1987 Porsche 924S - the long term project

[nick0303]

Chapter 1: One hundred pounds.


Ok. So I have been lurking on here for a few years now and I thought it would be time to start contributing with a build thread.
I actually promised myself that I would start this thread in 2015, but what is a couple of months off when you're about to embark in a long term project?

The car was more of impulse buy than a carefully planned and anticipated purchase of a long dreamed car. In fact, I will be honest, I didn't have much interest for 924 in the past and I didn't really know what a 924S was. No what I was looking at the time was a track day car so I could go out with my mate and his MX5 to release some testosterones on the track at weekends.

So there I was, looking on the evilBay one evening just before dinner, when I stumble across a cheap Porsche with limited service history . I think the auction was at ￡500 with a few hours to go and a buy now option of ￡750.
I placed a bid and another and it went up to ￡650. Somebody else was clearly interested in the car I was been repeatedly outbid. At that point, I don't know if my wife was either annoyed by the fact I have been bragging about a track car for weeks, or that I was so indecisive on whether to put another bid (or maybe she was just hungry and wanted to to get on with the dinner),but she said: "just buy it already, it's only an extra ￡100 from your last bid anyway".

She was right, the extra 100 quids was hardly going to break the bank plus the car came with a few month MOT and tax (good old days).

So I clicked the buy now button and thanks to my wife wise words, and slightly empty stomach, this happened on the 30th January 2013.



Here are some of the pictures from the original listing.

  

  

  

The pictures were not really showing the car at its best so I wasn't expecting a concours condition. I went to collect the car with my soon-to-be track buddy. The car was for sell at a small second hand car dealer. It apparently came from a chap who had part exchanged it for Vauxhall Zafira or something as exciting.
Looked around the car for a bit, before taking the car for a quick test drive around the block.
The car clearly needed some attention to the body and some of the electrics but the engine was running find and it felt solid.

So, after making a local second hand dealer from Nottinghamshire ￡750 richer, I took the car on the 83 miles journey back home. As I was driving back, the car was certainly quicker than I had been eluded to  following my brief Internet introduction to the Porsche 924 and its modest VW sourced engine. My mate was following me in case of the likely event of a break down with this unknown car, and he was struggling to keep up between round abouts.

Anyway, I did got home without any issue.




Closer inspection of the car and some internet search the next day brought 2 things to my attention:
A. I clearly didn't know what I was buying the previous day
2. The dealer clearly didn't know what he was selling because it had obviously been under priced for an S in this condition.

Somehow two ignorant people struck a deal the previous day and, in the process, I got myself a very cheap 924S. Beside a bit of rot on the front wheel arch, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the car and the engine bay certainly looked very clean.







Content with my latest automotive purchase, I gave the car the mandatory honeymoon clean and polish and took some pics.















The car is not without its flaws, as you'd probably expect for that kind of money. 

• There are several parking dings dotted around the car
• Most of the dials don't work
• The electric sunroof don't work
• It suffers from the traditional cracked dash-top
• The teledials need attentions

On a positive note:

• The seats are in an amazing condition, including the driver seat
  
• it has the original number plates with matching period dealer sticker.

I was starting to fall in love with the little two four.

[nick0303]

Chapter 2: The long wait.


SSo you may think that because the car was purchased 3 years ago, I must have done a lot of things to it and the car must now be beyond recognition.
Well, actually no. In fact, beside my first few months of ownership when it was still taxed, it has actually spent most of his time in a garage, most of the time, hidden under other items of various nature.
Life is a funny thing. Within a couple of months of driving the car, work got really busy then my wife and I decided to buy our first home, which needed a lot of work. Then a baby came along and a bigger house was required (which as it turns out also needs a lot of work). Because of the aforementioned baby and house purchases and work, the idea of a track car quickly got parked. Which in a way suited me because I was starting to have second thoughts about turning this car into a track toy due to its condition. So I decided to store the car until I have the opportunity to restore it properly.
So with life running its course over the past 3 years, the car went from this,




to this,





to this,




and finally to this.





At last the car is no longer sporting any furniture or tools on its bonnets. And you might be please to know that the rug on that last picture is now gone as I have made the conscientious decision to keep the garage in our new house as a garage, and not a dumping ground.

Sadly though, as a result of this new motto, the Porsche was recently evicted from the garage to give room due a short term project that I also need to complete. 




But that's another story/thread.

[shielsy68]

sex on tyres lol

[nick0303]

Chapter 3: the master of cylinder


So now the Porsche is relegated to second priority for the next few weeks. Which is a bit of an anti-climax for the pair of you who bothered to read the story that far.


But that's not to say that I have been totally useless at working on the car, and I have even been a bit more technical with the car beyond a wash and polish.



During the few month I was actually using the car, the master cylinder gave up the ghost. So I proceeded on rebuilding it which was more cost effective that buying a new assembly.


I bought a recon kit from, honed the cylinder and proceeded to the reassembly.







Everything was going smoothly until this look washer decided it would no longer stay in place.




The recon kit didn't come with a new washer. So I decided to reengineer the fixing strategy to what I thought would be a more reliable solution.
A few washer of the correct thickness,


a cutting disc and a Dremel,




and hey presto, a nice grove




to accommodate one of those.




With this modification complete, the master cylinder could finally be put back together.
So far, the little modification seems to be doing the trick although the car hasn't covered many miles since the fix.

[shielsy68]

love the 924s had one my self fine car , and you l find people don't reply ,unless its to curse word 

[nick0303]

Chapter 4: an oily treat


With the clutch repairs I decided to give the car a service with new belts. So another order Sideline Design (aka Design 911) later, and this turned up.



Pretty much the content of a main service:

• timing belt and balancing shaft belt with tensioner and idler
  
• air filter, oil filter, fuel filter 
• and spark plugs

along with the coolant, transaxle and engine oil change.


The spark plugs were certainly a wise purchase.



Although the timing belt was a fairly straight forward job, the balancing belt was a bit of a pain to get right, and it took me several attempt to perfect the balancing.

And I dare say that the engine is now running smoother than when received.

[nick0303]

Feb 14, 2016 22:10:02 GMT shielsy68 said:

sex on tyres lol

Thanks bud. Yes great cars. which I hope to do tribute to by doing a half decent restoration job of it.

Sadly though this is currently being put on hold and the 924 is now put in the waiting area along with the other outstanding project.




However this does not stop me from planning how I would like to go along with the car. 

I must admit, after I saw this car somewhere on here, and that was a bit of a motivation to get cracking on mine.



I hope the owner won't mind posting his car. 

[MK2VR6]

Wow, that looks a billy bargain for sure. Good man for keeping hold of it despite the house renovations. I know what that feels like, and I ended up selling up my old Cavalier Gsi project for that very reason. Keep us updated on what happened next. As for Sheilsy68, what are you on about?!

[nick0303]

Feb 14, 2016 22:45:02 GMT MK2VR6 said:

Wow, that looks a billy bargain for sure. Good man for keeping hold of it despite the house renovations. I know what that feels like, and I ended up selling up my old Cavalier Gsi project for that very reason. Keep us updated on what happened next. As for Sheilsy68, what are you on about?!

Thanks for kind comments. Unfortunately I did have to part with a couple of other retros along the way. But the Porsche made it through the cut and is now here to stay.

[shielsy68]

what am i on about , the amount of people that look at car resto and don't bother to comment , unless its to tear the back of something , this man has a quality car thats all i need say

[sridgett]

Lovley little motor you got there, i've all ways liked the look of these.

[bgt]

I bet you anything that the other bidder still regrets not clicking the "buy it now" button, i.e. "the one that got away." As MK2VR6 said, good on you for keeping it despite the big changes in your life. Hope you will do a mild resto-mod rather than a full-on track conversion. And please keep those lovely S-graphics on the doors!

[gazz81]

I really like the 924, I had a 924 lux, bought on my 21st birthday (I'd have had one earlier but my insurance company wouldn't let me!). Later on I had a 924s. Have had thoughts about another one, but as per everything I else owned that was once worthless, these seem to be getting more and more expensive.

[nick0303]

Thanks for the positive comments on the car.

The car was definetly a bargain but I guess I got lucky with my purchase. I never seen a 924S in similar condition priced that low since that day. Although arguably I do have very limited service history for the car, which is limited to the work carried under its previous ownership.

The track day car plan is long gone as I have no longer have sufficient spare time to justify a track car. Instead, I have decided to pay tribute to it by restoring to its original condition besides a small mod on the suspension.
So yes the decals are staying along with the teledials after a bit of a refresh.

Also, I am still in two minds about the side protection mouldings. I do like the look of the 924s without them. The current one will need to come off anyway as they are showing their age. So I will make the decision on whether to fit straight new ones when the time comes.