just ordered on and with shipping was only $24 so much better than Sunset Parts.

William Moss
Tigard OR

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[rxter]

johann,

Are you suggesting that the late 993s might actually show some consistency. One of the things that amazes be about the 968 is how many little variations seem to crop up from car to car. Seems like the builders had some leeway. If Heinrich was in a good mood you got a nice straight tap. If they ran out of speakers Meinhard would wander over to the 964 build area to see what they had laying around.

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[Langley968]

I had to laugh [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] as I read "rxter's" last post.
I work in Sales for a van body manufacturer, and my biggest peev is when a local municipality or utility company tells me they want another unit "just like the last one"! Hey, sound like an easy sale! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img] The problem is that our Production team has a hard time making it "exactly" the same. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif[/img]
Sounds like our company is at the stage that PORSCHE was at in the early 90's! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

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[Johannvb]

Rxter,

What I am trying to say is that from 92 - 95 they progressively took many good things away from the 968 (engine covers top and bottom, trim on the doors and lower dash etc.). All these things were not strictly needed and by removing them they could save a couple of Deutch Mark. That in turn added a little more to the bottom line. The early 90s was the start of Porsche doing things cheap rather than well.

The 968, 993 and 928 was the last of the quality, hand built, cars. Just have a look under a 10 year old Boxster or 996 to see what the cost savings have done to the longevity of modern Porsches. The cheap allen head bolts are rusty, the are a nightmare to get out. The lower grade plastic trim shows wear like you won't believe, a Hyundai has better wear.

Luckily they seem to have found a better cost/quality relationship with the 997 and 987. Time will tell.

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[Johannvb]

So I was under the car today to replace the noisy fuel pump and this topic came to mind. I had a look at what is beind the bumper cover and about 10cm behind the plug in the bumper there is a metal tube within a tube. I put my finger in there and sure enough there is thread. So my initial answer was correct, that hole is where the tow hook from your toolkit screw into.

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[marazas]

It is for tow hook. As I have 95 and it has it there.

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