1964-1974 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
I should guess you will get about 110-120 horsepower out of this setup depending on what kind of exhaust system you're running. Given that the curb weight of a generic Sonett III is a mere 1805 lbs. (add 70 lbs. for factory air conditioning and another 70 lbs. for the 1973-74 'railroad tie' bumpers) this should be enough for rather brisk performance -- you won't win any races against Vipers, but Honda Civics will need to tread warily in your presence.
You'll probably discover, though, that the gear ratios in the transaxle for such amusements as bracket racing or open-track days. Typically, first gear is so low that Sonettists have no trouble spinning the tires even with a basically stock engine; with your modified engine you may have considerable difficulty getting down the power to achieve efficient launches. In the higher gears, you're quite likely to find the ratios spaced so widely that it's difficult to keep the engine in the fairly narrow power band typical of a semi-race cam. Mind you, the car will be a hoot to drive, but if your driving skills are already good enough that you're looking for extra tenths of a second out of the hardware, you'll likely find that this is where they're slipping away. Sadly, the special gearsets that Saab used to offer during the V4's rally heyday are now slightly scarcer than hens' incisors. You'll also discover that with roughly stock wheel and tire sizes, you can't exceed 100 mph without going past the factory 5,500 rpm redline -- although presumably your engine upgrades have included valvetrain modifications that might allow you to do so with impunity.
You might wish to pay a visit to Chris Moberg's excellent Sonett pages at http://www.vintagesaab.com; he has extensive experience in modifying Sonetts for autocross and other competition, and has collected a great deal of interesting info relevant to this subject.
posted by 68.13.138...
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