My search for a new daily beater has turned up what appears to be a remarkably clean 84 242 DL turbo automatic for sale not too far from me. I'd rather find a manual, but honestly having an automatic is going to make life easier for commuting and tempting me to mess with the car less.
What are things to watch out for on these cars? Are the automatics durable at all?
Thanks
skierd wrote:My search for a new daily beater has turned up what appears to be a remarkably clean 84 242 DL turbo automatic for sale not too far from me. Are the automatics durable at all?
Thanks
Well, the automatic could be 25 plus years old . . . that bodes well 
Turbobricks.com is your friend. Mt last 3 turbo bricks have had 200-300k miles on them and are drop dead reliable....well, the two I kept have been. Tuna55 has had troubles with my first one but then he did boost it to 16psi and put another 30k on it. Manual swaps are pretty straightforward though I haven't done mine yet. Figure they will need work like any 27 year old car but are built like tractors and super easy to wrench on.
Get it.
In reply to skierd: I think I saw the car you're talking about on Craigslist. It's a 244, even though the owner is calling it a 242. Look out for rust on this car. Otherwise, it's a very interesting car with a clean interior.
The automatics are durable. Swapping the 4sp./OD manual in shouldn't be too difficult.
JohnW wrote:Swapping the 4sp./OD manual in shouldn't be too difficult.
I can get the trans and all the swap parts out of a car in the junkyard in under 2 hours without breaking anything. On my back without power tools. In the rain. Ask me how I know.
The craigslist car is the one I'm talking about, yes. The pics are obviously, given our current weather situation, from quite some time ago, but if its half the car it would appear to be thats not a bad thing.
One of the police package cars... cool! They got a few HD parts, and the provenance is interesting.
As far as holding power, the autobox is a little more capable - there are some valve body mods you can do (read up on Turbobricks.) If you want to make big power AND shift for yourself, a T-5 tranny is a swap option.
K-Jet can easily be modded to keep up with extra boost. 14psi should be about right for fun + reliability.
What does the police package consist of? Maybe a boost tune?
My 92 740 turbo has 270K miles and is still kicking. The original automatic transmission is starting to act a bit funky in the cold at this point though. It doesn't even use any oil. They seem to hold up well. I'm deep in the rust belt and mine is completely rust free. I've heard complaints about the interiors falling apart but mine seems to be holding up fine.
skierd wrote:The craigslist car is the one I'm talking about, yes. The pics are obviously, given our current weather situation, from quite some time ago, but if its half the car it would appear to be thats not a bad thing.
Cool. I really like this car. It looks like it may have some rocker rust, it's been hit in the front, and who knows what that cheap respray is hiding, but for $900 it's well worth a look.
The police package is very interesting. If you look at the window sticker it says it has big sway bars and a smaller diameter steering wheel. I also love the rubber floor!
mr2peak wrote:What does the police package consist of? Maybe a boost tune?
Mostly suspension tweaks, and the rubber floor. Some people have said they are faster than a standard Turbo, but I think that's just the halo effect.
