16 valve B motor - living the dream

[Luke]

What about using BDA bits to fill in the gaps? Could you use Cossie valves or would that be even more trouble/$$?

Good luck on the project! I can't wait to see/hear it run!

john

I had initially thought that I might be able to pull some BDA stuff into service, but after getting some spec's from some places in the UK that rebuild and manufacture new BD(X)'s it turns out that other than the basic layout and design there is really nothing dimensionally shared between the heads.

[SwedeSport]

I can see it now,.....


SAAB 99 Rally car for sale:

15,000 bucks
5,000 -the head!

Guys will pay a ton of dough for Good Head!

[sonett]

Great project!
Have you got someone to carry out the machining on the head?
Do you have any information on the cam profiles and what is the biggest inlet valve you could fit?

I havent run the cams on the cam software yet to get all the specs, but the lift is about .41". The valves are 32mm exhaust and 35mm intake, and both are made of standard 8V exhaust valves ground down, with stems cut to 6.5mm under the head. I will probably just use 6 or 6.5mm stem valves, custom made. 8mm is a huge stem these days!

I agree, ditch the Saab valves and go for something lighter and the biggest inlet valves you can.
0.41'' lift, about 10.4mm, i thought the lift would have been more.

[Luke]

[quote="sonett]I agree, ditch the Saab valves and go for something lighter and the biggest inlet valves you can.
0.41'' lift, about 10.4mm, i thought the lift would have been more.[/quote]

Looking at the drawings, I think you could maybe squeak 36mm valves into there, but its a busy cumbustion chamber, the spark plug is a tiny 10mm to keep some material between the seats. The compression ratio was at 11.5:1.
If you compare to a production SAAB 16V head with 29mm exhaust and 32 intake valves and 8.65mm lift, 10:1 compression its pretty impressive.

[sonett]

I have a 2.1 engine that i want to use on my '71 rally car, 35mm valves are possible on that, but 36mm valves look to be too big, the valve seats would overlap. Just fitting larger valves is only half the story, you need someone good enough to port the head to get them to work. Have you found someone to carry out the machining etc?

[Luke]

I have a 2.1 engine that i want to use on my '71 rally car, 35mm valves are possible on that, but 36mm valves look to be too big, the valve seats would overlap. Just fitting larger valves is only half the story, you need someone good enough to port the head to get them to work. Have you found someone to carry out the machining etc?

I will be doing some of the machine work myself. I've spent most of the last year tooling up for it, as well as selling off many odds and ends to support the project. We ran a scaled back rally season this year so I could put aside some cash. I also sold my 9-5 and am back to driving an '86 900. As you can tell I am fully commited to the project!

There are two local shops that will carry out the critical procedures, the porting, combustion chambers and cam line-boring.

http://www.leydonrestorations.com/ These guys can build anything, they have recast cylinder heads for bugattis from scratch (working in conjunction with a foundry or course)

http://www.m2race.com/
They specialize in porting and will carry out the porting and combustion chamber work.

Both shops have already seen the cylinder head, all the prints and already started some of the work.

There are also some modification to the block that need to be carried out. The jackshaft journal is bored out and a bronze bushing inserted to keep it better lubricated. There are also some oil channels that are modified.

[Jordan]

I'd think all you'd need is a good set of flat-files and some 80 grit sand paper.

[Luke]

I'd think all you'd need is a good set of flat-files and some 80 grit sand paper.

Yeah and some JB weld just in case you goof up :)

[Luke]

Let the chips fly!

There are a ton of peripheral projects on this head, the head itself is the bulk of the work, but there are pulleys, timing covers, distributors and many other assorted parts that need to be recreated.

The engine has two belt driven cams, instead of a single cam driven by a chain of the standard 8V motor.

This is the 16V engine that is on display in the saab museum. I think Geoff sent me these pics from when he was over there.
Here is a nice view of the timing components:


My "kit" came with blanks for much of these components and I have the drawings on how to finish. Making these will give me some nice practice on the mill and lathe. If you look closer you can match up the tensioning pulleys and brackets below with the above pic.

[Luke]

Here I am carving the large of the two pulleys down and sizing for the two sealed roller bearings that will get pressed inside:






Next up, the pulleys will be lightened by taking a deep radial cut on both sides.

[Luke]

So after carving the basic shape of the timing belt pulleys, they are lightened by taking some deep radiused cuts around the face of each side. This will make them a lot lighter but still plenty strong.


Chocked up on a rotary table on the bridgeport:


The cut begins:


Deeper and deeper each pass:

[paulh]

You're a madman, and this is awesome

Paul

[Luke]

You're a madman, and this is awesome

Paul

Thanks Paul, its a really fun project so far, I'm learning a lot and have some major respect for the guys that made these in the first place. I am so eager to hear what this thing sounds like full chat, but theres a long road ahead before that.

[Luke]

More work on the timing pulleys and brackets:

This is the tensioner for the larger pulley:



Josh's work has a larger rotary table than I do, so he helped me out with this



The base plate completed:

[Luke]

I feel a bit like I may be talking to myself this is week, but here some more pics incase somebodys out there!

The drawings call for modifying a standard bolt to make the stud for the belt tensioner bracket.



A little trimming in the lathe and they are ready for welding to the base plates:


A few minutes with the TIG and the baseplate for the pulleys are complete.