63 Bullnose Rally Project

THE place for technical discussions concering the construction and preparation of SAABs for all forms of motorsport, Rally, Road Racing, Auto-X etc....
Sean Tennis
Posts: 92
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:34 pm
Number of Saabs currently owned: 30
Location: Seattle, Wa.

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby Sean Tennis » Sun Dec 07, 2008 11:31 am

Group 4 early 96's used poly windows-doors,sides and rear. The mounting system for the door windows was in the stock hidge at the front of the window. The rear of the Door window has a knob glued/screwed (interior side of the car) onto it about an inch forward of the rear and several inches from the top back edge (so not to interfir with wind deflector). On the lower edge of window about three inches forward of the back a leather strap was attached. The leather strap set next to the window verticle inside the door, would go through the window opening and then would hang over into the passanger compartment-on the door metal frame itself inside the car was a small knob/post, the leather strap had holes punched in it every few inches to the end, these holes would be latched over the knob/post on the door to hold the window in different positions. The knob on the window is used to assit in raising and lowering the window...
IMHO,
Sean Tennis

modernbeat
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby modernbeat » Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:34 pm

It took three events to work out the issues, but the Bullnose completed all the stages at the Roxton Rallye de Paris this last weekend.

Video of the noise maker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O88wAMY1wb4

Pics are here:
http://s683.photobucket.com/albums/vv19 ... ton_Paris/

Image

Image

Image

Yes, it's a stroked Monte Carlo motor in a Bullnose SAAB. And thanks to Bud Clark, it's a screamer.

Image

User avatar
Geoff
Team Turbo Troll Crew
Posts: 3888
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 3:31 pm
Nickname: Geoff
Number of Saabs currently owned: 6
Location: Nude Humpshire

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby Geoff » Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:23 pm

I saw some pictures linked from SpecialStage last night. I was smiling at the roof rack!

I also spent the weekend co-driving in a bullnose 96 at Rally New York.
Image

We were the 000 car but it was still quick!

I'm glad it all went well for you. What is the displacement on that stroked Monte Carlo engine? Bruce's car is a 750cc bored out to 850cc with the full web crank (for higher compression), some fancy pistons (high compression probably), and a shaved head. He has a rare dual Solex carb (looks similar to a Weber IDF) with a SAAB Sport & Rally manifold and intake for it. For whatever reason everyone he has ever talked to said that they couldn't get that carb setup to work, they only run under perfect conditions or not at all but Bruce's works great in all weather. We have enough power to accelerate (slowly) up mountains... Down the mountain gets exciting.
The kind of dirty that doesn't wash off :eyebrows:

User avatar
Jordan
Site Admin
Posts: 4068
Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:38 pm
Number of Saabs currently owned: 6
Location: Vernon, CT
Contact:

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby Jordan » Tue Mar 29, 2011 3:08 pm

Glad he got the roof sorted out! I see he decided to keep the exhaust down low to attract the rocks.

modernbeat
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby modernbeat » Tue Mar 29, 2011 3:56 pm

Note that the engine is from a longnose with the waterpump on the front of the engine. See the photo in the previous post.

The motor on the '63 is a Bud Clark stage 3 built on a 850cc engine. We did get the Sports crank and did shave the head. It's also got custom pistons to Bud's spec (can't remember if they are the new Wiseco or old Venola in there right now). The transmission is a mix-and-match of OEM parts from different years with some massaging. As it stands now, the modified air cleaner can't flow enough air and we suspect the needle and seats in the float bowl can't flow enough fuel. We'll be working on those issues this summer.

We did buy a run down Sonett this winter for parts. We refurbished the front and rear brakes and adapted a resleeved Sonett master cylinder to the floor mounted Bullnose pedals. Portersfield sent us the wrong front pads even though we sent them the Sonett pads as an example. We got a set of Monte Carlo pads back from them and had to make a quick trip to our local SAAB shop, French's Foreign Auto, for the correct parts. We also got the Sonett tank and the homologation papers that show how it was mounted in the 96.

modernbeat
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby modernbeat » Tue Mar 29, 2011 4:05 pm

We put the roof rack on to carry another spare at car shows. But, it's so handy as a handle to extract ourselves out of the cage we left it on for the rally.

And here's a few more pics.

Image

Image

Image

And full on car-show mode:

Image

User avatar
airsweden
Posts: 756
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:36 pm
Number of Saabs currently owned: 0
Location: Oceania

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby airsweden » Tue Mar 29, 2011 7:01 pm

supercool!
99 problems but a SAAB ain't 1

modernbeat
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby modernbeat » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:11 pm

Jordan wrote:Glad he got the roof sorted out! I see he decided to keep the exhaust down low to attract the rocks.


We've actually done a lot of work on the exhaust to keep it tucked up as much as possible. The skid plate on the front is new. We were worried about bashing the expansion chamber, so we designed a plate out of 1/4" aluminum and had the bends put in at a local metal fab shop, then trimmed it and mounted it. The exhaust also features a cut-out so we can run the 6' open exhaust for stages and then divert it through a muffler for transits or while in town.

User avatar
Jordan
Site Admin
Posts: 4068
Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:38 pm
Number of Saabs currently owned: 6
Location: Vernon, CT
Contact:

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby Jordan » Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:11 pm

If you didn't see the old thread, Bruce was having problems with the exhaust getting knocked off so he put it on the roof... then rolled the car and managed to knock it off anyway. :bawl:

modernbeat
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby modernbeat » Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:26 pm

With all the engine development we've been doing, and the radical porting of the engine the carbs can't keep up. The power came on at 3500 and we were getting choked off at 4000! Even the biggest Monte Carlo carbs are too small. So we opened up a modified manifold and build an adapter to run a single Weber carb off a Porsche 911. This should be good for 8000+ RPM if we ever see it, and adequate for our expected power peak of 6500 RPM.

Image

simo96
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:55 am
Number of Saabs currently owned: 6

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby simo96 » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:14 am

Mine has the Sonnet 2 carbs, but Saab used at one time two Solex's off a Fulvia (side draft, not the lancia down draft ones normally associated with Saab tuning). The used one full one and cut the choke and plugged the other a la Mini.
Vennola pistons are quite heavy and the ones I have, have a 3 mm longer skirt and 0.5mm lower crown.

We have them made to spec from Lamberetta forgings either in dome or flat top. Chris's racer is producing about 100bhp on flat tops of this type, but it did take some development to stop the pistons melting.

simo96
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:55 am
Number of Saabs currently owned: 6

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby simo96 » Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:27 am

You should get over 4000 rpm with even later 34 tripples. John Parker over here runs 75mm pistons and grp 2 porting with xp shafts and large chokes on later 34's. He once ran without any chokes in the carbs and the thing flew, but I think he wondered about fueling on light throttle so opted to put them back in.
I know you need the air box cut with the window in the back and twin pipes to get enough air in there. We tried blocking off the rear window and taking the extra pipe to the exhaust as a cold set up and the thing would not rev past 4000 rpm. Also if it is cold carb icing has a similar effect and richens the mixture up too.
John's car is somewhere over 85bhp and is the best rally engine out of the few peoples cars I have experience of over here.
One thing you could do is slim the throttle shaft down as I belive this makes a big difference on all the stroker carbs. Also its probably worth getting XP's tuning guide as Niklas has bench flowed and dyno'd everything in stages. You will see that there are a few myths disproved, like you must have a GT crank and line boring and increasing the height of the transfer ports.

simo96
Posts: 79
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:55 am
Number of Saabs currently owned: 6

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby simo96 » Tue Feb 07, 2012 3:05 am

Just looked at your airbox (photo's didnt come up at first) most of our guys run a round filterbox with about a 8"X2" window in the back and another pipe fitted that runs to the exhaust or can be lifted to cool air from the front. If they dont run this they wont rev. I doubt you can get enough air through the pipe to the filters. The other thing to do would be to make a box like the works used with 6 filters. The only problem is being able to pull warm air if the conditions change i.e. night, freezing conditions etc.

User avatar
V4_guy
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:53 pm
Number of Saabs currently owned: 4
Location: Louisville, KY

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby V4_guy » Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:34 pm

Out of curiosity, what size tires are you running on those steelies?

modernbeat
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

Re: 63 Bullnose Rally Project

Postby modernbeat » Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:20 am

The outer shell of the airbox is the only stock part of it. There are three filters in there, but air enters the snorkel AND through the three holes in the top where we deleted the rubber rings when we built the custom filters.

We've tried running without the airbox and it wasn't the choking point. The venturis in the small Solex carbs are. And we aren't roadracing where we could get away with larger venturis. We need the vacuum signal they give to get -some- responsiveness to the throttle.

The tires are a little tall, but they are one of the few aggressive tires that will fit on the stock rims and under the stock fenders, and as a bonus, they were period correct to the 1970 target year. The tire is the Mickey Thompson Mini Mag. It was developed in the early years of Baja racing to run on the front of VW Rail jobs. We were afraid it wouldn't have enough forward bite and we'd have to hand groove it. But it's been adequate so far. We haven't punctured any of them nor have we knocked one off the bead. But they don't bite like a modern rally tire.
http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/off- ... em=MiniMag


Return to “SAAB MOTORSPORT TECH”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests