Porsche 924 Scheiße - hit and run. Again

[N Dentressangle]

No collection thread - got a lift from a neighbour, so no time. Just got home with this sickly, faulty 924 which still managed 100 miles back from Shrewsbury with a bad misfire and no brakes. Meet the Little Porsche That Could:

Pressing issues:

• BAAAAAD misfire. Suspect K Jet problem, so need an expert or to learn how it works very fast. @SiC would have it fixed by now because it's electrics n stuff 😉
• Awful / no brakes - they need bleeding properly, which I'll do tomorrow. No biggie
• No handbrake. I mean, literally no handbrake. Cables need re-installing / renewing and the lever needs re-fitting too
• Various electrical gremlins - wipers don't work, pop-up headlights pop up but then refuse to stay popped down etc to name but a few. I'll work through them. Not too much of a worry.
• Temp gauge stays on low - suspect stuck thermostat
• Manky interior, but that's the least of my worries

The good stuff:

• Clutch and gears do clutch and gear things just fine
• No horrible knocking or banging noises - drives well
• Body and paint not too bad. Liveable with for what I paid, with a bit in the kitty for smartening things up if I want to
• IT'S A PORSCHE!!!

[ETCHY]

I do like a 924. That's a shape that has aged well.

[EyesWeldedShut]

The dash is incredibly uncracked  (unless it's had some miracle treatment) - nicely bought - ours had crevasses in it.
Someplace, in the back of my mind, there's a suggestion that the dizzy can go in 180 degrees out (or the rotor arm) - don't quote me on that though.

[N Dentressangle]

3 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

I do like a 924. That's a shape that has aged well.

It's a pretty car. Even if it's not going or stopping right:

Do we have any K Jet experts in the house?

[dave j]

Nice! I really fancy one of these one day

[Schaefft]

I've recently got interested in 944s with some of them popping up for cheap. Realistically it would be quite a project. Nice to see a 924 getting some love!

[N Dentressangle]

I'd have been happy with either tbh.

Wanted tax exempt, because otherwise it can't go into the Bristol CAZ. Any 924 / 944 from >1984 will probably be shown a clean pair of heels by our 2002 BINI Cooper anyway, so I wasn't too worried about speed. It's an old car, albeit one that can hold its own in modern traffic.

[EyesWeldedShut]

8 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

I've recently got interested in 944s with some of them popping up for cheap. Realistically it would be quite a project. Nice to see a 924 getting some love!

924S always interested me (as a Poor Man's 944 in drag)?

p.s. even though it had a crap (probably unwarranted) reputation I also fancied an automatic.

[N Dentressangle]

20 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

The dash is incredibly uncracked  (unless it's had some miracle treatment) - nicely bought - ours had crevasses in it.
Someplace, in the back of my mind, there's a suggestion that the dizzy can go in 180 degrees out (or the rotor arm) - don't quote me on that though.

Yes, I've read about that too.

The dash is black, and should be brown. Does that bother me? Not sure yet. It's not even in the top twenty of problems 🤣

[inconsistant]

Very nice! Re: 

• Temp gauge stays on low - suspect stuck thermostat

Temp gauge has white block on left (cold)  and red block on right (overheating) and in between are 3 white lines. Needle should sit on the line on the left in normal driving, when stopped it might go up to middle one, and when engine gets hot will go up to right hand line then fan should kick in well before needle gets to the red to bring temp down to middle line. 
They’re notoriously random,  a bit different in each 924, so only worry if it goes up into the red. Might be worth a new thermostat if you’re concerned. Recommend Frazerpart for engine & service stuff. Also Heritage Parts have good stock of spares. 

https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/porsche/924.html

https://frazerpart.com/collections/porsche-924-parts?srsltid=AfmBOooTHflz5gJvQ5S_MxNyrrUkDIdh-iGZ4bVH2t4aGEES4LbaqotP

924oc has lots of knowledge on these, probably worth joining, you’ll get a discount on several parts suppliers and other stuff. 

https://porsche924.co.uk/

[vtec-e]

Nice colour, and I do prefer those wheels on a 924. For the electrical gremlins, could they all be caused by a dodgy earth or two ?

[EyesWeldedShut]

4 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

The dash is black, and should be brown. Does that bother me? Not sure yet. It's not even in the top twenty of problems 🤣

It was never on our list either.
Seats were split (not quite as bad as yours).
Never did get round to either of those.
Unblocking the sunroof drains was probably the fiddliest job.
Cambelt was a piece of the proverbial. Rear wheel bearings weren't.
Never really a sports car but, like you say, it's a Porsche!

[N Dentressangle]

14 minutes ago, vtec-e said:

Nice colour, and I do prefer those wheels on a 924. For the electrical gremlins, could they all be caused by a dodgy earth or two ?

Wouldn't amaze me.

I'll get the test meter and start working through them.

[DaveDorson]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

No collection thread - got a lift from a neighbour, so no time. Just got home with this sickly, faulty 924 which still managed 100 miles back from Shrewsbury with a bad misfire and no brakes. Meet the Little Porsche That Could:

Pressing issues:

• BAAAAAD misfire. Suspect K Jet problem, so need an expert or to learn how it works very fast. @SiC would have it fixed by now because it's electrics n stuff 😉
• Awful / no brakes - they need bleeding properly, which I'll do tomorrow. No biggie
• No handbrake. I mean, literally no handbrake. Cables need re-installing / renewing and the lever needs re-fitting too
• Various electrical gremlins - wipers don't work, pop-up headlights pop up but then refuse to stay popped down etc to name but a few. I'll work through them. Not too much of a worry.
• Temp gauge stays on low - suspect stuck thermostat
• Manky interior, but that's the least of my worries

The good stuff:

• Clutch and gears do clutch and gear things just fine
• No horrible knocking or banging noises - drives well
• Body and paint not too bad. Liveable with for what I paid, with a bit in the kitty for smartening things up if I want to
• IT'S A PORSCHE!!!

I've got a pdf manual for kjet and I have the required guages for testing it properly.

[DaveDorson]

Selling my 924 is one of my biggest ever regrets.

Brilliant little cars.

[Alusilber]

Despite the name, there's very little electrical about the K-Jetronic system.

My 924's fuel injection seems to work quite well (apart from when the engine's cold) so I'm not really familiar with all the things that can go wrong with it. But https://tasteslikepetrol.net/2020/02/bosch-k-jetronic-basics/  looks like quite a good introduction to the arcane mysteries of K-Jet.

[DaveDorson]

Yeah the thing with Kjet is its super high pressure, so having a good set of guages makes it a lot easier to figure out, and that it depends on the metering head position to determine how much pressure to deliver, which in turn depends on things like vacuum.

I'd start off looking for any vacuum leaks and then check the pump is in good order, from there it's usually plain sailing.

Some stuff has a coolant temperature sensor to richen up a cold engine, some have a very basic air idle control valve to keep the air fuel mixture happy, but for the most part it's super simple, but very high pressure..

[SiC]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

Do we have any K Jet experts in the house?

@Conrad D. Conelrad loves a bit of K-Jet action 

 

 

 

 

😄

[brownnova]

LOVED my 924. Great cars. 
 

Well bought! 

[MorrisItalSLX]

6 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Do we have any K Jet experts in the house?

@juular to the K-Jet PTSD courtesy phone

[dome]

Congratulations. Best colour too!

I rescued one very similar a few years ago, it arrives near the bottom of this page on my thread

You'll see I had some K-Jet woes and electrical ones too, hopefully a nose through that will help.

 

 

[MrBig]

Lovely little cars. I sold mine many years ago as a non-runner because K-Jet PTSD. Yours is running though so should make it easier!

[motorpunk]

Fantastic cars. I am a big fan. There’s a big feature I wrote on these in ClassicRetroModern magazine. 
 

[inconsistant]

That article made me subscribe. Great mag!

 

On the misfire, air leaks are the most popular cause, so check all rubber bits for holes or splits. They’re all available new.  For the sake of a few £££ I’d replace the injector seals too, they can cause problems if hard or split. Also check the little green wire is properly connected to the distributor. Maybe take off and clean contacts. 

Earth points are behind/below passenger headlight, near distributor, below glove box in footwell, in boot behind reg plate.

[Stinkwheel]

I am impressed. I am also jealous. 
 

I didn’t really like these back in the day because they weren’t a 911, but now they look amazing.

My only word of warning is my, when a mate of mine had a 928 the odds and ends parts like sidelight/indicator lenses were HUGE money, I’d guess these might be similarly expensive for odds and ends (but that’s only a guess)

Still Jealous 

[N Dentressangle]

Well, it's been a good start. Turns out I live literally round the corner from these guys:

https://www.928specialists.co.uk/

so I popped in to say hello. Really friendly and happy to work on any K Jet mysteries or bits I can't do. So that's a relief.

I'm going to do the easy stuff first, so will start on making the brakes work properly today and pretend I didn't see any of the other stuff 🤣

[Verysleepyboy]

Looks really nice - welcome to the unloved Porsche club!!!!

Dash looks remarkably solid - mine is covered in carpet and I am not brave enough to look underneath!

One thing I have found is that there is good availability of second hand parts, but they can be eyewateringly expensive compared to most other marques!!! Full interiors for example are either in horrid condition, or cost more than the car did in the first place (sometimes both).

[N Dentressangle]

First mend achieved. Headlights kept cycling up and down, no matter if switched off or not.

Found the relay which controls things:

Took the lid off, cleaned the contacts and...

Woohoo!

Told you I was going for the easy wins 😎

[inconsistant]

That’s the important stuff sorted. 

[inconsistant]

2 hours ago, inconsistant said:

Earth points are behind/below passenger headlight, near distributor, below glove box in footwell, in boot behind reg plate.