924Board.org

Ghosthacker · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 78 Location: Fort Worth, Texas

Hi guys, I have a 924S and I'm looking at buying a 931 and working on it in my free time because the power potential appears great. Well this guy has an 80 for sale. It says $1600 on the windows, has five bolt wheels, worn driver seat torn pass. seat, and dash cracks. It appears to have been repainted white (over the 924 turbo decals) and cracking appears to show that the car was black. The sunroof it also black. the gas lid is VERY reccessed into the car and hard to open and the hood does if flush with the fenders. The gauge appears to read 0000 trip miles so I guess this guy broke the odometer too. almost all weather seal appear problematic and the carpet in the console feel brittle like it was wet and has air dried. haven't talked to the guy yet (he left it unlocked and my friend opened it while I was knocking on the door

). oh yeah the rubber spoiler is VERY pliable and the hatch glass has pulled from the seals.

It has a five speed. How bad is an interior refurb and seals to replace.

and what should I ask as trouble areas of these cars.

I know its not worth 1600 unless the engine is like brand new, so I believe I can reason with him to get it lowered alot. I think it could be a really cool track car. if the drivetrain is good

even though the gas door and hood don't line up properly, everything appears proportionate. what could have happened.

Any suggestions would be really helpful thanks.
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88 924S Red

My924gtc · Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1362 Location: 248

First off the '80 has a snailshell tranny so ask about the synchros, better yet drive it and make sure it shifts smooth.

How many miles are on the clock?

If more than 50,xxx ask if the turbo has been replaced or rebuilt.

Replacing all the seals will run you around $500 If the carpet feels funky it is because the sunroof leaks, which is common.

Replacing seat upholstery is another $250 if you know where to get them.

Dash can be rebuilt (Just Dashes) for a grand, or get a dash cover like everyone else.

Is the carpet faded out bad or can you live with dying it? If new $400, dye it $30

Driving it will tell you most things like smoking, shifting, clutch and what not.

As for the body not quite looking right...the hood might just be missing the rubber stops that keep it aligned, same with the fuel door.

Around the fuel door I would do a magnet test just to make sure there is no bondo there that is built up too high.

Obviously it has been stored outside judging by the suspected water infiltration so check the battery box for rot. If there is a battery in there, move it and make sure a sloppy repair has not been made. You should be able to tell also by checking out the engine bay where the battery box drains onto the passenger side motor mount, if it looks like a rustywaterfall has been flowing there, it has.

Other than that, if it runs decent, the body is straight, and the tranny shifts smooth get him down to a cool $1000 and snatch it up.

Make sure you point all these things out to him and make sure he understands that a cheap color change paint job can destroy a car's resale value.

This has been a very opinionated rambling on my part and for this I apologize, but I have learned many of these lessons the hard way and try my best to assist others in not repeating my over zealous purchasing habits.
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MJ
'81 924 2.0L T
'82 924 2.3L SC/EFI <---online fall '06

Sponsor of the 944 Cup and Super Cup
Sponsor of the "2006 Battle in the Badlands"

Ghosthacker · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 78 Location: Fort Worth, Texas

sweet, thanks.

From what I saw the pass. seat had pulled at the seems, while the driver just looked a little worn. The clock said 74,000 but I dealt with the broken odometer of my car just two weeks ago and the trip gets stuck on 0 so I think this one is broken. the carpet doesn't appear "FADED" and is only funky right behind the ash tray. The dash is pretty freaking bad but is expected on a car that old so I really don't care.

I'll call him tommorow or go by, I worked my 924S down to 3,750 TTR and it was in perfect condition, so I'll bet I can get it to $1000 especialy since it doesn't have tags or inspection right now. (good thing its close to my house).

Another thing is people get greedy when they see cash so $800-$1000 now looks better than $1600 latter sounds.

Any other information is always welcome but thanks for giving me this much.
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88 924S Red

My924gtc · Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 1362 Location: 248

Yeah I got a Texas car once with a REALLY bad dash, that means it has been baking in the Texas sun unprotected.

Good luck.
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MJ
'81 924 2.0L T
'82 924 2.3L SC/EFI <---online fall '06

Sponsor of the 944 Cup and Super Cup
Sponsor of the "2006 Battle in the Badlands"

924RACR · Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2004 11:34 pm Post subject:

Yeah, everything Mark said... my first car was a southern car, Alabammy in my case, and every rubber must go... replaced window seals, trunk seal, sunroof seal, etc.

And even though it was a southern car, the battery box was destroyed by a bad battery, I had to have my fabricator rebuild it from scratch! Massive job, would probably have cost about $1000 or more at a shop... even had to patch some of the firewall. So CHECK THAT BATTERY BOX!!!
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Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype