My rallyX practice car

[SwedeSport]

If that rear spoiler is in nice shape, and you ever want to let it go, let me know. I would like one of those for my 89t sedan.

[V4_guy]

If that rear spoiler is in nice shape, and you ever want to let it go, let me know. I would like one of those for my 89t sedan.

I might consider letting it go, the mounting studs on either side are rusted off but some double-sided tape could remedy that.

[SwedeSport]

So long as it looks decent once its on, How much do you want for it?


Gorilla Glue!

[V4_guy]

I've been daily driving this car for nearly two weeks, it's the perfect beater. The 9000 is probably jealous. My next rallyX is this Saturday.

Thinking of going forward and making this my actual rallyX car and sparing the 96 for road use.

What would be the ideal suspension set-up for rough road/rallyX use? There's a lot of broken pavement around here. Right now it has OEM shocks and taller front springs (was originally an automatic) and/or saggy rear springs so it rides a bit high in the front.

[V4_guy]

I ran my second event on Saturday at Friendswood Golf Course in Camby, IN. My friend Nathan also entered and we took turns driving and sitting shotgun. We had a blast out there and now he's hooked on rallycrossing too. He's working on getting one of his RWD Corollas prepped to run. Here are some pics snapped by Brian Gessler, a professional photographer:





We also met Steve, a fellow SaabRally member, who ran a really nice '89 900 that he built for TSD/rallyX use. He gave me some good tips on building a car to run these events.

For the next event I'm planning on jacking up the rear a bit with some SAS spacers and installing some Bilstein HD shocks. I'm also going to start stripping out the interior for weight savings. If I get serious at some point the sunroof will be coming out as well.

[SwedeSport]

Is that golfers in the background? LOL!

Nice sticker under the side marker.

[V4_guy]

Is that golfers in the background? LOL!

Nice sticker under the side marker.

Haha, yup, this rallyX course is a disused section of a golf course. You find lots of embedded golf balls in the ground when you walk the course. And there are some confused golfers watching us.

[V4_guy]

Now with Bilstein HDs all around and two sets of SAS spring spacers in the rear to bring the ride height up to match the tall automatic front springs. It's actually slightly taller in the rear now, in these photos the trunk is full of stuff including 4 wheels and tires:




Next event is this Saturday.

[DrewP]

That's awesome, I approve of this use of the funny looking sedans!

[V4_guy]

I ran the car in its fourth event this past Saturday, it was dusty as hell:



I ended up somehow overheating the car halfway on the 120 mile drive back home and blew a radiator hose. I was in a hurry to get back for a wedding, I didn't even put my street wheels back on to save time. As I was driving along at 75 mph I noticed the gauge was near the red, turning on the heat didn't make it go down, so I flicked the gauge thinking it might be faulty and sure enough it went down to the halfway mark. About 20 miles later it came back up again, this time pinned up past the red. Thinking it was a faulty gauge again I continued on but then it started misfiring badly and the check engine light came on. I was able to make it to an exit and as soon as I got on the should of the road the top hose blew and let out most of the coolant.

I called AAA and they sent a flatbed. At this point I was pretty sure I'd killed the engine if I overheated it that badly. The outside temperature was about 100 degrees and I had no idea how long it had actually been overheating for.



The next morning I tried turning it over and it turned over fine, it also started and ran fine. I went down to NAPA and got a one piece non-A/C upper radiator hose and installed it and filled and bled the cooling system. I took it on about a 10 mile drive including 85 mph on the highway, again in 100 degree heat, and it ran fine. So I'm cautiously optimistic that it made it out unscathed. The B202 is a hell of an engine.

[Crazyswede]

I ran the car in its fourth event this past Saturday, it was dusty as hell:

I ended up somehow overheating the car halfway on the 120 mile drive back home and blew a radiator hose. I was in a hurry to get back for a wedding, I didn't even put my street wheels back on to save time. As I was driving along at 75 mph I noticed the gauge was near the red, turning on the heat didn't make it go down, so I flicked the gauge thinking it might be faulty and sure enough it went down to the halfway mark. About 20 miles later it came back up again, this time pinned up past the red. Thinking it was a faulty gauge again I continued on but then it started misfiring badly and the check engine light came on. I was able to make it to an exit and as soon as I got on the should of the road the top hose blew and let out most of the coolant.

I called AAA and they sent a flatbed. At this point I was pretty sure I'd killed the engine if I overheated it that badly. The outside temperature was about 100 degrees and I had no idea how long it had actually been overheating for.



The next morning I tried turning it over and it turned over fine, it also started and ran fine. I went down to NAPA and got a one piece non-A/C upper radiator hose and installed it and filled and bled the cooling system. I took it on about a 10 mile drive including 85 mph on the highway, again in 100 degree heat, and it ran fine. So I'm cautiously optimistic that it made it out unscathed. The B202 is a hell of an engine.

do yourself a favor and replace the thermostat to be safe.

[V4_guy]

do yourself a favor and replace the thermostat to be safe.

I'm going to do that as it seems the most likely culprit of my initial overheating issue, I am surprised though because now it has a Wahler 180 degree thermostat that is less than a year old.

[Crazyswede]

do yourself a favor and replace the thermostat to be safe.

I'm going to do that as it seems the most likely culprit of my initial overheating issue, I am surprised though because now it has a Wahler 180 degree thermostat that is less than a year old.

Yep, the thermostat is the cheapest part of the cooling system and has the most control over it as well. They are cheap and made cheaply too...they can stick easily enough...they are so simple that they are likely made in America

[V4_guy]

Nevermind, just went out to try to move it. Would not fire up, did not sound good cranking over. Was puking out coolant from the reservoir while cranking. Coolant is all muddy looking. All signs point to a cracked head. Anyone have a good B202 head?

[EvanB]

I don't have a head but when you get it running again you should come up to some WOR events.

http://dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26189