My 87' Porsche 924S needs attention everywhere.

The paint needs redone I clipped a gaurdrail and dented the front and the rear QTR's (the rear can get pulled out). The motor needs a seal here, there and some injectors (and then maybe mods?) The interior is shot, worn (leaks in sunroof gasket focked the rear paper interior panels anddiscolored the backseat) and the stereo sucks. All the little stuff like hood shocks, hatch shocks, sunvisor clips are all getting replaced.

I have a couple grand saved and before the summer gets stared I wanna give it a facelift of sorts.

What would you do first to improve the car?

 

First and foremost, do engine work. get that squared away, then go either cosmetic or suspension. IMHO, stereo sucks in these cars, get used to it, save that for last. Modding these engines is worthless. it's difficult to milk any more horsepower without taking out a second mortgage. Hood and hatch shocks are always nice to have working...

Sooo, with your couple grand, Hell, I'd pull the motor and completely rebuild it (unless it's your DD). if you do the work yourself (really, it's not too hard to rebuild these things) it will cost around $800 or so... once that's done, get the rear quarter pulled, get a nice used front fender, have the paint done there, and that should've used up 2 grand. Also, if you've not yet replaced the sunroof seal, I'd definately do that one.

 

^^^ what he said verify that the engine is up to date on its matence and belts before spending money anyware else.

 

Hey cjeckert, How do you dig the GTI? I'm gonna be selling those... I'd like to know people's opinions...

 

I'd sell it to someone wanting a track car, and get one with much less issues. Depends on how attached you are to the car, and how much cash you got.

Otherwise, get the engine set and maintaince first, worry about non-essential things later.

 

Agreed. The mechanicals really should be the first thing as well as all the little consumables (oil, filters, plugs, fluids, etc.) Once that's all up to snuff, you can do all the little stuff like the hood and rear deck shocks, lights, some interior items etc. Save the paint for last. By then you'll have a lot better handle on what the car is like to work on, how stuff goes together, etc.

Paint/body work sucks - you either better get used to the idea of spending HOURS and HOURS and HOURS and HOURS of sanding and prepping or paying thousands and thousands of dollars to have a body shop rip you off to do the same or lesser quality work for it. Those are pretty much your only choices and it's unfortunate, but that's reality. A decent body/paint job will cost thousands. These "McPaintJob" places like Earl Scheib or Maaco are pretty much worthless for anything of quality. They're mills and want only to "get-'em-in-get-'em-out-and-that'll-be-two-grand". I can pretty much guarantee they'll screw something up and the paint work will last three years tops. YMMV but I wouldn't trust 'em with a 10-foot-pole - they're typically only good for unscrupulous car-flippers to prep the car for a quicky sale, IMO.

I really advocate the DIY route for stuff like that wherever possible and it's only being fair to yourself and to the car to say do everything else first. By then you'll know whether you really want to get into that and have the love for the car to see it through or not. If not, that'll be time to unload it and get something else and move on with your life. If so, you'll have a lot better understanding of how the car goes together and what you're up against in terms of work. If you try to do the body stuff first you're likely to get frustrated and abandon it halfway through, or rush it and get crap results.

I see no reason on this planet for taking one of these cars to a (decent) body shop that's going to charge several thousands of dollars and yield a car that's worth (book value) maybe half that at the end. The one exception to that logic is if the car means more to YOU and you're planning on keeping it for a long time, but even that is something you'll only know if you've gotten everything else done first. Even so, consider how much it would suck to spend six grand on a paint job for a car with a book value of four grand and get rear-ended by some SUV-drivin' soccer mom on her cell phone the minute you pull out of the shop. Could happen.

Best of luck with the car.

 

Thanks for the replies!

The engine has been gone over, it's got new plugs, a top end rebuild, new belts, new radiator hoses. I spent 2500 or of my own money and someone else spent much more before I got it. It still needs work though. Let's say the car is sound enough to do 135mph, but there are some noises that worry me. Now that I think of it it needs new suspension bushings, sunroof gears...

The car is a daily driver. So a stereo is almost essential... But that's my department, i'm a hobby installer. A little Fatmat here, some fiberglass there... After the sunrrof seal gets fixed.

I have a 944 parts car that has Koni (sp) Yellow shocks and a working engine, (rebuildable transmission). It was hit badly on the passenger side. I'm going to put on the 944 rear spoiler (+10 lbs yayyy!) on and maybe take some interior parts and have the alternator re-wound for high amperage.

As far as paint goes, I know a professional Mustang restorer's son through college, they agreed to do the paint for a couple grand, if I help with the prep.

Hopefully that gives you a better idea.

 

nonono! no 944 spoiler on the 924S... it just looks... wrong... the car IMHO looks MUCH better with the small spoiler

 

i dont think the alternator will need to be touched. i ran the big subs 'n amps for a month or so (untill i got tired of it and needed the $ back lol) and it did it perfectly, just get an over-sized capacitor and it'll do fine.

And keep the 924S spoiler! they look sexy with them, a 944's would completely screw up the sleek look!

 

White Pony,

I also agree with those above. Mechanicals first! Cosmetics last! Upgrades to engine HP output........leave for even later!

Is this your only car to drive? How are ya as far as mechanical experience and tool availability? Budget is also a main consideration.....of course (how much are ya willing to put into this car, you almost never get back out of it, what you'll put into it........moneywise).

"Let's say the car is sound enough to do 135mph, but there are some noises that worry me. Now that I think of it it needs new suspension bushings, sunroof gears..."

Well..............135mph with some of those added in issues would scare the **** outta me! What kind of driving/and or/how hard are you planning on driving this car? Take notice of the "noises", and do something about them......first. Your doing fine. Proceed logically. Hard to do sometimes!....

A couple of my favorite sayings, that I try to remember myself are:

"ya gonna play........your gonna PAY!"

"there is a calculated/informed risk, there is a uninformed/blind risk, and then there is a stupid risk". Where do I wanna go today, or, as a famous person once said..........do ya feel lucky?.......well.......do ya?".

"just where is that crystal ball of mine?"

Your call. Educating yourself, is a GREAT thing!

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the input again, some killer advice!

Okay, Okay nix the 944 spoiler. Originally, when I first got the car I wanted to drop the WIDEST rear fender flares www.gt-racing.com had to offer coupled blah, blah, blah...Basically I was running a tab of $30k before it even got out of the shop after an oil leak issue which took 8 months to fix.

I run Castrol GTX 10w30 in winter and 10w40 in spring and I plan to run 15w50 for my summer oil. It gets the highest octane premium non-ethanol gasoline that is available (which is well worth it in my opinion).

This car is a daily driver, but I have other vehicles I can use. I drive on the slower side, but like to go fast (over 100mph) say, once weekly. Once this car is finished I want it to look nice, sound nice and drive awesome (which it already does), but I want it to be under the radar kind of, as I do not enjoy police attention. Basically a paint job I can shine up and be proud of, an interior worth vaccuming, a stereo and some exhaust tweeking (sounds allright but has room for improvement) would be my ideal car.

Granite 944,
"Your gonna play your gonna pay!" is exactly right! YOu were also very right about educating myself. Since Ive joined this forum I've saved myself a BOATLOAD of hassles. It also scared the crap out of me as well to go 135 mph... I thought the top speed on these cars was only 120.

marvfan,
How many amps were you drawing with your entire system? I was originally planning for over 250 peak draw (3 12" JL W6's on a PPI amp + component amps and xovers) but now I whittled it to about 95 amps peak draw (less equipment). Does anyone know the rated output for the stock porsche alternator? (another thread perhaps) personally I hate capacitors, they are (speaking from experience) a band aid on a broken arm of a lacking electrical system.

Okay, I've got it all laid out now!

First thing i'm gonna spend money on is Stuff that pisses me off: I'm going to get all the stupid stuff that bugs me out of the way. Sunroof gears, visor clips, hood and hatch shocks, fix the odometer and the passenger side window. I'll also get a filter so I can change my oil... Advance Autoplods is out of stock...

Second, Mechanical: strip the Koni Yellows off of the 944, buy some suspension bushings, replace the fuel filter, change the tranny fluid. Maybe the injectors... She clicks furiously sometimes. THis step may include pads rotors and painting the calipers.

Third, Cosmetic: Front 924 fender, pull the dent from the rear qtr, pull strange dent from front air dam, replace the air dam grate, replace hatch lock gasket. Paint and body maybe inthe fall. Also, the headliner and the sunroof gasket .

Fourth, Which will probably be ongoing through the whole process, sound deadening the doors, building fiberglass pods for some component speakers etc.

All that advice really helped me set my agenda straight. Even if it takes me a couple years to complete, it will have been fun. Hearing from people who've experinced it all is just what I needed to make some real good decisions about the car.

An '05 Mustang Cobra 4.6liter would have been a bad idea, right?