200$?!?! Alright, I'm coming over... The Crinkles story

Well,  there were no RX8s at any of the local pick-n-pulls so I guess we will have to either shop around or wait to get upgraded injectors. 

In the mean time, I wanted to get a few more items checked off the list (and take a break from body work) 

The idle air bypass valve was just open to the elements so to keep local flora and fauna out of there, and prevent boost from leaking down, it needed to be plumbed into the intake system. 

I apparently didn't take any pictures of the build process, but you can see here the stock hose meets the Y for the BOV quite nicely. 

And all back together. 

Now during the first test drive, the car did stop running before we left, a problem we attributed to my brother kicking the ECU/ Jump board/ naked wires that were just sitting around on the floor of the car. 

So before anymore testing is done, something a little more permanent should be installed. To the Computer! 

Well I guess, first, I sat on the floor of the garage with a pair of calipers and a notebook for 45 minutes but after that, To the Computer! 

This is actually Version 2- the first one had very flimsy little tabs to hold the speeduino board in place and they broke immediately. 

Round two! Print!

Much better results on the second go- around.

And of course a lid as well. 

One PNP ECU for half the price and 50 times the effort!

Just Checking in to say this project ain't dead! (It has slowed down a touch though)

But I found some Bigger injectors from an RX-8 via E-bay, and my brother found these gems locally. 

$ 220 for coilovers and the wheels were...$300? I need to check my notes but I think they only add about $100 to the budget because the old wheel price was close to $200. 

Anyway, the big development round these parts is...blown headgasket. 

Well I think so since after the last test drive, i noticed the "coolant" temperature was rather high, turns out it was actually the air temperature that was high, since there was zero coolant in the block. 

That's a big 'Ol whoopsie with no one to blame but myself. Added coolant and plenty of it decided to promptly exit the vehicle via the exhaust pipe. 

So looks like it was tear-down time. 

On the upside, the new injectors were much easier to install this way, lol.

Also, as you can see more than the necessary amount of disassembly happened.

Partially because I bought new stiffer valve springs and partially because I wanted to port, polish and deck the head, while it was out. 

Head was not so warped, it was only out by about 2.5 thousandths but I already came this far so...

Shiney!

Also, not much to be done on the port and polish but maybe a 1/16" all around on the gasket match. 

Certainly wouldn't be worth it if everything wasn't already apart. 

Anyway she's back together now and you can see those new yellow injectors peaking out. Time to start over on the tuning front!

Well, The next major step was tuning and my brother has a monopoly on the tuning software and the know how on how it works. (Which is to say he has more than zero) 

So I jumped back in to some more fiberglass. 

The rears of the fender flares needed a bit more substance and a smoother edge, so I put a very thin slice of pine inside before wrapping it in fiberglass.

Also, I got tired of moving the shell around by hand so I assembled the old rotisserie I had built for the MG (decades ago) and then repurposed for the VW (years ago), and repurposed it again to hold the Saab body.

Well that fender is still looking mighty lumpy, so now on to the long, long, slow process of smoothing it out. 

I started out using Bondo mixed with fiberglass resin. And it worked well in lieu of a gel coat, except it kept gumming up the sandpaper something fierce. I was thinking this was due to the fiberglass or the way it was mixed but no, actually, did you guys know this? Name brand BOnDo sucks. it's not good. I got a big ol gallon tub of evercoat body filler and it is miles better. One sheet of sandpaper lasts for an hour instead of 5 minutes.

Anyway, there's 4 weeks worth of work over the course of these three boring pictures. 

But, here's your payoff. 

She. is. coming. together. 

Oh yeah, also, this. 

Hells yeah there's boost noises!

YES!

So happy when there's a new post for this build.

Flares are looking great!

This car looks soo good!