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1970V4 V4 Fanatic
USA 313 Posts | Posted - 23 Jan 2011 : 15:58:38
| I've made some progress on my '72 96, now driving it daily.
The plan now is to have the heads redone for unleaded fuel and shaved to bump up the compression. I have a two-barrel manifold with a Weber DGAV carb. This, along with an F4 cam and Jetex exhaust should give me the power I'm looking for. I have been considering big valve heads but that may bring things out of my price range.
The suspension will get all new bushings, MSS springs, and some stiffer shocks. I have a pair each of both Konis and Bilsteins for the front so it all depends on what I can find for the rear. Skandix sells the Bilsteins for $165 a pop but I hear 900 fronts will work on the rear of a 96.
Right now I'm running the stock 4 inch steel rims with skinny 165R15 tires. For the time being I'll probably just put on some Sonett soccerballs with 185/65/15 tires. Eventually I'll like to get some steel rims widened so I can safely run 195s, I saw a lot of 95/96s in Sweden with these and they look great.
Here are a few new pics:
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Wheelspin V4 Beginner
Denmark 99 Posts | Posted - 23 Jan 2011 : 17:58:38
| Great to see your project up and running, and in the environment it was made for. You mentioned that you have both Koni's and Bilstein shocks for the front. I'm guessing that the Koni's are adjustable and the Bilstein's aren’t?? For that reason I would definitely go for the Koni's. Bilsteins are usually designed for the heavier SAAB 99, and this will make your 96 very stiff in the front. As for the rear shocks: Although the 900's front shocks might fit, I wouldn’t use these for the same reason as described above. Unless it's for dirt track racing or rallying you would get almost no function out of them. I'm not even sure that adjustable koni's can be slackened enough to give a reasonable level of comfort. There are other alternatives for the rear though. When I bought new ones for mine I found out that they are the same as for the front on Suzuki-Samurai (A small 4x4 offroader, try googling it) and Opel GT, a small German built Corvette Stingray C3 clone, which was also sold in the US around the time our V4's were new. It might be a long shot, since none of these cars are particularly common, but it should make it possible to widen your search parameters a bit. Regards, Mads | |
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1970V4 V4 Fanatic
USA 313 Posts | Posted - 23 Jan 2011 : 21:37:32
| Mads, I think you're right about the shocks. I had Bilstein HDs on my '85 900 two-door. It handled great but they were so stiff they'd almost rattle the fillings out of my teeth. I'm going to probably put the Bilsteins on eBay and see how the front Konis are on their softest setting, after I do the springs. Right now it's got its original nearly 40 year old springs with some newish KYB Gas-A-Just shocks in front and some black (Boge maybe?) shocks in the rear. They did sell Samurais and Opel GTs here so thanks for the tip on that, I'll see what I can come up with.
This afternoon I changed the engine oil, flushed the gearbox out with some cheap ATF, and then refilled with Redline MTL synthetic gear oil. It shifts better now and is quieter.
I love this car! | |
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1970V4 V4 Fanatic
USA 313 Posts | Posted - 05 Feb 2011 : 17:00:36
| My Simons exhaust just arrived this morning, it looks great. I probably won't get a chance to install it for a while.
This weekend's project is installing a stereo system, working on this while my infant daughter is napping. | |
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UK_Sub V4 Guru
United Kingdom 2555 Posts | Posted - 05 Feb 2011 : 20:10:40
| Car looks great and that exhaust is excellent - it's fitted to my 95 and made a big difference to the performance. | |
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James Ranaldi V4 Guru
United Kingdom 1475 Posts | Posted - 09 Feb 2011 : 20:26:45
| Hi 1970V4,
I fitted one of these to my car......lovely noise.
one tip:- assemble it all loosely from front to back before you tighten anything up. I only had one problem. I had to drill a new hole for the rear hanger, otherwise perfect fit.
Also compulsory to assemble it on the floor in your living room
Looks great off the car...I felt like a kid with a new toy.
Have fun. | |
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john-saab Administrator
United Kingdom 2679 Posts | Posted - 09 Feb 2011 : 21:58:24
| ^^^WHAT HE SAID^^^ but fitting it to a 95 creates a few "tight spots"..same results at the end = ear to ear grin! | |
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1970V4 V4 Fanatic
USA 313 Posts | Posted - 06 May 2011 : 13:07:59
| I'm still happily driving this car daily and fixing little things as I go along. I'm getting ready for a 600+ mile trip in a couple of weeks.
I spent some time this week refinishing a set of soccerballs, they required a lot of cleaning and scrubbing before apply two coats of primer, three coats of silver wheel paint, and three coats of clear. I'm very happy how they came out. I'm going to let them dry for a week before I get a set of 175/65/15 Yokohamas fitted. This is actually the same size tyre as on the base MINI. I can't wait to see how this car feels on modern rubber.
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1970V4 V4 Fanatic
USA 313 Posts | Posted - 14 May 2011 : 23:28:09
| I got around to putting on my refinished soccerballs with new Yokohama tyres today. Wow, what a difference in handling with the modern rubber!
Tomorrow I'm finally going to install my Jetex exhaust. | Edited by - 1970V4 on 14 May 2011 23:28:56 | |
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UK_Sub V4 Guru
United Kingdom 2555 Posts | Posted - 15 May 2011 : 08:38:35
| The wheels look great - can't wait to hear how you get on with the exhaust, it'll make a great noise and makes a big difference to the performance!
Simon | |
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1970V4 V4 Fanatic
USA 313 Posts | Posted - 16 May 2011 : 15:24:25
| I had a day of serious wrenching yesterday including dropping the engine/gearbox in my '89 900, replacing two 96 heater control valves and installing the Jetex exhaust on my 96. What a difference! It sounds great, feels more powerful, and runs much smoother! I'm just about ready for my 600 mile trip this week. | |
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James Ranaldi V4 Guru
United Kingdom 1475 Posts | Posted - 16 May 2011 : 20:46:08
| Well done that man.....enjoy your trip | |
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Dirtbiker V4 Guru
United Kingdom 1060 Posts | Posted - 18 May 2011 : 20:10:00
| Love this car, one of my favourites on here. Really like the look of the vinyl interior. Is that standard over in the States? Mine is shot so will be getting retrimmed and that looks really nice. Also loving the tacho mounted on the steering column, could we see a close up of how it's mounted. Good luck with the car - looks great! | |
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1970V4 V4 Fanatic
USA 313 Posts | Posted - 24 May 2011 : 14:56:31
| quote: Originally posted by Dirtbiker Love this car, one of my favourites on here. Really like the look of the vinyl interior. Is that standard over in the States? Mine is shot so will be getting retrimmed and that looks really nice. Also loving the tacho mounted on the steering column, could we see a close up of how it's mounted. Good luck with the car - looks great!
Thanks for the kind words! Perforated vinyl was standard on U.S.-spec 95/96s from 1971-73, possibly 1970 too. I know that '69s had the cloth inserts. It's in poor condition on my front seats, I've found that MB Tex (that wonderful Mercedes-Benz vinyl) is an almost perfect match so I'm going to have them retrimmed with that material eventually.
The tach is actually held in place by a large hose clamp that loops around the steering column, it's a simple and cheap solution that doesn't look bad at all. This is the tach I used, it looks like it's available for around $100 USD but I actually got mine in a trade for helping a guy fix his 99: http://vwparts.aircooled.net/VDO-4-8000-RPM-Tachometer-Black-Face-Black-Case-p/v333901.htm
The car did great on a 1200 mile round trip to and from the Carlisle Imports Show this past weekend. This was in spite of the tired engine which does burn a bit of oil, I had to add a quart. This winter I plan on pulling it and rebuilding it as well as overhauling the suspension which still has all of its original bushings.
Here I am at this past weekend's event doing my best Erik Carlsson victory pose.
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Derek V4 Guru
United Kingdom 2187 Posts | Posted - 24 May 2011 : 18:04:42
| Top man JD! | |
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