Hi there to everyone
My names tom I'm 23 from Lancashire and I've been a long time follower on this forum, I love it! By far the best all round car forum on the net and I love the project threads, so I've decided to start my own.
I have always owned classics ever since my mini Mayfair which I bought shortly after passing my test. Since then I've owned a midget and a tr7 until last year when I bought my first modernish ride which was a civic em1. Loved the car but decided to sell once I got a works van whilst I was working restoring mg's. And one day trolling through eBay last summer I found what looked like a decent looking Porsche 924. I've always fancied one of these and by the looks of the advert pics ( which wernt great) I decided to have a punt. I ended up buying the car for around £700. Collected it from castle Douglas in Scotland one a gorgeous summer day only to get caught in a huge traffic jam on the way home down the m6. Turned out a tanker carrying diesel had crashed and emptied all over the road, meaning a journey that should of taken about 2 hours max ended up taking 9 long hot sweaty hours!!!!!
I was expecting at least one problem with the porsche on that hot long day as it looked a bit worse for wear in the flesh, but amazingly it soldiered on without a hitch. Which after previously owning cars built by BL I couldn't help but sing it's praises. Since then I parked it up on my drive, as I have no where dry to store it, and left it over winter while I stacked a bit of cash to give it a bit of an overhaul. I could of driven it around but it wasn't a priority at the time and there where jobs that I wanted to carry out on it. Since the start of this year I have made a start and now have got a fair way into where I want to be with the car. so here come the pics.....
this is the only real pic I have of the car before I started tearing it apart, this is before the hellish journey home.
since this I ripped off the front subframe, brakes and suspension for a refurb. my plan was to make a nice, clean! example.
I had new control arms that were all polybushed, powder coated struts and cross member as well as anti roll bar. I managed to pick up a cheap set of mk1 golf uprated bilstien front struts that are a direct replacement for the Porsche ones, bit shorter strut body I think but other that that fits right up with Porsche top mounts.
whilst all the front was apart I decided to Shultz the inner wings and behind the front bumper/valance just to tidy the car up a bit. There was very little rust to even surface stuff which is a testament to german build quality. the wings didn't really need undersealing because the factory stuff was still very much in tact but I felt it was an extra layer of protection and made it look like the car has seen some love ;D
Under the bay was very tatty and someone had hand painted the car black in the bay. The car used to be a bluey/silver colour but had been resprayed everyones favourite guards red. the paint itself wasn't too bad but there was flaking which I why I took the wings and front off which have since been buzzed down and primed and blocked so just need some nice days or somewhere dry to paint them. I think the previous owner had painted the bay by hand to cover the original blue. I wasn't really concerned about the originality or pleasing the purists as the car was way past that. plus I always thought the 924 deserved to be a bit lower and wider instead of coming with the huge arch gap and skinny wheels that it did. I am leaning towards 'stancing' the car a bit, but not soo much that its undrivable as I want to be able to use this as a daily eventually.
with this in mind I had some spare black paint lying around so.........
this is a huge improvement on what the bay used to look like. I also stonechipped the battery tray/scuttle area as this can often develop holes or cracks in the seal sealer which in turn leaks into the cabin just an extra added layer of protection. plus it holds water like a curse word if parked with the nose up slightly and it rains.
the engine was a sweet runner but wasn't keen on starting so whilst it was out I stripped it down to a block (left the head on as it was fine and didn't really want to shell out for a HG as I am on a tight budget. plus the price of some of the gaskets are less that desirable too when your skint lol. however I have it a big clean and paint and replaced pretty much every gasket on the block just for peace of mind, new injector seats and seals, sump gasket, painted block, rocker cover, intake manifold and gaskets along with exhaust and gaskets did the valve clearences too and put on a new cambelt and tensioner and a full service plugs etc.
some of the parts where impossible to find on the net so I was in and out of the Porsche dealership at Bolton all the time for niggly little bits for the car and engine. like the little s bend pipe that connects the thermostat to the water pump, £20 for like 2 inch of pipe, and I couldn't get a straight bit of hose to fit without kinking.
whilst doing the bay I went through the engine loom and replaced any scotch blocks, taped up joints and anything that looked like a bodge as I hate having to go back and sort wiring, plus its so easy to do it right the first time and make it look neat that there are no excuses for it. Plus I hate the type of plastic coloured connectors (spade,bullit) like the sell at Halfords on a car of this age as I feel it just looks cheap and it draws the eye to whatever you have been repairing. so I ordered the most oem looking connectors I could find. it might only be a small thing but it makes a big difference (to me at least) when looking over a car. It says this cars 'sorted' lol.
I also ripped off the horrible 80's sound deadening that covers the firewall as it was tore up and dirty and replaced it with heat reflective material from demon tweaks. What a pain in the of a job but looks ok
with that done I could put the engine back in and sort the wiring and ancillaries. along with a ripped down pipe where it met the centre section, someone had previously had a go at fixing it as it was a different flange welded on the end compared to a standard down pipe (sorry no pics of this, I do things and forget to take pics lol) so I chopped out the bad repair and welded in some more 2 inch tube so that the flanges sat nicely together and I could put a new gasket in place (something the previous person who attempted to fix it had left out?) gave it a lick of heat proof black paint and the jobs a gooden'.
Engine back in place and all was going well until I was putting the something on the engine (cant remember what) and I was turning it over by hand to check the static timing and 'clunk'!!! it wouldn't spin past a certain point. I checked everything I possibly could without taking the head off but knew really that something must have fallen into the bore when attaching the manifold. I was beyond angry!! as id taken so much care and even taped up the intake and exhaust ports while I had the engine on the bench and I really didn't want to taka e the head off, id of done that while it was out of the car if I was going to do it.
off came the head and yep!!! a tiny nut had fallen in cylinder number 2, it hadn't caused any damage just a little scuff on the piston which sanded out with a bit of 320 grit. But it meant I had to shell out about £100 for a new HG and stretch bolts (not worth getting a false torque reading off the old bolts and having the hg fail on me later).
But i carried on and 3 days ago it fired into life, FIRST TURN! still need to time it properly when i borrow my mates timing gun but it runs sweet and idles like a champ, good oil pressure too. Its been too wet to work on the car these last couple of days but i did manage to get all the front suspension back on but my tires hit the new springs on the stutts because they are a little wider, i did have some wheel spacers to sort this but the company had sent me Citroen fitment instead. still 4x108 but different centre bore so wont even go over the disc on the 924. so just waiting for them to arrive so i can sit it on its wheels an put on my freshly painted callipers and braided lines. pics coming soon
Anyway sorry for such a long first post but just had to get it out of the way lol. Any tips and wheel recommendations would be great as i want some wide wheels for it not sure whether 15 or 16 inch yet as the back archs are slightly square on the 924 and its still to be lowered on the back yet. been thinking banded steelies as then i can get the offset i need plus its hard finding decent wheels in 4x108 that arnt 13 or 14 inch retro ford wheels (look good IMO just wish they were bigger)
My names tom I'm 23 from Lancashire and I've been a long time follower on this forum, I love it! By far the best all round car forum on the net and I love the project threads, so I've decided to start my own.
I have always owned classics ever since my mini Mayfair which I bought shortly after passing my test. Since then I've owned a midget and a tr7 until last year when I bought my first modernish ride which was a civic em1. Loved the car but decided to sell once I got a works van whilst I was working restoring mg's. And one day trolling through eBay last summer I found what looked like a decent looking Porsche 924. I've always fancied one of these and by the looks of the advert pics ( which wernt great) I decided to have a punt. I ended up buying the car for around £700. Collected it from castle Douglas in Scotland one a gorgeous summer day only to get caught in a huge traffic jam on the way home down the m6. Turned out a tanker carrying diesel had crashed and emptied all over the road, meaning a journey that should of taken about 2 hours max ended up taking 9 long hot sweaty hours!!!!!
I was expecting at least one problem with the porsche on that hot long day as it looked a bit worse for wear in the flesh, but amazingly it soldiered on without a hitch. Which after previously owning cars built by BL I couldn't help but sing it's praises. Since then I parked it up on my drive, as I have no where dry to store it, and left it over winter while I stacked a bit of cash to give it a bit of an overhaul. I could of driven it around but it wasn't a priority at the time and there where jobs that I wanted to carry out on it. Since the start of this year I have made a start and now have got a fair way into where I want to be with the car. so here come the pics.....
this is the only real pic I have of the car before I started tearing it apart, this is before the hellish journey home.
since this I ripped off the front subframe, brakes and suspension for a refurb. my plan was to make a nice, clean! example.
I had new control arms that were all polybushed, powder coated struts and cross member as well as anti roll bar. I managed to pick up a cheap set of mk1 golf uprated bilstien front struts that are a direct replacement for the Porsche ones, bit shorter strut body I think but other that that fits right up with Porsche top mounts.
whilst all the front was apart I decided to Shultz the inner wings and behind the front bumper/valance just to tidy the car up a bit. There was very little rust to even surface stuff which is a testament to german build quality. the wings didn't really need undersealing because the factory stuff was still very much in tact but I felt it was an extra layer of protection and made it look like the car has seen some love ;D
Under the bay was very tatty and someone had hand painted the car black in the bay. The car used to be a bluey/silver colour but had been resprayed everyones favourite guards red. the paint itself wasn't too bad but there was flaking which I why I took the wings and front off which have since been buzzed down and primed and blocked so just need some nice days or somewhere dry to paint them. I think the previous owner had painted the bay by hand to cover the original blue. I wasn't really concerned about the originality or pleasing the purists as the car was way past that. plus I always thought the 924 deserved to be a bit lower and wider instead of coming with the huge arch gap and skinny wheels that it did. I am leaning towards 'stancing' the car a bit, but not soo much that its undrivable as I want to be able to use this as a daily eventually.
with this in mind I had some spare black paint lying around so.........
this is a huge improvement on what the bay used to look like. I also stonechipped the battery tray/scuttle area as this can often develop holes or cracks in the seal sealer which in turn leaks into the cabin just an extra added layer of protection. plus it holds water like a curse word if parked with the nose up slightly and it rains.
the engine was a sweet runner but wasn't keen on starting so whilst it was out I stripped it down to a block (left the head on as it was fine and didn't really want to shell out for a HG as I am on a tight budget. plus the price of some of the gaskets are less that desirable too when your skint lol. however I have it a big clean and paint and replaced pretty much every gasket on the block just for peace of mind, new injector seats and seals, sump gasket, painted block, rocker cover, intake manifold and gaskets along with exhaust and gaskets did the valve clearences too and put on a new cambelt and tensioner and a full service plugs etc.
some of the parts where impossible to find on the net so I was in and out of the Porsche dealership at Bolton all the time for niggly little bits for the car and engine. like the little s bend pipe that connects the thermostat to the water pump, £20 for like 2 inch of pipe, and I couldn't get a straight bit of hose to fit without kinking.
whilst doing the bay I went through the engine loom and replaced any scotch blocks, taped up joints and anything that looked like a bodge as I hate having to go back and sort wiring, plus its so easy to do it right the first time and make it look neat that there are no excuses for it. Plus I hate the type of plastic coloured connectors (spade,bullit) like the sell at Halfords on a car of this age as I feel it just looks cheap and it draws the eye to whatever you have been repairing. so I ordered the most oem looking connectors I could find. it might only be a small thing but it makes a big difference (to me at least) when looking over a car. It says this cars 'sorted' lol.
I also ripped off the horrible 80's sound deadening that covers the firewall as it was tore up and dirty and replaced it with heat reflective material from demon tweaks. What a pain in the of a job but looks ok
with that done I could put the engine back in and sort the wiring and ancillaries. along with a ripped down pipe where it met the centre section, someone had previously had a go at fixing it as it was a different flange welded on the end compared to a standard down pipe (sorry no pics of this, I do things and forget to take pics lol) so I chopped out the bad repair and welded in some more 2 inch tube so that the flanges sat nicely together and I could put a new gasket in place (something the previous person who attempted to fix it had left out?) gave it a lick of heat proof black paint and the jobs a gooden'.
Engine back in place and all was going well until I was putting the something on the engine (cant remember what) and I was turning it over by hand to check the static timing and 'clunk'!!! it wouldn't spin past a certain point. I checked everything I possibly could without taking the head off but knew really that something must have fallen into the bore when attaching the manifold. I was beyond angry!! as id taken so much care and even taped up the intake and exhaust ports while I had the engine on the bench and I really didn't want to taka e the head off, id of done that while it was out of the car if I was going to do it.
off came the head and yep!!! a tiny nut had fallen in cylinder number 2, it hadn't caused any damage just a little scuff on the piston which sanded out with a bit of 320 grit. But it meant I had to shell out about £100 for a new HG and stretch bolts (not worth getting a false torque reading off the old bolts and having the hg fail on me later).
But i carried on and 3 days ago it fired into life, FIRST TURN! still need to time it properly when i borrow my mates timing gun but it runs sweet and idles like a champ, good oil pressure too. Its been too wet to work on the car these last couple of days but i did manage to get all the front suspension back on but my tires hit the new springs on the stutts because they are a little wider, i did have some wheel spacers to sort this but the company had sent me Citroen fitment instead. still 4x108 but different centre bore so wont even go over the disc on the 924. so just waiting for them to arrive so i can sit it on its wheels an put on my freshly painted callipers and braided lines. pics coming soon
Anyway sorry for such a long first post but just had to get it out of the way lol. Any tips and wheel recommendations would be great as i want some wide wheels for it not sure whether 15 or 16 inch yet as the back archs are slightly square on the 924 and its still to be lowered on the back yet. been thinking banded steelies as then i can get the offset i need plus its hard finding decent wheels in 4x108 that arnt 13 or 14 inch retro ford wheels (look good IMO just wish they were bigger)