924Board.org

sicklyscott · Joined: 17 Dec 2015 Posts: 3 Location: Metuchen, NJ

Hi -

I've been on the hunt for a track car to beat on. Been looking at e36 m3 and 944's. While messing around on CL I found a 1980 924 turbo. The 924 never appealed to me but with this car being a turbo and listed at $1000 it's so hard to say no.

The condition of the car is as follows:
- was driven by the second owner from '93 - '03 and has been limited to driveway driving since
- has roughly 80k miles
- 1-2 synchro crunch
- torn seats
- resprayed from red to grey / black and is now peeling
- little to no rust but body isn't in great shape
- guy says he starts it and pulls it out of the garage monthly

I'm no stranger to CIS nor the Porsche tax (current toy is an '80 SC) and I know this can get expensive. My thought originally was get it running, maybe throw Megasquirt in it, strip the interior and just grin from ear to ear. What scares me is that gearbox however. I've read enough here to know that it could be an expensive and involved fix.

So I'm looking for your input. Any advice is appreciated

Knz · Joined: 05 Mar 2014 Posts: 105 Location: Sparrow Bush, NY

Firstly welcome!

The trans 1st to 2nd "crunch" is something I've experienced in all the 924s I've owned with the snail shell trans. I found that shifting from 1st to 2nd slower, woth a bit of a hesitation avoided that crunch. I don't belive its a bad trans but rather how the synchors were designed... 2nd to 3rd always shifted great tho, and with the dog leg pattern, isn't that what you want in a track car?

I personally love the '80 924 turbos and have owned 3 so far, so I think you should certainly pick this one up, but I'm just a bit biased...
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1980 931 (#185) for sale
1980 931 (#196) engine rebuild
1983 928S Project
1983 944 Summer Car
2002 BMW 525i Winter Car

Cedric · Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 2822 Location: Sweden

Does it run?

I guess you are a bit handy with the spanners, so changing synchros is not that big job, i did it in my G31 box on 1-2-3 plus the dog ring on 1st. There is step by step guides on how to do it. But rev matching is the key for sucess, but that is regardless of car.

an M3e36 will feel like boat compared to a track oriented 924 turbo. No competition on the fun factor, and if you are in the us the m3 doesnt even have an m3 engine in it, just the weight

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1980 924 Turbo
www.instagram.com/garagecedric/

sicklyscott · Joined: 17 Dec 2015 Posts: 3 Location: Metuchen, NJ

Supposedly the car runs. The owner takes it up and down his driveway "12 times a year".

I put some more thought into this last night and realized my hesitation is more about finding the time to get this thing road worthy / track ready. I have a 7 month daughter and live in NJ with a detached garage with no heat. I have very little time over the next 4-5 months to tinker with something in the garage.

Additionally my 911 is currently taking up that space and although it's perfectly fine to leave outside I cringe at the idea of leaving it outside (lame I know). Lastly I keep talking about "track ready" but that really means is 1-2 track events a year for the foreseeable future with maybe a couple auto-x thrown in. There's no reason why I can't use the same money to get the 911 track worthy (pads, break fluids, corner balance, tires) or just use my DD which is more than capable.

There's just something about a 931 that has me intrigued.

If I decide not to buy it I'll post it in the Craigslist find thread.

Kenodog · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 2669 Location: Vancouver,B.C.

I hear you about having no time with a young child. My advice, buy it, drive the crap out of it until she kicks the bucket, part it out and recoup some cash.

Easy peasy.

Leigh
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1979 Euro 931, Olive
1981 931, Sabine
1991 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, Ricky
1996 Ford E-350 ex-FedEx Van
2014 Mazda CX-5 (Kinderwagon)
2019 KTM 790 Adventure
2024 KLX300
2024 KLX140

Power Tryp · Joined: 16 Apr 2009 Posts: 435 Location: Calgary, Alberta

https://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/5358241292.html

Jesus is this the one? How the hell are all 931's so beat to shit?
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Melanie - 1980 931
NoName - 1980 931 (seeking rebuild)

Green tartan interior, you don't see that on a Civic.

sicklyscott · Joined: 17 Dec 2015 Posts: 3 Location: Metuchen, NJ

It is. Body / paint doesn't scare me away. I got a guy that's got a thing...

kcoyle · Joined: 15 Jan 2011 Posts: 712 Location: Long Island, NY

"While stock boost is around 9 pounds the car has a vari-boost adjuster and I usually ran it at around 15psi boost which really made this thing fly."

Could be a bit of a concern depending how much he flogged it.
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1982 931- Stock with MBC at 8psi

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.