So for more than a year now a friend of mine has been sending me ads for various Porsche 944’s and 924’s as I had one years ago and after seeing his expressed I would love to get another someday.
Well a couple weeks ago he discussed a 1987 924S that was for sale in the small town of Union Oregon near where I lived. The car in question was a guards red on black cloth and leather interior with the Porsche script on the seats. This car was identical to the very first Porsche I had ever been in more than 30 years ago. That car was owned by my father and it was a surprise when he got it.
With my wife’s blessing we went and looked at the car. While it needs a good deal of work it does run and drive well. My boys immediately fell in love with it and we decided to take the car on as a family project.
Below are the images from the advertisement for the car. I will of course add more of my own later.
So what all needs fixed on the 924S? The car is 37 years old and it is showing its age especially when it comes to the cosmetics. So here is the list..
- The paint show every year of its age with faded spots, pealing clear coat and chips
- Seals. Pretty much every body seal needs replaced, sunroof, doors, door handles, mirrors and the hatch
- The sunroof panel has several chips and a crack so it will need to be replaced
- Rear spoiler is starting to show some deterioration
- Front lower valance has been curbed
- Wheels show curb damage
- Carpet on the passenger side is pulling away and it is worn and the carpet in the trunk is cooked so will replace all carpet.
- Front seats are splitting and and cracked. Eventually I want to completely restore the seats but in the mean time I may get some Sparco GT seats for the front
- Driver side sunroof clip has grenaded
- Switch for passenger side window on drivers door not working
- Mirror adjustment joystick not working
- Speaker in drivers door not working
- Speedometer is bouncing
- Fuel gauge is temperamental and not showing accurate even when tank is full
- Sunroof does not raise to full height and does not block out being able to lower bars to remove panel when engine is running
- Driver side lock missing cap
- Dash cracked
- Center console lid hinge broken or bent
- Rear hatch cover is broken and missing both end caps
- Rear defroster contact wire broken at connector
- Clock not working
- Small section of headliner pulled away at sunroof edge
- Intermittent setting on wipers not working
- AC not working (system was rebuilt but needs charged)
- Parking brake is loose needs adjustment
- Engine is running a little rich
- 3rd gear synchro is rough and will make noise if you shift hard
- Sounds like there is a brake slightly dragging
- Headlights are aftermarket and wired directly to battery
- Stereo head unit is a Kenwood CD player that while it works it just does not look right in the car
- Tires are old and showing some cracking on one.
- There is a chameleon sticker on the driver side and another sticker inside the rear hatch
- Suspension is starting to show wear
So as you can see there is PLENTY that needs done to the car but honestly most of it is the cosmetics and not as much with the mechanical side of things. The engine runs like a top and starts right away and there is no slipping with the clutch.
Well with the bad weather moving in and the Porsche living outside at the moment I started on replacing the seals that I know are bad.
First up is the sunroof outer seal. I placed an order with Pelican Parts and shipping was fast and prices good. Got the old seal off which was heavily compressed,cracked and had a few tears. Upon cleaning up the edges after removing the seal I found a couple chips and a crack about 2 inches long at one corner. More than likely I will probably need to figure out how to repair the fiberglass or just outright replace the panel.
Helpful tip when putting the new seal on, when you go around the corners twist the seal outwards so that it will seat easier. There will be a bit of overlap so you will need to trim the end. Be careful and cut the end so you end up with about 1mm extra, this will ensure you have a tight fit for no leaks. Once you get it on and fit take it back off and put a small bead of silicone sealant in the track so it seals up nicely and place the seal back in place being careful to place it the same as you had it the first time.
Getting the roof back on the car was a bit of a pain as the new seals were MUCH thicker than the old worn out ones. You pretty much have to push the panel down starting at one front corner then work your way around and may need and extra set of hands to keep pressure on the side you put down first. Once you get the bars set in place holding the roof down don’t raise the roof for a week or two allowing the new seals to set up.
I did have a front clip grenade so I will need to replace that one. It got dark before I could get some pics so I will take some tomorrow.
Next up: the door handle seals!
So took the 924 out tonight,as I have not been able to drive for a couple weeks due to a back injury and having emergency oral surgery , and I wanted to get a couple more drives in before the snow flies. Well we decided to go out to dinner and meet my mom at the local Japanese place (yum!) and I mentioned to my wife I wanted to take the car even though I knew we would not all fit. She agreed and took the baby in the Suburban and the boys rode with me, they can’t get enough of the Porsche. Anyway after dinner we took the long way home which included a stretch I could open it up a bit and get up above 55mph. Well once I got there I noticed a little bit of a sway from the rear end I had not noticed before. I am HOPING it is just the product of the crap tires, one of which has a crack (I know I know). And maybe they lost some pressure due to the colder temps we have been having as it was mid 30s this evening.
Anyway looks like new tires are a priority and who knows could be the rear shocks as well or maybe some bushings I have yet to discover at bad. It will take a bit of digging.
Oh on a side note I AM getting it figured out how to shift into 3rd without causing any grinding at least on the way up. The way down that is still eluding me to the point I normally just slow down far enough I can skip third and jump to second if I need to. Someday I will get the rev matching down. I actually almost feel like the car spins up a little slower than my old 944 so I may check that out as well.
Alright I had forgotten to start my build page here! However I just copied everything over from the build blog for the car so you all are up to date now.
build blog page is https://rebelgtp924s.wordpress.com
