She bucks!

The engine runs! Tried to start it on Monday but it would only crank. Gave it up as I had to go to work. Looked at the wiring on Tuesday and found the problem immediately, a wire disconnected from the coil. Slid it into place, flipped the switches to ON, pushed the starter button (yes, button!) and it fired right off. Let it warm up a bit, but the radiator fans are not yet connected so shut it off when the temp gauge read midpoint.

Still have to install the axles and connect the shifter to the gearbox. There is a bunch of wiring to do including headlights, gauges & idiot lights (because most drivers don't watch the gauges very well, myself included), radiator fans, and a few other items I'm sure. The hood does not want to slide into place, but that's probably because the pivot mechanism is bent.

One week to race day!

The engine and gearbox have been mated and lowered into the race car. Still a lot of connections to be made, and parts to swap from other 900s. Once the racer is running, there are still a load of tasks to accomplish.

Here is a summary of the past few days:

Wednesday: Since the engine was off the gearbox, the main and rod bearings were easily accessible so I removed a few bearing caps to evaluate the condition of the bearings. They showed little wear, indicating that the engine had been rebuilt, so I put everything back together and re-torqued the bolts. Unfortunately, either the bolts had been over-torqued previously or the torque wrench was out of spec. One bolt snapped off in the engine block, another was badly stretched. Fortunately, the broken bolt end came out easily, and since there was another engine at hand it was easy to steal bolts from that one.

Thursday: Picked away at several items at home, including a second coat of paint for the racer. Removed the badly worn right side upper control arm bushing for replacement. Also removed a few spares from one of the parts cars. Tires have arrived at SVS, Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Specs, eight of 'em. Two wheels are already there and Phil has agreed to sell me four more for their value as scrap aluminum.

Friday: Started the day at SVS, picking up the engine, gearbox and several other parts. Had an exhaust system made by Bill's Muffler in Duluth. Spent the afternoon and evening getting the engine and gearbox ready for installation. It seemed to be a one-step-forward, two-steps-back process as I struggled with working what should have been easy tasks, then had to disassemble and re-do them because they were in the way of replacing the alternator. Finally knocked off shortly before midnight with the engine and gearbox close to mating.

Saturday: Had planned to show the racer at Morrie's Saab Car Show and Swap Meet in Wayzata, but gave it up when the engine was not in the car by 9:00 a.m. The show was to start at 8:30 a.m. but it was a 3-hour drive from home. Mark came over to assist with the installation as it always goes much easier with more than one person. Shortly after 11 a.m., the engine/gearbox unit was dropped into place. With luck, the car will run on Sunday. We discovered that the power cable to the starter was damaged, apparently when the ignition stuck in the START position last year at Iowa. The insulation had melted and one of the connectors snapped off as we were inspecting it. So the cable will be replaced with a new piece, which we will pick up on Sunday.

Rolling the race car

Paint, I mean. After reading several articles on the Interweb about how to paint a car using cheap paint and a roller, I decided to give it a try.

Proper automotive paint from PPG or Dupont costs about $150/gal these days, but a gallon can of Rust-oleum, mixed to your preferred shade, is less than $30 at Menards and many other fine outlets. I did halfways decent prep work, removing trim pieces and using Goof-Off to remove leftover adhesive, even pounded a few dents back into some semblance of straight. Then I sanded the entire surface to be painted with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Didn't really mask anything, just tried to be very careful around the windshield and rear lights.

Since a paint roller does not work well on bends and small areas, I began by painting those with a foam brush. Then I poured some Rust-oleum into the roller tray and began application. It took less than half of that gallon to cover the car once, so I will probably go over it all again.

The end result is that the Saab LOOKS like it was painted with a roller. Not all that bad from a short distance, but easy to tell when you're up close. The paint probably would have flowed better if I had thinned it with mineral spirits. It might look better after some sanding with #600 or #800 sandpaper, followed by some buffing with the electric polisher, but don't know if there will be time for that before the race.

Holiday weekend progress

Izzy came by on Saturday for awhile and we knocked off several little items on the To-Do list. Lights have been installed on the front end since the race at BIR goes until 11 PM. They still need to be wired, however.

Izzy also rewired the ignition so that there is a push button for the starter and an OFF switch for the ignition. These will mount on the dash along with the gauges and very large idiot lights.

The seat was removed because the foam cushion was full of water (no drainage holes) and to facilitate access for other interior work. I am trying to get a new seat cover made as the old one is pretty rough.


Spent part of Saturday and much of Sunday prepping for paint. All of last year's decals, and the gooey adhesive that stayed on the paint, have been removed. The entire car has been buffed with sandpaper, and the bare spots have been coated with primer. (The hood for the race car is the whitish one on the black 900 in the background.)

I will be going to the annual Winker Family Picnic at Uncle Fred's on Independence Day, plus I have to work in the evening, so not much will get done. Hoping to get paint done on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I have decided that Engine #3 (see previous note) will get assembled to use as the race engine. I have a new timing chain, thrust washers, main bearings and rod bearings, so will install those when things are slack at work. That is unless Mark suddenly gets lots of ambition and quickly builds engine #1.

Engines #1, #2 & #3

Still don't have an engine to drop into the race car. All three need a bit of work.

Engine #1 - Last year's race engine. The cylinders rusted due to water left from the blown head gasket at Iowa. After the engine failure at BIR, which resulted in a damaged crankshaft, Hanover European provided a 2.1L short block which is the basic engine we ran at Iowa (block B, red), with the head and other bits from the BIR engine (block A, blue). Due to the rusted cylinders in block B, the plan is to use Block A from the BIR engine with pistons & crank from the Iowa engine (are you following all of this?).

I attempted to clean the rust from the cylinder walls of Block B in order to remove the pistons to build a new race engine. The head from this engine still needs to be resurfaced, presuming it warped after overheating. Instead, it will get the head from engine #2, which has recently had a full valve job.

Engine #2 - from the 1992 900S parts car. The cylinders in this block (painted light blue) are pretty worn, though with no scoring or scratching. It appears something once failed in the #3 cylinder as there is some damage to that piston. There is a pretty good ridge at the top of each cylinder. Ideally this engine should be re-bored and get new pistons. I will probably put it back together as is for the time being as it ran when it was removed from the car. Hopefully we won't need to use it.

The head from this engine has had a valve job and resurfacing at Midwest Engine Rebuilders in Duluth, so will go on the race engine.

Engine #3 - from the 1993 900S A/T - Good compression, so I am not removing the head from this engine. Will check the timing chain and the rod and main bearings, but expect everything will check out OK. This engine has been off the gearbox once upon a time, but not sure why. It may have already been rebuilt, or the automatic transmission may have been rebuilt.

Either way, we have two engines for the 14-hour race at BIR. The 5-speed gearbox from the '92 900S parts car will be in the race car. If I have time, there is another 5-speed gearbox in one of the cars in the yard, but it will take a day to remove it.

Another engine, part II

Got called into work on Friday, so the engine-ectomy did not take place until Sunday. After watching the F1 race at Valencia, Spain, on FOX TV (Vettel is a truly amazing driver, is he not?), I headed in to Duluth. Mark provided me with a key to the shop, but Phil was there working on a project so helped me get started.

Shortly after Phil left, Dark Dan wandered in the door. He had been doing laundry across the street. Since his evening was without structure, he offered to give me a hand. Together we worked on making all of the disconnections, and about six hours after I started, the engine and trans were on the floor.

The biggest problem was the cable from the shifter to the automatic transmission. A call to Mark gave me the correct procedure and the cable was easily removed.

Now to remove the engine from the A/T and determine if the timing chain needs replacement. At 240,000 miles, it probably does. Then it can be dropped onto a manual transmission for installation in the race car this weekend.

Dave Steen has come up with a couple more drivers for the team, Jim Seubert and Rick Moe, some friends from the Porsche Club who have experience racing at B.I.R. That makes six.

Another car, another engine

Since none of the three 2.1-liter Saab engine blocks that I have for the race car are perfect, Mark is not too keen on building a race engine our of any of them. He proposed another possibility. His son, Phil, bought a 1993 900S for very cheap a year or more ago because it needed an automatic transmission. Phil intended to find a suitable slushbox to drop in so he could sell the car, but good automatic transmissions for the 900 are not easy to locate. I made Phil an offer on the car, and FHR now has another 2.1-liter engine available.

Got the car started with a battery boost and drove it into the shop. Planned to do a compression check and leak-down test, but the compression check came back with about 120 psi on all four cylinders. That's pretty damn good for an engine with 240,000 miles, especially one that hasn't been run in over a year and had not gotten up to operating temp yet.

The plan is to pull the engine & gearbox on this car on Friday night at SVS in Duluth. Because of the high mileage, Mark wants to replace the timing chain and guides, but I am all for just dropping it onto a 5-speed gearbox and go racing with it as is.