86 900 Street / Track Project

[SwedeSport]

So its been a while since I posted about this project.

I only ran a handful of events last year. With the pending relocation of my business, and garage, I did not get carried away with a busy schedule.

I ran the Duryea Hillclimb, and the car did well. But I made up my mind that the 30/30 primaries were too low for the hill. I also had a leaky shift shaft seal, and the diff cover was leaking too. There was a clicky clacky noise coming from the front end when I would transition from throttle to off throttle. Having little time to address it, the car was parked in its weepy, broken state until I could clear a few of life's other hurdles.

Fast forward a little,... new business location up and running, and garage is somewhat functional. I pulled the motor out to address what I thought was a problem with the primary chains. Upon further investigation I find the bracket for the front motor mount is cracked clean off, and the noises I was hearing was likely coming from the mount. Regardless, I pulled the diff cover, and the primary cover. I swapped the chain drive for a #5 sprocket set. I changed the shift shaft seal, and and resealed the diff.

While the motor was out, I also added some wiring for the 3 gauge panel in the din slot. I finally got the oil pressure gauge and water temp gauge working. I need to get a sensor for the oil temp gauge and that will work. I have a volt gauge to install once I get my hands on a bracket to mount it. I hooked up the 250 degree water temp gauge to the stock coolant temp sensor with the stock gauge piggybacked on it. It was reading really low. I disconnected the cluster gauge and ran only the 2 1/16" VDO unit. On the highway it reads about 170-180 ish. 180-190 in town, and about 200-210 when flogging on it. The fans kick on around 210. I found a sender that will properly supply signal to run both the factory gauge and the VDO. I plan to order and install it.

I am going to re install the 2nd cooling fan on the radiator, but I am going to wire it manually to operate using an "EXTRA" switch. I ordered a water pump along with a few other things from eEuroparts. The bearings in the pump don't sound good.

I ran the car at the Kempton RallyX last weekend, and managed to come home with a 3rd overall for the event. It was a soupy mud hole in the morning, but it firmed up by the afternoon run session. There is 500 lb. of mud caked to the car. But it was sooo worth it. I lost an exhaust hanger, and subsequently kept having to rehang my exhaust every run. Fortunately when I went to look at the results, a course worker found my hanger, and put it on the table with the time sheets.

I plan to get the car clean, and check it over before hitting an Autocross in early June. Pagoda Hillclimb is the first big event on the schedule this year. Of course I will be at Duryea again, but I may want to do the Fall Weatherly event this year.

[gmreider]

500 pounds of mud attached !! Is that some sort of handicap system? I like the perfectly clean eEuro cap and the muddy car picture.
See you at Carlisle I guess. BMR meeting Wednesday May 21st.

[SwedeSport]

I got my antique plates on the car finally.

Took it out to a Philly Region autocross this past weekend. I ran the DD tires. Stock Sunburst wheels, painted gray, with the lips polished. I got the set of Azenis from Luke and put them on 2 of the rims. I put the Federal 595rsr on the other 2 rims. I expected it to make for some drifty fun, but I wasn't expecting it to be nearly a full on drift car.

The rear wanted to pass the front with every flick of the wheel. It was my first autocross with the diff. The Quaife really makes driving it out much easier. Even completely sideways, the diff really allows more throttle influence to the vehicles travel. The Federals are grippy, but the I might as well replace the Azenis with PVC pipe like on drift trikes. I am gonna get 2 more Federals, and prepare another 2 Sunburst wheels for them. Then I will have all 4 shaved to about half tread.

I hope to hit another autocross this weekend with the Azenis on the back. I did not place well drifting the cones, but I had a blast trying to just toss the car through the course, and attempting drifty transitions between corners.


Since we are on the subject of drifty fun,...

- I am thinking about adding a flyoff handbrake. Looking at the stuff on eBay. Looks like about 50 bucks can probably get a half decent setup. I like the vertical versions. I was considering mounting it to the dash bar on my cage. Either clamped on or welded to the bar. That will put it right up at the dash, next to the wheel. And I can probably bring the lines out from the center console cubby. Anyone have any experience with the setups that are currently available?
Or even recommendations, warnings or endorsements?

[Jordan]

The one I have looks pretty identical to this one. It was $100 when i bought it many years ago. And it's not purple. But you can mount the handle upright and it has the locking feature which was nice. I ended up getting a better sized master for it too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HYDRAULIC-DRIFT ... 6d&vxp=mtr

[SwedeSport]

The one I have looks pretty identical to this one. It was $100 when i bought it many years ago. And it's not purple. But you can mount the handle upright and it has the locking feature which was nice. I ended up getting a better sized master for it too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HYDRAULIC-DRIFT ... 6d&vxp=mtr

Most of the ones I see for sale have a 3/4 bore. Saab people tell me that's too much, but all the drift guys say the bigger bore is better because you get an instant lock up with less motion. In fact a few suggest using one 3/4 bore MC for EACH WHEEL. The 3/4 seem most common.

[Geoff]

I think those handbrakes are known for having cheap master cylinders that fail pretty quickly. The one in the greasecar has that same locking mechanism which is all bent to crap.

[Jordan]

a bigger master gives you less power.

[DrewP]

^^^ That's true of people as well....

[SwedeSport]

So I guess I would probably be better served spending my dough on a quality MC, and building my own linkage and handle mech?

I don't need a lock on it as I plan to retain the stock parking brake.

[Jordan]

The locking thing works fine on them as does the handle. Just change the M/C to say a 5/8" and you'll be in business.

[Luke]

Yes, I had one of the same ones that Jordan had, they work well but the master cylinder failed within a year or so. I replaced with an AP master it was fine after that. 5/8 or 3/4 both will work fine. That basic design is a direct copy of the Ford works parts used in the group A sierra and cosworth escorts.

[airsweden]

On the tire topic... in my rally-X days, I used to run meaty shows or gravels but put one baldy on the inside rear and then play with its inflation over the couse of the day. Worked pretty well on the iceracer too but instead of baldies, its was just a clapped out Menard tire.

[SwedeSport]

On the tire topic... in my rally-X days, I used to run meaty shows or gravels but put one baldy on the inside rear and then play with its inflation over the couse of the day. Worked pretty well on the iceracer too but instead of baldies, its was just a clapped out Menard tire.

I use a somewhat beat down set of old Pirelli rally tires that I got from Luke a few years ago when I run it in the dirt.

I use the smooth Azenis tires on the rear at the autocross. It is bordering on being out of control, but for me it's not about setting FTD at the autocross.
I like autocross because it gives an opportunity to hang it out a bit and find the edge of control. Essentially an exercise in car control. Learning where the limits are in a setting where you can just loop it and hit nothing but orange cones. It follows the theory that you have to be in the seat every couple of weeks to stay in the zone.

[SwedeSport]

Big thanks to Gary Reider for helping to get the 86 running better.

I have owned the car for a bunch of years, and it has always had hard starting issues, and ran like crap when cold. Occasionally it would start and run perfect, and other times it would not start at all.

I have had it to a few Saab mechanics to try and sort it, but it always came back the same way. I just learned to live with it, and compensated by keeping a can of starting fluid in the car. I would pull a manifold fitting, and give it a few squirts.

Gary found the pressures were a little off, but not too horrible, and replaced the warm up regulator. He found that the frequency valve was not working on start up, and it was only running on what the CSI would supply. He found that the connectors under the fuel pump relay were not making proper contact as they would push out of the housing. He managed to get them clean, as well as insure a more positive connection. Now the thing starts right up and runs like it should.

We are going to keep an eye on it and see what happens, but I think he may have solved a problem that stumped many Saab people over the years.

[Jordan]

Gary's da man!