Car Audio: Fixing a 1979 Porsche 924. What would an "audiophile" setup of roughly that era look like? I'm a noob.

[Zerimas]

yes, both cheaper and more spendy

you will want to do at least minimal sound dampening of the doors and other parts of the interior - I can tell you what to do if you want

however, maximizing SQ in a car is in direct opposition to maximizing handling, accel. & decell. which are what makes a sport car

All the sound dampening was stripped off the car by someone whoever had it before me. I have to re-do that at some point. I am in the process of tracking down some panels and stuff. The more major interior restoring is gonna be awhile. I'm waiting on replacement airflow sensor (it's on the way from somewhere). I think it should run once that is sorted out. It "ran" without it—at least from the distance of the driveway to the garage. That is pretty impressive in itself since there would have been basically nothing to regulate the flow of fuel with regards to the change in air intake. haha.

I'm not sure of how much of "sport car" it is. It does have independent suspension front and rear suspension, RWD, and supposedly the 924 is supposed to have great handling. It will be the sportiest of all the cars I've driven (which is limited to automatic Corollas, and a RAV4). The 0-100 times, peak HP and torque are about the same too. No LSD either. It is much lighter though (and looks waayyyy cooler) haha. Apparently there are lots of bits on the suspension you can fiddle with though!

But sound dampening is on the list of things that I need to do. If you've got any tips with respect to that I'm all ears!

 

[Doodski]

If you want the very best car cassette deck with specs to match then it's a Soundstream TC308. They sold for ~$1200 back in the day in the 1980's and they performed better in W&F tests than most all of the better home cassette decks. They have a very very rebuildable mechanism, are not prone to any specific faults other than needing belts after many hours of use and have a very logical SMD layout/construction inside. I serviced high end car audio for some years and I can vouch that this is a endgame cassette head unit. They are rare but worth it if one can find a survivor. Otherwise any decent power load Alpine should suffice well and will be easier to find.

 

[Zerimas]

If you want the very best car cassette deck with specs to match then it's a Soundstream TC308. They sold for ~$1200 back in the day in the 1980's and they performed better in W&F tests than most all of the better home cassette decks. They have a very very rebuildable mechanism, are not prone to any specific faults other than needing belts after many hours of use and have a very logical SMD layout/construction inside. I serviced high end car audio for some years and I can vouch that this is a endgame cassette head unit. They are rare but worth it if one can find a survivor. Otherwise any decent power load Alpine should suffice well and will be easier to find.

Cool! I didn't know such a thing a thing existed! $1200 in 1980 works out to $3792 USD adjusted for inflation. Dang. It looks cool too!

I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for one of these. Maybe I'll happen across one by chance at some point in the future. It was random chance that I "got into" hi-fi in significant way in the first place. I found a Pioneer SX-3800 at the local electronics recycling (garbage) and that thing has served me well for the last few years. Perhaps many years from now I'll stumble across one. haha.

 

[Doodski]

Cool! I didn't know such a thing a thing existed! $1200 in 1980 works out to $3792 USD adjusted for inflation. Dang. It looks cool too!

I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled for one of these. Maybe I'll happen across one by chance at some point in the future. It was random chance that I "got into" hi-fi in significant way in the first place. I found a Pioneer SX-3800 at the local electronics recycling (garbage) and that thing has served me well for the last few years. Perhaps many years from now I'll stumble across one. haha.

I've seen the TC308 come available on ebay. They will need belts, a good cleaning and lub. It's built like a serviceable machine and is very refurbishable. The same mechanism was found in very high end car cassette decks of the day. Including Sony and Nakamichi. It's a mechanism made by a company in Japan and they obviously took much care in it's construction. It is a power load mechanism and when it's working it gently accepts the tape and requires maybe 3-4 seconds to load. The same speed for eject. So if you get one and think it's power loading slow it might be but a few seconds is not abnormal. It's the way they work. The only failure I've seen in dozens of them in for out-of-warranty service was loose belts and needing a proper clean, disassemble the capstan assembly, clean out the bearings and lub. They simply never came in when in-warranty because they where built that well. They use a very accurate servo motor for loading and tape speed control. Happy searching.

 

[Chrispy]

I had a 924 once....what a POS. Wouldn't bother doing anything with one.

 

[Zerimas]

I had a 924 once....what a POS. Wouldn't bother doing anything with one.

I've found fixing old motor vehicles to be a pretty good learning experience. I don't know how useful that knowledge will be. Messing with thing gets me out of bed and doing stuff. Besides everyone has to have a hooptie! Except I don't have another non-dilapidated automobile (for my personal usage). hahaha.

 

[brimble]

This is probably extreeeeeeeemely obvious, but whatever you get is going to sound terrible on the road because of road noise. Which is all the more reason to get things that look nice, so hooray for your plan to get vintage stuff!

 

[Zerimas]

This is probably extreeeeeeeemely obvious, but whatever you get is going to sound terrible on the road because of road noise. Which is all the more reason to get things that look nice, so hooray for your plan to get vintage stuff!

The road noise will just mask noise from cassettes! The SNR for pre-recorded cassettes isn't great anyways. haha. My goal is to create a bubble universe based on my romantic/naive notions of time (1980s) that I wasn't even alive for (born 1989).

 

[Juhazi]

Graphic equalizers and extra boxed speakers were typical add-ons! Might be harder to find those... No subwoofers!!!

 

[tvrgeek]

The Blau was the ticket but save your money for things like the rear suspension bushings. Alpines would look too Japanese for the Porsche
The 924 was a modern enough car a modern unit would not look out of place. Those retro copies are very poor radios. That post #8 radio would be the ticket.

Decent speakers were just coming available, Boston and the such. Fortunately, the high power stupid sub craze had not hit yet. Just decent head units and amplifiers. I think a few equalizers were on the market. I put one in my 79 Saab, but not sure quite what year. Short loaded antennas were coming out, but of course, no shark-fins.

 

[anmpr1]

From a practical standpoint, I never got good 'mileage' out of auto cassettes. In the car, during summer, with windows up, the housing would 'melt' and lose tolerance. After a dozen plays the sound deteriorated. Occasionally the player would malfunction and eat the tape. But all that was easy to put up with because cassettes were cheap and you could make new ones easily--mostly dubs from records. Is anyone even making a decent home cassette deck anymore? Can you get high quality cassettes (high bias and/or metal) anymore?

 

[Habu]

Porsche Classic Communication Management

https://www.porsche.com/internation.../classic/genuineparts/producthighlights/pccm/

Videos:

 

[anmpr1]

Porsche Classic Communication Management

A three inch touchscreen installed at the bottom center of the dash? Who designed that bit of ergonomic excellence, and what were they thinking? Can you get it in Alcantara, color matched to your painted wheels, and with badge deletion?

 

[Habu]

A three inch touchscreen installed at the bottom center of the dash?

This kind of bottom center?

 

[Nango]

I'm not super sensible, but I bought 1979 Porsche 924 (4-speed, NA for those who care) for pretty cheap. Cosmetically it looks terrible, but mechanically it seems pretty darn good. It's a project for own amusement/edification.

On of the things I want to do is have a super sweet, cassette-based audio system that would be roughly contemporary to the car. I don't care about getting the exact stuff it would have come with in 1979 (because it ain't no museum piece ), but I do want a "nice" setup that one could have had in that sort of period (roughly 1980s).

I know nothing about car audio. Whatever is in there is basically destroyed (along with the interior). The replacement Sony deck/radio does output some sound, but there's only 1 speaker there. It seems like I have to start from scratch.

It'll be a long time before the car is ready for niceties like that, but where I do start in assembling a "cool" 80s sounds system? They only things I really care about "vintage" are stuff that you can see and touch. For things like speakers, and amplification whatever gives best performance for the least price (I'm broke) and can be acquired easily. I believe the car has a 75A 1050W alternator (if that matters). The car doesn't have A/C, power windows or power steering. The only significant "power drain" would be the big motor for hidden headlamps. haha.

Apologies if this is the wrong forum. I'm new at this whole "car repair" thing, so any is advice is good.

What????? In such a car the only sound you wanna hear is: wwwrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRR.......... No music!!!!!

 

[anmpr1]

This kind of bottom center?

A touchscreen that is not at or near eye level is idiotic. At 3" it is unusable. And Porsche wants $1500.00 for it, which is ridiculous.

At least the older units had knobs which could be manipulated while keeping your eye on the road and your hands upon the wheel. I had an Audi with a three cluster analog gauge at the bottom of the center stack. Impossible. See photo. On the larger sedan, the same three gauge cluster was in line with the speedo et al., making it functional and user friendly.

 

[tomchr]

From a practical standpoint, I never got good 'mileage' out of auto cassettes. In the car, during summer, with windows up, the housing would 'melt' and lose tolerance.

I've certainly lost a few tapes to that. The ones that died in the heat warped so badly that they wouldn't fit in the player. Though it seems that in the late 80s they'd figured out that leaving tapes in the car on a hot day was a thing, so they made them from more thermostable plastics.

Tom

 

[Wes]

The 924 was designed to be a low cost Porsche to replace the 914 air-cooled. Porsche tried to shop it to VW IIRC, but wound up keeping it. VW dealers did distribution in the US for a while. It is very, very well balanced, but not nearly as sporty as the next iteration, the 944.

You can make it very nice if you modify it some - e.g. by putting in a lot of 944S4 parts. May not be worth it - depends on "which way your pleasure tends."

Replace all the rubber bushings in the suspension. Replace all rubber brake hoses and fuel hoses. This will prevent an untimely death.

you may want to stiffen the springs - up to you. But I promise that you want to replace all the shock absorbers with digressively valved shocks. I am not a 924 guy but ElephantRacing makes items for many Porsches and their 911 stuff is top rate. See if they have a guide/selector for your car.

Replace the brake pads; check the discs for thickness & runout with a dial indicator.

Are you a good DIY mechanic? it sounds like this car is being brought back from the Land of the Dead, or at least Purgatory...

You want to add butyl sound deadening to cover 25% of each panel. Rap it with your knuckles first and note the resonance. Then stick it on there in and near the center. Rap it again and compare. NO NEED to cover the whole thing. Avoid all in one products, some of which are very popular unless you want to add too much wt. and cost...

You may not want to do the next step as they add a lot more wt. - you next put a layer of foam (to hold the MLV layer away from the panel) and then a layer of MLV (mass loaded vinyl) which extends to all edges. cut holes for wires and levers, etc. and put a tube in each hole.

Cascade Audio in Bend Oregon is competent and sells good products; see their videos and web pages

 

[Wes]

Use a high quality separate amp (I use Focal) on your head unit. Use high quality speakers with separate tweeters (I use... yup Focal). Try to mount the tweeters at ear level - one clever guy put them in raquet balls - see a post on here for the photo.

There are pads made to go behind the speakers. Unclear if they really "diffuse the backwave"

Use decently sized and non-audiophool speaker wire and tape it down before putting in the carpet.

Enjoy the sensory fusion of listening to music while driving on a sporty road.

 

[raindance]

Back in the early 80's I had one of these systems in my van - Pioneer Component system. It was awesome and cost more than the van This is just a screen grab off the internet.