odurandina

these cars did not last very long back in the day....

i don't think these numbers are way out there... but to get near to a clean, daily driver w/ no hidden rust cavities, no cracking floorboards, clean carpets, dash, fresh fuel lines, belts, hoses, turbos, valves, no ring blowby, fresh exhaust, etc..... i'll try to be generous to your cause.... going by if you were, 1. good with your basic mechanical knowledge, 2. a good bodyman, then charge yourself $40 dollars/hour and get all the parts you need to clean up the car, and have an engine guy handy who understand's you're going back to school next year.....

Ferrari 308....................$70~80 K to drive a $40~45 K Ferrari. (can often be cheaper to fabricate replacement parts, radiators, lines, hoses, etc)....

Porsche 944 Turbo.........$30~45 K to drive a $15~18 K LEGEND.... depending on how far you wish to go to drive a proper 944T.

Porsche 924 Turbo.........$35~40 K ++ then you gets to drive an $8 K so-so, (oh gosh that's a neat old Porsche you're driving.... can it go fast?) car.


depending on how rotten everything is...... start by stipping the car down to the tub, you're probably good to go on doing most of the work yourself, otherwise, your local body shop for a few pieces of fresh sheet metal and then you can bring 'er home and start adding the plastic (bondo).... then start ordering all the several hundred parts to replace all the dead, crusty hoses, wires, turbo, radiator, head gasket, valves, ect...


all this to drive an upside down, 944 prototype with looks on par with Anita Bryant.

Josh B

Nice - here is the pic of the one I picked up to restore and then gave up on...

pettybird

QFT.

Dimi 944

What he said^^^

931GT

They're definitely faster. And running euro boost is as simple as adding a boost gauge and MBC. No way an 143hp 944 is gonna win a drag race against a 170hp 931. Euro spec cars saw 60 in 6.9 seconds. And most of the hp difference is in boost. A US spec 931 running 10psi will be reliable and fast once it's sorted.

As to the OPs question. Just be certain it runs good. Dealing with CIS and ignition CPU issues right off the bat will be demoralizing. As far as value... a good condition, solid runner will see around $3500. Non-runners go for 1K or less.

@ odurandina. Its pretty obvious you have no real experience with 924s or 931s. Making it your personal crusade to **** on the 924 on a 924/944/968 forum is pretty douchey. I've ignored your 924 dumping before, but for god sake... its getting old. 924 owners know what they've got. Best of breed? No. But a cool old sports car that's pretty reliable, handles great and most often rust-free, yes. They are the reason the 944 and 968 exist at all. In fact the early 944 is essentially a 931 with a different engine and flared fenders, in every other way they are the same car.

@JoshB thats the best of both worlds. A 924S with a 951 drivetrain and some added 931 styling (nose vents, NACA duct, rear fender guards, shaved side markers) the perfect 924 turbo. If you have the money, time and inclination it truly would be the best route.

Cochezz

WOW! lets all take it easy here.

So far working on my early 944 I'm impressed by the quality of the car, OK not everything is as good as it could be but compared to every other 70's and early 80's cars I've worked on its A1. Now a '82 924 is fully galvanized, that alone makes it 10x just about every other POS build in '82. Mechanical stuff is easy, I HATE BODY WORK!.

I think the 931 is cool, like the dash board its the same as my early 85 944. I wouldn't call a 924 sexy but its not offensive, the car has a relly high neat factor for me.

A friend of mine is looking for an 80's Mustange 5.0, he's wanted one ever since we were kids. I've been helping him look for worth while cars. Holly crap, a good 5.0 is 10K + here in Canada. WTF. I've had 80's Fords, they are scary bad. I saw a mint fiat x1/9 for sale, $10K and he had another with only 3500 miles for $25K............FIAT X1/9.............

So $2K for a nice 931, that won't rust away, has easy mechanics, is fun to drive and can't lose any more value no matter what I do to it sounds like a sweet deal........

For '82 0-60 in 8sec is crazy fast, Like corvette fast but really who cars, speed is relative. I've had more fun trying to drive slow cars fast then I've ever had driving fast cars slow.

For all those who have driven a 931 how bad is the turbo lag? Worst I've ever driven was a Volvo 240 turbo, even in first is was brutal until the boost cam on.

ibkevin

928 Dishes? Whats up with the, I'm guessing, valve them relief?

I still love those wheels, and they even dress up a 924, nice!

moorepower

Pay no attention to Odie. He's just a troll.

He likes to come here and talk **** about the 924/944, and then he goes to the "Off Topic" section and whines about how mean we are when we bitch-slap him around with facts and real world experience.

Judging by the numbers he's throwing around, he must be an economic advisor to Pres. Obama. $35-$40K for a restored 931?

V2Rocket

the ferrari numbers i won't contest as i am not too familiar with them.

but the porsche numbers are simply pulled out of your ***. 45k is what a 944 turbo cost NEW, you're repairing an old car, not buying another one. and the only reason parts on a 931 would cost much more than an audi or vw of the era is just due to parts rarity from age. but the 924 guys are now getting reproductions made for those parts. some parts can be adapted off of the early 944s.

ideola

I want in on this discussion, but don't have time to reply at the moment. Placeholder so I don't forget. I have a few things to add to the discourse.

JonH

Very nice, now all of a sudden I want a 931.

odurandina

if you offer a extreme sort of skeptical view, that automatically makes you a "troll." or is it instead, that since you can get into one for say, $2~3 K, that's all the justification in the world to go crazy on a big build in a 110~150 hp car?

read the following; i sure as hell didn't write it but the point simply remains. there are many people who've long shared the opinion that the 924 is little more than a prototype car pushed a bit too soon into production, and not really worthy of the Porsche marquis.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...20ever%20built


i was hearing exactly the same at the Porsche Audi dealer in 1984 when i brought my Fox in for service--my first time seeing the 944s and 928s close up...... as far as cooking my numbers, i was including the time necessary to do the proper prep for resprays. come visit the roadsalt capital--Massachusetts.... we got some pretty max-rusted, 30 year old cars here, if you can even find one.

i had the original, 4-cylinder screamer. my 75 hp Audi Fox (based on the same Audi 100 platform) was an incredible little engine as far as i was concerned... the car took me and my friends to Florida about 5 times, Grateful Dead, U2, and Rolling Stones concerts all over the Northeast... after putting about 140 k miles on that car it finally sort of rotted away and i sold it to a guy for a parts car. but, i'd be lying if i told you all i didn't catch the 'bug.' i'm sure the early 924s offer a very similar driving experience from virtually, the same VW/Audi dna.....

when i went out to school i found a mint-condition '79 malibu and began doing some muscle-car projects... once in San Diego, just finding a car without any rust was a whole new world for me !!.... during that time i got into driving my roommate's Quantum just about everywhere (it had surf racks) while we were fixing up my Malibu.... it made me think again about getting an Audi.... about a year later i visited an an auction with that very plan when i found the 944.

maybe i'm biased against pumping so much time and money into 110~160 hp cars, when there are truly, so many better choices out there.... but i just don't think the numbers work with for 924/T.... there remains one good reason you guys should maybe, aim a little higher from the start.... simply, that in a few years you'll be making more money. maybe a lot more, and you might regret that you hadn't started with a better P-car costing only a few thousand dollars more..... if the numbers work so well, why do owners of more expensive 911s not get into 924 projects, when many of these same guys get into building 944Ts?





that's an 'S" right? that's a 944 w/ proper engine, suspension, wheels, brakes, with 924 fenders, etc.

therefore, i cry FOUL.... you can do just about anything to that car.


on last and final point. if you can do a pre-1983, 924 restoration for cheap money, could this be due to the car actually being just an old VW sportscar with just a slightly larger, Audi 100 engine?

odurandina

i guess one of the big turnoffs was the old vw/audi four bolt pattern, reading up a bit about the 924 now on wiki.....

"While the car was praised for its styling, handling, fuel economy, and reliability, it was harshly written up in the automotive press for its very poor performance, especially in its US spec cars. With only 95-110 hp, rapid acceleration was simply not an option, but the Porsche name carried with it higher expectations.... When the 924 turbo models came out, Car and Driver magazine proclaimed the car "Fast...at Last!"


i've never gotten close to turbocharged 2 litre Audi Fox engine.

sydneyman

OD, i don't mind your input on most subjects as its highly entertaining and i value different opinions.

that being said, to **** on the 924 for the reasons you give is a little misguided. You don't like the 924 because its performace and resale value?

I urge you to pick up a hemmings sports and exotic car magazine. they do articles on just about every older sports car to include old BMWs, volvos, british cars, etc. Its a very cool rag and there are a lot of vehicles in there that people take pride in but fall into your "****-on" category. People spend a lot of money on these cars and end up with something thats barely (if at all) over a hundred horsepower and nobody gives a crap about that "ultra rare bodystyle" Peugeot, therefore it only has a resale value if someone happens to see it who's in the market for a different type of sports car.

The 924 turbo especially is a reliable car and actually can be made pretty quick with minimal investment (after necessary maintenance). I think it suffers in most people's eyes because it has the 944 and its successors to "out do" it. Look at the 914. there was no mid engine replacement that could be named its successor. And now after so many years, they are coming back in value because they are pretty cool in their own right. The 924 unfortunately has had many successors and when you look at a 924 compared to a 968, sure it doesn't make as much sense financially.

Sorry for the rambling, but i think the 924 (and the turbo especially) is a very neat little car that deserves the following thats its made for itself and more. jmo

931GT

I'm not sure anyone even at the 924 boards is gonna argue that the 924 was Porsche's best work. And most folks think it is unequivocally their worst. But the truth is... its really a pretty decent car. The NAs are considered very reliable considering their age and if you compare them to other cars from the same era its no contest... a 30 year old toofah once sorted can be used as a daily driver. They don't rust out, they were galvanized and stand up to the elements pretty good. Unfortunately the US Spec NAs just didn't have enough power, though they steadily increased power from 95hp to 110hp to 115hp, they really needed 130hp - 140hp to have been taken seriously. If they had this level of power from the start they likely would have been hailed as amazing machines. The handling was there and besides staight-line performance they received very good reviews at the time.

Now the 931. The early cars had some issues with cooking their turbos. Part of the problem though may have been owners driving them hard then immediately shutting it down. The dino oil coked up the turbos and before long they were toast. Now with synthetic oil and appropriate cool down time at idle this is pretty much a non-issue.

Performance wise, yes the US spec 931 is comparable to the early US spec 944. The 931 may have a very slight edge and feels faster because of the torque burst in the mid range but they are very close. As time wore on though, the 944 got fatter and slower. The real difference is the ability to increase power on the 931 with only a $100 investment and a few hours of time. There are very little real differences between the Euro spec 931 and the US spec cars, so running the euro spec 10psi of boost is really no problem for the US cars. So with a MBC and a boost gauge your US 931 goes from 143-156hp to somewhere around 170hp. Thats significant and you can feel it. (caveat... said 931 must be in good running condition and running more than 10psi without an IC isn't an option.)

Here are a bunch of road tests of the whole 924/944/968 series.

http://www.weissach.net/924-944-968_...stSummary.html

Looks wise. Again the US cars suffered. Those round side markers really mucked up the smooth lines of the 924 and the US bumpers don't help much. The euro cars look better, but even so... its shape does not appeal to everyone. Its subdued and sleek, unlike the later muscled look of the Carrera GT and then 944s. Some like em, some don't.

Lastly, the 924 is a more reliable, better handling, better built than most of its contemporaries. They will still be driving around when most other late 70s, early 80s cars have all turned to rust.