#1: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Luke, Location: LeedsPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:18 pm ----
So, where do I start? At the beginning I guess....
I was looking for cheap second car to buy as the missus was using mine more and more, but fancied something I could tinker with to better my mechanic skills (or lack of!) and to aid me in stopping smoking, ie if I put the money into the project I couldn't possibly afford to smoke, and when I fancied a cig all I had to do was look at my shiny project car and all would be good.
I quite fancied an old classic VW, so I scoured the internet and local ads for early Golfs, Scirrocos, and the likes. I found nothing in my £1000-£1500 budget so I looked at other marques including Minis, Escorts, Fiestas and Audis. All the ones I saw were either on their last legs, been ragged to death, were mostly filler, or already gone.
I was just about to give up hope of finding the ideal candidate and increasing my budget when I saw the '24 on Pistonheads. I never thought I'd be able to get a half decent running Porsche on my budget, there must be something afoot. I rung the seller who owns a Porsche renovation company and he managed to convince me it was sound enough , it just needed a new windscreen and a little work and TLC. After a few calls and hundreds of questions, many photos by email I put a deposit down on the provider he gets hold of a new screen, and transports the car from Ipswich to home (Leeds).
The car finally arrived and I was eager as a beaver to give it a good look around, and a drive (although it had no tax or MOT) and been extremely happy I handed over the £450 and the car was mine. Having already booked in at the garage for a pre-MOT, I drove to the nearest petrol station, put in a fivers worth and went on my merry way to impress the lads at the garage.
When I pulled up, the first thing we noticed was the smell of petrol. On the ramp it went and we spotted the problem. A PO had badly patched the tank and there was a slight leak. I'm amazed I didn't spot it when I inspected the car earlier as I noticed the fuel pump had been replaced! Further investigation by prodding and we had more of a problem - the patch started falling apart instantly. Now we had to make a decision. Do we repatch it and hope it holds, steam the tank and weld it, or try and find a replacement? Whilst underneath we noticed the suspension arms needed renewing too.
So off I went to look for the parts whilst it under went an MOT it'll never pass. I found a tank on ebay that day for £75 and bought two new arms from GSF for £17 a go. I got a call from the garage saying that more failures were apparent due to faulty rear lights (earthing fault - easily fixed), headlights needed adjusted (turned out the headlight motors were dropping, so moving them one spline up sorted the problem), needed new brake shoes on the rear and we had a fog light out. It also needed a new battery as it wasn't holding charge due to shorting on the bonnet. A nice Bosche silver one was bought to replace. It is the right size too.
Not too bad for a car that has been SORN for two year. It's also had a new water pump and other new bits in that time too.
A couple of days later I answered the door to a confused looking postie who had a rather large and oddly shaped package. My new fuel tank had arrived, and it was mint. Back to the garage I went where my mechanic had already started stripping the rear axle. He was less than impressed with the work that needed doing!. Within the day I had a taxed and MOT'd porka!
The next problem arose when leaving the garage. The speedo wasn't working. As it was the end of the day I headed straight for home to ring the garage in the morn. I had to use the car the next day so a speedo app was downloaded to the Iphone and it was soon forgotten. I had problems with the other car too so that went onto the back burner.
I picked up a problem with the wiper blades. One would work fine, the other would be lazy and move half way up, not at all, park on the bonnet and all sorts. Fearing I would need to replace the whole mechanism I took a look, and luckily with a little advice I tightened the bolt on the splines, which helped a little. Loctite helped alot!
I soon had to make a journey down to Leicester to see a friend and as the 206 was playing up I decided to take the '24. Why not? It was running well and it'd enjoy the motorway fun. I decided I needed to fix the stereo that wasn't wired up properly so out it came and it was like opening Pandora's box. The amount of aftermarket wiring behind there was incredible. After a couple of hours I had the CD player working, but not the aerial so the radio was out. Not to be beaten I had another look at the aerial wiring and managed to blow the wiring from the ignition switch! No stereo at all then for the long trip.
The same day I noticed the windscreen trim was loose and under investigation, found the clips badly corroded. No matter, silicon will fix that one! It did until I hit 80 on the M1 when all the lot blew off... sorry if you were behind me at that point. To make matters worse the boot unclipped itself on the return leg too.
Around the same time I noticed the drivers door dropping, and found a crack forming under the bottom hinge. Yes, some muppet had filled in the rust hole. It knackered my handle lifting the door to close it so I browsed the bay for new ones and bought some scripted Porsche ones for £60! But the seller lost them in the post and relisted 'another' set that went for over twice the price. Door welded up, good as new, and £5 Golf rear door handle (for the de-lock look) fitted from GSF.
I eventually got round to sorting the wiring in my stereo with help from the lads at 924oc, and stripped as much out as I could get away with. It was good to finally listen to Radio 1 again (with me being young and hip), and a joy to see the aerial go up and down in the wing mirror. When someone pinched one of my centre caps I realised why the speedo wasn't working too. The dust cap that holds the cable to the wheel hub had come loose and subsequently lost.
A new one is on order from the OPC, and should arrive from Germany within the next couple of days. I should also be receiving the windscreen seal and trim soon along with a new drivers lamp for the front (the old one has a corroded reflector). I have a boot blind ready to be fitted, some new door seals, a new interior light, some press stud clips for the boot carpet and a leather bound cassette holder. Fitting all this lot will be the last job before the weather picks up.
Later in the year, I'll be looking at touching up the paint on the rear n/s...
and the front valance...
followed by a full service and a good detail.
Other plans - look at getting the split interior recovered, source a 924 rear hatch with the third brake light, get a decent dash cover to hide the cracks, new wheels.
Oh - I have still to stop smoking, and this car ain't helping.
#2: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: SAB206, Location: North WestPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:50 pm ---- Ace project! Ideal car!
Love the first image btw
#3: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: matty206, Location: Santa PodPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:29 am ---- very nice .. i read all till i saw the big paragraph :P, porsche for £450 was that ? very nice lol
#4: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: MkERsLLuPo, Location: BerkshirePosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:11 am ---- Looking good! very nice project
#5: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Dillon, Location: KentPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:21 am ---- I have to say having seen this car there is a lot of cosmetics to do, but mechanically it's sound as a pound and really goes well. Real 80's classic got me thinking about a classic again and must be great to say you own a Porsche
#6: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Brian, Location: VVT Land, FifePosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:22 am ---- tiz a cool project Luke
#7: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Luke, Location: LeedsPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:40 pm ---- Small update on this.
Got a few parts from various places added. GazRG sent me a nice box full of bits as well as a boomerang!
That's supposed to be a metal trim for the top of the windscreen, but Royal mail decided to bend it right on the instructions that says "Fragile. Do not bend!"
He also sent an original leather armrest/cassette holder, some seals and a few other bits and bats. Thanks mate.
I managed to fit the boot blind eventually after much swearing and damaged fingers. At the same time I re boarded the boot floor under the carpets to cover up the holes left by a previous ICE install, and refit all carpets snugly with the new clips. Apart from the slight fading of the carpet it looks very fresh and new now.
I've also managed to tidy up the interior, fit the armrest/cassette holder, re-patched some of the upholstery, fit a couple of missing/damaged trim pieces, and give the inside a good well needed clean. It is now a much happier place to be. The carpets were a right ball-ache to replace where I've had them out to sort the wiring! Just need to get the new steering wheel, and dash cover and the inside is done.
The new wheel dust cover has been fitted, which has got the speedo working again, although the bounce of the needle confirms I need a new cable, which isn't a big job at all. New chrome Porsche centre caps have been installed on the wheels too, to replaced the stolen one. They actually look better than I thought and have spurred an idea for a wheel refurb, instead of new wheels (for a while). An annoying exhaust rattle was also fixed too.
The engine bay has had a good clean at the same time as the interior and now looks a hell of a lot better. The front valance was due to be painted as well, but my mate with the spray gun has decided to go travelling for a year, so this will have to be done professionally, which is one of the next jobs.
I've also decided to ditch the de-locked Golf handles for these....
..... polished metal Porsche scripted handles. Anyone in the VW scene will now these are very sort after handles, and are very hard to find in good condition.
Not a lot done really, but the car is feeling a lot better, and my grin is even bigger now. Although the car ran well before, it really has loosened up a little now and enjoys a good blast. I did measure the MPG on the motorway recently - 17MPG she was doing. Still it's only petrol.
I'll add some more pics soon.
#8: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: matty206, Location: Santa PodPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:54 pm ---- keep it coming
#9: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Howey, Location: Kings LynnPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:15 pm ---- Ace read mate! "losing two doors in the post"??? What a scoundral.
Good luck with the project! RR at RST??
#10: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Luke, Location: LeedsPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:27 pm ----
Howey wrote:
Good luck with the project! RR at RST??
Cheers.
Yes, I will be bringing to RST if I can get it off work. I want to start tuning it later in the year starting with some twin carbs, so want to see how many horses need to be reigned back in (after 30 years!).
#11: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Brian, Location: VVT Land, FifePosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:13 pm ---- Royal mail are fahooking retards
Liking those handles though. I bet the mk1 boys would be after those even if they're not de-locked!
#12: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Luke, Location: LeedsPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:28 pm ---- Aye they will be. Someone on here (maybe Ross) was asking about them before the site went down. That was the set I bought that never turned up.
#13: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: WENCH, Location: EnglandPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:49 am ---- I'm so insanely jelous that I'm pondering buying one for £600! Taxed and tested from Pistonheads.
Anyone know anywhere that'll insure a driver thats been passed 10 months, males, 18, for under £1200 a year, on a 924?
#14: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: Luke, Location: LeedsPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:26 am ---- Is that the gold coloured auto? If it is it looks a decent car from the ad. Just got to check the auto box is in good order, and it's a steal.
With insurance, get checking classic car insurance companies. Mine is under classic car insurance, with unlimited milage, UK track day cover, windscreen cover, courtesy car cover, UK and Europe breakdown cover and I'm even insured to do weddings. All for just over £300 a year fully comp. Not bad for a group 18 car.
Just to compare - my renewal quote with Adrian Flux for the 206 is £435.
#15: Re: 1980 924n/a Lux project -- OAV 719W Author: WENCH, Location: EnglandPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:31 am ---- Where are you insuring this 924? Adrian Flux laughed in my face. I phoned them as soon as I saw that gold-924 ad.
I currently have Quinn-Direct at £1200 a year on my 206. If I can get the insurance cheaper for the 924, I'd be down there and buying it wihtin the day.
Just to add - REALLY jelous. I LOVE your car. Really want to read this thread when it's done - but I want it nowww!
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Further investigation by prodding and we had more of a problem - the patch started falling apart instantly. 
Now we had to make a decision. Do we repatch it and hope it holds, steam the tank and weld it, or try and find a replacement? Whilst underneath we noticed the suspension arms needed renewing too.
To make matters worse the boot unclipped itself on the return leg too. 
It knackered my handle lifting the door to close it so I browsed the bay for new ones and bought some scripted Porsche ones for £60! 
