924Board.org

[UhmWhat]

First a little backstory (seeing as how this is my first ever post an all).
The story I was told was my dad begged to get this 924 and was told to sell it after he got it running.
He got the car but he had no interest in selling it.
About once every 2 months for 3 years a new problem would arise on the car that he would have to fix to keep it on the road.
Eventually this got to expensive and to time consuming so he just left the car at my grandma's to be fixed sometime in the future.
That was about 10 years ago.
I got into cars the summer of 2019 and have shown great interest in the car since then.
About a month ago we were talking and he admitted that he was probably never going to get auround to fixing it and told me I could have it.
Some setbacks:
1. It's at my grandma's house almost an hour away.
2. I'm 16, living with parents, and only have a learners.
3. My stepmom does not want another not running car at our house (there's already 3, all my dad's).
4. The times I've seen the car more recently with my current knowledge of it have been few and short so I've not really been able to fix anything, just get some rushed pictures.

On a better note, the years I've spent researching this car and the few things my dad has told me has taught me alot about the car, it's common issues, and just the general mechanics of the car.
Though one thing that has left me without awnsers is the cars true origin and what trim it is. Sorry if it's too many images, also sorry for the lack of cleanliness of the car, I didn't have enough time with it to make it look nicer.














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5-Speed 81' 924

[UhmWhat]

Holy crap I didn't mean to upload such massive images, sorry.
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5-Speed 81' 924

[UhmWhat]

I hate to keep making run on posts but I forgot to mention that many of the parts that look like they are missing (front/rear bumper rubber, reflectors, muffler) are in the back of the car, the rear hatch release is jammed or sum and the only way to open it would be to climb back there and manually release it.
Again due to limited time I couldn't do that during that visit.

Also the car has only been sitting in the dirt for about 4 years, and has been covered by a tarp for the whole time its been sitting (minus when i took these photos of course).

[jacobroufa]

Well it looks relatively complete in the engine bay from what I could tell..

Prior to 1981 they all got galvanized lower bodies so that may save somewhat from sitting in the dirt, but that will keep the area under the body moist and that's not great for the car rusting longer term.. I would suggest moving it if you can!

With some time and diligence though, anything is possible!

I would suggest reading through the contents of 924.org and to get a Haynes manual for the car if you don't have one already. Between these and the forum you should be well covered for any service you might need to do.

Far as cost, to get the car running may not be super expensive -- these are fairly robust engines and overall design is typical German over-engineering, and share several parts-bin parts with some VWs of the era. But definitely once you get into doing more restoration, such as interior and some bespoke parts can run up a tab pretty quickly.

To start, make sure you clean out your fuel system. Drain the tank of old fuel and flush the lines out before anything else. There's lots of reading on this and plenty of suggestions made to folks with a car in a similar state, and we're all pretty friendly here so if you don't run into what you're looking for just ask after having searched.

Good luck and have fun!
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1980 Porsche 931
1981 Porsche 924 Weissach

[Beartooth]

The bad news is, it obviously needs a lot of work. The good news is, it looks pretty straight and complete. Hard to tell from the pictures, but rust is a big show-stopper on any project. You'll probably find some no matter what; what you should be concerned about is if any structural pieces are significantly rust-damaged. Those would be things like the cross-members, subframe and suspension mounts - basically any piece that's made of heavier metal than the body and floorpans and such.

It may not take a ton of work to get running, but it's going to be hard to do if you don't have daily access to it, or at least a whole day on the weekend or something. You could do it all in the dirt, but that's a huge pain, you'll probably lose lots of little pieces, and worst of all, it's a lot harder to get it off the ground safely. It's easy to ignore at your age (I probably did), but in addition to never getting under a car that isn't adequately supported, you've got fire hazards from gas and solvents, and toxic fumes. So be careful, although as always, if you have to tell somebody that, they're probably not going to listen anyway! One thought I have, and it'd take some income, but you could rent a storage unit and work on the car there until you get it to where it's driveable. Not all of them will allow you to work on the car on-site, so be sure to ask before you commit.

One other thought is that with the price and availability of parts, you'll probably be working with and even fixing a lot of used parts, and you'll want to avoid throwing money at an expensive part, only to find the problem isn't fixed. To that end, I'd suggest spending as much, and maybe more money on tools and diagnostic equipment and testing every part you can before you replace it. There are a few tools it makes more sense to buy new, but for most, you can save a lot of money and sometimes get a better tool by buying used. Pawn shops, Craigslist, and even garage sales can be good sources. Good luck; hope you get it going and learn something in the process!
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1980 931 diamond in the rough

[UhmWhat]

Thanks for the tips!

I will definitely keep the toxic fumes and really just general safetey in mind.

On the topic of location, there are a few options I've been considering.
The first would be to get the tractor at my grandma's running and pull the car into the gravel floored carport thats behind the bucket truck
In those images.
The second feasible option would be to find out if any of my freinds
who live nearby have like an empty carport or garage or sum that I
could store and work on the car in.
I'm trying harder to do option 2 so i can more consistently work on it
but it's definitely the harder of the 2.

About the issues with the car:
Though he didnt tell me much, my dad said that the issue on the car
when he stopped messing with it was the clutch pedal slave cylinder.
Now obviously it's contracted quite the few more issues since its been sitting for so long but that would definitely narrow down the
things needing to be checked.

Concerning the rust, from what ive seen in person there seemed to be only surface rust and it was in very few places.
Addressing the rust in the image of the underside,
I believe its just from where the muffler was mounted and is also only surface level.
(After typing that i looked back and realized i didnt post the image of the underside... ill just do that at the bottom of this post)

To wrap this up id like to ask if based on the images, does this car
look like any sort of special trim level?
I believe the current paint is sprayed over the original paint, but i can only guess this based off the color of the door seals and the overspray on the tailight.
From what ive looked up the options it has are:
Power windows
Rear mudflaps
4 lug lace wheels
(specifically the ones that are only silver on the front and the rest is black.)
And i think that's it?
Things it lacks are power steering, airbags, and a rear spoiler which i though was the base option for the 1981 924 5 speed?
The only reason I mention the airbags and P.S. are because from what ive read if you have certain options either of the two were not available.
Could be wrong, doesnt really matter all that much in the end.



Hopefully that image is correctly sized, If not sorry in advance.
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5-Speed 81' 924

[Fasteddie313]

Idk man..

That’s quite a project considering what you could buy a pretty good driver 924 for..

If it’s really sentimental because it was your dads.. Maybe..
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80 Turbo - Slightly Modified

[Goldwolf]

What are your plans for the car? Do you have a good daily and this is just a project?

Engine bay does look untouched which is good. Fuel system is gonna be #1 job for sure. If you have to send the WUR and Fuel distributor for rebuild that is around $700. I did it for mine.

There a lots of things that can add up quickly, some you can do, some you may have to pass on to an expert.

It is not the worst one I've seen, but you may be able to find a nicer one for $1500 or so.
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1981 Weissach Edition #179

[UhmWhat]

I don't have a daily yet but a car that I'm working on convincing my dad to give me if i fix it is the 95 crown vic in our yard.
He hasn't made a full assessment of it yet but we do know that it needs a new lower ball joint for the front driver side wheel and the wiring in that same wheel well needs to be re-soldered.

Other than that the car runs and drives and its a crown vic so It'l last forever lol.

Once i get that fixed i plan on making that my daily.

With the porsche I really don't know what I'm gonna do with it.
For a while I thought about making it a daily but now that I might be having the crown vic it might just be like a second car for fun drives and maybe take it to a track or sum.

The only mods I'd really want to do to the porsche would be getting a back glass with a spoiler or just making one.
Rear disc brakes.
adding bolstering to the seats https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e766fuzff48&t=2s
(The dude who made that vid makes some really good content)

Really just cheap things to increase the quality of the drive without sacrificing reliability.
Yknow, like a cold air intake and all the lame stuff, it adds up in the end tho.

But i gotta fix it first so there's that.

To respond to Fasteddie313
It's not cause it was my dad's, He's not dead or anything lol, Its just cause i grew up around this car, when it was running i and my brother fit perfect in the backseats and it was always fun riding around back there. its just something nostalgic about the whole car both to the era the car comes from and my own personal experience with this specific one.

The cost is something I'm fully ready have to deal with but i think id be much more happy in the end with this one rather than another.

I have found someone who (and while they do specialize in 944's) has a lot of 924 parts for cheap, they're called 944 barn on most social media and i believe they are located or have a location fairly close to me.
I'd like to keep as much cosmetically original but under the hood and anything else is free game.
I wouldn't mind finding some new cosmetic parts but I'd definitely prefer them to be the same color or whatever as the part it replaces.

Right now my list goes as follows

-figure out exactly whats wrong with the crown vic and hopefully fix it
-find a job preferably somewhere automotive based
-find a place to keep the porsche preferably somewhere easy to access from where i live
-fix porsche starting with fuel system then slave cylinder then just going ever everything else that would keep it from running (also clean it)

Of course things will probably change or become more complex but that's the gist of it.

Thank you all for your advice this has been very helpful.

(edit):
Unrelated to the topic but here's a vid by that same guy about the aerodynamics of the 924, cool stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3aOa1DSvn4
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5-Speed 81' 924

[Fasteddie313]

Car ports are pretty cheap.. Put one at your house?
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80 Turbo - Slightly Modified

[UhmWhat]

[65sprint]

I think most of you posters missed the fact that the op is sixteen years old. Sixteen years old without (or even with a job!) equals a car restoration budget of about twenty dollars. So in light of that fact, my advice would be to address all the things that can be fixed for free first. The car needs a hell of alot of cleaning and sorting, and that can be done for free. Lay a tarp on the ground beside the car and lay all the unattached parts on it and figure out what goes where. Also realize that if a part is unattached to the car then try to find out why, and if it needs to be fixed or replaced first. If your dad is the type of car person that rips things off of cars just to rip them off, then you have a bigger job ahead. Then after all the free work is done of sorting and cleaning, then you can isolate what needs to have money thrown at it to get it running. I'm not a teenager, but I am super cheap, and that's how I "restored" my $800 Championship Edition to a super fun and reliable car. After the cleaning, scrubbing and sorting was done, I performed regular maintenance that any car would need (new battery, plugs, wires, filters, oil, etc.), and inspected any other parts that might be worn or need replacing. Any Porsche-specific or high dollar parts I bought used off of the internet. The typical tune up parts I bought from the local auto parts store. $700 later, after working out miscellaneous bugs here and there, I had a fun car that I drove on the weekends and also put into local shows.
Also one other thing, if you decide to fully take on this project, realize that it isn't going to be running down the road in months, so it's kind of a big commitment to take on a project that looks like this. Lastly, don't let the internet convince you that "cold air intakes" are wonderful. personally, I'm anti-old car modification and think cold air intakes are garbage and a waste of money.

[Beartooth]

At this point, talking about a cold air intake reminds me of Jim Mora's "playoffs?!" rant. "Cold air intake? Don't talk about cold air intake! Are you kidding me, cold air intake?!" I agree that a lot of "cold air intake" setups are just a waste of money, and sometimes worse, but a proper setup can make a big difference. On an old-school V8, a proper air intake can make significant gains over a typical exposed element air filter setup, some "free" horsepower. On the other hand, because it's relatively cheap, you see a lot of custom air filter setups that can only lose horsepower. There are a few cars that have undersized air filters, but most have more than enough capacity with a fresh air filter, and if you replace a stock system drawing cool air with any system drawing from the engine bay, you will lose power 99 out of 100 times. It's not rocket science, but it takes some work to do right from scratch, and too many people want to fix what's not broke.

Anyway, it takes a lot for anybody to get a project like this off the ground, and there are a lot of things that'd side-track someone on their first project. You have to be pretty committed, or just love wrenching, to see something like this through on your first try. So I just try to be encouraging: there are plenty of things to discourage you on something like this. It's not something you can take on for just a few bucks here or there - you have to spend some money sooner or later - but there's a lot you can do to fix up a car like this for nearly free. I'm finally getting close to getting my 931 running, and mostly I've been cleaning up the fuel system and checking things over to make sure I don't turn it into a pile of irreplaceable parts as soon as I fire it up. I would say one of the biggest things that'd help here would be if there's someone local who can help with some used and/or loaner parts. But yeah, lots of good advice: for someone willing to put in the time and effort, you could be rewarded with a fun and unique car for clapped-out Civic kind of money, and learn a lot in the process.
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1980 931 diamond in the rough

[UhmWhat]

It's December, Im 17 and employed now as well as I'm about to be getting a job at a shop! (Ooooh)
I've been with the car 3 times since I last updated you guys and I'm currently with the car. I'll have to add images in a follow-up post but for right now I'll just go over what I've done with it.

1 cosmetics
I vacuumed the interior more times than I can count and while it's better than before I'm going to wait until I'm done with most the other junk to clean it again cuz I keep getting it dirty
I also cleaned the windows and cleaned out tons of seals and nooks and crannies.
I'm going to clean the outside of the car today but don't expect anything pretty.

2 interior (crocodile alligator)
No more headliner. Bye bye. Sianara. I'm still keeping the trim on the A pillars and the trim peice where the interior light is but other than that it's gone. I didn't want to rip it out originally but after I accidentally tore it near the sunroof seal and saw just how much moisture was in there I had to pull it out. The sunroof seals were keeping the water from getting into the cabin because instead of leaking through the area where the 2 seals touch it was leaking underneath the bottom seal into the headliner, it doesn't make much sense I know bit it's what I observed when inspecting it. I also re stuck the seals so they're on tight now. Other than that I've taken the driver door panel off so I can tighten the door handle cable because it's a bit loose.
Moving to the back of the interior no more rear carpet. Out of all the carpet in the car the rear carpet was the most damaged so I'm going to replace it but for now it's staying folded up with the rest of the interior I've pulled out to clean.
I intend on removing the seats to clean under them but weather I'm going to re-upolster them yet is undecided. I also am debating on removing the rear seats because I actually am never going to use them. Though of course I would leave the top half that folds up and down.

3 inspection inspection INSPECTION
Oh jeez is there alot.
Major things I've found out are as follows
It's not a hydraulic clutch so thanks for that dad but also yippee no hydraulic lines or pump seals to worry about being bad.
The rear passenger tail light assembly needs to be replaced but only the part with all the lights connected to it.
The front bumper is pushed in on the passenger side so that's gonna need to be pulled back out.
The hatch is just not attached. the hinges aren't attached and I don't know what they look like. There were replacement struts that actually look in ok shape but I can't attach them until the hatch is. The hatch release also does not accept the spare key on the fob. (The origanal key for the ignition broke off I'm the ignition but there's just enough on the key itself that it won't turn over unless you stick the other broke half in it.
There is another non porsche branded key that works on the doors and I assume it's a copy of the ignition key, this spare does not work on the back hatch. There is also a metal key for the glove box but of course it's just for the glovebox). So for now to open the hatch I either have to climb into the back and manually pull both latch releases while using my head to push the sucker up or I just don't close the hatch all the way. I've removed the lock so I can maneuver the 2 release bars through the hole but it's a total pain.
Finally the fluids. Oil is getting replaced (I still can't find a consice awnser on what kind of oil and I also don't know how much it holds in quarts)
Coolant is getting drained and replaced.
Brake fluid is... I'm not sure, I think the fluid that was in there was solid but I'll have to take a second, deeper look.
I drained out the fuel tank over a month ago and this time I used the hole from where I removed the (broken) whatever that part is under the back carpet that sticks into the fuel tanks it's like a floater or sum I really don't know anyway I stuck a vacuum in there and sucked out alot of the gunk built up that I could get to from the hole.
I also gotta replace that thing in the back it's broke. I also plan on replacing the pump or whatever it is that's at the bottom of the tank accessible under the car.

So yeah I've been doing stuff to it and learning more about the thing and have been making huge strides in repairing it or at least finding most the issues and figuring out how to fix them.
Holy hell has it been fun. Little frustrating at times but I love this car too much to even consider giving up.


A few questions I have:
1 what can I use or make or whatever the hell to substitute for the two latch mounts for the rear lid. I have sealant stuff so I could use nuts bolts and washers and just stick some of that on to keep it from leaking.

2 what (preferably easy to find and cheap) cleaner should i use to clean the grime and mold?

3 I live in Georgia so the temperatures can sometimes go to freezing sometimes be really hot but on average stay in the middle during the day, for that environment what kind of oil should I use? Ive seen many different awnsers and I'm not worried about sport performance or any of that stuff I just need something affordable that works with the car.

Thanks!
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5-Speed 81' 924

[Rasta Monsta]

How angry was your father at the time?
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Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3