Porsche 924 HGF done and it starts hurrah!

[barefoot]

I have ex 928 seats in my bay. They were originally Green Pasha but I've had them re covered in black leather!

[JimH]

[Cord Fourteener]

At the risk at sounding like a broken record, that's a tidy little number. Miles tider than mine, I think I'd be scared to drive that around!

How about we swap interiors, mine is a much finer* autoshite-fitting interior. Custom-weathered* and quirky* specimen (tattered shit heap).

Well jel. Are you in the 924 owners club?

 

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 2/22/2020 at 11:59 PM, inconsistant said:

One more pic of the interior before bed time

Anyone fancy a game of weird chess?

[Jim Bell]

Rook to passenger lumbar A3. Check. 

[Zelandeth]

I love a mad interior...the bold black and white striped one Citroen used in the BX are grouped together in my mind. 

These are one of those cars I've really never thought about historically.  How are they in the comfort stakes?  Guessing as they look to be more of a sports tourer than a balls out track weapon that they're probably actually quite nice...the seats *look* comfy...

[Alusilber]

Think you got a bargain there... I'd be asking  more than the previous owner was for that car ?.

Mine is very comfy to sit in (if you don't mind basically sitting on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you), but it does have the extra-bolstered sports seats, I imagine the standard seats are pretty good too. The backs seats on the other hand are really only suitable for medium-sized teddy bears.

[Zelandeth]

Sounds like the Jag, in that you sit about six inches below the surface of the tarmac it feels like.

The rear seats are usable once you're in...but getting in and out is nigh on impossible I find as my spine is taller than the door aperture even folded as far as I can manage!

[smellypoo]

Looks like it's in great shape, early-ish model with a good spec - the door card with the Porsche script is supposed to be a rare option isn't it?

In any case, a lovely car, well bought!

[Angrydicky]

Worth the money for the interior alone!

[Skizzer]

I managed to miss this the other week.

Superb.

I need a lie down.

[inconsistant]

It's time for a little update, as I've now owned this for about 6 weeks and I'm going to keep them more regular than the white 924 thread. I haven't driven it much, most of my time has been spent on the white one, making it look nice and tidy for sale and doing little jobs that need doing to perk it up. This one has been driven a couple of times and that's it really, other than the little things you do with a new car to try to get to know it a bit better.  

It came with a lot of service history and info so I've been going through that to try to piece together what it's had done and when, and how much has been spent on it over the last 5 or 6 years. A lot has been spent on it over the last 5 or 6 years. Way more than I paid for it. The last couple of owners clearly loved it and spent money with their heart and not their head!

Service History:

Choonz:

Been having a fiddle about with this, I just had it on radio for the drive home but it's got a cd player that I didn't notice because the slot is so discreet (ok and because it was dark), it's also got an aux plug for connecting iphone/ipod, and it does blue teeth too. I like it, because although it's modern it doesn't look out of place in an old centre console. The sound is great, as the speakers were replaced with some quality Blaupunkt speakers a couple of years ago. The speakers are set behind the built in grilles next to the back seats, whereas many of these have them set into the doors. The benefit is that the lovely pascha fabric on the doors is uninterrupted by speaker covers. Let's just have a look at that, as a cheeky opportunity to post another beige pascha photo:

I've found a few things that will need fixing/replacing, but nothing major. 

• The drivers door sticks a bit an is sometimes hard to open. Turns out, I've discovered from notes and emails between previous owners, that it was replaced about 20 years ago because the car rolled down the then owners drive backwards with the drivers door open and it got ripped off its hinges. Not a big problem but needs lifting as you squeeze the handle otherwise it’s hard to open. It’s livewithable but I might see if it can be improved.
• Windscreen wipers do intermittent randomness when they've been on and then get turned off. 10-15 mins of nothing then a random wipe or two, then nothing for ages. Although it hasn't done it on the last 2 journeys where I haven't used the wipers, so I’ll have a look into that, maybe clean up contacts in the wiper arm and see if that helps? I think this is a known solvable 924 problem as I’ve heard of it before.
• Wing mirrors don’t electrically adjust properly, they move in one direction only.

• Fuel gauge only shows 3/4 full when brimmed (photo is just after brimming it), again livewithable but would be nice to fix if not too tricky,
• There’s a big pressure release hiss when I removed the fuel cap with a nearly empty tank that I never got with the other one. Maybe needs attention, maybe normal?
• Rear boot gas struts need replacing, I’ve banged my head a few times on the edge of the hatch not realising that it’s not lifted up fully.

Those should keep me busy for a while, but none need sorting with any urgency, which is my favourite speed of doing car mechanics.

All looks good under the bonnet but I’ve ordered a service kit (filters & sparkle plugs etc), dist. cap & rotor arm, alternator belt, cam belt,  thermostat & water pump from Frazerpart, as the car is well overdue a service and I can’t see in the history notes when belts & pump were last changed, and because they’re so cheap (timing belt £21, alternator belt £5) and relatively easy* to replace I thought I might as well do those as well.  The journey home and a couple of runs pottering about locally emptied the tank, so I brimmed it and I'd managed 290 miles on 42 litres, so 31mpg. I’d have expected closer to 35 from the white one (identical mechanics) so maybe it does need a good service. I’ll also get another bottle of that Petrol Magic stuff and run it through to give the injectors a clean.

++++

I don’t like the number plates, especially the front one, there’s something wrong with the font/spacing/size/position that I can't work out. It might be that the T and N look too narrow and then the gap between the N and the 7 is too big. This stuff is important. 

I’ve bought a set of the same Euro Style font from A1ShowPlates (looks a bit like Serck) that I put on the white one and I'll keep the old ones just in case there’s a future MOT problem due to them not being 'proper'. Not had a problem in the last 6 years though.

So now to the two main improvements I've made to the car since taking ownership. Firstly, I added this:

And secondly, I found a discarded wicker picnic basket in a skip nearby, so I gave it a clean up, made some birch ply boxes to fit inside and that now lives in the boot with all my basic tools and bits and pieces in it.

I've been chasing up a bloke about a local garage to rent, about 5 mins walk from here. Been to see the garage, checked the 924 fits in, hopefully just have to do the paperwork now and then it will have a nice cosy home out of the weather and UV rays.

Although there are no signs of the sunroof leaking I think I'll do a 'preventative pushing a bike brake cable down the sunroof drain tubes' to check they’re clear. I took the sunroof out the other day and it's brilliant, it's almost the size of the whole roof, and is great in the sunshine. 

The roof panel tilts or lifts out and stores in this brown leatherette pouch in the boot.

But the best thing is that you can see the gorgeous pasha interior even better from outside the car. Let's have another quick look:

My 6-7 week ownership review: Still love it, still think it's a long term keeper, and still think it's a car that really needs to be looked after as it's such a fine example. 

 

 

 

[petermcpete]

One thing I wish I had on mine was a sunroof, if you can get a watertight one they look ace! 

The wiper stalks (in my experience) are a nightmare, easy to take off and clean (just need to whip the steering wheel off first) but often doesn't last long before they start playing up again. 

[Alusilber]

The filler cap on mine usually hisses when I unscrew it. I take it as a sign that the fuel tank is airtight and therefore a good thing...

[brownnova]

So you haven’t sold the White one yet... ???

[inconsistant]

42 minutes ago, brownnova said:

So you haven’t sold the White one yet... ???

Yes it’s still here, I’m updating the white 924 thread right now. 

[N Dentressangle]

You've not mentioned the interior.

What's it like?

[inconsistant]

On 4/13/2020 at 7:50 PM, inconsistant said:

It's time for a little update, as I've now owned this for about 6 weeks and I'm going to keep them more regular than the white 924 thread.

Lol!  

9 months on and probably time for an update. There is very little to tell since not a lot has needed doing yet and it’s not been used much over the year. Very happy with the first, but like everyone I really hope the second changes some time soon. The white one sold in May.

So this is mostly what ownership of the red 924 has looked like for most of 2020:

I did some maintenance over the summer though. This 924 has an engine undertray, very exciting as I’ve heard about them and wondered where and how they fitted. I had no idea how this came off and it covers the cross member I normally use to jack up the front so I bumped the front wheels up onto some chunky timber to raise it up enough for a peer under to find the fixings. It came off nice and easily, and gave me access to the cross member so could get it up high enough to put on ramps for a service and a check over.

I changed fuel, oil & air filters, did an oil change, which ended up being one of my messiest yet. I obviously learned nothing from previous attempts to get the oil from sump to container and seem to be getting worse at it and not better. 

Next a coolant flush, I managed to get pretty much all of it in the bucket. The rubber hoses felt nice and soft and flexible but sort of crispy sounding when squeezed, I undid a couple to have a look and found rusty deposits and small chunks of brown covering the insides.

 

 

Investigating further it looks like the ends of the coolant tube (‘watertube 047 121 073B’) that sits under the expansion tank and connects the thermostat tube to the radiator tube has started to disintegrate at each end. I’ll need to get a replacement one I think. I removed all hoses, flexed and squeezed them all to remove as much crustiness as possible, and re fitted them. I flushed the coolant system until it ran clear, and put everything back together.

I also put a set of new HT leads on, a new distributor cap and a wiper arm. The old stuff is probably fine but I wanted to replace stuff I knew how to do so I could get to find out a bit about the car. I’ll keep the stuff I’ve taken off as emergency spares. The temp gauge on this one seems to be a bit more lively than the previous 924, it’s not gone up into the red but it does appear to swing around and climb to 3/4 more readily than the other 924. This is all fine in the scheme of things but it does make me nervous that it might be the first sign of trouble so I though it would be a good idea to replace the water pump and thermostat anyway, along with the timing belt and alternator belt since they’ll need to come off for the water pump and they’re pretty cheap. I’m not sure how old any of them are and I thought if I started ownership with new ones I would have complete coolant peace of mind, although I forgot to buy gasket sealant so will do those jobs (and new sparkle plugs that I realised afterwards I forgot to fit with the other service items) once the sealant arrives.

 

I took the battery out to check out the condition of the battery tray, a well known 924 rust problem area, and it all looks very happy indeed in there which is reassuring.

 

I take a bizarre pleasure in seeing these little drainage flaps. I’m sure that’s not normal. Maybe it is. After not having them on the other 924 they seem like a bit of an extravagance, but I like that they’re there, quietly doing their job and making the car look complete and original in details in a way the other one was never going to be.

With the car back on 4 wheels I went to put the undertray back on and it wouldn’t fit under the car, it was too high to slide under the valance to get into place.  Realising this was going to be an ongoing problem I decided to make a pair of stepped wooden blocks to drive it up on to to raise the front up just enough to get it on/off in future. Maybe this is why lots of owners don’t seem to bother with the undertray?

 

In August 2020 while the lockdown rules were loosened to allow for non essential travel and socialising with social distancing, I drove it to Littlehampton on a lovely warm Sunday morning for the first Sussex Transaxle Get Together with Alex in his 924 turbo. A good turn out of interesting and varied 944s and a couple of 924s too. Alex’s turbo was much admired by the 944 gang, as was the pascha interiors of both his and mine.

The car ran nicely, and was relaxed, smooth and quiet. Maybe, perhaps, a little too quiet. Looking underneath (which is actually a nice thing to do because it looks so lovely under there!) I see it has two middle silencers whereas the white 85 only had one, although both have S/S exhausts. Hmmm, I wonder if it’s possible to remove one of them?

I’m really loving the factory sunroof, it came out whenever possible over the summer. I’m also enjoying having a CD player, but it would appear the car was not designed with this future technology in mind since one has to change down from 5th to 4th to be able to change CDs. First world problems eh?

 

Each journey in the 924 is generating a to-do list but nothing daunting at the moment, and nothing that needs urgent attention, which is ideal.

*Drivers electric mirror won’t adjust electrically.

*Whole passenger interior door handle surround falls off when pulled

*Heater controls won’t stay in far right position, and move back to centre when I let go.

*When I brim the tank the gauge only shows about 3/4 full. 

*Reg plates ‘need’ swapping for the new ones I’ve had made up. I’d like to get a pair of plate holders first though, I think they look better with a small gap behind them.

*Need a new watertube 047 121 073B as mentioned above.

 

There was some water inside after jet washing but it was a really tiny amount so this is fine with me. In fact I’d go so far as to say I’m delighted this is all that got in.

 

With the car tucked up in the garage I felt a Disklok would be a good idea so I picked up a second hand one. They seem to hold their value well so I hope that means they’re effective.

Another future technology that the 924 wasn’t designed to accommodate is the iPhone. The little tray between gear knob and stereo is not quite the right size and shape, and with charge cable and stereo lead attached it gets a bit messy, so I asked Father Christmas for Halforld’s cheapest bargain bin phone holder, which I’ve fitted but not yet used, so that’s something else to put on the 2021 things I’m excited about list.

Having not driven it since August I popped round to the garage on a dry day over the Xmas hols to start it up and possibly have a little local run but unfortunately the battery was flat. If I’d known when I parked it up I wouldn’t be using it for so long I think I’ve have disconnected the battery. Maybe even put it way clean. And maybe just SORNed it to save a bit of money. Anyway I tested the battery and it was showing 12.2v so I took it out and brought it home for a trickle charge. Overnight 12.8v was achieved so it went back in the car and started first turn of the key and idled up to temperature nicely where it showed 13.6v running and 13.3v with the engine off. I decided to disconnect the -ve battery lead where it bolts onto the body to avoid battery drain, and I’ve hidden the bolt as an added security measure. Just hope I can remember where I put it when I come to use the car again.

£270 road tax was paid this morning, and hopefully for the last time, since the car will be 40 yrs old in August 2021. Need to look into what to do.

Mot due in February. I'll have owned it for a year then. Nothing further to report.

 

 

[inconsistant]

It's MOT day today.

I got it out of the garage and brought it to the house for a good wash. It now looks lovely again.

When I started it up (first turn of the key!) I couldn't get it into any gear. Gear knob wouldn't move towards any 5 forward gears, and I got an angry grinding noise when trying for reverse. Fortunately once it got up to temperature it suddenly worked so I managed to move it. Was fine again this morning.

Wondering if this is because of 6 months of no use, being sat in a cold garage, or if there is something up. The mechanic who took it for the MOT thought it was a bit stiff, so he's going to have a look and see if it needs lubricating. I think a previous owner put a short shifter adaptor thingy on it as some point. Not really sure what this is or does but the gear change is less nice than on my old one.

Anyway, MOT day so fingers crossed for a pass...

[Rocket88]

Wonder if the old trick of a piece of wood between the seat and the clutch pedal in fully depressed mode would help, especially if car is left dormant for long periods of time.

[inconsistant]

Passed, just needed a new pair of windscreen wiper blades. Hurrah! Not bad for nearly 40 years old! Mechanic said the gear change got stiffer as he was driving it so he had a look under it and said it has a short shifter adaptor thing fitted (no idea what that does) so he cleaned up and lubricated the linkages at the rear, and now the gear change is better than it's ever been. 

So it's washed, MOTed, and insured for another year. Just need a reason to use it...

[Fabergé Greggs]

1 hour ago, inconsistant said:

Passed, just needed a new pair of windscreen wiper blades. Hurrah! Not bad for nearly 40 years old! Mechanic said the gear change got stiffer as he was driving it so he had a look, under it and said it has a short shifter adaptor thing fitted (no idea what that does) so he cleaned up and lubricated the linkages at the rear, and now the gear change is better than it's been so far. 

So it's washed, MOTed, and insured for another year. Just need a reason to use it...

Congrats! Was so tempted by your white one, but need something that’s ULEZ friendly. I keep coming back to an early one of these as the perfect car- it’s great how close this is to being exempt! 

[inconsistant]

Oops, another neglected car thread. This place needs more car content. so here goes...

 Starting after last year’s Feb 2021 MOT success:

April 2021

So after getting its MOT I went to use it a few weeks later and something wasn’t right. Turns out the front drivers side brakes were binding. Now usually I wouldn’t go near brakes, but 924 owners club members have a solid track record of being able to convince me to do stuff fairly successfully so I decided to at least have a look to see what was up, and put my mechanic on standby to bail me out if needed. So after a bit of further guidance form a neighbour and some reading up I managed to pull out the pins and the springy thing, release the piston and get the pads out, and the pins and pads were really pitted on the surfaces that slide on each other.

I cleaned them all up, and put it all back hoping that might be it but the piston stuck out again. I happily managed to remove them and then undo the calliper and get that all off, and with the rebuild kit I had ordered from Bigg Red  It all went to the mechanic for a piston rebuild, refit and a brake fluid swap. Job done and all ready for the summer!

May 2021

Oh look, an exciting mileage!

 

I got hold of a decent condition water tube I was looking for previously, and instead of installing it immediately I’ve put it in the box of jobs to do. I think I’ll attempt to replace the water pump too at the same time since I’ll need to drain the coolant.

June 2021

Now, cast for mind back to last year. From Jan to Easter there was a massive LOCKDOWN. Then there was ROADMAP TO FREEDOM which ended up being slightly bollocks, and everyone was frustrated at not being able to do whatever they wanted in the lead up to the summer, and social activity was seriously limited, and old folks were starting to get their vaccines but not everyone had got even the first one yet. I had my first one in May 2021 because I was 50. Everyone was fed up and wanted to do fun things but couldn’t because of risk of MASSIVE ILLNESS OR DEATH. Anyway. Being regular Download festival goers, we got an invite to DOWNLOAD PILOT festival, part of the govt plan to open stuff back up.

It was in 2 weeks, 10,000 instead of the usual 100,000 and you could take beer and food in, there were 3 days of UK only rock/alt/metal bands playing across 2 stages, and three of us went. I’m adding all this because I had to take the 924 as wife needed the v70 for commuting to work. So going in the 924 made it even more of an adventure.

Especially as the weather on the drive up on Friday morning was absolutely atrocious. Some of the worst rain Ive ever driven in. Not at all the rain you want to be in a 40yr old car with only 2 speeds of wipers and no ABS and other safety stuff while all round me drove like we were all invincible. I say at 40-50 in the slow lane all the way up around the M25 and up the M40 and what is usually a 3 hour journey took 4.5 hours just from the bad weather. Still, it was going to be a fab weekend so was worth it.

Anyway, it was the BEST  weekend ever. Absolutely incredible to see so many people (and bands) having a good time after such a shit year.

As a bonus I discovered that weekend that my surf leaked and needed a new seal.

August 2021

I bought a new OEM sunroof seal, about £70 so not cheap, and it was awful. Really hard to fit, and the sunroof was a struggle to get back into the roof. The fit is so tight the flocking is falling off, and the sunroof sits about 1cm too high in places.Still trying to resolve getting a replacement.

September 2021

With omglockdowns a distant memory it was time for a car club get together. The 924oc met at Gaydon. If you look hard you can just spot the 924s in front of the Allegro and Rover 75s.

 

A good fun day out, spoiled slightly by a breakdown on the M40 on the way home. Actually not, it was the best breakdown I have ever had, and I even managed to get the car fixed in the hard shoulder and rejoin the traffic about half Miel ahead of where I was before. Near High Wycombe there’s a windy downhill being too M40, and I was in the slow lane as all the traffic slowed to about 30-40. As I went to press the accelerator to maintain this speed the pedal dropped to the carpet., so I put it in neutral, hazards on and rolled onto the hard shoulder and alongside the traffic which slowed to a stop as I rolled past it, thinking I’d see how far I could get before rolling to a halt, in the hope there might be an exit around the corner so I could roll off the motorway. I got about a half mile and met a bit of an incline so ended up stopping. I popped the bonnet to see if it was something obvious, and spotted straight away that the end of the accelerator pedal had come off the thingy that it connects to. Throttle body? Not sure.

Anyway, I popped it back in, gave it a bit of a rev to check all was ok, shut the bonnet and rejoined the carriageway way ahead of where I was. Once home I bent the end of the cable a bit more than 90degs to make it hard to ride up and out of the hole, and I then had a look at why it did it and and there’s a clip missing that stops the cable lifting out. So I ordered one. It turns out it’s the most expensive tiny bit of metal on the planet, nearly £25 for something that’s equivalent to a paper clip.

Also the experience mede me feel even more strongly that

 

 

FUCK SMART MOTORWAYS.

 

 

Hard shoulders are absolute life savers. It's not until you need to use one that you realise how vulnerable stationary cars (and people) are on motorways.

 

October 2021

My dad finally decided to sell his Audi TT after about 8 years of ownership so we took some photos on the way to a colourful classic car gathering at a local pub. Oops my 924 got a bit in the way in this one.

Colourful car meeting

November 2021

Another 924 Owners Club get together, this time at the Ace Cafe as we hadn’t managed to get there for our usual March meet up earlier in the year.

2022 to follow...

[inconsistant]

A few weeks ago in February we had a lovely weekend of nice weather so knowing the MOT was coming up at the end of that week I decided to cane it and get as many jobs done as possible, a couple of them I knew would be MOT fails. Firstly the mega pricey accelerator clip was fitted

Next easy job was to replace the stack of washers holding the battery in place with a proper actual battery clamp. 

Looks pretty unpleasant for a bit of folded painted metal. 

Next job was to glue back on the rubber bung behind the filler flap that kept it flush when closed.

 

That's three jobs successfully achieved and nothing gone wrong. More jobs...

The windscreen washers just dribble a disappointing middle aged gent style trickle of fluids all over themselves instead of proudly squirting it all over the windscreen so that needed some attention. I pulled the tube off the motor and held it against a foot pump and pressing that make water come flying out so I knew it wasn't bunged up tubes. I pulled out the tubes from the washer bottle and found the mesh filter was bunged up and slimy. 

I removed it, pulled it apart and soaked it in some bicarb of soda, then gave it a brush and it came up really nice and clean

Refitted it and it blasted it's wet contents all over my dirty screen. More success!

 

Front sidelight not working. Hopefully a bulb. Fortunately I can recall how to get into these from when I took apart the front of the white one.

Little semi hidden screw here on the rubber bung...

then access to the retaining screws behind...

Disconnect the light unit...

Open up the back and we're in...

Bulb swap...

Boom!

Later that week...

MOT pass, not even an advisory! Oh how I love this car!

 

[mercedade]

So good to see! Great thread this

[Poweredbyhopealone]

Love it! You're just up the road from me too, I wonder how I never saw this, or the white one, mooching about.

[inconsistant]

Probably because the white one spent most of its life on the driveway being worked on, and I bought the red one just before the first lockdown so it hasn’t had a lot of use. Hopefully thats about to change with a fresh MOT and spring in the air, so keep an eye out. How far up the road are you?

[Poweredbyhopealone]

3 hours ago, inconsistant said:

Probably because the white one spent most of its life on the driveway being worked on, and I bought the red one just before the first lockdown so it hasn’t had a lot of use. Hopefully thats about to change with a fresh MOT and spring in the air, so keep an eye out. How far up the road are you?

I'm only in Caterham (mostly) so yes I will be keeping a beady out for a flash of red

[inconsistant]

Oh wow thats close! What chod are you rocking so I can keep an eye out? The Warlingham classic car show in July is usually worth a visit. I also pop to the Black Swan Oakham breakfast meet from time to time, next to J10 A3/M25 so only 20mins up the road. 
 

It’s been a long time since there was an Autoshite Kent/Surrey/SE London SMOL meet. Maybe we should organise one?

[grogee]

Here is my semi-employer's 924 asleep in its bubble. It's an early LHD one with 8000 miles (or km, I can't remember) on the clock. AFAIK he never drives it, which is a shame, although he has other Porsches (with engines at the wrong end) to drive.