pettybird

for under a grand pick it up. what have you got to lose? damn near every wear part is a Volkswagen part so it's really cheap. If it runs well then you're golden. I have a 924 turbo, which IS faster, but obviously slower than my 951. it IS charming, though, and they're really light and tossable. You might even decide to (gasp!) keep it and update it with later 944 parts!

CyCloNe!

Get the 924, with the 2.0 non-interference engine. It will be cheap to maintain and you can get one for around 1k and it's still a porsche so win-win.

Korsair970

Alright I'm gonna at least check out the car tomorrow. I hope it won't pour rain tomorrow as well... i'm lurking on the 924 board, but anyone have major things to look out for? It's 'running well, and just did 70 on the highway last week' so we'll see what that means...

pettybird

the big expense is the CIS injection. everything else that wears is cheap. there aren't many Porsche-only parts on an early 924 as it wasn't supposed to wear the crest, and Porsche chose the parts accordingly...

CyCloNe!

^ really i didn't know it wasn't originally going to have the crest... interesting learned something new

mazdaverx7

^^the 924 was originally designed to be a VW sports car but ended up being produced as a Porsche.

pettybird

What was it, the Volkswagen Hurricane?

They commissioned the 924 at Porsche, then decided to go in-house and make the Golf. Can't say it was a bad move.

racer

924 = no.
Saving money for a 924S/944 = yes!

expecting a 25-35 year old car to be reliable daily driver? well, be sure to have a back up plan.

dontnow

I was looking for a 944, and a 78 924 fell into my lap. It shows ~70k, carpet, seats and repair history look like it. Original owner (elderly couple) traded it for labor on a re-roof job and I bought it from that guy. I paid $300.00 with new struts, brakes, tires etc. Tried to start but doesn't. Rebuilding fuel dist now (cost $30 w/o-rings and washers) If this doesn't fix it, I'll switch to mega squirt. All in all should be in it <$1000. Plan to take advantage of 30 mpg instead of truck at 14. Good price, what the heck, get it and drive it while looking for a nice 944.

carlege

I could have sworn that was the 356.

Korsair970

No it was the 924, though the 914 was also a VW project, however executed in a much different and intended manner. The 356 came about because the Dr. Porsche couldn't find a car he wanted, so he decided to make one. This was after he was held for ransom in a dungeon by the French because he spent WWII jumping the gun on incredible but complicated tanks which he would start producing before Rheinmetal or Krupp or whoever would end up winning the contract. This has always led me to wonder why Porsche has never done an inspired by our heritage designs like other companies 'inspire' their cars from planes...

There's your unwarranted 'abridged' Porsche history lesson for today...


Bah... Delayed checking the car out until this Thursday. Doing more research, and have decided that I'll pick up an early 944 parts car for 4 or 5 hundred shortly after, loot the suspension/brakes/wheels and take my time to refresh that suspension, rebuild calipers, etc. and then just bolt the sucker on when it's done.Of course I'm not taking any art classes that allow access to any sand blasting anymore so I'll have to sort that out some other way...

All in all, I'm going to shoot for $3000-3500 to;
Buy car
decent engine tune up - belts, pumps, plugs some other stuff
probably new hoses, radiator, t stat
944 parts car for suspension/5 lug swap/rear discs
refresh 944 suspension - bushings/struts/etc. new rotors, lines, rebuild calipers,etc.

After that I'll call it a daily driver...

Of course this all rests on the car not turning out to be a rust bucket or CIS exploding when I take a look at it...

Korsair970

ALRIGHT!
I got about 30 minutes before I call the owner back after taking a look at it (his dad, an nice older gentleman who didn't know much about it at all gave us the keys)

Engine looks and runs good from what I can tell, starts right up, no smoke or noises or smells, trans also seems good, is a 4 gear dog leg.
Engine is carburated, so someone ditched CIS at some point...
Needs a tune up but seems decent

Body issues - missing front valence, 1 headlight out but motors work, windshield crack, paint decent but scrapes spots etc.

Suspension etc. seems decent for the age...

Brakes - Oh god we barely stopped the car the first few minutes... ebrake shot, have to realllllllly pump the brakes at first to get them working.

Interior is trashed, ehh more to swap from a parts car/944 parts car

1 big problem I spotted, has the passenger floor leak.. battery try right?


His dad was talking about wanting $1200 hah... but he said he is a motivated seller, I've seen much better 924's for $1000 that I would consider 'good' condition, so calling this 'fair' I'm going to start at $600 and think $6-800 is the price...


Quick! What do you guys think?

moorepower

Yeah, 600-800 sounds about right. I like the Webers, though.

sydneyman

fun project for 6-800. not a 1000 dollar car by any means... GL!

Korsair970

Bought it! I paid 850, probably overpaid considering the condition of the interior, but the carbs have me intrigued... It's sitting in a friend's garage while the weather clears so it can make the trip home in peace

I'll start a build thread soon and we'll see what happens to it this summer...

Also... Clark's or something else have a good walkthrough on how to bleed those old brakes?