UKSaabs

Thanks guys

The thought did cross my mind, and I did find a mk4 golf splitter in the car park at work and cheekily offered it up to the bumper (it would work and cover the cooler)

At the same time i've done some measurements and the Aero bumpers I had fitted to the car before would actually cover it perfectly, Thankfully I have a new set of Aero bumpers waiting to be painted.

It was looking at one point like I'd have to cut a massive hole in the front bumper which I really didn't want to do

Been a while since an update

Finally got around to fitting the TT hybrid this week...Really not a straightforward swap I had to fabricate an oil return pipe using a 9000 TD04 pipe cut down and welded and I made an actuator bracket out of 1.5mm T304 stainless plate. Lots of shouting and swearing and I finally got it clocked and got the lines fitted (stainless braided for the one at the back and Kinugawas oversized washer kit for the front)



Ignore the cable ties (temporary until I get the rest of the pipe and fabricate a bracket for the intake) and the bad welding on the downpipe First ever attempt at welding stainless, it doesn't leak at all though

This was in the T25


Still boosted fine and everything lol

Only issue I'm having now is massive overboost

its a beast of a turbo once its running right... the extra 80bhp/80lbft over the t25 is almost perfect power wise imo

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99 9-3 se sport B234R - destroyed
E55 AMG
Meriva VXR
Corsa SriT
450smx shifter kart

Yeah it's a cracking bit of kit. It's limited to 1 bar of boost at the moment due to me misplacing my 3 bar map sensor but even at that it pulls so much better than the T25 at 1.4 bar

The mrs 9000 still reels it in slowly with the 19T at 1 bar in 3rd, but it's had a lot more work on the map than mine.

Sounds rather tasty !

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It's big, it's brassy and I'm going to blow it!

Sorted out the inlet



Stupidly loud now and makes a nice loud flutter before the dump valve opens fully

I love the sound of my 9-3 !! 3" exhaust, turbo fluttering the whole nine yards [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES].
Most on here prefer the quiet modest note the Saabs have !! Not me !! Debbi can hear me turning the corner @ the end of our road and gets a brew on.
Never had the finances to modify a decent car until last few years (started on Discovery 1s for off roading & getting about on muddy building sites) had mine Noobtuned stg 3+, full Turbo back 3" S/S exhaust + racing cat, Bsr open filter & heatshield & TurboRevs much bigger FMIC (Upto 600 bhp) sounds gr8 pottering or giving it some welly.


Great thread btw, makes me wish I'd started one when I began modding mine.




I'm from Yorkshire !! What's your Superpower ???

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I'm from Yorkshire!! What's your Superpower ??

2005 9-3 Aero Noobtune Stage 3+
2010 9-3 Tid (Quiet)

Time to do something with this again
IMG_20190319_135253 by Steve, on Flickr

Spent maybe a bit more than I should this week but hey ho

Hybrid is coming off and going onto the 9000 which has all the hardware to make use of it, going instead to a rebuilt 15T 6cm and aiming for around 300bhp or near enough. Interior is getting stripped out and a cage is going in with bucket seats (keeping it all reversible though) Ordered some black series rear axle bushes which will be joined with front ones for the arms soon along with bilstein B8's all round and a piiggyback ARB...Gonna fabricate a 6 point brace and rear strut brace also.

First things first though.....RUST!!!!!
IMG_20190319_142509 by Steve, on Flickr
IMG_20190319_143030 by Steve, on Flickr

Cut out the worst bit, the rest is just a bit flaky. Made a patch to repair it and will weld it in tomorrow

Progress

IMG_20190322_144333 by Steve, on Flickr

Patch isn't perfect as I cut it a bit short (forgot it curves like a bowl ) and welding is a bit meh due to having to chase some thin metal back but it's whole
IMG_20190320_100551 by Steve, on Flickr

Next on the list to tackle is cooler piping, as I really don't like this
IMG_20190322_152146 by Steve, on Flickr

Small amount of progress on this one, spent a couple hours last night removing carpets etc and test fitting the cage
IMG_20190405_215656 by Steve, on Flickr

I also have to replace a sill on the drivers side due to a poor repair from an accident, but I've found a solution by using a transit connect sill...it's a nice flat profile and with a bit of trimming down seems to offer up quite nicely, this one will be etched painted and sealed to the death

After a lot more digging, it seems the rust damage is more severe than first thought. The accident damage in question has been a 1/4 replacement which hasn't been sealed properly resulting in rust coming through the boot shut and creeping up the inner sill and structure. There's also some coming through the bulkhead area (it's not cracked though ) and into the wheel arch. It's not been an easy choice as I've put a lot of time and money in the car and it's one of the ever dwindling numbers of SE HOT coupes, but I think the time has come to break the car.

Incredibly sad choice but to be fair the car has done me well for 6 years being a £450 cat D survivor, and without spending an absolute era cutting sections out and welding in new metal I'd be in a constant battle.

Moving forward I've started stripping the car ready to sell off good parts/upgrades
IMG_20190525_184824 by Steve, on Flickr

The engine set up will be going into my Astra coupe after a quick refresh
FB_IMG_1558807655102 by Steve, on Flickr

Continued with the strip down and found 'safe' way of removing the engine

IMG_20190621_203909 by Steve, on Flickr

Started stripping the engine for inspection
IMG_20190622_191901 by Steve, on Flickr
IMG_20190622_191805 by Steve, on Flickr
IMG_20190622_202402 by Steve, on Flickr

And glad I did, I guess I should have been expecting this for 168k and hard use for the last 50k
IMG-20190624-WA0001 by Steve, on Flickr

Started gathering parts for the actual conversion including a cable type throttle pedal for Mk4 astras, F23 2.0 DTI gearbox, F23 gear shifter and cables. Also found someone who can make up a plug and play wiring loom out of the 2 looms I send them (I hate wiring)

Currently on the lookout for some Astra H VXR front calipers and deciding what route to take with the interior...I'mm erring on the side of semi stripped with half cage and bucket seats etc as the drivers seat bolster on the Astra is showing signs of wear

A good bit of progress on this lately

Weedy 1.8 pulled out (I should actually be quite fair to it, it did over 100k with us and took us the length and breadth of the country)
IMG_20190630_184118 by Steve, on Flickr

Engine bay stripped and painted ready to be scratched by the engine assembly going back in
IMG_20190712_170020 by Steve, on Flickr

Engine rebuilt
IMG_20190726_214040 by Steve, on Flickr
IMG_20190803_223243 by Steve, on Flickr

Custom engine mount that bolts up to the Astras original mount, bought from the same guy that's made up my plug and play wiring loom
IMG_20190803_223310 by Steve, on Flickr

All important rust prevention
IMG_20191020_160808 by Steve, on Flickr

Started building the engine bay back up, the wavy brake pipes along the bulkhead will be sorted and straightened once I have the ends where they need to go
IMG_20191020_160818 by Steve, on Flickr

So far have F23 shifter sorted out, F23 gearbox from a Zafira A diesel along with slave cyl spacer is all there, got the driveshaft spacers so I can run the 9-3 driveshafts. Basically it's all ready to bolt in, apart from having to whip the timing cover back off due to genius here forgetting a couple parts of the balance shaft delete

I also need to run new fuel lines as the Z18XE doesn't have a return line, So I'll be fitting a Walbro at the same time. The only part I'm short of is the F23 cables so far.

Few hours spent on this today

F23 CSC spacer in after cleaning out all the horrid clutch dust
IMG_20191102_173136 by Steve, on Flickr

And finally it's in!
IMG_20191102_214116 by Steve, on Flickr

Couple of small issues, the F17 front gearbox mount is different to the F23 one, so I will need to get a new front mount and the downpipe will have to be remade to clear the front mount

Looks a good job. Is there no tensioner on the auxiliary drive belt? Changing the belt looks fun with that idler bolted through the engine mount but it does look as if there is more space around there than in a 9k (or 9-5!).

_________________
Alan

'03 9-5 2.3t Vector Estate Auto Noob Stg 1
'01 9-3 2.0t SE Vert Auto
'81 Triumph TR7 DHC

The tensioner is the first pulley in line off the crank pulley going to the left. The only concern I'd have is the lack of belt contact on the water pump pulley but I'm guessing that it's been done like this with other vauxhall conversions and works fine.

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Homebrew Stage 3 - No longer nobbled by heatplates

It's been done a lot with conversions and seems to work...I still have my concerns over it and if I do start to see issues in use I'll be switching to an Electric water pump setup for peace of mind

Found a bit more motivation lately so started by throwing suspension and wheels on the front so the shell is mobile (excuse state of workshop having a bit of a clearout)
IMG_20191122_124303 by Steve, on Flickr

Got the wiring started along with throttle cable etc
IMG_20191122_154201 by Steve, on Flickr

Front end kind of back together to see where I need to route certain things
IMG_20191125_142634 by Steve, on Flickr

At this point I hooked up a battery and used tech 2 to make sure everything is happy like the ABS/TC and electric steering pump. Only a couple codes for ABS being unhappy about the 2 front sensors being unplugged and not being able to find the engine ECU on the BUS but the pump runs and so does the EPAS...airbag ECU also was unhappy the 2 front seats are out but a result all round

Also new stuff arrived....everyone always loves new stuff
IMG_20191125_142607 by Steve, on Flickr

Spent a bit of time today getting stuff built up such as the front brakes and fitting my wheel stud conversion kit
IMG_20200316_131637 by Steve, on Flickr

Also spent a bit of time planning the cooling layout at the front
IMG_20200316_131647 by Steve, on Flickr

Most of the cooling plumbing is done, all that's left before first start is running new fuel lines, make exhaust and intercooler plumbing

Wee bit of an update

It runs finally
VID_85250407_002409_163 by Steve, on Flickr

It's around 95 percent there, just needs wiring tidied and stuff refitted.
IMG_20200617_192643 by Steve, on Flickr

Drove it for the first time in the yard and so far only issue is I can't get 1st gear, this seems to be down to my homebrew bracket for the shifter cables seeing as my F23 didnt come with one...back to the drawing board I guess