Arii '78 Porsche 924

[gasman]

anyone here ever built this kit?, The LHS had it for the price of a current Revell kit so I decided to buy it. haven't had a chance to take a good look at the kit yet,

Edited June 24, 2010 by gasman

[Foxer]

WoW ... can't believe I've never seen this kit, but having owned two 924's and three 944's I'm really be interested in anything said. I guess I've been sleeping and will have to get one of these. I looked up and see it does have the turbo wheels. This will build the '81 I had nicely, even though it's a '78.

[sjordan2]

WoW ... can't believe I've never seen this kit, but having owned two 924's and three 944's I'm really be interested in anything said. I guess I've been sleeping and will have to get one of these. I looked up and see it does have the turbo wheels. This will build the '81 I had nicely, even though it's a '78.

I had a 944. How can you afford the modeling hobby after three of them?

[Foxer]

I had a 944. How can you afford the modeling hobby after three of them?

 

 

They were all bought used to start with. Most had mileage in the teens and a price in the same location. At the time, co-workers were spending, more for their Fords. I took most of them to about 80k miles and they were virtually trouble free. The first was a '77 924 but it had a Callaway turbo with a water injector that kept it cool. The 924 always ran hot and this system really kept it in check. That was before I neglected to put distilled water in the radiator and eventually it overheated and blew a head gasket. The head warped but only needed planing down. It also melted every plug wire I put in as the plugs were located between the headers and the header was cherry red when running normal. Only Callaway could supply plug wires that didn't melt. This was an anemic car (97 hp) normally, but when the turbo kicked in it exploded! This was the most costly because of the head work.. had it planed twice. Nothing else on it broke.

 

Had a '81 factory 924 turbo and not a drop of trouble. They reversed the plug location on it so heat did not affect the plugs. I traded that when I blew some smoke out on a big jump on the turbo! Traded it on a '84 944 and maybe the next guy put a turbo in. It only cost me oil and filters thru 60k as a daily driver.

 

The '84 944 had some oversize rear tires that made it feel even better than the spectacular handling Porsche dialed into this car. This one had some problems, but never cost me anything. I'm sure it had been in a wreck and had the frame straightened. Eventually is started feeling like it wasn't going down the road straight. I'm pretty sure it was heavily used previously and I only kept it about 2 years, but it never cost me anything to run either but for regular maintenance.

 

It got traded in for a '87 944 which had a major interior upgrade fixing many of the VW problems from the original design. I kept that one for 8 years and was mostly trouble free. The big expense was this got the old water pump failure around 70k miles and was over $2000 to replace because of the time to pull stuff out to access it.

 

The last was a '91 944 S2, the last year the 944 was built. Every one I had was a big improvement on the previous and this one really shined. It had a new 3 liter engine that was destined for the 968. The torque was fantastic for a 4 cylinder engine. It was trouble free also during it's 4 years with me.

 

I've searched my memory and can only come up with that water pump as anything going wrong with any of them. They were some of the cheapest cars I ever owned maintenance wise! Don't even ask about the Plymouth, Pontiac or Chevy I had. Mechanics dreams, those cars.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Foxer

[sjordan2]

They were all bought used to start with. Most had mileage in the teens and a price in the same location. At the time, co-workers were spending, more for their Fords. I took most of them to about 80k miles and they were virtually trouble free. The first was a '77 924 but it had a Callaway turbo with a water injector that kept it cool. The 924 always ran hot and this system really kept it in check. That was before I neglected to put distilled water in the radiator and eventually it overheated and blew a head gasket. The head warped but only needed planing down. It also melted every plug wire I put in as the plugs were located between the headers and the header was cherry red when running normal. Only Callaway could supply plug wires that didn't melt. This was an anemic car (97 hp) normally, but when the turbo kicked in it exploded! This was the most costly because of the head work.. had it planed twice. Nothing else on it broke.

Had a '81 factory 924 turbo and not a drop of trouble. They reversed the plug location on it so head did not affect the plugs. I traded that when I blue some smoke out on a big jump on the turbo! Traded it on a '84 944 and maybe the next guy put a turbo in. It only cost me oil and filters thru 60k as a daily driver.

The '84 944 had some oversize rear tires than made it feel even better than the spectacular handling Porsche dialed into this car. This one had some problems, but never cost me anything. I'm sure it had been in a wreck and had the frame straightened. Eventually is started feeling like it wasn't going down the road straight. I'm pretty sure it was heavily used previously and I only kept it about 2 years, but it never cost me anything to run either but for regular maintenance.

It got traded in for a '87 944 which had a major interior upgrade fixing many of the VW problems from the original design. I kept that one for 8 years and was mostly trouble free. The big expense was this got the old water pump failure around 70k miles and was over $2000 to replace because of the time to pull stuff out to access it.

The last was a '91 944 S2, the last year the 944 was built. Every one I had was a big improvement on the previous and this one really shined. It had a new 3 liter engine that was destined for the 968. The torque was fantastic for a 4 cylinder engine. It was trouble free also during it's 4 years with me.

I've searched my memory and can only come up with that water pump as anything going wrong with any of them. They were some of the cheapest cars I ever owned maintenance wise! Don't even ask about the Plymouth, Pontiac or Chevy I had. Mechanics dreams, those cars.

I owned my '84 944 in Houston and had it maintained by the book at the authorized local dealer. The rubber drive belt was recommended to be replaced at 40,000 miles. In '89, it broke at 36,000 miles, destroying the camshafts and all the valves. Got it back $3,500 later (not bad at today's prices, but a princely sum then). Other expenses involved a couple of clutches, a couple of water pumps and MUCH more, and I am an experienced sports car driver. One summer day in 90-degree Houston heat while using the air conditioning, it started blowing out hot air from the heater while 25 miles from home and could not be shut off. Turned out to be a broken 50¢ switch that required a $450 service to take out and replace the center console to fix it.

Still, it was the best-performing, most pleasant-driving car I've owned, including my beloved and similarly unreliable Alfas.

[Foxer]

I'm a bit late coming back to this thread but it popped up on a goggle for 924 turbos!

That was an unfortunate 944 experience, Skip. I truly did have good luck with the ones I had. The handling was what really made me love these cars .. they were so neutral and made me look like Jackie Stewart!

I did just pickup the Arii 924 kit and it is perfect to duplicate the 81 I had. There's no engine and little underside detail but what's there is done very nice. the front fascia has 11 parts alone while the rear has 7. The interior also is well done. The body is right and this will make a nice little box stock build.

Edited April 14, 2011 by Foxer

[Foxer]

I have what I believe is Monogram non turbo kit that I build years ago (it has hand painted trim!) and comparing it to the Arii body it definably looks more accurate. The Arii has smaller side windows and the belt line is too high as a result. There are other small differences but nothing like the obvious window error. Here's a shot with both bodies at same distance ... The bottom of the built Monogran body is painted black.

This may throw a monkey wrench into my plans but I'm glad you commented, Mark. I do like much of the way the Arii handles the front and rear end parts. It will be much easier detailing and realistic looking from the ends.

Something would have to be done with the windows .. might be able to lower the bottom but will have to explore that. And I thought this was going to be a simple UNMODIFIED out of the box build! :(

Edited June 8, 2011 by Foxer

[Foxer]

After your first comment, Mark, I looked up the Monogram kit and saw two turbo's on ebay for reasonable prices. Not sure if I'll bite but I'm tempted and may just use the Arii bumpers if they work. The Arii wheels look right too.

All the 924 turbos did have rear spoilers I'm positive. Mine was an '81 so it was a couple years into them. The only possibility of not having one could be the first in '79 that was only in Europe.

[CAL]

nothing more expensive than a cheap Porsche

I have a 911 that has put a pretty big dent in my modeling.

I could never quite figure out why they finally got the 944 all sorted out (968) and then stopped making it.

Edited April 15, 2011 by CAL

[Chuck Most]

I could never quite figure out why they finally got the 944 all sorted out (968) and then stopped making it.

Ah, the old 'perfect the vehicle... THEN kill it schtick, ripped right out of the old GM playbook...

[Foxer]

Since we started comparing the Monogram and Arii 924 Turbo kits here I'm going to add more of what I have discovered. I ended up with both kits and I definably prefer the Monogram as more accurate.

In all photos below, the Monogram is in BLACK plastic and the Arii in WHITE.

The front end is shaped much more accurate. Arii seems to have cut corners on all the subtle curves on the car. The shape at the ends of the front bumper and the small front spoiler lip is more accurate on the Monogram.

The NACA dusts on the Monogram are correct in length and shape. The Arii's are short and shape is straightened out somewhat. The Arii dusts ARE molded open, but it was an easy task to open them on the Monogram.

The rear areas are much more accurate on the Monogram. Where the rear clip meets the body Arii has made it straight while it actually slopes forward at the bottom as on the Monogram. The Monogram also has the black plastic bumper spacers (closures?) molded. And Monogram has the rear side reflectors molded. I believe this reflects much of the differences between the American and European versions of this car. The American has the 5 mph bumpers that were new at the time and the other country version had the ones that didn't stick out.

So, I'm building my 924 Turbo completely from the Monogram kit. The separate pieces of the rear end on the Arii that I thought I might adapt are about a quarter inch too wide even!

[Foxer]

Since you started this, I picked up another Monogram 924 Turbo. I had designs on doing a Carrera GTS conversion...but now I want a "standard" Turbo too.A

What are your plans for the wheels? The Monogram BBS-style don't look correct, and the Gunze 928-style 8-slot wheels I was thinking about seem way too big.

A Carrera GTS would be a cool conversion. Wheel arches from a 944 might make this easier.

Here's a shot with all 3 wheels. The Monograms have a bit heavy bars on them and need chrome stripping and painting. The Arii's have thinner bars but a recessed hub with a plain crest. Neither has any crest decals .. for the hub or body. Both also scale to 15" diameter correctly. I think I'm going to just use the monogram wheels, but it may depend on the tires.

As you see, the tires are really off in both kits. The 1:1 car had 185-70 VR15 tires. They would be about 25.2" in diameter according to this site.

The monogram tires scale to 22.92" OD. The sidewalls say 225/50 VR 15 which would be 23.9" OD. These are too small in diameter and are too low profile. They are marked as Pirelli Cinturato P7.

The Arii tires scale to 24.7" ... closer. They have weird tires sizes on sidewalls ... 85SR14 on one side and 145R10 on other. Marked as Michelin XZX.

I'm going to have to see what I have around before deciding on which tires I use.

I just noticed the 1:1 wheel photo has the center cover missing. It's a flush disk with the Porsche crest recessed in black. Cover is same color as the rim.

Edited June 8, 2011 by Foxer

[sjordan2]

...Thing is, later on I realized later that I could have used those bumper parts because I'd like to do a non-turbo 944 one day, and the LS parts would have worked better than using the Monogram...

I have the Monogram kit, too, and I would also like a non-turbo 944 like the one I owned, in dark warm gunmetal. I've never found similar wheels in kit form, though.

[Foxer]

I have the Monogram kit, too, and I would also like a non-turbo 944 like the one I owned, in dark warm gunmetal. I've never found similar wheels in kit form, though.

The 944 used mostly wheels from other Porsches .. the 928 and 911. I had 3 944's and they had classic 911 Fuch's, 928 phone dials and the big flat slotted 928 wheels. All were non-turbo. I'd look to the 911 kits for wheels. I found the flat disk ones for my '92 build in a 911 kit.

Edited June 8, 2011 by Foxer

[sjordan2]

The 944 used mostly wheels from other Porsches .. the 928 and 911. I had 3 944's and they had classic 911 Fuch's, 928 phone dials and the big flat slotted 928 wheels. All were non-turbo. I'd look to the 911 kits for wheels. I found the flat disk ones for my '92 build in a 911 kit.

Yeah, but the Fuchs wheels aren't the same. The Fuchs spokes are flat, somewhat convex, whereas the 944 had depressions in the spokes,

[Foxer]

Yeah, but the Fuchs wheels aren't the same. The Fuchs spokes are flat, somewhat convex, whereas the 944 had depressions in the spokes,

I'm not sure if both wheels available on the'84 944 were made by Fuch.

Below is the standard wheel, but it was painted black. This wheel has been refinished but the shape is clear.

The one below was called a Cookie Cutter and was available as an option on 944's. Is this the one you're referring to?

Both were also on 911's. I never heard of any difference in the spoke shapes, but I'm no expert. Would be interesting if there was. Which wheels did your 944 have ... the Cookie Cutters?

Edited June 9, 2011 by Foxer

[sjordan2]

I'm not sure if both wheels available on the'84 944 were made by Fuch.

Below is the standard wheel, but it was painted black. This wheel has been refinished but the shape is clear.

The one below was called a Cookie Cutter and was available as an option on 944's. Is this the one you're referring to?

Both were also on 911's. I never heard of any difference in the spoke shapes, but I'm no expert. Would be interesting if there was. Which wheels did your 944 have ... the Cookie Cutters?

Yes, the cookie cutters. But I've never seen them on a 911.

[mikelo]

Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the Testors/Fujimi kit? Maybe I missed it, but I saw you were comparing Monogram and arii. I have 2 of those (one a convertible) and the old Monogram race car version.

MIke

[sjordan2]

And now for something completely different for those who would like to give their scratchbuilding skills a workout...

http://www.germancarblog.com/2007/08/porsche-944-shooting-break-for-sale-on.html