Niklas Enander from www.classicsaabracing.com had a little boutique at the IntSaab2011 event selling various performance parts for the two stroke and V4. I decided to buy the Pertronix breakerless ignition kit for the two stroke just to minimize any ignition problems and improve reliability.
There’s two versions of the kit for two strokes – one for Saabs with the vacuum hose that goes from the firewall to the distributor and one for those without. I don’t know what the difference is but apparently there is a difference since there’s two kits. The kit cost around 180 euros so it’s not exactly cheap.
So, dad decided to install it and here’s a few pics.
The distributor was taken apart, cleaned, lubricated etc. Also, dad went through all the spare distributors we had and sourced better gears.
In dad’s opinion the Pertronix was quite easy to fit and the car also started right up after installation. The car runs pretty nice now, but I still wish new gears for the distributor were availlable.
I asked Niklas if there are any plans for manufacturing new gears for the two stroke distributor but the answer was no since they would be very expensive to have manufactured. Apparently the design is pretty difficult and requires special machining.
I just stumbled upon the “donneysaab” channel – apparently Tom Donney of Tom Donney Motors – on Youtube. The channel has a few quite interesting Saab videos. Check these out:
Saab two stroke head milling. How to properly relieve the Saab two stroke head for over sized pistons or to restore the correct “crush area” in the combustion chamber.
And a pretty sweet looking 93 GT750 undergoing restoration.
… But it will not be ready. Unfortunately I have not been able to work on the car during the summer, so it will not be finished in time for IntSaab. But I will bring it on a trailer anyway.
It is in running condition though – we managed to sort most of the problems on that department. Here’s a short video:
Starting to sound pretty healthy to me
I bought a box full of new spark plugs.
Despite having excellent instructions I had a lot of difficulties getting the spark and ignition timing right.
I realized I had a short nose distributor on the longnose and it was not working well either.
So we took apart two longnose distributors to built one decent.
It worked out pretty well as you hear on the video. But we still need to change the springs on the centrifugal advance unit – It’s causing the spark to wander too much.
I still have some work on the electricals. The signal switch wiring is different in 1966 and 1964!
I finally got all the electrics sorted out. The car has combined wire harnesses from 1964 (engine), 1966 (cabin) and V4 (rear), so there was a little bit of figuring out what connects where and which wires are not needed… But it’s all working now:
Front parking lights.
Rear end is close to finished.
Stone guards.
I’m trying to figure out if this is the correct locking knob for the door – I have a bunch of different sorts…
Windscreen wipers.
Rear shelf in place. Still needs the front edge rubber which hasn’t been cleaned yet.
Basically I can now fit the dash! I still need the little card pieces in the footwell and need to do some sound insulation. Also I do not have the headliner and need to make it myself or have one made…
I’m hoping that I will get the Sport seats before IntSaab. I don’t know if I can get the car completely finished before it but hopefully it will be in good enough shape that I can bring it to the event anyway.
Some progress on the two stroke again. I managed to get a Saab 95 front window rubber from a fellow Saabclub member and the old rear window rubber was only cracked at couple places so it was used as such.
Rear fenders are in place. The rubber strip between body and the fenders is thicker than the original but then again it hides some of the fitting problems (it’s not that easy to make everything fit perfectly on car that has been rolled over and has parts from many different donors).
Check the photos:
The grille attached.
Front fenders ready for install.
Windscreen mounted.
Nice fit despite the car having been rolled over.
The rear shelf painted and ready for install.
I found decent rubber lists for the rear shelf from the spares.
Rear window in the process of being mounted.
Boot lid.
The thicker rubber list hides some of the fitting problems.
New door handle and lock.
Tax sticker from the last year this car was in use!
Posted by admin on Wednesday Apr 6, 2011 Under Enthusiasts
Me and my friend Tomi “Tikkis” Tikanmäki have a new project.
We are collecting info and pictures of the Finnish Saab Works Team of 1970′s. Saab Works Finland built 19 full specs Saab 96 rally cars and 2 Saab 99 16 valve cars from 1970 onwards and brought home many international and scandinavian victories for Saab. Many of the cars have survived to this day, which makes this project (finding out their history) very exciting. The long term goal is to collect a comprehensive archive of all the drivers, cars, the team, etc.
I’m sorry the site is currently in Finnish only, we still have a ton of info and pics to upload so the english translation will come later: www.saabworks.fi
But at least you can check out the cars from the top navigation (they are indexed by the registration number and all the Saab Works Finland team cars can be found under the Saab Works Finland tab). There are also other cars featured on the site, just click through the top menu to see them.
Woodbecker Motorsport is Tomi’s team – he drives the AYA-10 Saab 96 ExWorks rally car in the Historic Rally Trophy here in Finland and does quite well in it also. AYA-10 was the first Saab 96 built by Saab Works Finland for Leo Kinnunen to compete in the 1970 Rally Of The 1000 Lakes. It’s very cool that the same car is still being raced 40 years later.
We are very interested in all pictures and materials concerning the Finnish teams efforts abroad. Finns participated in many rallies in Scandinavia and also the RAC in many years. If you have info, statistics, interviews from old magazines, pictures or anything related to the blue&white cars and their drivers, we would very much appreciate a scan or copy. Please contact us at saabworks@gmail.com.
