Porsche 924 .. Fact me!

[HoTWire]

Obviously as we established yesterday at The Gathering the Porsche 924 is the new Beetle in terms of modifying ... so any Porsche experts want to give us some facts about the models, what to look out for and how far we can push things? I heard that the gearboxe/transaxle is fairly easy to overwhelm with power and break, is this true? Do they have parts interchangability with anything else?? Van engine, really?

Have a zeitgesity Porsche 924 :

[WillCarter]

[Felix]

Lots of parts are swappable within the 924/44/68 range. The 924NA has Golf MK1 front suspension and a super beetle rear. Lots of parts with VW/Audi are interchangeable and available from GSF etc. However, Porsche themselves are often cheapest and the highest quality, so it's worth checking with your local Porsche centre first. Some things are stupidly overpriced, but most are very reasonable and any new genuine parts on eBay are often bought from them and then marked up...

There's 3 main types of 924 aside from the Carrera GT/S/R:

The NA: The 2 litre car with 4x108 wheels and rear drum brakes. I'd sum it up as simple and tough.

The S: This has 2.5 litre engine like the 944. Infact, it's an early 944 in a narrow body. A bit of extra power and Porsche fitment wheels with discs all round. Watch out for the cambelt on these. You could bolt in a 944 Turbo or 968 running gear.

The Turbo: There's an S1 with a big turbo and the S2 with a smaller one and higher compression. Both have pros & cons. Expect 177bhp and 0-60 in under 7 seconds compared to the NA's 125bhp. A dogleg gearbox and discs all round. These are getting rare now, (about 70 on the road) and with a primitive oil cooled turbo setup, can suffer from previous owner neglect. A fantastic car if well sorted and easy to get more power from.

The van engine comes from the block being shared with a VW LT van. The head is Porsche. It's like saying a Ford Cosworth has a transit van engine. It's a strong old block and Porsche ran it at Le Mans with over 400bhp and placed well.

I've run a 924 for almost 3 years now and in that time the 924 Owners Club has been a great help:

porsche924.co.uk/

There's a broad range of cars, from concours to dailies to modified. Whilst there are a few who champion the original car and have little interest in modifying, it's only because they care for the 924 so much. Although it does cost £25 for membership, you get access to the technical forums with members who know everything and can save massive amounts of time by just telling you what the problem is, what parts you need and how to fix it. There's also a good supply/sourcing of parts. There's also regular events and meet-ups, good for seeing other cars in the metal and picking brains. And of course, you get a nice glossy magazine 3 times a year, made by yours truly.

Another good rescource is 924board.org Check out some of the builds going on, from straight 6 turbos, to V8's and supercharged 2 litres.

The 924 is definitely on the up and the days of picking up a good one with an MOT for under a grand are fast becoming a thing of the past.

I've got a thread here which goes through the highs & lows of running one for a couple of years, about 35k miles and a few countries:

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/94057/1984-porsche-924-first-car?page=11

And another VW engine:

[Lawsy]

from what i recall from reading up - please correct if anything wrong

VW asked porsche to help them develop a sports hatch, porsche got to work and developed the car, VW in the meantime also got to work and the scirocco was born, vw then shelved the plans and Porsche bought the rights back from VW and developed it themselves, this helps explain why a lot of parts are shared over..
The 928 then followed, which used more n more porsche, the 924 2.5 engine and the 944 were a lot more porsche than VW - but some parts still remain changeable between the 2
The 2.5 is basically half the 5ltr v8, which is why it runs balance shafts to keep it balanced.


I owned a 944 for s short period and was amazed by its handing etc - and prices - however runnings costs werent cheap, full cambelt kit somewhere in the region of £350 with all belts and rollers, then the local porsche garage quoted in excess of 800 to fit it
Since, I've had a hankering for another and an early 924 really appeals with just the 2.0, they have been overlooked recently and prices of them remained quite low, I've seent hem start to climb recently.. a great little car

[sumpcracker]

We do the belt kit for £250 fitted on a 944^
I work at a classic car company who specialise in 924/44/68.
Felix has covered everything I wanted to say.

I sell a lot of 924/44 and I have seen a big jump in the interest. We also break them and the parts were slow moving, but this year they are flying out.

The 924/44 are very cheap when compared with their period German competition and it looks like they are being pulled into line.
I have been using a 924 2.0 and it seems the perfect budget classic car. A lot of the owners are ex MGBers.

The worse thngs to find are rust around the rear beam mounts/shock mounts and the clutch is the worst job on the car.
Common horrid fails are rusty fuel tanks, fuel injection set up wrong, and there are a few things that are almost standard are split front seats, cracked dash, and failed boot struts.

Some picaturessss-

[mechagran]

Felix knows his stuff, I too am /was a member of the 924org.com and there is plenty of info out there. I have had two 2.0 N/A and although I personally prefer the 944 which I think is actually the real classic find because of the slightly better hips and the amount that are crapola (and the fact that s2's are holding their value at 4k plus. that said, I bought both of my 924s for less than £600. In anyone's world that is cheap for a 2.0 classic that is quite easy to run and fix.

[judgie]

I ran 924 for best part of a year as daily even took it to the gathering at haynes and came 3rd round the track in it.
tough,simple and basic. easy to work on and parts are easy to get hold of.
main reason i got rid of mine was lack of tuning parts for the engine as its quite a hard engine to tune for more power as porsche got it pretty good to start with.
suspension theres tons of stuff out there for them and as has been said above 44 and 68 stuff can be bolted on.
i was really looking into the audi 5 pot swap when i had mine but never found all the info on what parts to use, it can be done and has been done but the info on how was hard to find.
a 1.8 20v turbo 4 pot as above would be great in one.
a very under rated car imho

[sumpcracker]

Have started a 5 cyl project.
The 924 bellhousing fits on. The sump needs modding, the mounts can be made to fit. Thats as far as i have got. Its sitting in there with a clutch ect bolted up.

[Felix]

Sounds cool Gav, have you seen this?

www.944-20v.nl/

[sumpcracker]

Yes Felix, that is what got me started. Its just some bits an a car at work/ experiment as i wanted to see if the bellhousing fits with my own eyes.
I used the 2.3 10v.

[montythemole]

Main thing I found with my two 924 was refreshingly rust free. £100 each and one had been parked in long grass for 2 years, found a 10p spot of rust on one arch. That was it. Followed by MX5 and MR2 that liked to rust for fun.

Solid, easy to work on, look best kept clean. Miss mine. Miss £100 insurance!

[spandelly]

I had a couple and love them. My first na was a really good car and solid as they come. Sold it far too cheap to be honest but Thats life. The next one I had was stuck in a barn with another 6 924s and a couple of 944s. I bought a white 944 and a white 924. It was basically green with algae and had been off the road for 8 years. Cleaned the injectors and swapped a couple of fuel pipes (another common fault) A full service and She burst into life. After that put a badly welded but solid wing on and a washer jet pump and put it in for its mot and it passed. I had to sell that soon after due to money issues but want another one so badly. I have so many plans for one but never got to actually do . But I will on the next one I get.

[spandelly]

Forgot the pics.


The last one I had was very much a work in progress and was generally a bit rough and kept overfueling but I did get it mot'd and really wanted to continue with my plans (I also had a 944 spares car) but the wife was out of work for 4 months and it was the cars or the mortgage. I sold Them for nothing really but I needed the money.

This was my first introduction to the 924 and loved this car and is the only car I have owned that I would buy back.









It has a different plate now as this one was private but it has a coupe sticker under the 924 badge if anyone knows it.

[ChasR]

Most of the points have been pretty much covered. A very underrated car IMO.

Agreed on Porsche being cheaper than most people on parts. Some things are a little more expensive from them, although they are great quality bits and not pattern rubbish. They also come with a 2 year warranty on the bits too .

The valuations I am not too sure on. S2 for £4k minimum? I've had people telling me that even over £3k is too rich for my 944 so I would recheck those facts... 924 values do seem to be heading in the right direction though I am glad to say. I guess they are finally getting the appreciation they deserve .

Even a few Triumph guys I have known have started to dabble with these and are quite surprised (unsurprisingly ).

[mechagran]

Aug 20, 2013 8:08:40 GMT ChasR said:

The valuations I am not too sure on. S2 for £4k minimum? I've had people telling me that even over £3k is too rich for my 944 so I would recheck those facts... 924 values do seem to be heading in the right direction though I am glad to say. I guess they are finally getting the appreciation they deserve .

Even a few Triumph guys I have known have started to dabble with these and are quite surprised (unsurprisingly ).

Ignore them, a decent lowish miles 944 s2 without a top engine build is worth £4k plus. Trust me (or not!)

[discostew]

I'm currently on my third 924 and I could never understand why they were ever sneered at. OK, you can get faster cars but that's not the point, they are tremendous fun to drive. The only dilemma I have at the moment is that I have opened a microbrewery and I can't fit barrels in the back...

[discostew]

Aug 19, 2013 12:00:55 GMT sumpcracker said:

We do the belt kit for £250 fitted on a 944^

The worse thngs to find are rust around the rear beam mounts/shock mounts and the clutch is the worst job on the car.
Common horrid fails are rusty fuel tanks, fuel injection set up wrong, and there are a few things that are almost standard are split front seats, cracked dash, and failed boot struts.

You missed off the Northern Ireland number plate!

[incarsolutions]

whats involved in fitting a 1.8 20vt in one?? got a cadbury purple 924 locked away in a garage. may look to make it into a track toy with a 20vt

[Jizmondo Scrotmondo]

Lots of great info here. I REALLY want a 924 as my next retro daily. I think the badge can scare people off as they're expecting to be shelling big money out for parts etc. I'm contemplating Putting My Golf GTI up for a swap.....

[garethj]

I'm doing 400 miles a week in mine, it's a 2 litre non-turbo for low cost repairs and maximum mpg. It's settled at 35mpg now, and if I could cure the misfire I'd hope to get a bit better.

Handling is good, gentle understeer at the start, then neutral as you push harder, push harder still and it just goes faster through the corner. The non-power steering of the 924 is heavy if you're not used to it but it feels good on the move, the steering wheel and seats are 911 parts so everything you're in contact with feels yummy.

Mine does the commute with ease, it's not massively fast but it's quick enough for cruising and B road overtakes. The most surprising thing is how comfortable it is, after a tough day at work the seating position is really nice. It's new enough to have a decent demister and headlights, but not too new so the steering feels like an anaesthetic.