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I borrowed the mechanics flashlight & quickly wigged & pulled at things underneath. Noticed the bushings & rear shocks looked very very good for a 38 year old.
He then lowered the car & it fired up like right now! And it idled so beautifully. Better in fact than my 944 2.5 n/a ever has.
I got my friend to crank the throttle cam while I looked for blue smoke. No signs of oil burning.
I haven't spent time in a 924, just observed the car in a general way. I was told the timing cover is missing & it is also missing the under engine pan (does the 924 come with an under tray?).
I noticed a new looking distributer, battery and alt.
I sat in the car. Noticed the original early dash & full factory interior. I fell instantly in love, though the seats were softer than I am used to (with the factory 944 Recaros).
Checked all the lights. So cool how the lights pop up. I missed that
He told me how we can't test drive the car because not insured/registered , but that he's had it in all gears & it drives good. Brakes are at 80%. I offered him a price. We signed the papers & I paid him. I went to drive it out of the bay.
I looked at the **** to get familiar with the 4 speed pattern & tried driving in reverse. Instead I went forward. The shifter was WAY WAY sloppy. Hmmm.
But the car purred so fine & the headlights were perfectly aligned and seemed quite excellent for brightness in deed. We have 4 hours (at least of driving to do in the night, and my old eyes don't do well in the darkness).
I drove in the yard... 1st gear.... 2nd gear... clutch felt decent (friction zone/freeplay/smooth). Then tried the brakes. They were spongy. But okay from what I can tell... in fact the whole experience in the parking lot was a little spongy, but the seat is probably a factor. The pedals I will have to get used too. Maybe try bleeding the brakes within the week.
My 944 is firm, not spongy. The emergany brake in my car is firm, the steering is stiff, the shocks are somewhere between firm & stiff, the racing seat I use is firm/stiff, the peddles are crisp and the brakes are firm! This will take some getting used too. And technically it is winter. FORTUNATELY the little 924 comes with near new Goodyear winter tires!
"Little 924" oh my god it is little! Little 14" by what? 5" wide rims? The car is obviously more narrow than the 944 but it sits like 2 inches lower!! My 944 sits pretty high I guess.
-back to the drive:
The parking brake flexes as you use it, much flexier than I'm used too.
And that shifter slop. MAN O MAN. Nasty. This is really bad but I will have to endure it for the ride home.
We drive down the road. Honestly although I'm excited I'm also nervous. How slippery is the road? Can I keep up with my friend in my truck? I don't want to hold him back, he has basically dedicated the whole day away from his family to do this with me.
The first few blocks involve turns. This is my first time in a TRUE manual rack steering 924/944. I drive a "non powered steer" car. It isn't powered but it's also very stiff while providing good road feel.
THIS lightweight little beauty on the other hand is so different. Easy to turn. Within a few blocks of 80 kilometers per hour (KPH) I notice every time I get to 3500 rpm the engine seems to shake & the shifter violently shakes.
I drive for 10-20 kilometers more. Trying to ignore the shaking & focus on the road. I am in third & fourth gear. The road ahead has a bit of a hill & I drive up with now problem. This engine is pretty torquey! I fell in love with the engine the moment I saw it. It is access able & mechanical. It runs so good and doesn't seem underpowered. As I'm moving down the road I realize I don't have heat.
The heater controls are totally new to me & I'm trying to adjust while focusing 90% on the road. reach once move a lever once. drive. Heat? no. Concentrate on the road.
Reach another lever & move it to see what it does. Heat? no. Concentrate on the road.
This pattern-process continues for 15 minutes. I have something more important on my mind though.
The noise from the drivetrain is getting out of control. What started as vibrations have become VIOLENT & sounds & feels like DEATH overtaking. I don't know much, but I know the sound and feel of death wobble. I slide my right thigh over on the seat to avoid the shifter in case it grenades; it is crashing & slapping like the exorcist. The noise is so bad. Like bearings grindings and mechanical screeching.
FUGGG. I just FUGGING FUGGED UP SO BAD.
Why didn't I demand a test drive?
I was so impressed by the seller over the phone, and the fact he had keys to the shop after hours & spoke about the car intelligently.
BUT here i am. I'm getting hypothermic. I'm scraping the ice off the inside of the windshield. The car doesn't drive faster than 80 kph without shaking & now it's screeching & banging so very bad.
But what do I do? I gotta keep driving.
2 minutes later I lose any and ALL drive to the rear wheels. I can put it in any gear, step off the clutch & nothing.
FUGG! I'm so VERY ANGRY. And shivering and angry... and! and and.
SO I call & the seller doesn't answer of course. I'm parked along some country road. I don't know anyone! My poor buddy is trying to offer helpful suggestions.
I call again & leave a message. "The muffler fell off, the defrost doesn't work, the ring & pinion just broke & We drove for hours to buy your "certified" car. You better give me a refund & take this car back."
But in the end I don't hear back. I push the car on the shoulder of the country road & we figure out how to get back to town. It's cold. I gotta pee. I just lost $2500. Just threw it away.
No I took my buddy for a 9 hour drive to throw it away.
I'm a bloody mechanic. And THIS IS THE CAR I BUY?
I'm so embarrassed. Please someone just shoot me. And if I can have a dying wish, shoot the seller also.
An hour & a half down the highway I hear back & the conversation is not in my favour. The car is left with a note on it saying "car troubles, please don't tow, will return for it!"
But I don't know how I'm going to do that.
I KNEW long distance car buying was a bad idea. It's always rush rush rush... and now I have to get creative.
Next day the clouds opened up & things got a lot better. Trusted friends drove all that way & trailered it home for a very reasonable fee. Today was slow at work so I took the day off to start tearing down.
Damn, that sucks. You said the torque tube was rebuilt right? From your account I wonder if it was done wrong. What leads you to believe the ring and pinion is bad? The snailshell transaxles are pretty stout, I thought the synchros failed before the actual gears. Either way, I'm confident you can get it driving well (and cheaply) no problem with some critical thinking and shrewd part sourcing. Only so much that can go wrong on those cars.
Edit: I see the pic and it's a Audi based gearbox. didn't the '78 cars cars come with the snailshell? Not adding up
Great observation mate. Thank you for the node of confidence.
Here goes:
The clutch was new, the shifter bushings replaced, the torque tube rebuilt and another 4 speed Audi (1978) trans was installed.
1st thing: drain trans oil and inspect. Results: incredibly clean, transparent, no chunks. I could have reused the oil. But didn't. Trans seems great.
Then removed and in the process found the entire shifter linkage SO WORN, so much play. everywhere. But that is collateral damage, not the main problem.
You are correct about the TT. I suspect incorrect build.
Check it out, the bearing is no longer in the housing:
Didn't get to pull the torque tube out. Time consuming rusty bolts on the exhaust... and having to pull the car in & out and not being experienced with some aspects of the car took too much time.
One thing I have determined is the clutch is not working at the moment, but it doesn't seem to be a cable/linkage problem. I'm feeling normal again but a little nervous about money and this car.
It has to be said, now that I've spent time crawling around this car. It's no 944. Big drop in quality of 95% of stuff on this car. The 944 is much higher quality. It's all light & cheap. But I still like it. And I can't wait to drive it with these skinny winter tires.
It looks like that bearing inner race is completely separated from from the rest of the bearing...oops.
What kind of shifter linkage is on that trans, and what's up front in the cabin? You can rebuild them both for relatively cheap if it's the same mechanism as the the 944 (unsure, it's also an audi derived gearbox, so maybe it's the same). Post pics if possible. You can grab the linkage on the trans and check for play before it actually engages the trans selector stub.
Also from looking at that pic, the inner shaft is drooping a lot. Maybe the other bearings are the same way...
Sorry to hear about your misshap. You should have stopped imediatly as you felt/heard a wobble...still would have not saved you from a TT rebuild but maybe the shock of a breakdown. Happy to hear you made it afterall and you're not completely demoralized about this.
You mentioned a quality drop vs the 944, first..remember this car was designed and built quite a few years before the 944 so its not a quality drop as the 924 and 944 were not designed and produced at the same time first came the 924 in 77 and then in 82-83 the 944...but if there is a quality difference it is a quality up on the 944 which followed...then..can you point out a few examples? I have had 924s and 944(just for breaking tho) and all i could see on the 944 was more stuff...quality is the same to me....the 944 just has alot more stuff on it while the 924 is simple.
What i can point out is that the 1980+ 924s dont rust almost at all while the 944s do...especially the later ones....so for me thats a quality drop.
12-01-2015, 10:41 PM
