Bringing a 924 back from the dead

This looks like a fun project. I look forward to seeing all of your future updates.. I will always have a soft spot for 924s and 944s.

Thanks kindly for the comment. I have been so busy lately it's taken a back seat, hopefully will have some updates for this week. I see this is also your first post. Welcome to the forums.

I need a little advice from those who are familiar with track setups.

 

EXTINGUISHER SETUPS!

 

I've seen these little pull systems where you pull a lever and it puts out fires since you're harnessed in. Are these worth looking into? From my understanding they basically are routed to areas that you would have pre-setup like into the engine bay etc.

 

What exactly is efficient. By the time it's finished it will be very primitive, hardly any electrics, so my main focus would be to be prepared with a battery cutoff switch for any potential electrical issues as well as some sort of system to battle fuel fires. Going to go with an FIA rated system for a fuel cell and since I'm going megasquirt I can pretty much do whatever I damn well please with the fuel system routing. I plan on having electrics and the fuel system as well separated as possible.

 

Ideas? Suggestions?

 

I plan on also having one near the seat of course for situations where I need it asap, god forbid I ever need it.

 

Also.. I need to change up the brackets for my seat. It's a hair short and has a wider stance. I can get adapters made for the seat, OR cut out the original brackets and make those fit the seat. Unsure which way to go. I'd be happy to cut and weld shit but I don't have a torch or a welder. Anyone here work at a shop that if i gave dimensions they could do this for a price?

Ok found the systems for sale. Got some great info from a friend... Good to go on those, just need to order one.

 

Here is today's post of the interior stripping. I have not shared a lot of these photos since I wanted to post them when I was close to done since it's pointless to go "HEY LOOK! RUST AND GROUND DOWN METAL!"

 

Since I like before and after photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Yay, so much fun.

 

Chisels, screwdrivers, hammer and armstrong.

 

 

 

 

These last 3 are the most recent.

 

 

 

As you can see if you look close, driver side still needs a bit more. And it's dirty as hell in there so it's easy to see all the dusty shit flying around thanks to me grinding in the car. But you get the idea.

As of today there is no more carpet/material/lining/foam/trim in the car. It's all gone now. I have dremeled/sanded/grinded/wheeled away almost all the cancer on the inside at this point and am sealing it.

 

It got shitty as hell outside so i parked it for today. But I took the rear quarters out and traced them so I can finish my lexan windows and took the pillars out so I can finally put to use the CF I bought. Going to probably buy some flat media CF so I can use it for the dash and gauges and then strip out the rest of the dash.

 

I will get some pictures tomorrow since i just finished most of it tonight but i used a new top coat to seal all the exposed areas. I also messed with the bracket and made it fit - racing seat is now IN. Thank you power tools.

Excited as I finally made my first CF piece for the car. The left pillar which will house the gauges. This is a picture of it trimmed up and mostly cured. It is still on the mold.

 

This piece was mostly testing my mixtures and the hardener that I am using, so I used lots of scrap CF so it's not one giant smooth piece. So aesthetics are minimal, however, it shaped VERY WELL and held to the mold. Getting it off is a bit of a PITA and it's being a pain. But I got it.

 

cool

Not finished but here's a preview.

 

Well guys, I got it out of the mold, gauges fit.

 

Still needs trimmed, sanded, cut and cleared and it'll be good to go, so it's still in "ugly" state. But you get the idea.

 

Sexy time, yes, I like. Yes.

 

 

 

 

Still need to trim off a bit more, cut out the switch holes and finally sand and clear... but it's finally taking shape.

GT lights aren't going to cut it for what I want to do. I came up with a new idea. Mockup of one side.... I thought "Those housing pieces for GT lights do lose some wight but are STILL really heavy... what can I do that would be lightweight, look good, be functional... and use as an intake inlet.

 

 

I haven't started on them yet. But this will give me some extra stuff to do and it will be much easier to fab up.

 

Anyone know about the heat projectors or HID produce? I can do something other than projector. Needs to be compact and able to fit in a small space.

Megasquirt is here.

 

thanks for all the updates. you should restore Porsches for a living.

thanks for all the updates. you should restore Porsches for a living.

 

Yeah that would be mad amounts of fun. No shops around here have any space. I have inquired with german master tech here in bend oregon and they've seen the work i do and stuff, i've had it in there to make some custom brake lines and stuff. but I got "yeah, everyone wants to work here we get that all the time, but unfortunately we just can't afford anyone at all right now."

 

Perhaps in good time.... I truly think it is "the job" I would enjoy and could actually get a kick out of and not hate every day I wake up.

 

Thank you for the kind compliment, Nathan.

Been a while since I've updated. More fun if i have more than one update to post, or i feel like i'm posting all the time.

 

Sent this off, waiting for it to be CNC'd and sent back so it can be finished for the intake manifold. My buddy works for a machine shop so he had all the tools to replicate it and get an intake manifold going for me:

 

(as you can see, my cat is quite interested) rounded out the holes to match up with the head work to be done.

 

 

 

 

Ordered a set of ITBs off of a GSXR 1000 since they use a MAP system which I will use for my megasquirt, and then use a pertronix setup for the ignition for my input signal to my megasquirt to complete it. From that point on forward it's going to be just tuning the setup. Most my engine stuff is cleaned up and ready.

 

Here's a picture of the ITBs I bought off of ebay. Nice thing is that the diameter is a little bigger, should be nice with the top end, also has the rails injectors and all i need. The TB's taper down which will be nice for flow since the GSXR did a good job on their TB's. So I can use all the injectors and sensors with my megasquirt so it'll be a nice easy hookup into the harness, and CLEAN which is what I am excited for.

 

Finally finished getting the old dash mounts into the carbon fiber dash and test fitted, fit great, very happy with the fitment. I was able to literally re-use the old hardware from the dash and connect it to the CF dash for a direct placement of the old dash. Sold all the old crappy seats and got the racing seat also fit 100% and spot on (had to tweak it a bit, was off just a hair on the brackets).

 

I'll snag some pictures when the weather is nice since right now we've got about 8" of snow....

 

Also, since I did not update.... Bought some goodies from a trackday buddy of mine for my conversion to late model suspension and brakes which should be a perfect fit for the GT work.

 

Included Parts (FRONT):

 

Calipers, professionally rebuilt

Stainless brake lines

Steering knuckles

Fresh ATE hardware kits ($$)

PBR "Ult" ceramic pads (50%+ remaining)

Fresh rotors

Hubs and all associated hardware

Freshened backing plates

 

Included Parts (REAR):

 

Calipers, professionally rebuilt (proper 931 units)

Caliper carriers

Hubs

Fresh ATE hardware kits ($$)

PBR "Ult" ceramic pads (70%+ remaining)

Fresh rotors

Freshened backing plates

Fresh handbrake cables, purchased new from PCNA - $$$

Handbrake cable guide tubes

Brake hard lines

 

NOT INLCUDED:

 

Handbrake shoes/hardware, lug nuts, wheels

 

Muhaha.... muaha.... MUAHAHAHA

Has it really been december since I posted an update on this? Seems like I never have time to work on the stupid thing when I want to. I should just take a month off and finish the car eh? LOL! I'm actually at the point where I'm ready to wire up my megasquirt. I have someone working with me on the intake manifold. I have a local buddy who said he could make it out of CF instead of sending it off to get it machined off in steel, which hey, any weight is weight saved. I'm fine with that. He said it'll also be a lot easier to make since it's a simple mold. He's using the old renderings, the head from the engine, and the stock intake manifold to figure something out. I will post up more on that when I hear more.

 

Alas....

 

UPDATES! Eeee... how much have I done since then... let's see...

 

Brakes... brakes brakes more brakes. The brake kit I bought over the winter came off of a 944. The nice thing is that everything is literally a bolt up situation. So I converted to a 5 lug, 4 wheel disc brake system off of an early 944. Still need to clean things up a little, but here's a pic of the rear installed.

 

You'll have to pardon the mess. I literally have parts of suspension, steering, interior, wiring, tools just laying around since the car is in pieces in my garage right now.

 

I also started stripping off all the little trim and such, going to strip off the paint and repaint it SOON. The BBS wheels were off of the 944 before I sold it. I left the 911 wheels and kept the BBS wheels. I know you're probably going "Uhhhh why?" - well, the bbs wheels are light. The 911 wheels were not. They were also an ET50 and ET55 on offset, whereas the BBS wheels are a 23mm offset. What does an early 944 use for offset? DING DING, 23mm! OH YEAH! Straight up fit! Lightweight too. Going to probably get them powdercoated here soon.

 

The picture you see here had the wrong balljoints though for the control arms. The other issue is that the control arms were rusted to hell. Oddly enough, the frame and everything else looked fine. So I ordered new control arms as well as 944 balljoints.

 

As time has gotten closer, I have started to order the fuel system. I have my pump, most the lines, the fuel rail, adapters and needed a regulator. I would like to thank SP Engineering for doing the math for me and recommending this neat little fuel regulator. I decided to regulate the pressure in line, rather than after the rail to make things simple.

 

I am very very excited to get the fuel system going on the car and get it running. Unfortunately, my buddy in competition with getting his done first actually did get his running on ITBs before me, runs rough, but, it runs. Exciting because him and I have very similar setups, but he's using one he used from weber DCOE manifolds, very short, very close to the head. Mine will be stretched out a bit further than his. Guess we'll see how it ends up.

http://aeromotiveinc.com/products-page/reg...-efi-regulator/

 

I bought 300ft of wire and have started the harness. I also have bought high amp, tough as nails switches for my switch panels to make sure that it is not a point of failure. I used flat panel carbon fiber to make the first panel. I have a few more switches to install, but here is the mostly finished product. Top will be main power, push start below, and 30A switches for the pump and rest of my circuits.

 

The seat and dash have been fully installed. Pardon the interior mess, unfortunately the car has sat a while so it's dusty as hell inside, the original harness is also ripped to bits since I'm in the middle of routing and playing with the new harness. All the stock wiring you see in these pictures will all come out.

 

You can also see there is some padding left on the driver side (sort of an insulation) that needs to come out, the metal needs grounded down to clean it up and sealed but that'll only take a few minutes. But here's a closer up picture of the dash.

 

Pictures of the braided lines going in. Unfortunately the hard line to it broke, I could not find a replacement so I bent my own. It was 2 inches too long, not the prettiest bend in the world, but it's out of the way of the suspension and safe, so that's fine by me.

 

Drilled holes and used some flat media carbon fiber to test fitment here. This is where I will mount the EFI computer. It's out of the way and will have a small carbon fiber panel with some mounts. This will keep it out of the way of anything hot, but make it easy to get to, etc etc... This is actually great because this is where the old dash mounted, there is 3 screw holes there for the dash that go straight up and it's tucked up and away. This is just about the right size for the megasquirt and fuse panel. Awesomeeeeee.

 

Here are some pictures from tonight. Tonight I installed the actual 944 control arms and balljoints as well as lined everything up. The reason I went this route is because the balljoints are far more beefy on a 944. The other nice thing is that the original control arms and balljoints were built INTO the control arm, so if the balljoint went bad, you had to drill the stupid thing out and bolt in a new one. With this new setup on these control arms I can remove the balljoints whenever I want, take them out, put new ones in, etc etc. The control arms are simple in design, inexpensive to replace, which is nice. The beautiful thing about 944 suspension is that it is almost 100% identical to 924 suspension. In fact, the whole damn setup bolts right in and is the same EXACT dimension as the 924 stuff. Buy 944 suspension which is beefy... put it in 924... makes a happy car.

 

Also in these pictures you'll see the brakes fully installed, controls arms and in the background if you look on the front suspension pics you can see the OLD 924 steering knuckle and rotor setup laying around in pieces.

 

 

 

I know what you're thinking: "Why does he have a pink vacuum?" and "Those tires look too wide!"

 

Here's the beautiful thing about this... first off... 944 fenders aren't quite shaped the same. Remember that the 924 sort of starts to come to a slant a bit more whereas the top of the 944 fenders go straight a bit longer, so the tires look nicely tucked, etc. On the 924 the stock wheels fit inside the fenders a good bit. But remember that with camber, body roll and the way suspension compresses that it'll only rub if the tire will meet the fender at that angle. In this case... it's close, but it won't! Here's an actual picture of the rear as an example (since the front fender is crunched it's a bad example).

 

Pokes out, so it seems, yeah?

 

I know it LOOKS wide... But is it really that it pokes out? or is it the way the body comes to an angle in the back?

 

*gasp* you're shitting me! NO! It's so so close! Haha, I was pretty excited when I saw how close it was.

 

So very close, but it still won't hit the fender. I'll probably roll it as well. But it's a tight fit.

 

Still using all the original places to route the harness in the car. Seems to make sense that way too.

Cool project, makes me want to find a dead 924. I am almost finished resurrecting one dead car and am 50% through another project so I feel your pain and joys.

 

What Ducati btw? (I am a fan there too).

 

 

Cool project, makes me want to find a dead 924. I am almost finished resurrecting one dead car and am 50% through another project so I feel your pain and joys.

 

What Ducati btw? (I am a fan there too).

 

It'll be fun, they're lightweight and nicely balanced, so it'll be fun for trackdays and autox once it's finished.

 

The Ducati is a 1999 900 SS

 

I just found and read through this thread. Wow!! Fantastic work! The car is coming along great! It's great to see somebody so passionate about one of these. I'm a long time Porsche nut and I've been on the Porsche forums for years. I have only seen a couple of 924 projects as extensive and as passionate as this. I can't wait to see it when you're all done.

 

BTW, the CF parts look great! I've never seen a 924 or early 944 dash in CF before. Very cool! Keep up the great work!

Bxtech, thank you kindly. I will keep the updates coming for sure and thank you for the compliments, that made my day.

Dropped off the head and ITBs at a local shop today, good friend of mine. He is going to end up designing the intake manifold Carbon Fiber!

 

I had 2 different companies flake out on me on getting it made, I got tired of it. This particular shop has me pretty excited because the stock intake manifold is PRETTY damn heavy. So not only will it free up a ton of space, weigh less and look cool but it'll be a nice addition to the megasquirt tuning. Ended up with a total expected length of about 12" as per a friend of mine and his recommendation.

 

I will post pictures as it progresses. Unfortunately the shop is VERY busy right now with other carbon fiber projects so I am on the backburner for a few. But will post progress as I get it.

Love this thread! I owned a 912 some years back, love the old basic Porsches. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks Spud. Love the 912! Cool cars I'm super excited for this intake manifold as it is the LAST PIECE of the puzzle to complete my megasquirt tune. I can finally tune it, get it running and out on the road once this is completed. It is so insanely painful to have most everything put together and have one part you're waiting on to finish something lol.

Awesome thread! Keep up the great work and definitely keep us posted with all the pics.