1982 Porsche 924 TrackBuild, Should it Stay or Should It Go?

I don't normally like to quote a whole lot of photos but in this case it refers to further back in the thread.

Really like this idea, in fact I was thinking about it after reading through the Rally Design catalogue, they do a kit including the stands link. If I ever get round to sorting out the bodywork on my MX5 I may consider incorporating this.

Great work!

That is some lovely fabrication work chap! Awesome project

curse of the dreaded sunroof drains ?

bookmarked this thread at the start, but only just replied. enjoying the updates

Hello robin.

I have been reading your thread quite regularly when you update it, however I've never really had anything worthwhile to add... Still don't really but I thought I would chime in with another "well done".

I recognise your name, did you ever ride trials years ago? Have a mini? Possibly a clubman? Perhaps I am well off the mark, it wouldn't be the first time.

Your standard of work looks phenomenal and I suspect it's a process I will have to go through with my 944 in the next few years unfortunately. I think where these transverse Porsches because cheap a few years ago corners were cut to keep up with cheap motoring costs which is unfortunate. I've certainly found a few in mine.

Personally I think a Carrera GT style would be fantastic. There seems to be a few poorly executed examples out there, however ypive clearly shown your standard of work is very good, and I think the Carrera GT style would work very well. However if you was to go that route it would be rude not to give it a bit of get up and go!

Another bit patched in earlier:

Following on from the area I was rebuilding in the last post:



The weldings not my neatest, but this will all be ground back, and it looks good from the inside with consistant full penetration.

The improvement in weather, and the longer evenings has lead to me hiding away at the unit less recently, so progress has slowed a bit. I've still got a bit done though.

Since my last update I have...

Ground back the patches I put in last time:





Made a bigger hole:



Patched the downstand:



Made an even bigger hole:



And finally, rebuilt the edge of the floor:



I've also removed a load more sound deadening from inside and cleaned up and treated some surface rust on the drivers floor pan, but didn't take any photos as it seemed even more dull than yet more welding.

The ends of the rust repairs are finally in sight, so I've also been making a real start on the suspension plans. Plans only so far though.

After a busy but enjoyable weekend pausing any progress last week, I've managed another couple of evenings on the 924 this week. I really should be dealing with the daily driver, what with it having half a set of coilovers and a slipping clutch, but I was feeling a lot more motivated to play with old interesting cars, than 'modern' (1999) diesel cars.

If you're a Bristol local you may have caught a glimpse of me at the Queens Square meet last Sunday. I managed to jump in as the passenger in my friend Ollys stunning 240z. He's just finished a serious rebuild of it after it was imported from Texas 2 years ago and Sunday was it's first drive outside the local area. (This has nothing to do with the 924, I just really like this car!)



Back to my considerably shonkier car...

Earlier in the week I managed a quick trip out. In between helping a friend trying to find a knock his e36 has developed I managed to plate up the last gap in the inner sill:





Then I offered up the outer sill and highlighted a mistake I'd made earlier on.   the front ~3rd of the inner sill was noticeably too deep to suit the outer sill panel, despite the panel being identical to the opposite side that I've already done with no issue. Balls.

A little measuring later and my heart rate calmed down a lot when I worked out that the floor was definitely in the right place. I'd just over-done the downward slope at the edge that keeps the flange the same length in-front of the step below the seat. Over-done it to the tune of 4mm to be exact. So this afternoon when I got out to the unit, my first job was to slice a tapered chunk out of my nice fresh metal, squeeze it closed, re-measure everything and run a ~400mm weld down the inner sill to close it back up again. Happily, with that done everything measured up as being nice and symmetrical and the outer panel lined up well again. Phew!

With my mistake fixed up, I got on with making a bit more progress in the fight against the orange curse word (rust, not that chap on the other side of the pond).

I patched up the section missing from the bottom of the a-pillar, then cut out the heavily pitted lower portion of the rear edge of the inner sill. Happily, besides closing it all up with the outer sill, that's the end of the 'repair' welding on this side!

With that done, I got the hole saw and die grinder out to crack on with putting the sill stand tubes in. I was a little worried how I'd ensure they had the same slight slope that the passenger side ones did. This would be essential to make sure that when I make the stands, they stand upright on any corner of the car. Fortunately, I'd cut up some VW seat bases to make subframes for the 924s seats in their new home (a friends mk1 jetta) and by pure chance, the tubing they'd left behind in the scrap bin was a perfect fit for the inside of the sill stand tubes! Welded to a length of box section placed accross the full width of the floor, they made a slightly Heath robbinson, but perfectly functional jig to hold the tubes in place while I welded them in. I got the front one in, and the hole drilled for the rear one before deciding to call it a day.

The patched up A-pillar and front sill stand tube. The long, horizontal, mostly ground back weld running along the top of the inner sill's the result of my little cock-up:



The 'jig' showing how it located the tube:



And an overview of how it stands now:



As I was leaving, I thought it might be fun to see if any of you lot could guess what the 924s neighbor is:



It belongs to my housemate, and as I realise there's not a huge amount to go of, I'll give you a clue: Its a rare (in this country) variation of a fairly rare Japanese car, built a couple of years after the 924.

Some lovely work you are doing it it Robin, fantastic welding and attention to detail (as always )