82 924 Restoration

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82 924 Restoration

Project started 09/01/02

Project completed 03/09/07

Total Cost to restore to date: $5,052.30

A summary:

See "History and Background" for the reason I chose to restore the car.

Over the years, there have been some significant items with respect to this car. Here are those items:

Accidents: The car was hit in the rear once and while there was no external damage, the trailer hitch was pushed into the spare tire well and created a small dent (only visible looking into the spare tire well). I may attempt to push this back out as part of the restoration. The car was hit on the right front doing very minor damage but requiring replacement of the headlight cover and the turn signal lenses. The right front quarter panel was not damaged but was repainted as part of the repair. The car has not been involved in any major accidents requiring significant repair.

Body other: Battery box corrosion became a problem and was causing a significant water leak into the passenger compartment. This was repaired several years ago. Power window regulators have been replaced in both doors but the motors are original. The only seal ever replaced was the sunroof seal.

Major engine etc: The camshaft and followers were replaced a few years after I acquired the car and the exhaust manifold was replaced a of couple years ago. Otherwise, it has been all routine maintenance. The car has the original clutch, suspension parts and engine mounts.

Otherwise, the exterior of the car is remarkable after 20 years. There is absolutely no rust on this car and the finish still shines but the car would greatly benefit from new paint. The rear hatch will have to be replaced (my wife's number one priority because of the constant rattle) and I want to add a spoiler to the new hatch. The rear wheels are set too far in and the car needs wider tires. The windshield washer system hasn't worked in 10 years and that will be fixed. An old trailer hitch needs to be removed so the license plate can be moved to the bumper and the car will get all new moldings, decals, weatherstripping, and trim where appropriate.

The interior of the car after 20 years is pretty much shot. The carpets are badly faded, all of the seats are in awful condition and will have to be reupholstered or replaced. The three ring bezel is broken and the dash lights don't work. The SONY cassette sounds terrible and the back speakers don't work. The cargo cover is trashed and many of the screw covers, carpet clips, and other small items are simply missing. The interior will get most of my initial attention.

The engine of the 924 (at the date of restoration) is in pretty good shape for 20 years. The car has 99940 miles on it (carfax reports a possible rollback but is in error). The entire engine compartment needs to be cleaned and the hood insulation is falling off. The car is starting to show white smoke at hot idle and that problem will have to be addressed. It is not clear whether or not a complete rebuild is in order because the engine runs well and isn't leaking any fluids. The clutch is stiff and probably near the end of its life. The brakes are soft and may need a simple adjustment or a new master cylinder.

The Project:

Initially, I had planned to simply strip the entire interior of the car and start from scratch. However, the carpet was in surprisingly good shape throughout the car and was just badly faded. It occurred to me that dying might be possible and worth a shot. Since the carpets were dark brown, it was easy to find a ready made dye color. Once I started applying the dye, I knew I was on to something. The carpets quickly returned to their original color and looked just like new.

On a roll now, I started calling auto upholstery shops for estimates to re-do all the seats. Talk about sticker shock! I had no idea it was so expensive. I was evaluating my options when a parts supplier asked if I would be interested in some tan vinyl 944 seats. He sent photos and while the front seats weren't going to work the back seat was in great condition and I took it thinking I could have the front seats re-covered to match. Imagine my surprise when a perfectly matching pair of vinyl front seats came up for sale on ebay. Even more surprising was the fact that they were flawless and I got them at an excellent price.

A new Blaupunkt CD player was installed and the rear speakers re-wired and replaced (this is quite a job in the 924). A new three ring bezel, a new cargo cover, sunroof cover, and a variety of other missing parts started to arrive from eBay, other 924 owners, Performance Products, and Porsche. Thanks to some instruction and assistance from the fine crowd at 924.org, the interior really started to come together nicely and for a lot less than what I had anticipated.

I replaced most of the dash lights, the defrost switch, the cigarette lighter, and all of the vents were cleaned and replaced with 944 vents inserts.

Minor interior setbacks: These things do happen :(

I broke the first replacement three ring gauge bezel that I bought while trying to install it. The first cargo cover I ordered was damaged in shipment. The first defrost switch I received was the wrong one. Two dash lights were shattered by me during replacement. Two fuses were damaged by me during the restoration. The first set of rear speakers I ordered would not fit.

KEY RESTORATION TIP: If a part comes up on ebay (or from any other seller) that you need, do not overpay for it simply to get it. Let it go. You will find another one.

As I looked to the exterior of the car, I knew I had a real problem with the rear hatch. It rattled badly and the paint was chipping off. At first, I was simply going to try a new hatch seal and add a spoiler. Then I got the ultimate break. A local guy was parting out a 924S and would swap the hatch for mine for less than the cost of a spoiler. Wow, the new hatch (installed for me) solved all my problems at once. No more rattle, added a spoiler, added a third brake light, and it fixed the cargo area light that wasn't working.

Now to the trailer hitch. This "thing" had been on the car since I acquired it and it was badly rusted. Since I don't tow anything, it needed to be removed to allow relocation of the license plate to the rear bumper. This was a real job. The bolts that held the hitch to the rear bumper were badly corroded and I doubted they would come off. The first came loose after some persistent tugging but in twisting the nut off, I was essentially re-threading the bolt and it took a great deal of effort. Not looking forward to the second bolt, I gave it a tug and the bolt head simply snapped off. At first, I thought this was fortunate but the thing didn't break clean and it took some effort to pound the bolt back through the opening. Now I could pull off the bumper and to my horror I discovered that the hitch had been welded to the bumper shocks. Crud. Just for laughs I took a hammer and chisel and tried to separate the shocks from the hitch. More luck! The old weld simply disintegrated without much effort for both shocks. Put the bumper back on and the "thing" is on its way to the junkyard!

In the engine compartment, I first detailed the engine which had never been cleaned and I replaced the hood insulation, the alternator cooling hose and nozzle, the entire washer line/fittings/nozzles, and installed hood shocks. Also, I added a rather expensive K&N performance air filter. The car will go into the shop for further engine work in the future.

The next order of business was to put the car in the garage since it essentially had no brakes. As suspected, the Master Cylinder and the rear Wheel Cylinders were shot. The garage quote on the brake repairs was over $800 and it was going to fail inspection. Despair. Then someone suggested I try a local auto parts store for the wheel cylinders and they had them for $25 each (Porsche was quoting about $75 each). Then some real luck when a Master Cylinder came up on ebay and the seller was willing to terminate the auction and overnight the part to me at less than 1/3 the Porsche price. OK, brakes fixed, inspection passed.

The windshield wipers on the 924 had always moved pathetically slow and so when an opportunity to pick up a used wiper motor presented itself, I decided to buy it. I was skeptical that a used replacement motor would make any difference but this was a really easy swap so I decided to give it a try. I am pleased to report that the replacement motor made all the difference. The wipers now move as they were intended. Had I realized how bad the old motor was, I would have replaced it long ago.

OK, true restoration snobs please ignore what follows:

The car has been painted!! Oh oh, I let MAACO do the work. The simple fact was that they were the only shop that had a price in line with my overall project budget. Sorry to burst the bubble of all the MAACO bashers but they did a superb job and the car looks terrific. Needless to say, I didn't select their bottom level service and paid extra for certain prep work. A word of note on MAACO: Remove everything from the vehicle that you can prior to letting them paint it. All rubber trim, lenses, emblems, washer nozzles and other easily removed items should be removed prior to taking the car in for painting. Note the slight overspray in the photo below. Also note my reflection in the finish:

I have replaced the hood emblem, the original exterior decals, the original body side moldings and I added the 924 sill decals. On the inside I replaced the leather shift boot and installed the new dash cover.

I have added the 5/16th rear wheel spacers from Performance Products (I should have done this long ago) and it really improved the overall look of the car. At the first opportunity, I will add wider tires to finish the look.

Proper floor jack placement for the 924

Power antenna upgrade completed. This was a real pain because it required jacking the car and placing it on stands, working in a filthy wheel well, removing the front seat to access the wiring and fuses, and pulling the stereo to find the power antenna wire. However, this is a very nice upgrade and certainly worth the time to install it. I'll have to do a step by step write up on this at some point in the future.

924S/944 cassette console installed. This was difficult to find in both the color and condition that I needed but I finally snagged one off of eBay that was easily re-conditioned and installed. This will not be used for cassettes but will be lined with a foam rubber for general storage of change, paper receipts, etc. This part completed the interior restoration with the exception of a possible 944 steering wheel upgrade.

Another minor setback: The new driver's seat popped a seam. Oh well, removed the seat and took it to an auto upholstery shop for repair and the cost wasn't all that bad. Damn inconvenient though.

In the process of restoration, it is always nice to catch a break. The windshield had a rock chip in it and needed to be repaired as part of the restoration. However, I was informed by both the glass repair shop and my insurance carrier that the chip could not be repaired as it was in the drivers line of sight and that the entire windshield must be replaced. The glass shop then informed me that if I let them replace the windshield that they would pick up the insurance deductible. Thus, instead of paying for a chip repair, I get a new windshield for free. As an added benefit, the new windshield has tinted glass which the old did not. Go figure.

Well, with the new paint and new windshield the wiper arms and windshield trim really looked like crap. They had chips and areas that were faded white. The price for new wiper arms and trim was discouraging so I decided to try painting these myself. I removed the wiper arms, sanded, and painted with a flat black. I masked off the trim pieces and did the same with those. I'm pleased to say the results were outstanding and it looks just like new!

The door rattle problem:

The drivers side door glass would rattle whenever the window was fully open. I had no idea what was causing this and I suspected all kinds of things. I put off fixing it for a long time and finally decided that it was time to tackle this job.

A 924.org member correctly diagnosed this as missing the inside track rubber lining on the side near the lock. and kindly provided me with a couple extra pieces. I suspected that when I got the door apart that I would find the old rubber trim lining lying mangled in the bottom of the door and this suspicion proved to be correct.

OK, all I had to do was to get the new trim in place. But how? I really didn't want to take the glass out so I decided to remove the upper window trim and try feeding the piece back down into the track. After a LOT of effort , I was beginning to think this was never going to work and then I got it started and was able to feed it several inches into the track. That's when it stopped and would go no further. Deep Despair....

Then the idea came... raise the window and see if it would go past where I had fed it in and damned if it didn't. I was able to reach inside the door with a pair of pliers, grab that sucker and pull it down and back into place.

Oh, I didn't use the special door panel tool. Just a very large screwdriver and it worked fine

I had always suspected that the right front (passenger side) of the car was pushed in slightly. This is one of those things that only an owner would notice. Just for fun (strange kinda fun eh?) I decided to pull the front bumper and have a look and what do you think I found? A shockingly short shock!

Rear lens upgrade completed! This involved moving the license plate to the rear bumper and installing a new "Porsche" lens. I installed the lens where the word "Porsche" is lit up at night. This project isn't for the faint of heart since it requires drilling holes in the car and some minor body work with a rubber mallet but it certainly looks nice once completed. At this time I also replaced ALL of the bulbs in the tail lights.

This upgrade completed the exterior restoration. With the Interior and exterior essentially complete, I must now focus on the engine and transmission.

Replaced the battery, the timing belt and the timing belt tension pulley. The timimg belt cover was left off to restore/refinish it before replacement. Next photo shows the polished cam and timing belt covers.

As part of the state inspection 12/03, the front tie rod ends were replaced.

An odd problem appeared where the engine cooling fan would not shut off and was draining the battery. The fan relay was replaced and hopefully this will solve the problem. Update: It didn't solve it and currently the secondary fan is disconnected. Replaced sensor on radiator. Fixed.

Of all the odd things to happen, a seat bolt that holds the passenger seat to the frame simply snapped off. The really odd part is that the passenger seat is rarely used and I had never heard of this happening to anyone. A 924.org member was nice enough to send me another seat bolt but the fix wasn't going to be easy and I wasn't looking forward to it. I had to drill out the old bolt and hope that the original threads would remain in tact. As luck would have it, I was able to do just that and the seat is fixed.

Dateline 11/9/05.. loud noise from the car.... clutch has finally failed and is replaced.

Driver's side seat has popped another seam... pending..... FIXED!

Got a great deal on a sunroof wind deflector on clearance.... installation pending.... also got the mirror bras for this car.

The restoration continues..... all that's left is the engine... complete diagnosis pending....

Complete engine diagnosis completed. Valve guide seals needed to be replaced to solve smoking problem. Otherwise, engine is in great shape and no additional work was deemed necessary.

Restoration Complete!!

The Details:

Engine/Mechanical

Degrease/Detail Engine (completed)

R&R Windshield Washer line/fittings (completed)

R&R Engine Soundproofing (completed)

Replace Battery (completed)

R&R Alternator Hose/Plastic Nozzle (completed)

Install K&N Air Filter (completed)

Remove and Paint Timing Belt Cover (completed)

Install Polished Cam Cover (completed)

Replace missing wiper motor boot (can't find?)

Install Hood Shocks/Remove Stand (completed)

Replace/Reset Oxygen Sensor (completed)

Diagnose white smoke at hot idle problem (completed)

Replace Master Cylinder and Rear Wheel Cylinders (completed)

R&R Clutch (completed)

Charge A/C (completed)

R&R Wiper Motor (completed)

R&R Timing belt (completed)

R&R Timing belt pulley (completed)

R&R Alternator (not necessary but have spare)

Replace Alternator Bushings (completed)

Interior

Fix Cargo area light (broken wire) (completed)

Replace Missing Tire Inflator (completed)

Replace Missing Sun Roof Bag (completed)

Replace Defrost Switch (completed)

Replace Cigarette Lighter (completed)

Replace Broken Visor clips (completed)

Replace Missing Screw Covers (completed)

Replace Missing Carpet Clips (completed)

Replace Broken three ring Gauge Bezel (completed)

Replace Torn Shift Boot (completed)

Replace Missing Seal Belt covers (completed)

Replace Broken A/C Vents (small) (completed)

Upgrade to 944 A/C Vent Inserts (completed)

Re-wire Stereo Speakers (completed)

Install Blaupunkt Stereo CD player (completed)

Replace Temp/Fuel Gauge Bulbs (completed)

Replace broken Defrost switch (completed)

Replace Ash Tray bulb (completed)

Replace Hood bulb (completed)

Replace Broken Window Switches (completed)

Replace broken window switch mount (completed)

Remove and Replace Cargo Cover (completed)

Repair small tears in Vinyl (completed)

Dye Carpets (completed)

Replace/Reupholster Rear Seats (completed)

Replace/Reupholster Front Seats (completed)

Install new Dash Cover (completed)

Racing seat covers for front (completed)

Add matching Seat belt should pads (completed)

Add hatch fittings to automatically raise cargo cover (completed)

Install 924S/944 style cassette console (completed)

Genuine Porsche Floor mats (4 + Cargo area)(completed)

Upgrade to 944 steering wheel (can't find)

Exterior

Paint Car (completed)

Paint wiper arms/trim (completed)

Replace all trim molding (completed)

Install Power Antenna Kit (completed)

Add rear wheel spacers (completed)

Have windshield "star" fixed/replace windshield (completed)

Fix driver side window rattle when open (completed)

Remove old trailer hitch (completed)

Re-locate license plate to bumper (completed)

Install Rear Lens upgrade Kit (completed)

Install Tail Light Upgrade Kit (completed)

Replace brake light bulbs (completed)

Replace hatch/ add Rear Spoiler (completed)

Replace missing wiper caps (completed)

Replace windshield wipers (completed)

Replace washer nozzles (completed)

Install door edge guards (part discontinued)

Replace Decal/Rear "Porsche" (completed)

Replace Decal/Rear "924" (completed)

Replace Decal/Hood Crest (completed)

Add Side Decals "Porsche" (pending decision)

Add Door Sill Decals (completed)

Genuine Porsche Car Cover (completed)

Add Porsche Crest Valve Stem Caps (completed)