Project RingSaab - PH style...
Discussion
OK, need some design input for PH-worthy livery of this lovely 2-door 900 Turbo in Jewish Racing Gold. Bought it as a rolling shell for the princely sum of £100; seller took out the engine/trans and wants the interior, but I've had him put it through MOT before he started stripping it. 
Cost: £52 for a new secondhand headlamp (lights are in the trunk, as they tend to 'dissappear' at the industrial estate where the car is located) plus £30 for the MOT itself.
Goal: a learner 'Ring tool for as low cost as possible: if I embed it in the armco, the latter is expensive enough not to want to worry about the car.
The project will involve the following:
As you can see, the bodywork is in pristine order
I'll keep you posted.
Cost: £52 for a new secondhand headlamp (lights are in the trunk, as they tend to 'dissappear' at the industrial estate where the car is located) plus £30 for the MOT itself.Goal: a learner 'Ring tool for as low cost as possible: if I embed it in the armco, the latter is expensive enough not to want to worry about the car.
The project will involve the following:
- Install a non-intercooled '84 900 Turbo 8 valve engine and 'box
- Rig up some kind of water injection
- Tweak the APC boost control
- Install Sparco bucket and four point belts, plus a standard passenger seat
- Install Safety Devices rear cage (if they still carry that item0
- Strip out as much weight as possible
- Be-sticker it in PH livery
As you can see, the bodywork is in pristine order
I'll keep you posted.
hugoagogo said:
matt grey, swedish airforce stickers etc
Oooooh I like that - but alas there's no budget for even a cheapo respray (or foil) - and I bet it would look really, really, really ratty painting it with a brush (I do need to cross the German border in it to reach the Ring - plus the chance it will be 'disposed of' by the bin men when parked in the street 
Apart from the bonnet - which looks like someone attacked it with an abrasive pad at some point - and the wheelarch edges the OE paint is actually not too bad...Steve Evil said:
Surely it's a case of FWD and RWD though and it's not a tough argument from there..
Yes, and the Nordschleife is the place for tail out antics... I think people misunderstand the scope of this project.
The Nürburgring is great fun and very challenging in any car. The point is to make it cheap and safe fun, and get lots of seat time getting to know the place properly on a budget of practically nil. Not sure running a 20 year old Alfa in such a demanding environment will ever be cheap - I did consider a 155 rather than a 75 for a moment on the virtue of them being dirt cheap, but quickly realised what I'd let myself in for - what's needed is something that's very solid without being too heavy (which would rob you of a lot of fun as well as loads of money for consumables).
The Nürburgring is also most definitely not a track by modern standards, so I'm not building a good 'track' car in se. This is a learner car - my other 900T for all its FWD-ness is rather too advanced for that: it has too much power, too much grip running on semi racing compound tyres and it get its tail out on lifting the throttle too easily. It's also got the accolade of 'best handling FWD car I know' by a certain GT/touring car driver who took it out at Brunthingthorpe - if I wanted a good track car, surely that would be preferable to a rather average (steering, gearchange) RWD one. During the best part of 15 years, I pretty much know how to make these beasts go, stop and handle - but with this one I won't bother much (for now at least).
As a relative novice, for a challenging and unpredictable environment I'll choose a safe and predictable car every time. Nether the 'hot' Saab nor the TVR fits that bill, hence this little project. I don't pretend to be Schuey, besides the 2-door 900T8 in race trim was good enough for Tiff Needell and Damon Hill back then, anyway.
As an aside, here's a video of Classic 900s racing at the Ring: http://www.saabtuning.de - 2005_big
(I know it's a repost, but it's clear not everyone here has seen it
)Edited by 900T-R on Wednesday 12th September 09:27
For all the money you're spending on it though to learn it (that cage and so-on isn't exactly going to be cheap) wouldn't you be better off speaking to someone like Ed (Hammerwerfer) and taking one of the 75 Experience Alfa's out for the day? I learnt more with him in one day last week than I would have done on several trips without any training and just trying to learn by feel, because as you say it isn't a straightforward track and there are a lot of strange lines to take.
Steve Evil said:
For all the money you're spending on it though to learn it (that cage and so-on isn't exactly going to be cheap)
We're talking definitely sub-grand here (and I doubt I'd lose much if at any point I'd break it for spares, given the prices paid for c900 stuff). Makes more sense now? Steve Evil said:
Yeah at that price I would imagine you can't go far wrong, would still highly recommend getting some form of instruction, even if it's just a regular in your passenger seat giving out pointers.
Oh absolutely - in fact there's quite a few of us here (most of whom I know from the local fast Saab community) who regularly organise/partake in 'Ring trips. It's only three hours and a bit from here after all... 900T-R said:
Hammerwerfer said:
Find something else for a 'ring toy. It would take an awful lot of work to make that into something that would actually be fun to drive there.
You don't know much about classic 900 turbo's, do you?Hammerwerfer said:
900T-R said:
Hammerwerfer said:
Find something else for a 'ring toy. It would take an awful lot of work to make that into something that would actually be fun to drive there.
You don't know much about classic 900 turbo's, do you?900T-R said:
Hammerwerfer said:
900T-R said:
Hammerwerfer said:
Find something else for a 'ring toy. It would take an awful lot of work to make that into something that would actually be fun to drive there.
You don't know much about classic 900 turbo's, do you?
When I was at uni I bought an '87 Pre face lift Saab 900 Saloon.
It was only a 2.0 carb one, in beige with rust in all the usual places, but it was great car. I paid 100 quid for it with 12 months tax and test!
Since then I've always had a special place in my heart for the old 'Classics'.
Good luck with the 'Ring project! I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.
It was only a 2.0 carb one, in beige with rust in all the usual places, but it was great car. I paid 100 quid for it with 12 months tax and test!
Since then I've always had a special place in my heart for the old 'Classics'.
Good luck with the 'Ring project! I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.
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