Irish 924 Owners!

Any Irish 924 owners on here that can give me the low down on 924 ownership in the emerald isle?

Anyone familiar with this 924? http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/4551751

Not from Ireland but how much is it up for sale for? Got any history?

Are there may 924's in Ireland?

It is selling for 1800 euro approx. Not sure how much sterling that is, 1400 maby? Not sure if it has any history. Irish car owners don't tend to keep service records for some reason.

No they are pretty rare in Ireland but pre-1984 cars avail of vintage tax which is only 52 euros a year I think. I'm currently paying 800 euro a year on a 1992 car!

Well I bought my 1983 924 2.0 N/A for £1200. It had 110,000 on the clock, I'm the 3rd owner and it has some history. It had just had a new interior to the value £650.

I did 10,000 miles in 9-months and the head-gasket failed but before that - trouble free.

I'm currently rebuilding the top end completely as you'll see from some of my posts. I've gone way over the top and will probably have spent near what I paid for the car in doing so, but £500 of this was revalving and rebuilding the cylinder head. I didn't really need to do this.

I'm no mechanical expert - done some things on my Boxster but seem to be coping so far. Easy maintenance and if you hang around here, plenty of advice.

The board is a little quiet as it is winter and people have their cars wrapped up but with the revamp and lowered membership cost we're hoping to draw more people in.

No problem thanks v much for the input.

I would potentially be using the 924 as an every day car...do you think it's suitable for this kind of use?

What kind of things should I look out for when looking at one?

Yes - I used mine every day. Great on the motorway, you'll get over 30MPG - probably 35 on a long run.

I'd recommend you go on Amazon and grab a buyers guide. There are plenty of internet guides out there too if you do some Googling.

Things I've found - and believe to be relatively common:

Cooling system - take a good look around. Pipes shouldn't be cracked and look for signs the water pump has been changed.

Rear lights boot seal - check for damp in the boot and exhaust smell inside the car when not moving with engine running. If you find either suspect the rear boot seal and/or seals around the rear lights letting in water.

Alternator wiring and starter motor - the wiring is very close to hot bits of the engine. 30 years on these will look a bit fried and possibly dangerous. I had my alternator and all the wiring replaced for about £250.

Check all the switches and electrics. Headlamp switch is a weak spot and quite expensive to buy new.

There are no rear belts (probably!) -- Remember that if you have kids. You can fit belts (of kinds) quite easily and cheaply.

Hot starting. Can be an issue - quite common actually. Lots of reasons why but as long as it starts, who cares!

Rust not usually an issue - galvanised and well made generally.

There will be other stuff but I'll leave you to read the buyers guides on that.

Generally a sound car, reliable, but it won't be without trouble as an everyday car like anything of 30 years.

Cheap to fix though!

Thanks v much for all that.

Hopefully going to look at that 924 over the weekend so will let you know how I get on.

I've been using mine as a daily drive for the last 4/5 years now and I've only just had my first big bill when the alternator wiring failed taking the alternator with it. All soreted now and back to driving to work every day

same happened to me not long after ownership. Common one it seems as the wiring gets hot and cooked!

Think I paid around £300 for the alternator and wiring (including starter wiring).

I didn't have a genuine Porsche alternator fitted after I found out that tube isn't for cooling purposes. Apparently (according to a book I've been reading) it was introduced to blow salt away from the alternator which quickly corroded on European roads due to winter salt!

Who'd have guessed that!?

I paid around £500 but also had the water pump and cam belt done whilst he was he was that area (Cheers Rob hasn't lost coolant since). As I said in a prev post about the current value of the car but it's the first big bill and with this I would rekon i've spent less than a 1k in 5 years and that includes expected consumables like tyres/exhaust/pads etc so I can live with £200 a year running costs

Fantastic to hear that -- especially with my rebuid going on!