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With Abbott Racing planning some more track days and track day clubs finally emerging over here, I decided to live a little, join the ranks of other on this board and finally become a weekend racer :-)
I'll use the (already battered) Silver Arrow ('86 900T8 2-dr) to get my competition license (not that I have the deep pockets or the talent needed to enter 'real' competition, but I want to learn to drive on a race track properly anyways) before I decide on repairing or ditching it. My 'fun car' however, is of course Saabine. Although I think the basic engine/drivetrain/chassis/brakes package is well sorted now, I feel there's still some finetuning to be done.
And that's where you folks come in :-)
* First: ever since swapping the hubs and rear axle for the '88 on parts and putting on 16"Aero's w/ Pirelli P6000's I feel I have handling issues : no real front end bite, feeling like the rear is actually pushing (or 'rolling over' as my friend Felix put it) the front. Is this just a matter of tires (former ones were 205/55/15 Dunlop SP 9000's on stock 5.5x15 rims), could anything have gone awry with alignment -especially at the rear- or what else? I don't have sway bars on yet because I felt with the Merwede racing springs the suspension is really stiff (in a lateral sense, too) already - should I fit them anyways? Stock or PU bushings? I
don't have any aligment data, but I have (and had) a quite noticeable amount of negative camber up front ever since the car got lowered.
* Despite swapping APC solenoids, knock sensors, APC controllers and even
engines my intermittent boost problem persists more or less randomly. It's
driving me nuts. Given that I always use the highest octane fuel available
on these shores (98 RON) and that the fueling and other mods
(fancooler/water injection, etc.) allowed me to reach more than full red
boost (about 1.5 bar/21 psi) on the 8vT APC with just the usual "P"and "F"
tweaks _when_ the thing worked like it should, anything against Abbott
Racing's recommendation to set basic fuel pressure on the RRFPR somewhat
higher, then replace the APC solenoid by their manual boost control valve
set at 1.2 bar/ ~ 17 psi (according to Giles at Abbott Racing, running
extreme boost pressures on the c900 works more likely against you than
anything else, anyway)?
* I'm running a remanufactured '91-'93 type gearbox with the short (#6)
primary drive. Am I right in thinking that keeping the boost at a sensible
level, and looking for more power at the upper end of the scale -I don't
want to lose the excellent low down response of the 2.1 bored lump,
however-, for instance with different cams and reprogramming the LH unit to
suit, with a 6.5K or so rev limit, will leave me with a good chance of
keeping the 'box intact? Damien, you're still running a standard late
gearbox with about 275 flywheel hp (about what I'd expect from Saabines
engine config), right?
* Finally, what are the possibilities to shun some more weight off Saabine
without compromising the interior - I'm thinking Porsche 928 CS or the
Jaguar XKR-R prototype here rather than a really stripped out racer, which
would look silly on a 5-door anyways. Being a former 8 valve T, she doesn't
have a sunroof, also I already ditched the spare wheel and parcel shelf. I'm
thinking the following:
* replace rear electric windows by cranks -anyone knows whether there is a
significant weight difference?
* Remove cruise control (doesn't work anyways).
* And a real crazy idea: there's a Dutch Saab tuner who races a 330 hp C900
with kevlar/carbon hood, doors and tailgate (including whaletail) in the
Supercar Cup over here. Provided the hood and tailgate are street legal and
there are no real concerns about crash safety, would this be worth it at the
level of development Saabine has reached yet, or would I be wasting my
money??
Thanks for listening :-)
Happy Saabing,
Eric
posted by 213.116.168.1...
, Wed, 19 Dec 2001 15:56:22, Wed, 19 Dec 2001 16:45:37
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