924Board.org

[ideola]

Woody is now moving under his own power! Dropped the trans, and found that the ball cup socket and shifter bushings were completely gone. Replaced them. Drained the trans, degreased and powerwashed it, refilled with Royal Purple, and reinstalled. First gear wants to pop out, so probably a synchro / dogring issue there, but reverse and 2nd are fine. Couldn't take it on public roads due to running open exhaust, but at least I can now move 'im around the property under his own power. I am anxious to see how the motor feels.

Did a little rinse off and snapped a few pix. Chassis is very clean, no sign of rust anywhere. Worst issues on the body are several small dings along the break line by the filler cap. There's also a small ding on the badge panel, but I think that can be fixed pretty easily.

Started stripping out the brown interior. Planning to use colorbond interior vinyl paint on the head liner, which is in remarkable condition. I have all of the other pieces to convert to black interior. Shame about those seats, but just don't like the brown interior enough to restore them.



















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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[ideola]

Progress. Took me the better part of three days to swap in the black interior, including leather sport seats I acquired from the same guy that fasteddie bought his 931 from in Alpena MI.

Have I mentioned how much I *hate* the multi-colored brown interiors?!?!?

Oh yea, and a set of staggered Cup 1s FTW (thanks Chuck!!!)!





Took Woody out for his first very brief stint of road driving in probably quite a long time, very happy with the results. Pulled nicely if not aggressively in five gears, although the 1st gear synchro is predictably shot to the extent it won't stay in gear unless you pull the shifter back. But all in all, pleased with the prospects for this rescue. Next up: new windshield. Then insurance and plates. And then what to do about changing the crappy Mocha Schwarz paint???
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[Rasta Monsta]

[racer129]

Much better with the black interior! The seat insert fabric from the old seats looks similar to the carrera gt patterns.

[ideola]

Progress. First the pix:












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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[ideola]

I had a local outfit called "ChicagoDipped" do the plasti-dip on the car, as I didn't have the time or the ability to get the shop set up for spraying over the winter. My goal was something cheaper than paint, and a "20 paces" car. That's about what Woody is at this point. Looks great at 20 paces or 30+MPH, but far from perfect.

RE: plasti-dip, I do not think I will go this route again. I could have gotten better results had I done my own body work and prep, and taken it to something like a Maaco for a cheap spray job. But it was an interesting attempt anyway. There are several problem with plasti-dip. First, the lighter colors like the yellow pick up dirty smudges much more readily than paint, and is much harder to get it off. Second, the rubbery material is pretty susceptible to gouging and other wear and tear that a properly clear-coated car resists much better. Thirdly, I don't think it will stand up well to long-term usage, and will probably look pretty shitty in a year or so.

BUT. I do really like the color scheme. I named the car "Woodstock", or "Woody" for short, after the Peanuts character. Sort of a running joke since this car was originally a duplicate of Paul's "Spike", which I owned briefly (Spike being Snoopy's long lost brother, Woodstock being Snoopy's sidekick). Of course, this was also the first car I acquired after moving to Woodstock, so it seemed like a good name, and yellow and black was the only color combo that made sense.


So, what have I done since the initial $500 purchase?
- complete interior color change to black
- leather sport seats
- leather wrapped 14" sport steering wheel
- rear seat delete replaced with 968 rear cubby unit
- script door cards
- used vinyl paint to convert headliner and shift boot to black
- 924S sun visors and headliner trim
- replace starter solenoid
- replace ignition switch
- replace fuel pump
- replace shift lever ball cup bushing
- replace shifter universal bushing
- replace shift lever plane bearings
- replace cat back exhaust with spare unit I had on the shelf
- re-install CV half shafts
- re-install shift boot
- replace air filter
- replace air filter straps
- replace hood release cable
- remove A/C plenum
- plasti-dip in yellow and black
- replace wheels with 7Jx16 Cup 1, and color match
- smoke the rear lenses
- replace US bumpers with Euro bumpers
- repair driver side door latch mechanism
- remove rear reflector panel and install proper license plate holder

There's still a lot of nits and nats to chase down, especially with the electricals, but the car is basically drivable / road worthy now. I have a freshly rebuilt open-diff G31 that will get swapped in, and I have some other things in the work for the motor and suspension, but I'll post about those when they're closer to being reality.

So, it looks like RESCUE won out in this case
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[Fifty50Plus]

Holy Moly Dan! Put it on the street and collect a few tickets
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1979 924 NA race car H-Prod SCCA
1982 924 NA race car - Sold
1981 924 Turbo sold
1982 924 Turbo sold
1972 911 E race car - traded for Cayenne Diesel
1975 914 1.8 Building for H-Prod SCCA

[morghen]

oh wow to say the least
i'm not impressed with the silly color scheme but with the euro bumpers and those wheels it looks great.
Dont the rear tires rub ?
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Supercharger and EFI kits
https://www.the924.com

[Johnny_Haywire]

Wow! Amazing transformation! I'm really curious to see pics of the 924S headliner bits. That 968 cubby is awesome!! Very nice rescue!

- Paul
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1981 924 N/A 5-speed

[ideola]

The wheels are 7Jx16ET55. They do not rub.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[morghen]

On a second look it looks cool with yellow and black and those wheels fit nicely. It has a nice sporty stance.
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Supercharger and EFI kits
https://www.the924.com

[oharris]

That is quite the transformation. I really need to get mine running.
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'80 931

[ideola]

Current stance is standard M471 suspension bits, and appears to be a bit lower than the standard NA stance on my Sebring, which is bone stock as far as I know. I am hoping to stiffen it a bit and lower it by an inch using the Weltmeister 250# lowering springs up front with reindexed 28mm CIP t-bars in the back. I want the stance to come out about like the Club Sport, but not quite as stiff. My intent is to make this into a really nice street cruiser without going crazy on the build / budget.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[peterld]

^^^^ And you've succeeded!
Nice work Dan. Others should take note. One doesn't have to spend a million bucks to keep our beloved Toofahs on the road and respectable.
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80/81 932/8 ROW