924Board.org

Rasta Monsta · Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 11723 Location: PacNW

BURN 'ER!
_________________
Toofah King Bad

WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

9xx · Joined: 18 Jun 2006 Posts: 627 Location: Jarvenpaa, Finland

You must cut this thread...with...a herring!
_________________
Mikko

All gone: 931 '82 Alpine White, original option "220" G31 with LSD + 3 x 944

sarbirus · Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: bournemouth, uk

Wow, what a soap opera. I spent the last 3 hours reading through all this stuff about some guy called Mark, some other guy in florida and thousands of aliases for the two guys. Its been like an interactive novel or whodoneit.

As a new member I was feeling really distanced from it all, until I read one topic called something like "what do you guys want from your 924" and I soon noticed that the thread involved my local independent Porsche garage/tuning company (Jon Mitchell Porsche AKA Indi9xx!)

Turns out that Jon found out that Mark was laying down some groundwork to have the head work copied, Jon caught wind of this, backed away from dealing with him, made it clear on here why he was taking this action and felt it best to stay well away from Mark and this forum.

Looks like back then, everyone here sided with Mark and Jon felt it best to stay away.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks I will try to get down to Jon Mitchell and let him know that his actions back then were well founded and tell him about all the things that happened with that guy he didnt trust!

Its a real shame Jon backed away from this forum. In the years since he has kinda transformed the 944 Turbo tuning community, in the UK and else where and has a history in the Porsche motorsport world going back decades.

Makes me wonder, that if it was not for this Mark character, and if people like Jon Mitchell had stuck around, a wider market for 924 performance parts was opened up, where developments may have gone.

This Mark guy has a lot to answer for
_________________
Sarbirus
England
92 964C2 - Thinking about converting to widebody
89 944 Turbo - Modified by JMG/9XX 400 BHP
83 944 Lux - staying standard for now
83 924 Lux - 9XX head - transformed performance!
81 924 turbo - staying standard... probably

ideola · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 15548 Location: Spring Lake MI

Sarbirus
If what you say is true regarding Jon, it is a shame indeed. I was just joining the board when that whole flap between Jon and Mr. Johnston took place.

Last week I was conversing with a Rennlister via PM on the Hausbrauen fiasco. He made the observation that the only time he's ever been ripped off in all of his dealings on Porsche-related forums was by a 924 owner.

It's a real shame...we have enough going against us, with the toofah being regarded as the red-headed stepchild of Porschedom already. Unfortunate and unpunished antics like the one Mssrs. Johnston and Stansbury perpetrated on the 924 community only add to the aversion. It really is unfortunate.

Regarding the aforementioned Hausbrauen crew, make no mistake, we (myself and a growing number of past victims) are pursuing remedies against those guys that should keep them occupied for a while. Only time will tell if they ever pay for their crimes, but if nothing else, they're going to be on the defensive for a while.
_________________
erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

sarbirus · Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: bournemouth, uk

It was actually your signature links Ideola that set me off along a 3 hour path about reading about this Mark guy!

Jon does some really mad things with 944 Turbos, if you search rennlist in the 944 turbo section you should find lots of talk about the 3.2 944 Turbo engines he builds (yes takes out a 2.5 engine and turns it into a 3.2!!!!)

My 944 turbo was 250 BHP before he worked on it and was 401 BHP (Both flywheel) when last on the rolling road (still just a 2.5) and is just as, or maybe even more driveable day to day as a standard car

At the other end of the scale he also converts Caymans and puts in a 3.9 twin turbo engine.

I know he still has a soft spot for the 924 NA and 924 turbo, but didnt develop much further because he felt the UK 924 community was too limited a market and the rest of the world 924 market gave him a reason not to export his products, by the looks of the "what do you guys want" topic, and what happened with this 'mark' guy, i dont blame him too much.
_________________
Sarbirus
England
92 964C2 - Thinking about converting to widebody
89 944 Turbo - Modified by JMG/9XX 400 BHP
83 944 Lux - staying standard for now
83 924 Lux - 9XX head - transformed performance!
81 924 turbo - staying standard... probably

!tom · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:40 am Post subject:

sarbirus · Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: bournemouth, uk

I met up with Jon Mitchell today to talk to him about what I had found in here and what happened with Mr Johnson.

He was really quite mortified with how you guys got to find out for yourself what Mr Johnson is really like.

I could tell he was actually quite distressed about it and said that he felt bad about backing away from the 924.org community, but also said there would have been nothing he could have done to help and he guesses that Mr Johnson is someone you have to experience first hand to believe.

There may be some good news though.

Jon also said that he worked for years on squeezing power out of 924's and that there isnt much commercial value to all that work anymore for his business. So in the summer if there is interest, he will try to turn what he knows into a group of in depth PDF files for the 924 community. Including 924 head modification for DIY!!

Could be interesting!
_________________
Sarbirus
England
92 964C2 - Thinking about converting to widebody
89 944 Turbo - Modified by JMG/9XX 400 BHP
83 944 Lux - staying standard for now
83 924 Lux - 9XX head - transformed performance!
81 924 turbo - staying standard... probably

Paul · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:22 am Post subject:

You bet there is interest!!!
_________________
White 87 924S "Ghost"
Silver 98 986 3.6l 320 HP "Frank N Stein"
White 01 986 "Christine"
Polar Silver 02 996TT. "Turbo"
Owned and repaired 924s since 1977
Porsche: It's not driving, it's therapy.

ideola · Joined: 01 Oct 2004 Posts: 15548 Location: Spring Lake MI

That would be quite a contribution to the community for sure. Sadly, I think Jon is right. There is a small contingent of 924 enthusiasts who drop serious cash into these cars. Most of us are here, but it's not a large enough community to warrant ongoing R&D.

Evidence of that is things like the Vibratech motor mount group buy, Piper solid lifter group buy, and other such "group buys" in recent past. From what I've seen, it's usually less than 5 of us on a group buy at any given time. That's not a criticisim, just recognizing that the timing isn't always right for everyone, and the number of folks ready and willing to part with even a couple hundred $$$ at any given moment is nothing like it is in the 944, 928, or 911 communities. Just not a large enough community with deep enough pockets to support a commercial venture.

I would LOVE to see Jon's ideas made available to the community. I have selfish reasons too...solid lifters should be hitting the production run any day now, I'll be ordering my cam soon, and head work should be following close behind. If you can urge him to do it sooner rather than later, I'd be a happy camper

_________________
erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made