1950-1966 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Hello!
Not to flog a dead horse, I did search the site and the web fairly extensively... However, I wanted to get some responses on my somewhat unique circumstances.
Im about to pickup a 73 96 first week of December. It looks in superb shape, good runner, extremely little rust etc. My plans are to slowly prep the car and try my hand at vintage off road rally and also to get my 14 year old daughter involved. I have experience off road racing, Baja, ultra 4 etc.
So what I would like to do is find a spare 1.7 or alternatively a good block, heads, cam etc so I can start a build without having the car down so we can enjoy it some in the interim. Since I had a vw with a 1835 that I adored, I'm thinking of going with a 1815... I don't know much about vintage Saabs especially the v4. I was restoring a 70 95 which was stolen about 90% of the way through the body restore. I had many performance parts that I sold out of frustration including a complete dual 45 dcoe setup with the long distributor I bought from Finland. Luckily, I kept all the nos replacement parts, brake master/booster, full front/rear brake kits, tre's, wheel bearings etc.
So on to my questions:
1) I've heard forged pistons and rods for a pinto and/or other models might be easier and cheaper to source? Although the pistons may require some machining? This is no problem, dad has nasa/aerospace machine/fabrication shop at my disposal! ;l
2) can any specialized machine shop do the required headwork? Mainly the bigger valves and port work as outlined in the sport & rally catalog... Or worth it to just buy from Mark Ashcraft? They seem spendy? Don't get me wrong, if that's the best way to go then I have no problems doing so. Just seems you could have the same work done much cheaper? I'm sure with the cad/solidworks and matching facilities I have access to, the dual port could be achieved but would it be worth the trouble? Maybe something to tackle later once the engine has some miles/time on it to eliminate as many potential problems to overcome at once?
3) would a 34 ich be suitable or do I need to go start looking for another 45 dcoe setup and longer s&r distributor? Some sort of fi (megasquirt?) is very tempting if it weren't for vintage class restrictions... Any other viable options I'm overlooking?
4) I'm thinking isky f4 cam or is there something better suited?
5) crank work? Knife edged, nitride treated, polished?
6) electric fans, upgraded (aluminum CBR) radiator, jetex exhaust? Electric fuel pump? What would be the best distributor?
7) go with sonett final drive or any better recommendations?
Lsd? Are different "close ratio" gears available? Lock out the free wheel? Any options to make the trans happier besides external cooler with electric fan? (I'm sponsored sponsored by CBR) Plan to lighten the flywheel of course. Any suggestions on clutch and pp?
Anything I'm overlooking in regards to the entire drive train? Worth going to the 4 bolt MC hubs? I would give a kidney for a set of mini lite wheels but seems they are now unobtainium? Steel wheels would be the only wheels run for rally! I do have tons of contacts in Sweden, Finland, Norway, etc due to my Volvo TGB addiction that could be invaluable.
I apologize for such a long post!! I'm just super excited as I've been looking for the one to replace my stolen 95 for over 7 years now! Also, with upcoming free time with the holidays, I wanted to start ordering parts! Please help make my dream come true, building a competitive vintage Saab rally car that I can share with my 14 year old daughter whose a gear head already! Her mother was killed in a car accident recently, drunK driver driving on wrong side of interstate with no lights on!!! So we both need something new to dig into to occupy our brains and idle time!
Thank you so much for your time, info, part numbers etc etc!
-JDM
Volvotgb@gmail.com
posted by 107.77.90...
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