75 99 ITB racer

[paulh]

So as mentioned in the other thread, Delorean and I went down and got this from maryland the other day. Its rough, it was $200, and oddly enough it runs really good .



When we got it here, we popped in a battery, filled it with gas, and it basically fired right up, then died and started making funny noises. We realized the funny noise was the fuel distributor sticking open, filling the engine with fuel . So we pulled it out, took it apart and cleaned the plunger, and now it runs fine, except the fuel cell is leaking profusely, so that will need fixing. The airflow meter is stock, the distributor is from a porsche 924. No idea what else is done to the motor, other than the obvious header and oil cooler. Any other things people spot would be handy to know.









would be interesting to know some history about the car, we didnt get a chance to talk to the owner, as Tweek handled that. Its got some stickers from Bare Bones, which is apparently the place for ribs, and theres a faint outline on the roof where it used to say Driver: Dairen Bell (i think thats what it says anyway).

Seems to have a welded diff, or something, really hard to steer, scuffs real badly around turns, and spins both wheels. We're gonna pop the diff cover off to investigate this shortly. Seems to have some sort of lowering springs, as well as bilsteins all around, and came with a spare set of bilsteins for the front. Also has a pretty neat set of custom sway bars.





Has what looks like an Autopower cage, with some fairly shady welding, and base plates that are too small, not sure if it will pass tech for basically anything, though LeMons doesnt look like they are that picky, so it might just be ok for that with the addition of a second set of door bars and some welding cleanup. Seat needs to be lowered too, as my head is above the bars without a helmet. Interestingly they chose to keep the headliner in the car, as well as all the interior junk, including the passenger seat!

all the pics I have are here http://photobucket.com/because99racecar let me know what everyone thinks, the car is actually pretty solid, can't wait to straighten a couple things out and go racing!

Paul

[DeLorean]

I can't wait to pop some fresh tires on it, then get it out on the street and see how fast it is Seems like the thing will be fun to drive on 476 and race subarus with!

[Luke]

Wow awesome score! Nice to see some pics other than next to the 78 turbo

Rally car 1.0 started out as an emerald green '75, it also seems to be impervious to rust. I think 75's had some really good rust treatment.
You guys should bring that to the kempton rally x on dec 4th, you don't even need it registered to run there. Jason and I are planning to be there.

[paulh]

Wow awesome score! Nice to see some pics other than next to the 78 turbo

Rally car 1.0 started out as an emerald green '75, it also seems to be impervious to rust. I think 75's had some really good rust treatment.
You guys should bring that to the kempton rally x on dec 4th, you don't even need it registered to run there. Jason and I are planning to be there.

sounds interesting, we'll have to see if we can sort out the fuel leak by then, and throw some snows on it or something. Probably a new harness is in order too, its pretty shady.

Paul

[tweek's Turbos]

I'm going to email this over the Alan. See if in his free time he wants to fill us in on some of the history of the car.

[hutch]

I'm constantly amazed at how you guys keep outdoing yourselves when it comes to creating the ultimate unique collection of cars.

[DeLorean]

I talked to Alan yesterday, He rattled off a whole bunch of stuff that was done, but of what I remember...

Head milled down to increase compression
Engine "blueprinted" with larger valves
Custom lifters- supposedly good for higher redline
"notched" cam gear - I guess to make it adjustable?
924 fuel dizzy
headers
side outlet open exhaust

This may not be all of it, but that's what he remembered engine wise. The diff is in fact welded, and the trans is a 4 speed out of a 99-t. It seems like for a non turbo saab it's got real good pick up.

Oh, it was an emerald green 75 99 originally so it also has street cred.

And I forgot to mention, there was an engine attached to an old style gear drive trans in the trunk when we got it. This may have been engine build #1 which I guess didn't work as well as the engine in it now? But anyway, we'll tear that one apart and see if it has any goodies too.

[DrewP]

I like it - so does it have a screamy side exhaust? How does it sound??

[DeLorean]

Well, when you are standing outside of it, it's deafeningly loud on the driver side. It's does sound pretty good though! The side "outlet" does not even get it out from under the car entirely, so I think it's going to be pretty darn noisy inside the car too for longer periods of time unless we stick a lager extension pipe & a hanger on there.

[Luke]

I have a nice 12 gallon FIA rated ATL cell with an aluminum can and a bracket to put it in the trunk of a 99... if you guys wanted it I prob sell for a good price (they retail for around $700)

That pretty strange the diff was welded, I can't imagine in improved touring a welded diff would give any sort of advantage at all, I think the car would actually be slower from all the scrubbing and a handful to drive.... For a low buck ice racer or rallyX car maybe, but for a relatively high speed event on tarmac that just seems pointless.

[DeLorean]

Yep, the wended diff is a bit of a confusing thing, and definitely makes it a bit harder to steer, especially with the manual steering! When we were moving it un powered in the parking lot, we noticed that! Perhaps the tracks they were typically on had a bunch of real tight lower speed corners that kept lighting up the unloaded tire on?

[Luke]

I like the sway bar on the rear, thats a pretty cool solution.

[Hans]

Sweet car.

It's not uncommon to weld up the diff in improved touring but it seems to be controversial: some racers (including successful ones) swear by it while others thing it's a dumb idea. The PO may have done it because no other option was available, or because it's cheap.

ITforums search results for "welded diff": http://tinyurl.com/7o6p2xx

[DrewP]

My white car actually has a really similar looking rear anti-roll bar, similar stacked brackets like that, I'll grab a photo, maybe it was an old Addco kit or something?

[87 n/a]

You should download a copy of the SCCA GCR if you want to run it in ITB. The rules say the minimum size plate for a cage is 2". Based on the post above, that is probably all that has been done to the engine. The rulebook is pretty restrictive. Nice score on the car.