Twenty-twenty hindsight allows us to scoff at the idea of the 928 superseding the 911, but this was the thinking of Ernst Fuhrmann, Porsche Technical Director from 1971 and Chairman of the Board for the eight years leading up to 1980. While many disagreed with his view of the 911 as a sports car reaching the limit of its development potential, the company he was in charge of feared the impact of rumoured changes to North American automotive safety, emissions and noise legislation. Should they have come to fruition, they would have had a detrimental impact on the long-term viability of the 911 to continue as Porsche’s flagship. Central to these fears was the packaging limitations of the 911’s rear-engined layout.
A mid-engined alternative to the 911 was explored, but Fuhrmann’s technical team concluded the resulting fourseater’s cabin space would be seriously compromised, which is why a front-mounted engine was deemed the best solution. Meanwhile, the focus on noise reduction saw the team opt for a liquid-cooled engine early on in the project. A short while later, after high-powered rival models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz were identified, the basic architecture of the 928’s engine was set in stone. And so began development of the M28 V8, a petrol-fuelled powerplant subjected to a programme of ongoing development during a Porsche production run lasting almost two decades.
As is the case with most V8s, the M28 used a 90° vee. In partnership with a common cross-plane crankshaft design, this gave the engine perfect primary and second-order balance, along with a relatively low overall height, which helped to keep the bonnet line down. In the interests of reducing weight, Porsche was determined to deliver the M28 with an all-alloy construction. This decision precipitated the creation of many innovative engineering solutions, starting with the aluminium alloy used in the formation of the engine block.
Back in the late 1960s,
