And so it begins...

[GRMPer]

I washed the Saab this afternoon, pulled the hood, lights and skidplate and did a compression test:

155, 145, 125, 185.

Oddly enough, the engine doesn't smoke a bit.


So.....

That engine and 4-speed are coming out and I'll try to rig up something to run some compression numbers on the 'rebuilt' engine that is attached to the 5-speed.

I've got 3 months before TN...and lots to do.

Per

[max]

Man, if we didn't know better, we'd never guess that you worked for a prominent motorsports magazine Per! Don't you guys have a big mechanics crew to help you get everything fixed on the car in 5 minutes?

I kid I kid!

[GRMPer]

Yea....honestly, Luke's team effort makes ours look like fucko the clown.

But...that said, no one ever can say we're selling out.

Per

[Luke]

Ha, that was definatly a high point for the service crew. We are normally much more disorganized but we've been working on developing sort of a system and set of checks as well as organizing our tools and spares better so that they are accessible in a hurry. Matt Joseph FTW!

[GRMPer]

The more I think about those compression numbers, the more I'm thinking the head needs some work. I'm going to squirt a little oil in #3 and see if that brings it up...if it doesn't, then my theory is confirmed and this engine might just get a freshened head/good cam.

[Luke]

Did you pull the cam cover off the other engine and see how nice it looks yet?

[max]

Yea....honestly, Luke's team effort makes ours look like fucko the clown.

But...that said, no one ever can say we're selling out.

Per

You should have seen us the first couple of times we went to a race...

[GRMPer]

I reran the numbers, yep, 155, 150, 135, 185...and it looks like it's in the head. So...I started tearing down the spare engine/5-speed combo. The head looks like it was freshened, and the block has been separated from the transmission at one point, but the bores look like they need a honing at least. So..I'm going to tear down this engine and port/deck the head.

Pics will be uploaded on our site shortly.

[GRMPer]

So, what's a good source for B-motor engine bits and pieces like pistons/gaskets/bearings/etc?

[Jordan]

You can try ips-parts.com and also eeuroparts.com even though they don't list the 99, the 79-80 900 had the b-motor. Check the parts descriptions sometimes though, since some parts are listed as b-motor, but descriptions say 81-88..yadda yadda,which is the later h-motor.

[Luke]

Bearing should all be the same for H and B. Should be sourceable from just about anywhere. MSS is also a really good source, they have a lot of NOS stuff. You can get nice forged pistons from MSS, Venolia and others.

[GRMPer]

I'm kind of thinking that most of my work will be in the head...if it needs new pistons (and not just new rings), I'll probably go with those 9.3 slugs from the earlier cars...

The crank pulley on the spare engine is looking very tired. Are H and B pulleys the same?

[99Super]

Per,
They are not the same...

john

[GRMPer]

doh, are there any aftermarket/new pulleys available?

seems like a good place to save some weight.

[99Super]

No, but maybe we could enlist Luke to make a batch of aluminum pulleys!

Personally, I have my machinist take off all but the one pulley I'm using for the Alt. That's a pound or so of rotating mass gone...