924Board.org

[Vince Ponz]

I store my track car in my friends garage and did not use it for a year. When I went to start the car I brought with me a can of starter fluid. It is usually hard to start but always does.
I sprayed the carbs and cranked. And cranked. And cranked. Usually it starts after many cranks but today it did not. I applied the starting fluid on each try. I eventually used up a full bottle of fluid and drained the battery. Got my charger and got another bottle of fluid. I had to get out of the garage as my friend needed the space for his car the next day. I noticed the yellow low gas gauge was lit but paid no attention to it as it read past the quarter mark.
Off to the gas station and got 5 gallons and poured it in. Got in the car and it started right up without a problem.
It was frustrating that it did not start and I was ready to trash the car as it was always a difficult car to start.
The only worse thing that I did was to put a 944 starter in one of my cars not knowing that it turns the wrong way. That took two days to figure out what was wrong. Why don't they make the starters in different colors so us old guys can figure it out easily.
Any blunders you have been through?
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"Never let them see you sweat"
77.5 924 modified track car
79 931 Euro stock
88 924S SE
87 911 Targa stock

[RC]

One of the less intelligent mistakes I made nearly cost me my car and my house.

Back in the bad ol days of CIS I had a ruptured O ring in the fuel dizzy but wasn`t aware of that. Bloody thing wouldn`t start. Cranked and cranked, no go. Sure I could hear fuel going through the lines. Pulled a lead and had spark. Must be flooded. Put an old towel over the guard to protect the paint. Pulled #1 plug, wet as. Pulled the others and they were saturated. Cranked it over to blow out the fuel and WOOF!.

What a DH. Forgot to short the coil lead.

Blew out fuel all right, all over the engine bay and the towel and ignited from the dangling plug leads. SHIT! Grabbed the burning towel and burning my hand in the process threw it out the back. But a rag that was on it was now on the floor on fire next to cardboard boxes that are now on fire too. Cars still burning. Ran out back again, got the hose and really flooded the toofah and then the rest of the garage.

About now my partner Lisa comes out and says " think I can smell something burning.".......... Lucky she`s on the ball.

Have since invested in a fire extinguisher for the garage. And now remember to isolate the spark.

Sure others have done similar things at least once in their lifetime. Come on guys, fess up and keep this thread rolling.

[Chrenan]

I spent a long afternoon a couple of years ago trying to figure out why my 924 wouldn't start after its winter hibernation. Turns out I has disconnected the battery in the fall, like I do every year. Never thought to check that!
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

[Rich H]

My EFI fuel rail didn't quite fit precisely and the injectors were at a slight angle to the rail.

Being keen to get it running and not in the mood to mess about making everything perfect I decided to leave it, it'll be OK and the little spring clips would ensure that the injectors stayed put.

How wrong was I... The injector on number 4 blew out when the spring clip came unstuck. 4 bar of fuel goes a long long way.... But i was inside the car and only noticed when I smelt fuel!

Fortunately it hosed down the cold side of the engine and I got away with it.... Could have been very very bad - "Woof"

I hosed down the whole engine and driveway and went and had a cup of tea...

Now the fuel rail lines up properly and the spring clips are retained by nylon ties in a belt and braces fashion, the injectors now cannot pop out as the rail clamps them in place, the spring clips now fit and the clips can't fall off.

Rich
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1994 Lotus Esprit S4 - Work in progress...
1980 Porsche 924 S2 DITC Turbo - Original spec
1978 Homo-Sapiens - Tired spec
1953 Landrover S1 - Pensioner Spec

[CorsePerVita]

Errr I spent almost a full day trying to figure out why my fuel pump wouldn't turn on. I installed the CIS unit for a later model which didn't have a switch ran by the metering valve externally.... so no matter how much i screwed with it the pump wouldn't work.

Only after I asked good ol' stefan, and he so kindly verbally pointed out it's location, I had a "DURRRRRR" moment, yanked off the entire CIS system and installed and mixed parts between the two so it would work.
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- 1977 Porsche 924 2.0 N/A (Trackday Project)
- 1979 Porsche 924 2.0 N/A (The other daily)
- 1980 Porsche 931 (Daily)
- 1987 Lamborghini Jalpa
- 1999 Ducati 900SS

[leadfoot]

Drained engine oil...
Installed Futomo easy oil drain valve...
Proceeded to fill up with 5 litres of oil.
Got to 4.5 litres and after checking the dipstick (not me,yet) about 3 times proceeded to look under the car at 4.5 litres of fresh oil pooled under the car.
Valves come packaged in the open position...

Stu
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1981 ROW 924 Turbo -
carbon fiber GT mish mash
LS1 conversion in progress...

[StienbargerR]

My car sat for a month because I was not getting any fuel to the injectors. I tried everything, from a new WUR to that little O-ring in the CIS unit. turned out I was out of gas with a faulty fuel sender.

Ryan
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1978 924 NA
-250lb lowering springs, Euro Pistons

[tuurbo]

[wombat]

When I first got my licence I purchased a 914 and brought it home, my father (who has always owned Porsches) was not impressed and told me the many reasons why I couldnt drive a 914 as my first car. So in the end we (he) decided that we would rebuild the 914 together and he purchased me a "sensible" first car, what we call here a commodore which is a 4 door sedan with a buick V6 in it.

As one of the reasons I couldnt drive the 914 was because it was a sports car (really stupid reason I know but you need to meet my dad) I proceeded to spend lots of money getting my commodore stupidly fast, supercharged it, rebuilt and blueprinted the motor, mild head work, profiled cam, valves and seats, lifters etc etc. I also had a fully custom interior with sparco racing buckets and a styling kit that consisted of a mix of race car and aftermarket performance bits.

So here is this young kid in an almost new car with more money spent on it than the car was worth. The most exciting day of my youth comes around when a local magazine "Street commodors" comes to do a photo shoot of my car. I go out to the thing which is parked on the street ready and I cant get it started, stuff around with a few things and still cant get it going, after checking out where the problem lay I realised that I had no spark, new coil, good battery, etc etc. for some reason it was decided that the problem lay in the new alarm system fitted and we called the guy who installed it who came out and said that it would have to be in the immobiliser and started pulling wires, he rewired it to avoid the immobilser, but still no spark. Finally I called my dad to come down and take a look at it as a final hope, this is after about 1.5 hours of stuffing around and the magazine guys getting pretty close to saying goodbye. Anyway my dad comes out clicks the B&M shifter out of gear and starts it first go, it was still in gear and the shifters saftey would not let it start. wow did I feel like a D**KHead.
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1977 924 2.0 Auto

[Viking]

Some years ago, I bought my first 924. It wasn't the prettiest 924 in the world, but it ran nice ... for the first three weeks. After that it was running on three cylinders only, sometimes only two when it was in a particularly bad mood. A compression test was done, and it showed a bit low compression on two of the cylinders. To make a long story short, me and a mechanially inclined friend started rebuilding the engine.

Of course, there was more wrong with the care then only the engine, and a lot of parts were fixed or replaced. The engine overhaul alone cost about the equivalent of 2000 USD.

Nine months later, the car was finally back together, and my wallet was, and now I'm guessing since I don't dare to add up all the expenses, equivalent of 5000 USD lighter. Not to mention every weekend and three to four hours every evening spent in the garage for six months. We did have a three month break, though.

We try to start the car, it didn't run at all. It turned out after a lot of troubleshooting that the flyweel was on wrong, so the crank and cam was not at TDC together. Thank God for non-interference engine. We aligned them to TDC, and now the car started, and ran on ... three cylinders.

So we suspected the plugwires, we swapped them for another set of plugwires that we assumed to be good. Still, only three cylinders would fire.

We then swapped one and one plugwire, and in the end it turned out that there was a burnt wire in each set.

Do I win the award for the most expensive replacement of plugwires?

Actually, the car desperately needed all that overhauling, so it was not all for nothing.

[924guy]

on the 924: had a nasty crunching noise coming out of the tail end when I first bought it, circa 1995 or so. raised the rear wheels and spun them , no noise, lower it down and drive, noise is back. By this time i was convinced it was the tranny..I find a parts car, recruit a friend, and we tow the parts car home(with my 1st gen Hyundai sonata) in the middle of the night, on a highway that it was illegal to do so, and the tow strap breaks halfway home (doing at least 60 mph!) and I take Mr toads wild ride through the bushes! we tie the tow strap back together, yank the parts car 924 out of the shrubbery and get it back to my house without bodily harm or any tickets. over the coarse of the next few weeks i swap out the tranny, go for a drive, and the crunching is still there...
yep, all that for a bad wheel bearing... to make matters worse, when I gave the parts car shell away the guy that picked it up stole a set of 6 freshly repainted wheels with brand new tires from me when i went inside to find the title and id given him the car for free! i figured it out about five minutes after he left, went hunting, but no luck, never saw him again...

recent: turned my grinder on to grind out rivets the other day and almost knocked myself out... there was a bolt lodged between the grinder wheel and the safety shroud, must of wedged in there when i put it down or something. when i tuned it on, it shot out and popped me right in the forehead, i have a mark, it hurt...


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Eric
78 924
82 931 SE "smokey"
99' VehiCross
Y2K Honda Insight
http://www.cardomain.com/id/924Guy
Performance by Pasha

[morghen]

check this out !

A few years ago i ran out of gas and the high pressure fuel pump jamed.
So i took the car home and unmounted the fuel pump (with the battery off). So i proceded to test the fuel pump with a pair of cables after bashing it against the wall and spilling gas on my hand and making it vaporise in the nearby area...guess what..the spark ignited the vapors wich ignited the fuel...luckly i just got some burned pork smell
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Supercharger and EFI kits
https://www.the924.com

[DOCO]

back in 77 i had a 75 pontiac trans am with a 455 in it ya a pontiac blue block.well being young and wanting more speed and as a fresh new mechanic,i cammed it and put on a holly 85o 4 bbl.well bein in a hurry i quickly mounted it slammed the hood and off i go for a test ride.....well pulling up to the car next to me at the lights, i noticed he was leaking gas a it smelled strong half way through the intersection i reliesed it was me that smelled like straight fuel....when flames come shooting out the shaker hood scoop up against the windshield,and out the 2 side vents!!!DOH fergot to tighten the fuel clamp at the carb..fire sale that day
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Doco "where am i going and why am i in this handbasket"author unknown
79 924 N/A "Webster"
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"WEBB STR"