Over a week to the race and the car is nearly ready???

Much progress has been made since the last report. The gearbox has been rebuilt, the engine runs again, and the leaky gas tank has been replaced.

Rick and Jim have done most of the Mechanical work, removing the engine and gearbox, and rebuilding the gearbox. They decided to use the box donated by Hanover European Auto Parts, which came from a '91 900. It has the later design, with larger pinion bearings. Once all of the internals were removed, Rick welded up the hole in the top of the case. Both Rick and Jim are Porsche guys, so the Saab gearbox presented some challenges, but eventually it all went back together.

While they were busy with building the gearbox, I added new graphics to the car. Much larger numbers, and sponsor decals were added to both sides of the car. While we hope the corner workers will never have to report any infractions by "92 minty green", they should have no trouble seeing the numbers.

Though we had been offered another engine, we decided to spend the time it would take to travel to Meyer, Iowa, and remove that engine to instead work on the existing engine. Way back last May when planning for the June race at BIR, one of the 2.1L heads was given a complete valve job. Nothing special, but it was freshened. It was installed onto the engine we ran at the July race, since that one still looked good internally.

The finished engine was lowered onto the gearbox, and the complete unit was dropped into place in the car. That's when Rick found the oil pickup tube. Somehow we all had forgotten that it needed to be in place or the engine would have no oil pumped through it.

The engine came back out, the gearbox was removed, the oil tube installed, and all back together and in the car again in a little over an hour. Unfortunately that hour was pretty late, so we packed it in for the night.

I did a few little things on the car Sunday, but ran into a few snags, so headed home mid-afternoon. I updated the list of things to do, and made myself another list of parts that should be sent to Rick's shop.

Tires were ordered on Monday. We have decided to use the Dunlop DZ101s, as they have a higher tread wear rating than the Star Specs, and we hope not to change tires as often.

By Tuesday, Rick reported the leaky gas tank had been replaced with a serviceable spare, the engine was running, and all 5 forward gears were working just fine. There are still a few details to finish, but with over a week to race day, the car is pretty much ready to go.

Izzy, our 4th driver, stopped by the house on Monday evening to show the new paint job on his rally car. We discussed some logistics on getting to the track and lodging, but it sounds like he's ready to go. His wife Christy and two young boys will be going to the race, too. I put Christy in charge of seeing to it that we have food and water, because you tend to forget to eat when you are concentrating on the racing.

F-H Saab goes to the Nurburgring

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.