Not the one in Germany, the one in St. Bonifacius, MN. Dropped the car off at Rick Moe's shop for further building. Both Rick and Jim Seubert have offered their expertise as mechanics to get the car ready for Iowa. They will also be driving. We still need at least one more driver, and since this will be a 25-1/2 hour race, a couple more would be welcome.And we are entered at Iowa, as car #92. New, larger numbers have been ordered. That gives us about three weeks to get it ready. There is quite a bit to do, including pulling the engine/gearbox again. And due to a swap agreement with Mayhem Racing, we will need to buy four more tires.
On the way to drop the Saab, I stopped at the Minnesota Saab Club meeting, held at Schmelz Countryside Saab just NE of St. Paul. Got some feedback, but no drivers ready to plunk down cash.
A few other updates: When removing the number 9 from the driver's door, the paint peeled off as well. This time I did more pre-paint prep, reduced the Rust-Oleum with mineral spirits, and rolled it on with a foam roller. The result is much better, with a fairly smooth finish, a far cry from the orange-peel of the first attempt. Though some sanding and buffing would make it look better still, that is a low priority before the next race.
I removed the gas tank from the parts car, but it apparently has leaks as well. The tank was left outside during a heavy rainstorm last week, and despite having the openings wrapped in plastic, quite a bit of water ended up inside the tank. Word from an expert is that the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) tank tends to crack around the fuel pump, which is mounted on the top of the tank and immersed in the gasoline. The tank, too, is at the Nurburgring, so Rick and Jim will fix it before installation.
As you may recall, the gearbox that we ran at Iowa last year lost 3rd gear. A call to Mike at Hanover European Parts to see if he had some decent internal parts for a gearbox led to the donation of a nearly complete gearbox. The case was damaged due to a catastrophic engine failure, so its value was much reduced. A quick look at the gears came out positive, with no apparent chipping of gear teeth. I will take this gearbox and last year's gearbox down to Rick's place next weekend and we will make them into one.Also need to pick up an engine offered by Saab dealer Marty Adams of Meyer Garage in Iowa. It is in his dirt track Hornet Class Saab race car. That means we will have to do the extraction, so plan to spend an afternoon there.
