'81 924 turbo--restore it or part it ?

[chris steineger]

I bought a 1981 924 turbo on a whim, am undecided, and asking for advice.

The bad: the engine experienced 4 bent exhaust valves about 15 years ago, was disassembled, then abandoned. The top end is disassembled and stored in the rear. The block is still mounted in the engine bay and the cylinder bores are rusty. The brown dashboard has many cracks and is beyond salvage.

The good: the body is rust free and no major dents. The tan seats, door panels, carpet, and much else on the interior is in good condition. It was purchased new in California and by the late 80s was housed at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.

I can detail, clean parts, but am not a 924 turbo specialist/mechanic. Is this car worth saving ?

Chris in Kansas City

[JoshB]

I would sell it whole to someone else. There isn't much market for used 924 turbo parts imho.

[Chunkerz]

I'd restore it. Removing the engine can't be that hard. Just pull it out and have it hot tanked or something. Other than rusty, how are the bores? Any scores? Are the exhaust valves on the 924 turbo special like on the 951? If not, then replacement valves should be cheapish and somewhat readily available. Getting the head completely overhauled isn't cheap, though. It's costing me ~$500 to rebuild the entire head. The dash on the 931 is the same as the 924/924S/early 944 correct? Dashboards from those aren't too hard to find.

[924RACR]

Restore, definitely, or sell for restoration. Block is easy to recondition. Valves not so easy to find, and are unique apparently. But they're awesome fun cars...

[Jferr006]

Restore it thus saving it. This coming from an idiot spending way too much money saving a plain old 944. ... But, I sure am enjoying it, when I'm not threatening it with death.

[rhett]

Originally Posted by Jferr006

But, I sure am enjoying it, when I'm not threatening it with death.

Lol - I have a feeling there are lots of us who feel exactly the same, I have threatened my car with so many different deaths...perhaps I should write a book! It seems that a 'love/hate' relationship develops once you open the toolbox!

However, rather than part out the turbo, I hope you would consider restoring it, or passing it onto someone who would...they are getting rare.

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought the 924 engine was a non-interference design, or was that just the NA versions? Did they change the design to get a different compression ratio for the turbo, as I was just wondering how the valves got bent originally?

[emoore924]

n/a is non-interference. The turbo is interference.

Pistons and head design are different, among other things...

Good luck doing a resto. It would be a challenge but it would be worth it. These turbos are getting tough to find.

Be sure to post on 924.org too. Lots of help there.

[kcoyle]

Originally Posted by chris steineger

Is this car worth saving ?
Chris in Kansas City

Depends on what you paid for it but I'd say no from a money perspective. If it's been sitting for 15 years then you are looking at refurbishing all the major mechanical systems on the car (engine, turbo, cooling,fuel, etc). Unfortunately that will take a lot of dough just to make a doughnut.

[txjake]

Please save it. If you can't or don't want to, then sell it over at 924.org....

[pcelenta]

only about 5000 of these imported...save it!

[porschetub]

Originally Posted by Jferr006

Restore it thus saving it. This coming from an idiot spending way too much money saving a plain old 944. ... But, I sure am enjoying it, when I'm not threatening it with death.

x2 ,I read this reply and thought I had written it .
Better to buy a good running one with a poor body (cosmetically rough) and keep yours as a parts car and do engine swap.
It will be a labour of love ($$$$),projects just end up that way,cheers.