Picked up (3) 6061 1/4"x8"x12" plates off of ebay for making various covers and side plates etc. Also picked up one of the bolt on valve spring compressors off of ebay so I can pull my valves out and check to make sure they are still round and also so I can finish cleaning up the head. Making slow progress on the car but focusing on getting the engine back together and then will probably be tearing the gearbox down as it is the last major component to be checked out...everything else needed to be rebuilt/replaced/repaired etc.

I am planning on running either a Mitsubishi or Nippondenso alternator which are much more compact than the Saab unit and still put out around 70 amps. As I am planning on running an electric water pump I am thinking the alternator may get mounted where the stock AC compressor would have gone. I did a little research into electric power steering pumps but have not found anything that made sense from a use/cost point of view so I'll stick to the underdrive crank pulley and stock pump for now.

Sunday: used my new valve spring compressor tool and pulled all the exhaust valves, keepers, spacers, and valve springs etc. The tool can be found on ebay for about $60 and it works really well.



I also made a new coolant drain plate. I was going to use the same drain plug as the stock one but did not have a drill big enough.

Looking at my Throttle body project today and came across this picture:



the post was on another forum and was discussing the impact to flow due to the mounting method of the throttle plate. Where the setup on the left uses a 5mm shaft and the one on the right has only the plate itself. Something I never really thought about but the pivot shaft blocks a good percentage of flow.

another weekend project:

also found someone else who made an adapter to fit Nissan throttle bodies to a weber manifold. Only this adapter is for 40mm vs 45mm.