Road rally a 924S?

Alright folks so as some may know I recently picked up a 924S that my lovely wife got me for Christmas. I don't really have any tracks near me or even autocross events without traveling 2 or 3 hours each way. What we do have is a whole lot of wide open roads, mountain roads and dirt/gravel roads. We do love to explore and see new areas so I was thinking well how about trying our hand at some road rallies in the region. Both my wife and older son have said they would be up for it as well. My son even wants to find an older 2.0 924 to build his own rally 924 for when he is old enough to drive. 
 

So the question is how would YOU set up a 1987 Porsche 924S for running road rallies? I know reliability will be paramount and that is what I am working on at the moment. 

So what would you do for your suspension setup? Any added gauges to monitor? Changes made to the cockpit area for driver and navigator? Additions to make the engine and drive train more reliable? Tools or other items we should make sure we have with us? Any other extras I am not even thinking of at the moment?

The main purpose of this car is to have some family fun. Building it up with the kids, driving it with my wife and kids etc. being ultra competitive is not really the goal but I mean it would be nice to keep it in the running and not have it break along the way. 

I think you are on the right track as far as making it reliable. By road rally I assume you mean simple TSD rallies where outright speed isn't a factor, so i don't know if you need to do anything special to the car. Although by modern standards a 924 (even the S) is slow, but it still should be able to keep up with traffic and have enough oomph for anything you are likely to encounter in a TSD rally. It being a Porsche, the handling will be very good. That is why I think you should focus on reliability rather than performance for car prep.

As far as parts. Pelican Parts and FCP Euro are both great sources for Porsche parts at way less than retail.

Make sure the odometer and speedometer are accurate and go have fun.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

That is currently on my to do list just getting her more reliable. Currently the Speedo bounces quite a bit under 30-35 then stabilizes above that. 

Yeah, for TSD rallies, our biggies were reliability and an accurate (stock) speedometer/odometer. BITD, we really didn’t do much prep–go and have fun. 

Decent acceleration can help, too, so you can quickly get up to CAS after a stop. 

Have fun and remember the biggest rule of TSD rally: don’t get lost. 

The odometer in those cars uses little plastic gears. Don't ever reset the trip meter when the car is in motion.  

In reply to Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) :

Ah nice tip I normally don't reset unless stopped but I guess that would need to happen on a TSD. I wonder if there are metal gears available? I know people have made them for the sunroof drive gears. 

RacerBoy75 said:

I think you are on the right track as far as making it reliable. By road rally I assume you mean simple TSD rallies where outright speed isn't a factor, so i don't know if you need to do anything special to the car. Although by modern standards a 924 (even the S) is slow, but it still should be able to keep up with traffic and have enough oomph for anything you are likely to encounter in a TSD rally. It being a Porsche, the handling will be very good. That is why I think you should focus on reliability rather than performance for car prep.

As far as parts. Pelican Parts and FCP Euro are both great sources for Porsche parts at way less than retail.

 

agree. assuming everything is maintained well (timing belt done on time, vac hoses replaced, etc.) they tend to be pretty reliable cars. Mine is my "road trip" car and it's never left me stranded (knock on wood). No point on doing "performance" stuff for TSD since you have to go legal speeds anyhow. Get good tires. Mine has staggered 911 wheels that really settle the rear end nicely (225s rear, 205s front). For ride quality though, stick to the factory phone dials and taller tire sidewalls, especially if the TSD has gravel/dirt road areas. 

You will want to fix the probably broken odometer, of course - or use GPS-based navigation. Mine has a tablet screen in place of the center dash speaker, which is nice for maps. 

Mine is an S and it's plenty fast for whatever. I did a 150-mile run to my parents out in the rural areas last weekend and did a half-dozen high-speed passes on other cars. Mine cruises at well above any legal speed limit with ease. The 2.0 is substantially slower lol....

I have a vintage Terratrip rally computer that I've never used. It was missing the harness/plug for the back but I've since obtained the plug; it just needs a pigtail made. I think I have the pinout diagram for it (if not, I'm sure it can be found online). Has a brand new wheel speed sensor in the bag too. If you want to move into the 'prepared' group, I'd sell it really cheap. It's been sitting in a cabinet in my garage for probably 15 years!