1985 Porsche 924 - Project Rhubarb

[Bluto]

this weekend myself and MrBen jumped in the trusty daily hack and headed north out of Cardiff, destination Tamworth. I had seen a 924 advertised on the book of faces and thought it looked clean and solid enough to warrant the trip. After a good look around, a test drive and handing over the dollar I returned with this:



A 1985, Garnet red 924. The car really was as solid and as dry as it looked in the pictures!! Sure it has a few dings and dents around it, but she is 28 after all!

Watch this space for future work and mods

[Bluto]

A few more pics:

[niwid]

Think I saw this advertised somewhere. I'm extremely jealous, I need a 924 in my life! Proper working mans Porsche.

This one looks in fantastic condition, and the red paint really suits it. I'm looking forward to seeing where this car goes...

[Bluto]

Cheers Tim. Yeah she in pretty good nick for her age. A few creases to iron out. Current plans are exhaust, lows and rims.

[masi]

Look's nice and tidy. Doesn't even have the cracked dashboard

[dangermouse]

Anything with that much brown in the cabin gets my vote

Can't wait to see this once it's had the treatment, such a simple shape that looks amazing on the floor.

....personally I'd stick some gold mesh styley wheels on, to bring out the internal brown loveliness

[jimspolicev8sd1]

Yeah, 80'bbs split rims with gold centers. Perfect for that colour combo.

[darrenh]

those back seats are crazy shape ! bet they are really comfy for 5 years olds / dwarves

love it. in fact excellent car all round !

[Bluto]

Cheers guys. Unfortunately there are a few small cracks in the dash but their not too bad. I was thinking of Gold mesh/BBS alloys but have decided to go with an Aircooled inspired rim. I've ordered a few bits just to tart up worn an perished trim and have ordered a set of GAZ coilovers. The suspension will take 3-4 weeks to arrive so no point in ordering the wheels and tyres just yet as they'll take up room I haven't got (that'll soon be sorted with a mate giving me a quote on the weekend for a double man cave!!). Other plans are to sort out a few minor issues with the interior and get it professionally valated, and source a polyurethane bush kit! The day before I picked it up the guy text me to tell me the exhaust had just started blowing so a quick call to my mate Peter at Longlife Exhausts in Caerphilly so the car booked in at short notice for a down pipe back system with deleted front box (but keeping the intermediate and back boxes). It's no louder than the original system but spits and barbles on down shifts quite nicely

[Bluto]

Just got home for the weekend to one missed package and this little lot:

Boot lock rubber grommet



A dust cover for when she's tucked up in bed:



And a little retro something for myself and the missus (and friends) to enjoy on sunny days:

[blackridge]

wow the dashboard has no cracks!!! nice car, quite like these old Porsche's.

[bigperm]

Love it .and good to see you on here mr bluto !! , looking forward to seeing what comes of this one, wheres the driving gloves btw??......bookmarked

[Bluto]

Jul 6, 2013 7:46:46 GMT bigperm said:

wheres the driving gloves btw??......bookmarked

Looking for a set Perm

[ChasR]

That colour seems to really suit the early 944s and 924s IMO .

It looks tidy enough, even with the few minor cracks in the dash (most tidy cars I have seen have more cracks present within the dash!).

Gaz Golds are a good move for sure. I sound like an old record saying this, but I would be tempted to get it setup via a geometry place of sorts. At least with the 944s such an exercise transforms the drive of the car along with the new suspension bits. I know that I am loving mine ATM!

I must confess to having a soft spot for the 924. A friend of mine brought me down to Earth upon passing me his keys to his early 944 for a brief drive. Such a great amount of fun, which I am told the 924 potentially harks back further to .

[Bluto]

Hi guys, please forgive some of the usernames in this post. I've copied it from another forum I'm on



Hi guys, not been on here for a while so thought I'd post up a quick update.

Since owning the porsche the misus and I have been having a blast in it in the sun. Really enjoy driving it. So much so that a few weeks ago we were popping into Cardiff to do a spot of shopping. Take the A6 with its cruise control and air con or take the Porsche and take the roof off i thought! Sod it, we'll take the 24. So off we set. Got into Cardiff and headed for St Davids 2 multi storey. Got our ticket and started our 5 storey, winding Ascent to the first floor............only we didn't quite make it :shock: :dope: two bends in and the car in front stopped suddenly causing me to easy off the throttl. The car tried to stall so pop it down a gear and off we go again........erm,........no! She just cut out and refused to start again. With the queue of traffic behind us getting longer and only one way out I, and 6 other chaps from cars stuck behind us started to push. After what felt like an eternity in the searing heat, and two breaks to get our breth back we made it to the first floor and stuck it in a disabled bay to await the arrival of the man in the orange van.



After several attempts at trying to start it, including swapping the coil, we still had no luck. We did, however, agree that the spark from the coil was weak and intermittent. The amplifier maybe?? we'd have to wait and see! 'We'll have to get it out of the car park for recovery' said the man in the orange van. 'can't we just hook it to the van and tow it?' says I. GET THIS: The RAC wont/can't tow Porsche because the insurance doesn't cover it :eek:

So we pushed it to the top of the ramp and I was off :lol:



So we sat here for a while, until the shops started to close and the exit to the car park got busier. We were then asked by security to move it across the road to await recovery.


In the meantime, a mate of mine had seen a couple of my facebook pics and decided to come and show his support (as seen in the pic). The recovery guys love the fact that he'd turned up in his Lincoln town car lowrider!

So off I went on the back of a truck.

A quick post on here and chancenellie came up trumps with a replacement unit that took all of 10 minutes to fit and worked a treat. So I was motoring again. The following weekend I popped of to a local VW show with a few mates. Mr Ben turned up on the Sunday and after having a good look around the show we headed home. When we got back to Mr Ben's we noticed that the rad had sprung a leak. Another quick post on the forum so V coming to the rescue with a replacement unit. So last weekend saw myself and Mr Ben replacing that :dope: Other than a dodgey battery that will soon be replaced the car is now up and running again.
After the small issues I've had over the past few weeks I finally received some good news today. I work away from home during the week so I occasionaly get picture message from the missus if a parcel turns up. Todays picture message was:




:food: :food: :drool: :drool:

So, when I return from my eagerly awaited holidays, project rhubarb will be having the same treatment as Mr Bens 24.

So now you're all updated.

Oh, actually, a few other things I've purchased over the last month are:



Along with new washer jet pipe and connections
a replacement boot release cable
upgraded door speakers
expansion tank cap and
gear gaiter (yet to arrive)

[Ryannn]

You may find you have a Hot Start problem. 924s are common for HOT and Cold issues and the fixes aren't that decisive either

Sometimes on mine I'd have to start it with my foot flat on the accelerator if it was feeling that way inclined...

[Bluto]

Cheers Ryannnn, it was definately the amp on this occasion. I've replaced it and not had any problems since. She sometimes runs rough on hot start up, like she's running on 3 cylinders but a quick blip of the throttle to take it over 2500 rpm and she's as smooth as a kitten

[booster]

Love these cars been trying to buy one for a while looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

[Mr Ben]

That's common on most 924's, they always seem lumpy when you start one when the engine is up to temperature so nothing to worry about there

Roll on Saturday!

[gent]

Cheers for the mention, broseph!