924Board.org

[ProudGecko]

After 4 years of being a poor college student with a girlfriend (now wife) 2 hours away my car is in dire need of some lovin'

I've decided to take the car off the road and basically do a restoration. What I can't decide is if I should return her to 100% stock (she's not far from it at the moment) or upgrade/mod various things.

My biggest question I guess is, how "smart" is it to mod the car over keeping it stock? Does the value of the car go down if I do suspension and brake upgrades? Would leather seats increase or decrease the value if it was never a factory option (was it a factory option?)? Would removing the A/C and/or converting to manual steering severely lower its value?

I'm not looking to do anything too crazy (no flared fenders or anything), mostly bolt-on stuff. I'd like to autocross the car, but at the same time I'm not sure if I want to subject the car to that kind of stress. I don't know if (for a Porsche) the car is getting to the point that collectors are looking for original specimens or if people are still looking to buy these as the tinkering man's Porsche
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1988 Porsche 924S
1986 Kawasaki Concurs ZG1000
1984 Mercedes 190D
1973 Honda CB500

[Rasta Monsta]

Pack it with factory options, and you'll be happy with the result, and resale value should go up.

I would go: leather sport seats, M030 suspension, 951 rear brakes, Wildwood fronts, and cool factory wheels.

I would NOT swap to manual steering. 944 power steering works, great, IMO, and the conversion will cost you a fortune.
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Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

[ideola]

[ProudGecko]

The manual steering conversion is definitely pricey; however, my power steering system is completely shot at the moment. I tried rebuilding my rack which probably made the problem worse. On top of the leaky rack, the reservoir leaks, and all the hoses are dry and leaking and the hard lines are corroding. Basically it costs about the same (if not more) to completely replace the power steering system as it does to convert to manual. That's the only reason I'm considering it.

The A/C is the same, my compressor died and I replaced it with the A/C delete bracket as a cheap fix. Now I'm trying to figure out if I should replace the compressor and upgrade to r134a or completely remove the system. I'm leaning toward keeping it just for my wife's comfort
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1988 Porsche 924S
1986 Kawasaki Concurs ZG1000
1984 Mercedes 190D
1973 Honda CB500

[Rasta Monsta]

I wouldn't be so sure. . .I got a perfect used rack on Pelican for $75 shipped.
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Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

[Chrenan]

[Min]

[tuurbo]

If I had to do it over again I'd go for the 5 bolt conversion with an Audi box and big brakes.

Then restore the interior to stock.
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1980 924 turbo, MSD, Meth. Inj, otherwise stock.

[ideola]

He's got an S, so he already has five lug and Audi box...
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[ProudGecko]

Chrenan, how heavy is the manual steering system? By that I mean, how much effort does it take to turn the wheel when stopped or at low speeds? I parallel parking a huge chore?

I've always thought that my power steering seemed rather stiff compared to other cars with power steering, is that just my car or are all 924S/944 cars like this?
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1988 Porsche 924S
1986 Kawasaki Concurs ZG1000
1984 Mercedes 190D
1973 Honda CB500

[Paul]

I agree, load it up with stock options and spend your money on making it look like new.
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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.

[alexvex]

I'd mod it and race it...use it the way it was made for. Spending the money on rare factory options is a waste of money in my view. You will never get your money back out of it. There just isn't a market for these cars...even pristine low mileage ones are hard to sell for what they are "worth" or should be worth. $5k is probably around the max you'll ever get out of any 924/931/924S because anymore than that and a smart person would just buy a 951 and have a much better car.

Maybe it's just me, but I say enjoy the car, don't let it sit and collect dust in a garage in hopes of banking an investment off it. Cars in general are not a good investment, be it a porsche or not.
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--Alex--
1992 Porsche 968 (VW 2.5L I5 Turbo swap in the works)
1995 Audi 90 Quattro Sport (4.2L V8 Swap)
2010 Touareg TDI
Past Pcars: 80 931, 87 924S, 87 951

[Paul]

Cars are an expense, not an investment.

It will take 15 years or more before like new examples of these cars are worth anything.

356s in presentable condition could be bought for $1000 20 years ago.

You could not get $3000 for a like new 914 10 years ago.

I don't encourage people to over spend on these cars, but if the question is mod it or restore with XXXX dollars, then spend the money on stock options.
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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.

[Rasta Monsta]

Ha, might be true if the options were "rare." I just got an M030 tubular front sway bar on Ebay for $17.


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Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

[pocketscience]