86 900 Street / Track Project

[SwedeSport]

Some pics of recent progress on my hillclimb prep. Here's a few shots of the seat track, and battery relocation.

I welded nuts onto the lower half of the track slide, and thread a bolt thru the top half to essentially turn the slider track into a fixed track. It really helps with making the seat more rigid. The lever only locked the inboard rail, and the outboard rail would slide a bit with the flex in the seat. It's pretty solid now.


I used some steel stock to make up the tray to hold the battery and box in place. I'm just going to stick with a standard battery for this car, so I was required to have a sealed box to put it in. I picked up the box from Summit. It came in black, and didnt have someones logo stamped in it. Like Moroso, or Jegs. Seems like a decent unit, and should hold the battery securely.

[SwedeSport]

Here is the seat track mod.

[SwedeSport]

I was having a dilemma with mounting the kill switch on my car. Being primarily a street car I did not want to have a switch sticking out of the car somewhere thru a hole hacked in the sheet metal. I came up with what I believe to be a somewhat elegant solution. I bent a piece of aluminum sheet metal into a 90, rounded the edges and the face to eliminate sharp points. I used a pair of 1.5 exhaust clamps to attach it to the roll cage. I found a nice set of original Saab allen bolts and nuts. I found the tether hardware at Lou's Discount Hardware at Zern's Farmers Market in Boyertown. (he always has some interesting shit) . I painted all the hardware satin black. Painted the face royal blue. I did the rest of the aluminum with VHT wrinkle black. I laid out some simple art for the graphics and screen printed white enamel on the face so even the corner volunteers can figure it out. I have some rubber covers that are made for the switch, and some of that black mesh wire protector. The idea is that it can be moved to the harness bar when Im not racing, thus avoiding passenger contact with the shut off.

[SwedeSport]

Finished product.

[Geoff]

The graphics and paint make that switch look 100% more legit.

[SwedeSport]

Also tackled the harness mounts too. I need to get final approval from the scrutineers, but its burned in, and better be good enough this time. I plated the floor and up the sides with 4 x 5 x 1/8 . then welded a self locking nut to the back of a piece of 1/8 angle iron. The plates are perimeter welded, and also have 6 plug welds spaced throughout the plate. Some are strategically placed where the angle iron contacts. The plate and welds were lightly cleaned up with a flap wheel, then the angle iron was burned in. I boxed in the ends of the angle with 1/8 plate steel. I welded another set of locking nuts to 3 x 3 x 1/8 plates and perimeter welded them to the floor for the submarine belts. I used Eastwood seam sealer to seal everything up, and painted the entire floor with Valspar Tractor and Implement paint. Seems to be pretty tough stuff. I mixed in the hardener but still seems to stay soft for a little while. The shoulder harness just wraps around the harness bar behind the seat. Once that is reinstalled of course. The FIA number on my seat is valid, and I will not need to make a seat back brace. I again used Dupli color fabric paint to restore the Corbeau Forza seats. The cloth versions have a tendency to sun fade when exposed to UV. I painted over the white embroidery in the seats, actually makes for a nice tone on tone look.

[DrewP]

I like my beer and my harness mounts the same: *Stout*

Looks great, they're really putting you on with all the meat you're putting in there. I wish there was a way to get the anti-sub straps back over to the lap belts mounting points like in a formula car.

Do the nuts on the backsides of the anti-sub straps protrude out the bottom of the floor pan, along with the bottom stubs of the mounting eyes? I can't really tell if the plates are risered up like the lap belt boxes, but it looks like they're just flush.

Best,
Drew

[SwedeSport]

On the sub strap mounts I welded the nut to the plate. The floor is drilled so the nut sticks thru, then I welded the nut to the floor from the back. The plate is flush to the floor. The outboard nut pokes thru at the joint of the sill side, and the floor. It is further welded from below. The inboard nut does not protrude thru the floor. Space was limited . With a slider, and console, and nearly full interior, there is really only one place to go past it all. It all could have been simpler with no interior, and a fixed seat. This is still the daily driver. Ill unclip the harnesses, and use the factory belts that still function.

[SwedeSport]

Exploring some fuel enrichment ideas to fatten up the mixture. I plan to eliminate the CIS in the future, but for now Im looking for a cheap easy way to richen it up. Talking with a VW guy recently and he gave me an idea. He said it costs maybe 10-15 bucks and will make a little more power. They would go to radio shack, get a couple of resistors, and a toggle switch, and wire it to the temp sensor on the intake. It would fool the car into thinking it was cold, and would richen up the mixture. He did say it may take some experimentation to find the right resistor values. The toggle switch would bypass the enrichment system when they were driving on the street, or getting the tailpipe sniffed. I never really bothered to learn too much about hotrodding the CIS since I had planned to nix it from the beginning. But if there is any truth to a 15.00 enrichment setup, I may want to try it.

[Jordan]

I had (done by previous owner) the cold start injector wired to a switch (you could also wire it to the WOT switch on the throttle) . If put on a manual switch you just want to remember to turn it off.... Seems like it might work to richen the mixture.

[DrewP]

They would go to radio shack, get a couple of resistors, and a toggle switch, and wire it to the temp sensor on the intake. It would fool the car into thinking it was cold, and would richen up the mixture.

We do this at the shop all the time to 'help' C900's pass smog a little easier, but we do it even easier (and since you guys are all parts hoarders it should work out for you)


Just unhook the harness from the coolant temp sensor on the head, plug it into a spare one, and leave it dangling loose on top of the engine. It runs at a lower temperature, but will still give some extra enrichment when cold and lean out a little as things gets hot.

Best,
Drew

[SwedeSport]

Im gonna try that. Im putting my dads innovate wideband on the car to try a few ideas. Just looking for a small gain for cheap. Plan on collecting pieces to ditch cis in favor of webers or throttle bodies. The car pulled 110 at the wheels on the dyno, but ran dead flat on the lean side. The hanging sensor is free, and a trip to radio shack for some resistors and a toggle switch is only a few bucks. We will see what works.

Stuff to fab the dash bar came in too. The front half of the cage goes back in , and the dash bar gets clamped in and tacked. Then back apart again to weld and paint. The door bar hardware is giving me problems because the interior is so tight between the main hoop and the side panel. Would like to refrain from hacking it up and instead try to find a better solution. Its definitely a challenge to build a racecar, and have an interior in it.

Hope to have a few pics to post this week.

[SwedeSport]

The car is coming g back together for my 5 pm Friday tech inspection for the duryea hillclimb in reading pa. My entry has been confirmed. Anyone want to come out and spectate, its free and there are several good vantage points to do so from. Although, if the car needs repairs you may be pressed into service. At the end of the event, all photos, and videos (with me in them) will be confiscated.

Info on the event can be found at the Pennsylvania hillclimb association web page. WWW.pha.org. the best time to spectate is probably Sunday morning . That's usually when you'll see the fastest runs.

Hope to see some Saab junkies out there!

[SwedeSport]

Trying to find a quart of redline MT 90 and striking out. Found redline shockproof. I'm running a 91 900s trans with synchro issues. I found the MT 90 helped it out a bit. It seeps a little at the shift shaft, and I'm trying to score a quart to have on hand at the hillclimb. Its full of MT 90, does anyone see a problem running shockproof mixed with the 90?

[Luke]

Behrents stocks it and ground shippings is next day to PA.

http://www.behrents.com/p/REDL50304.html