History and Background

Porsche 924 - A True Porsche Classic | home

For anyone that might be following along with this board, I thought I would give a little background on the cars.

I promised myself that if I made it through college that I was going to own a Porsche (it was a lifelong dream). So, in 1988 when I graduated I found a beautiful 1982 Champagne 924 on a used car lot. The car was in perfect condition and I bought it for just under $6,000. (Almost everyone thought I paid a lot more and I did nothing to discourage that notion :).

This was a "true" German car in that the original owner bought it in Germany and brought it with them to the US. I was obviously the second owner.

I had always intended to "upgrade" to another Porsche and the dealer would constantly make me nice offers for my car if I would trade for another Porsche but I just loved the 924.

Over time, the car began to show significant signs of wear but I kept it because it was fairly inexpensive to maintain thanks to finding the right mechanic and having the foresight to buy everything I could on lifetime guarantee (muffler, brakes, shocks, battery, and some engine components all have lifetime warranties) and all of the warranties have been used. I'm on my third free muffler. Yep, there are folks out there that would love to see me sell this car :)

Anyway, as the car celebrated its 20th birthday, I decided it was time for a new car and started looking seriously at late model Porsches to replace this one. That's when someone stepped in and asked the magic question: If you like the 924, why don't you simply restore it?

The more I thought about it the more I realized that I am never going to part with this car even if I do buy another. Then, thanks to sites like eBay, I found out that restoration might not cost as much as I had originally thought.

So, here I am on a quest to not only return the 924 to that beautiful car that was sitting on the lot back in 1988 but to make it even better.

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Update:

On September 21,2002 I fulfilled part of a dream and bought a 1987 924S to drive while I was restoring the 82 924. Now I have two cars to completely restore :)

See my contact page for more on my vision for the future....

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Introduction to the Porsche 924

The Porsche 924 began it's life as a concept vehicle. Volkswagen had contracted Porsche to design a car so that an Audi-VW joint venture might enter the market with a mid-priced sportscar. However difficulties between VW and Porsche plus the end of the world oil crisis caused the idea to be dropped. Following this Porsche acquired the rights to the car and the 924 was born. The 924 differs from earlier Porsche designs in a number of significant ways. The most obvious is the use of a front mounted water-cooled engine as opposed to the rear mounted air-cooled design of the 356 and 911. Also the engine is not bolted directly to the transmission as in the rear-engined cars, instead it is connected via a "drive tube" to the transmission/axle (transaxle) assembly at the rear of the car. This gives the 924 a near perfect 52:48% weight distribution and enhances the handling. A number of variations of the 924 were manufactured to suit different markets the U.S. having the most variations due to the strict emission control laws, however the basic 924 design remained relatively unchanged from 1976 until 1985 with the introduction of the 924S which featured a new 2.5 litre engine which powered the 944. The only major design change was the introduction of a turbocharged engine "924 turbo" and a special racing version with intercooled turbo engine the "924 carrera GT". Other options included 5 speed transmission and rear disc brakes as well as the usual items such as air conditioning and power windows/steering. Most of these item are absent on earlier models but were added as time progressed. Most of the "convenience" items were standard from about 1980 onward.

The 924 Engine.

The 924 engine is a radical departure from previous Porsche designs, namely it is watercooled and mounted at the front of the vehicle. The engine is actually the same 2.0L engine as used in the Audi 100 with some minor modifications.

Engine Specifications

Type: Water cooled, single overhead camshaft, 4 cylinder, 4 stroke engine.

Cylinder Head: Light Alloy.

Cylinder Block: Cast Iron.

Crankshaft: Forged Steel.

Pistons: Cast Light Alloy.

Cooling: Pressurized water/ethylene glycol coolant, electric fan with thermo switch.

Compression: 9.3:1

Horsepower: 125HP at 5800 rpm (92 kW)

Torque: 121.7ft-lb at 3500 rpm (16.8m-kg)

Maximum rpm: 6500

Click here for more history surrounding the 924!!