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.

Iowa? Maybe.

ChumpCar has opened the entry for the 25.5-hour National Chumpionship race at Iowa Speedway to everyone, so we are considering entering. The race is September 2 thru 4, with the racing on Saturday and Sunday. Rick Moe and Jim Seubert are on board, but we would need at least one more driver, preferably three. In a 25-1/2 hour race, six drivers would get over four hours of track time apiece.

The car needs some work (the list is about 16 items at the moment), and I have started doing some of that in the driveway. Rick has offered his shop in St. Bonifacius to work on the racer. Marty Adams at Meyer Garage in Iowa has offered the use of a 2.1-liter engine that he built. That would be preferable to the used engine that is in the car.

The tentative event schedule for the National Chumpionship is as follows:

Friday, 2 September 2011

· Gates open: 7:00am

· Tech Inspection: 10:00am - 3:00pm

· Open-track testing: 12:00noon – 6:00pm ($200 per car/4 drivers; $50 per additional driver)

Saturday, 3 September 2011

· Race 1: 3-hour road race (10:00am - 1:00pm). At 2:00pm the track goes yellow and the pits are closed while the track is reconfigured for oval racing. All cars on-track follow a pace car. Once reconfiguration is complete, the track goes green and racing continues. All laps completed under yellow count towards cumulative race total.

· Race 2: 5-hour oval race (1:00pm - 6:00pm). At 6:00pm, track goes yellow, pit lane closed, pace car is out, and the track is reconfigured back to road course.

· Race 3: 5-hour road race (6:00pm - 11:00pm)

Checker for Saturday's sessions issued at 11:00pm. Teams can work on their cars Saturday night, as long as they want, until the call for pre-grid Sunday morning.

Sunday, 4 September 2011

· Race 4: 3-hour oval race (9:00am - 12:00pm). At 2:00pm the track goes yellow, pace car dispatched, pit lane is closed and the track is reconfigured for road racing. Once reconfiguration is complete, the track goes green and racing continues. All laps completed under yellow count towards cumulative total.

· Race 5: 7-hour road race (12:00pm - 7:00pm). At 7:00pm, track goes yellow, pace car is out, and the track is reconfigured back to an oval course.

· Race 6: 2.5-hour oval race (7:00pm – 9:30pm) to the checker.

There will NOT be any safety breaks or interruptions in any of the race segments. This is, after all, the MOTHER-OF-ALL-RACES!

After the checker, ChumpCar will host a BBQ and awards ceremony to salute the all the participants -- win, lose or DNF.

= = = = = = = = = =

We have a few days to decide. Check back for updates.

Race weekend. Not exactly a success.

So much to report since the previous entry. The race has been run and the car turned out to have a few gremlins.

Thursday, July 14 - Got up early to spend time on too many last minute details. Made a switch panel out of a piece of stainless steel from some dairy equipment. Picked up tires at SVS and decals at Airport Signs, and bought some FRS radios with headsets at Gander Mountain. Got the gearbox linkage connected and adjusted the pinch bolt. Installed the front axles... and that's where the big trouble began.

Thought I had a couple of axles ready to go, but since the gearbox was not the same one we ran last year, the axles had to be different. Saab switched to axles with a larger shaft diameter and inner tripod joints in the later model 900s. Though I had an assortment of axles to choose from, all had at least one problem such as torn boots or damaged inner tripods. After inspecting several axles, I chose a couple that needed only a little work. Of course, that took much longer than I had anticipated. The axles went into place with difficulty, sucking up more time. About 11 PM when I thought I was finishing the job, I discovered that the left front wheel bearing had a fair amount of play. I looked at the spare that I had and was not happy with it, and the same with the piece on the parts car in the yard. That meant I would have to drive back into Duluth in the morning to remove the bearing housing from the parts car at SVS. I got to bed about 3 AM.

Friday, June 15 - Got up at 5 AM and finished off a small task or two, then drove into Duluth to remove parts. That took about two hours for the round trip and I got home about 9 AM, the time I had intended to hit the road for B.I.R. Installed the serviceable bearing carrier, with a replacement ball joint because one had a torn boot, and put it all back together. No play this time. But there was still plenty to do and time was running short.

I went over to Izzy's to pick up his truck and trailer about 11:30 and got home just after Noon. Then I had to load up the spares, the tires, the tools and the race car. Got it all in and lashed the car down to the trailer. Stopped in Cloquet to pick up a metal rod for the window net, and grabbed a sandwich at Arbys. Good thing I did because it would be a long time before I would eat again. Finally on the road a bit after 4 PM.

Called the ChumpCar folks to let them know I was running very late and they said to not worry because they got a late start as well due to transportation issues. I arrived at the track about 7 PM, just as registration was supposed to close.

Dave Steen and his son David, Rick Moe and Jim Seubert were already at the track and had saved a spot in the paddock for the race car and trailer. Rick and Jim installed the seat and the safety belts, the window net and the fire extinguisher, while I finished off the wiring for the headlights. We talked to Mike Morrison from ChumpCar staff and he agreed to tech the car first thing on Saturday morning. We finished up about midnight.

Saturday, July 16 - Race day and the car is finally ready. Mike came by about 7 AM and gave the car a once over and his approval. We went to registration and completed the paperwork. Herm Johnson and I installed the final decals, a task slowed by the high humidity which made the decals difficult to separate from the backing paper.

The drivers' meeting was at 8:30 AM, then it was time for me to suit up and get into the car. The wheels were torqued, tire pressures set, and I started the engine and drove through the pits, the last car to do so. As I approached the start line, the flagger dropped the yellow flag and waved the green. The race was on!

My intent was to run a very conservative race in order to be there at the end. But less than an hour into my driving stint, the shifter began to act up. Sometimes I could find a gear, other times I couldn't. And the engine was running pretty warm. I pulled into the pits and determined that the pinch bolt had not been tightened sufficiently and the shifter alignment kept changing. Rick and Jim set to tightening the shift linkage and bled the cooling system in hopes that the problem was just an air bubble somewhere.

I went back out to finish my stint at the wheel, but the car continued to run very warm. At the allotted time I pulled into the pits to turn the car over to Herm, but when he went hit the START button, the starter would not crank. That was quickly traced to the main positive power cable which had fallen off the starter. Once re-connected and engine running, we discovered a leak at the water pump shaft. Though I had a good used one among my spares, I had forgotten to bring it to the track. A few phone calls and one was located at the NAPA warehouse in St. Louis Park, a good three hours distance one way. We were able to locate someone to pick it up and bring it to the track, which saved about three hours.

With the new water pump bolted into place, I went back on track for a few laps to make sure everything was working. The car still ran pretty warm. Since the race was nearly half finished, we decided to put David Jr. into the car. Once again the car refused to start. This time it was traced to the positive power cable which runs from the starter to the alternator, which was missed in the earlier starter cable incident. Re-installed and David Sr. was on the track for a few laps.

Video: Dave behind the wheel through turn 12.

Jim and Rick each were able to get a little time behind the wheel, but the overheating issue kept plaguing the car. In addition, the gearbox got stuck in 3rd gear while Rick was driving, so we packed it in for the day. Rick also had a flat tire after apparently running over something as there was a hole in the tread.

We were only 11 laps behind the car ahead of us in the standings, a Buick V8 that was out for good with a blown engine, so considered driving 12 laps in 3rd gear just to move up a place. However, since we were near the bottom of the lap chart, decided instead to just leave the car parked.

In all, the Saab was credited with 55 laps, though five were bonus laps, so we really only covered 50 laps on track (125 miles). The winning Tubby Butterman BMW completed over 400 laps (384 laps on the official lap chart + 18 penalty laps = 402) or just over 1000 miles on the 2.5 mile course. By comparison, the average SCCA race at BIR is about 20 laps or 50 miles.

The only other ChumpCar races near us this season are at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas in early August, and the National Chumpionship at Iowa Speedway on Labor Day weekend. It will probably not be possible to make repairs in time for Topeka, but Iowa is a possibility.

Some afterthoughts: The gearbox had a couple of issues. The gearing was a bit too tall for BIR, so the engine revved too high in 3rd, but not high enough in 4th for optimum engine torque in the back part of the course. In addition, that gearbox must be an early version, in which the centering of the shifter took place at the shifter. The later gearboxes, and later 900s like ours, had internal centering. The result for this combination was no centering, which is why finding gears was difficult.

Still have not figured out the overheating problem, but I have a newer radiator and a thermostat with the center punched out, so will install those if we take the car to Iowa.

Three days to go

Picked up a few last minute items that I had forgotten, like exhaust hangers, and dropped the other two wheels at SVS to have the new tires mounted.

The hood pivot is still a little out of alignment, but the hood pins are now installed and holding it down.

Since the left side wheels were off for the new tires, I took a close look at brakes and bearings. There was a patina of rust on the rotors, not uncommon after sitting unused in Minnesota, but a light buffing with a wire brush revealed no pitting. The front brake pads Axxis Metal Masters, which saw about 14 hours of use at Iowa last year, had almost no wear. Since I had new pads, they went onto the car and the used ones will make good spares.

Still work to do on the interior and some wiring necessary to make the headlights work. The seat is still out of the car, and the window net and fire extinguisher need to be installed as well. The camera mount is in place, and I have added some of the roll cage padding.

The axles need to be installed, and the shifter has to be connected to the gearbox. This got put off because I couldn't locate a good taper pin for the linkage. Found a new taper pin at Foreign Affairs of Duluth.

It really looks like a race car now. Note the early SAAB logo on the grille. It's new, as in never been installed on a car before, so won't stay there for the race.

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.