New owner and a few questions

Hi,

First of all... hello, as I'm new here.

I've just bought myself a 1983 924 Lux. Technically it's my second 924 as I owned a 924S briefly (in the rather distant past) and the intention is to use this one as my daily driver.



It was something of an impulse buy and I'm really chuffed with it overall, but I wondered if I could pick the forum's collective brains on a few things!

(Apologies for the long waffly bit that follows...)

It's been a while since I've driven an older car and I haven't driven any other 924s (S's excluded) to compare it to, but I'm not entirely sure the brakes are as good as they could be. The pedal is quite soft initially and there's quite a lot of extra pedal travel once they start to bite before they really begin to work hard; even then they're not specatcularly powerful. Personally I suspect the fluid is due for a change, but I wondered what other people's opinions were?

I've got a similar sort of question with regards to the dampers. It feels extremely composed over bumps and ridges, but the turn-in feels a bit floaty. Would you say that's a 924 trait (I presume my old S ran on stiffer springs...) or does it point to tired dampers etc?

Sacrilegious as this may sound I'm considering changing the steering wheel for something a little smaller to give some more clearance to my legs and add a bit more weight to the steering (I will of course keep the original wheel for any future owners). How easy is it to perform the swap and is it easy to find bosses etc to fit?

There is (or was) a little bit of rust on one of the rear arches. It's been treated with something - which is actually the discolouration you can see in the photo and elsewhere it all looks solid - but I wanted to know: What can be done to stop it spreading and what's the worst case scenario if it turns out to be more wide reaching than I thought (assuming it remains confined to that panel)? Is it a panel that can be easily replaced or welded, for example?



Next... how easy is it to change the headlamp bulbs and what's the brightest main beam I can get in there easily (without changing the wiring or risking anything getting too hot)?

Finally, the electrics seem really good on the whole. I've played with all the wipers, washers, mirrors, lights etc. and the only issue I can see is that the passenger window works from the passenger door switch, but not the second switch on the driver's side. Can anyone suggest where the fault is likely to lie and how best to diagnose it and put it right?

Many thanks,

Chris

First of all welcome.

Brakes sound like they need work.
Dampers, you do get roll with the 924 but should handle like its on rails
rust is uncommon as the 924 is galv'ed mind they are getting old now.
The window switch is prob the switch its self or the connector as com lose on the rear. the switch collects loads of crap over the years, pop it out and take apart (carefully as you will lose the springs and little ball bearings) clean the conections and put back together and it should work. Rob

Rob's pretty much covered it, but may as well add my bit

Brakes will certainly need work.

Rears will be need of new cylinders by now, change them and the rear shoes and new pads on the front with a fluid change and you'll be amazed how effective they are.
Removing the castle nuts on the rear drums is a complete pig of a job, make sure you have a strong breaker bar and 4 foot of scaffy pole on the end of it, and someone else to help you jump up and down on it

You want to end up with this much new stuff in there:



Your S will have been running on the early 944 setup so will have been stiffer, but as Rob says so long as it corners like its on rails its all good.

And this one even has a race setup!


Earth on these cars is a really common issue so check the switch as Rob has explained then its the boring job of tracing all wiring and testing along the way til you find the fault, at least you know its not the motor as the pass. side switch work (this is a common fault BTW normally the switch so check that first)

Steering bosses are common on ebay, but before you change the wheel have a look under the drivers seat rails, very often they have ali raising blocks fitted, if it has take the seat out remove then and when you bolt it back in you'll have another 2/3cm between you and the wheel

err......... What they both said!!

Oh, and welcome along

Thanks. So with regards to the rear brake adjustment - is there a hole in the back plate that you can get a screwdriver in or something? I'm guessing it can be done, without pulling the drum off?

I do plan to strip the system completely in time, but the idea is to use this as my daily driver, so I'd like to try adjusting the shoes and changing the brake fluid as a stop gap first.

From memory - there is holes in the back plate for adjustment but when i tryed to do it that way, everything was siezed up which meant i had to strip the whole lot down and free/replace several parts.
Only issue i has was getting the hub nuts off which i ended up having to angle grind them off as i dont think they had been removed for a few years.
Parts were cheap enough tho and if i managed to do it then you should be ok

Thanks. On a related note; what type of brake fluid do I need (or would you recommend) and roughly how much (in terms of litres) do I need to refill the whole system?

Dot 3 or 4 and about 2 litres to flush and refill.

For the rear brake adjustment if you look at the pic I put up you'll see the adjustment cogs at the bottom, and if you look closely at the left hand cog you see the road behind it, if it won't adjust try a littrle WD, but be careful as you've got brake friction surfaces in there.
If you can't get any adjustment, its a strip down and replace. Oh and for the 924 its not that expensive.
If I remember right the whole rear brake rebuild was only about £60-70 for:

Shoes
Cylinders
Springs
Adjusters

Plus while you have the cylinders off its an ideal time to be changing the brake fluid

Ah yes, I see 'em.

Can you recommend a good supplier for the brake bits if I do go the whole hog?

Also, on a rather different note, I don't suppose anyone knows the specs and the rough capacities for the engine and transmission oils?

OK guys we do have a tec section where all this should be. If anyone else wants a tec question answered please use the correct section. This on is for saying hallo etc.. i know i know i answered first, but this now becoming to indepth for this section. Thanks.