1988 Porsche 924S SE

I lucked into a new project yesterday!  This 924S popped up on my local classifieds 5 miles from my house.  I happened to be in the right place at the right time with some cash and scooped it up at his asking price. Seller claimed to have several offers for well over his asking price if he could hold it for them for a few days to arrange transportation but he really wanted it gone right away.

The Good:

• Rare Special Edition car, apparently it's 1 of 500 SE cars that were brought into the states. All were black, and came standard with manual windows, manual steering, sunroof delete, AC delete, and Radio delete for lightness.  Also a special lightweight (thin) cloth interior.
• Pretty low miles! it had 80,033 when I pulled it into my driveway.
• Very clean, garage kept car. It looks like it has been repainted in the last 10 years, but was done extremely well. on initial inspection I couldn't find any over spray or sloppy masking. It looks like all the trim was removed for the respray. If it weren't for some orange peel, I could be convinced it was original.
• Recent service; Timing belt and associated maintenance items were replaced at 78,000 miles. Sometime between then and now the distributor cap, rotor, and wires were changed. 
• Only944 short shift linkage. The shifter engagement is nice and clean with no slop.
• Oil cooler seals just replaced
• Rod bearing just replaced

The Bad:

• Dent/scrape on passenger door. This is the only flaw on the body that I have been able to find
• Sunroof mismatched, PO lost the sunroof on the highway. It has an electric latch mechanism that allows you to remove the panel and stow it in the hatch. the replacement sunroof is from a dark blue car. I think I'll at least paint it matte black.
• The SE lightweight cloth is fragile, and not in great shape. The bolsters on the front seats have been redone in black vinyl so they don't look bad, but the fabric is worn thin on the centers with a few tears. The top of the back seat visible through the hatch is sun damaged with the foam exposed in several spots.
• Whoever ordered the car added the optional radio, PS, AC, and sunroof that were deleted standard.  I'm sure I'll be happy about the AC if I can get it working, but would rather do without the lot.
• minor oil leaks from cam tower and rear cam seal. Not serious enough to make a mess on the ground, but smoking on the header a little bit.

I still need to get it up in the air with the wheels off to do a more detailed inspection, but so far I'm pretty happy. My wife and kids were giddy when I brought it home.  Everyone got a ride around the block and they all think it's one of the best things I've ever dragged home.

I got home last night as the sun was going down, so I didn't get many decent pictures. I will update with some better ones soon.

So, what do I need to know about these cars?  This is my first Porsche, but I did a ton of work on my Dad's 928 so it does seem familiar. What are the common pitfalls? Fun facts?

You need to change the title, that's a 924, not a 928.  Rod bearings are a downfall, as are the rear hatch glass seal, the oil pan gasket and the clutch.

docwyte said:

You need to change the title, that's a 924, not a 928.  Rod bearings are a downfall, as are the rear hatch glass seal, the oil pan gasket and the clutch.

Doh! I don't know why I had 928 on the mind when I typed it up. Obviously, it's a 924.  Can someone change the title? Mods?

2002maniac said:

Doh! I don't know why I had 928 on the mind when I typed it up. Obviously, it's a 924.  Can someone change the title? Mods?

Nope, can't change it. You have to put a V8 in it to match the title.

Wow, you bought that for under Challenge money?! Very nice pick up. 

Came in for the 928 but really like the 924. You bringing it to the Challenge?

For anyone looking for 928 goodness, I'm sorry to disappoint, but check out my GRM Garage to see the 928 track car I built with my Dad.

Although I do live 2200 miles away from Gainesville I AM going to bring a car to the challenge some day, but not this car.  It will probably go over budget quickly and will still be slow. 

GG.  Gulf Goodness.

Oooh, pretty. I used to like the 944's widebody look a lot more than the 924, but as time goes by the 924 has started to really improve in my eyes. In good shape, that's a dang good looking classic car. I think I've just seen too many ratty ones.

Nice,  that’s a cool car.

Nice looking 924. Any pictures of the interior?

Had not heard about the SE before. Is this an SE since it does have a sunroof?

Time for a picture dump!

Build tag shows code 756: Special Edition:

Rear seat damage below greenhouse.

Door panels are minty, though I wish the buyer hadn't opted for the optional radio 

"Color Matched" towel to hide/protect the interior.

A few tears in the seat bottoms

Aaaand, first surprise, the car has made it's mark on my driveway by pissing out roughly half a gallon of coolant over the course of 48hrs. I guess that will be one of my first projects!

Engine bay is pretty clean, still has the original cosmoline in some spots.

Timing belt service record. Lol.

Look how fresh those stickers are!

Featured with most of my hooptie fleet 

I was able to take some more time to get into the car today. I got it jacked up in the garage and cleaned up all the coolant to try to trace the leak.

After warming up the motor, I noticed little moisture on a small rubber hose towards the front of the exhaust side of the motor. I snugged up the hose clamp and it seems like it's stopped the leak, but if not I'll replace the rubber hose.

I also pulled the wheels to crawl under the car and inspect the suspension. I was pleased to find that even though the build sheet does not show M030 sport suspension, all the optional M030 pieces seem to be installed. This includes adjustable konis, a rear sway bar, and adjustable front spring perches. I dropped the front coils 1/4" while I was in there.

Luckily the car has very little corrosion so the spring adjustment nuts we're easy to free and spun down very easily!

I think I'll look into getting the konis rebuilt, although the suspension does feel pretty good, I'm sure they could use a refresh.

Does anyone have any tire advice? I'd really like to put some sticky 200tw summer tires on the car since it will only be a nice weather driver.

The original size is 195/65r15 which is a 25" tire! I can't find any performance tires in a comparable size. I used to run 225/50r15 or 205/50r15 on my e30 but I can't find and sticky tires in 225 besides track only tires. 205s are readily available but almost 2" shorter than stock.

Will that look weird to have such smaller than stock tires?

If memory serves, this car was a testbed of sorts for the 944.  The S models got the same engine as the 944, but a year earlier.  It is also a great long legged GT.   Banged out a 500 mile weekend with its twin 30 years ago.  Solid.  Best of luck with it.

Thanks Brian!

I finally got around to registering the car a few weeks ago and have driven it a little on quick trips around town and up my local canyon road.

Latest issues I've discovered are a slight power steering leak and a flickering parking brake light. No big deal, but I'll get those sorted.

Yesterday the weather looked good so I decided to take the car to work. My commute is a few miles of 80mph interstate followed by 25 miles of 2 lane highway straight out into the desert. The car was very pleasant to drive and reasonably quiet.

I pulled into the "Rocket Garden" on my way home and snapped this shot

The radio sucks. I didn't hear anything from the front speakers and the rears are washed out. I did miss Bluetooth for the longer drive. I think I may try to find a radio delete panel and install one of those hidden all-in-one Bluetooth receiver/amplifier units and some decent speakers.

My dad wants me to bring the car and my three kids to a car show in his town 100 miles away next month. Should be fun. 

Great looking car.  Glad it went to an auto enthusiast.