Saab 900 Notchback Rally Car

[Crazyswede]

Looking good Jon & Crazyswede! Thanks for the link to the photos- I saw MANY things that I have questions about...
-What are you using for throttle bodies?
-What pistons are those?
-What head is that?
-what is up with those inner drivers?


Awesome header- why up instead of down? I am assuming it is just clearance for the skidplate.

The car came with a set of throttle bodies made by a company called Hilborn and was made for a 2000cc ford Pinto engine. Hilborn makes crazy mechanical fuel onjection systems for drag cars aand sprint cars etc. The previous owners had adapted the Hilborn to the Saab head. It was a good idea but a little rough in execution. The car was running an earlier aftermarket efi system that I have pulled off as well. Going forward I plan to use a modified 2.1 intake and jenvey throttle bodies with T5.

The pistons are Mahle 92 mm flat top pistons for a vw. I have the number written down somewhere but they are intended for an air cooled VW. The engine has stock rods that have been offset bushed to adjust for the piston difference. The block is bored about .100 over to fit the pistons. There is valve relief cut into the pistons as well.

The head is a 2.0 litre head fitted with much bigger volvo valves and stock lifters modified to run as solid. Custom cams, double valve springs and lash caps for adjustment.

The inner drivers have round stock steel welded on the outside for strength

The header was built by someone in Seattle buti don't know if there is any science behind its shape. I do know the engine was built to rev and the header does seem to flow well...lools like it would also fit on a 16v installed in a 99.

[Mezzanine]

The pistons are Mahle 92 mm flat top pistons for a vw. I have the number written down somewhere but they are intended for an air cooled VW. The engine has stock rods that have been offset bushed to adjust for the piston difference. The block is bored about .100 over to fit the pistons. There is valve relief cut into the pistons as well.

Interesting. So is it safe to assume that the valve reliefs do not properly line up with the valve position for the SAAB head?
What RPM is the engine built to rev to?
Thanks for the info.

[Crazyswede]

The pistons are Mahle 92 mm flat top pistons for a vw. I have the number written down somewhere but they are intended for an air cooled VW. The engine has stock rods that have been offset bushed to adjust for the piston difference. The block is bored about .100 over to fit the pistons. There is valve relief cut into the pistons as well.

Interesting. So is it safe to assume that the valve reliefs do not properly line up with the valve position for the SAAB head?

The valve relief in these pistons was cut to match the valves in this head. These are flat top pistons to begin with. Not sure if that answers your question

What RPM is the engine built to rev to?

Supposedly 9000 rpm. I'll be happy with 8000.

Thanks for the info.

[Jon1]

More progress:








I needed to "borrow" my rotisserie to do some garage modifications

http://www.nysocphotos.com/Jon-Williams-Garage/The-Garage/The-Garage/35637057_GhcC6Q#!i=2991936083&k=pC7hvxQ

[Crazyswede]

I should be back down this weekend providing the weather isn't crummy again

[Jon1]

Your car should be back on the rotisserie by then......

[Crazyswede]

Your car should be back on the rotisserie by then......

I have plenty of other things to do that don't need the rotisserie if you need it

[Geoff]

Hey Jon, nice rack!

[Crazyswede]

Jon's internal garage storage system is likely the 8th wonder of the world. Even more amazing is not only did he design and build it all himself but he also installed it all. most of those shelves cantilever off of the wall

[Jon1]

I am working on a motor storage rack in the back of the garage; I should be able to store 16 engine/transmissions when completed.

[Crazyswede]

I am working on a motor storage rack in the back of the garage; I should be able to store 16 engine/transmissions when completed.

I think your project warrants its own thread. And for an interesting comparison...I measured the internal dimension of my current house and it measures 17'x26'...it would fit into one of Jon's Garage bays.

[DeLorean]

We have a similar engine storage rack in our Quonset hut, however it's not quite as specialized, as we do not have ONLY classic 900 Saabs. a slab of think wood works just as well, you can just sit classic 900 engines, as well as almost any other engine that will stand up under it's own weight.

[Crazyswede]

after "repairing" the blower motor on the 98 this weekend I started to work on the new intake manifold for the car. The old system was using a Hilborn intake manifold originally intended for a Ford Pinto 2000cc motor. The unit was bolted and pinned to an aluminum plate that was used to adapt the bolt patter on the intake to the bolt pattern on the head. Because Pinto intake was designed to bolt directly to the head and the Saab head is pitched over at a 45 degree angle there were some clearance issues with the hood. To prevent the intake runners from hitting the hood they introduced an elbow that allowed the runners to run straight after the bend...unfortunately the fuel rail was hitting the hood so there was a hole cut in the hood and covered with a scoop to aid in clearance.

pic of the old setup:


While the setup had its issues it did work and the throttle response did feel very impressive. I wanted to use an ITB setup for the new build on the car both for performance improvements and to help clean up the engine bay a bit. I had a 2.1 intake and have seen both Luke's Weber setup and a place in Sweden that does the same. I picked up a 45mm Weber flange off of ebay. Yesterday I cut the plenum off of the intake with a hack saw leaving plenty of extra runner in place so we could have some bits to practise welding with and also to allow room for lining up the final cut.




I have also been looking around for ITB options and I very much like the Jenvey setup but have been less than enthusiastic about slapping down $700 for a pair. I have been watching ebay for deals and stumbled on an Auction for some Nissan Skyline RB26 throttle plates. The skyline is a 6 cylinder engine so there are 3 pairs of throttle plate assemblies with the linkage. The bolt pattern looks similar to a DCOE pattern so maybe with some luck they will bolt on directly. Look like this:



The last pieces I will need will be the appropriate air horns and some sort of filter setup.

[Crazyswede]

Research indicates the throttle plates will not bolt up directly to a weber DCOE manifold though the center bore spacing on the runners is close enough to not be much of an issue. I have already found some people who have done the same thing I wanted to and they made a pretty simple adapter.

one:

[paulh]

Theres also this option that I noticed lately http://www.ebay.com/itm/48mm-ITB-Thrott ... 98&vxp=mtr Definitely cheaper than previous options, as well as more basic, though it looks like your option is pretty similar and probably still cheaper. Looks like fun!

Paul