UKSaabs

Ive had my car for about 6 months now so I thought I better start a build thread, forget to update it and probably bore you all to death but here goes

I bought the car this summer, after selling my E46 cabriolet



and this is how I got the saab, totally standard, very clean, one owner + dealer demo, 65k miles





then I fitted a Maptun air filter here



and a Maptun recirc valve with silicone connector hose



and I also replaced all the vac hoses with blue silicone cause the originals were a bit crumbly




then I fitted the PFS rack clamp and brace, does the job, not exhileraed by the tolerances and cheapo fastners




then this turned up



and it didn't work because i'd given Karl the wrong immobiliser code


Went to see Karl, did some of this



then did a lot of this

that takes me up to date now.

this morning I went down to the car club on base since Im not going home this weekend



and after messing about with various blocks of wood it ended up like this



took this off



then rounded the sump plug off, hammered a 12mm onto it and did this



then had one of these



then did some of this



then put it back up in the air and did this



and this



and this



which ended up looking like this



which I think doesnt look too bad.. will probably end up adding a few more bars to it in the new year, probably another 2 straight bars at the front and back, then a X brace inbetween them kind of like this ------> IXIXI maybe overkill but a few bars and some welding wire isnt exactly expensive.

then had another one of these



and noticed these





balls.....


then I took this off





and sprayed myself in the eye with V-Power, which stung a little bit.

cleaned up the clamp in the petrol that drained out



and put the new one in





and topped it off with the plastic guard



fitted the piggyback ARB here



and thought while I'm there i might aswell do the other side too



close up of tip-top razzle dazzle spacers




then I took these out



which was a ball ache as I had to do it on the ground since the transmission jack was full of hopes and dreams, not hydraulic oil. Luckily I had access to a windy chisel to knock the old ones out - really wouldnt like to do it at home with no air tools.

and replaced them with these




one each side, greased it up and slipped straight in.


then I called it a day and went for a shower.

Thanks for looking.

Ooof....now that I really like

_________________
1st rule of fat club is you don't talk about fat club...

thanks

it's all very "bolt on" upgrades at the min.. hopefully it'll develop into something more special over the next year (no more wedding to pay for + decent pay rise)

it's in very good condition underneath, the flash on the camera makes it look quite grotty but it's very clean..

cool right up with good pics......

looking forward to the next installment......

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99. 93 sport se gone.

86. C900 2dr Oscar gone.

00 93 Cosmic blue vert.

03 95 Vector sport.

Excellent stuff,

I must say its very satisfying doing stuff like this on a car, Ive been through just about everything on my 9-3 Aero and its so nice to drive now....Plus i know that i can just jump in and drive it without worrying.

Im gettin used to the feel of my car now with all the chassis ugrades and im very happy with it i know that with the upgrades you have done it will tranform the car especially the Bilsteins.

Nice colour too, I wanted a Steel Grey 3 door but when i spotted the Laser Red one which i bought i had to do it

Cheers Simon

Cheers,


hopefully I can find some time before xmas to get down there and finish the suspension renevation. I do like the steel grey, although it can look a bit beige/gold in pics... coincidentally the BMW colour was also called steel grey - i'd love the saab to be painted that colour!

I've still got a Maptun boost gauge to fit, but since it only came with about 4" of wire tails i've got to get myself some wire, heatshrink, etc etc. I did start fibreglassing a gauge pod into a spare a pillar trim but have sort of lost interest in it..









maybe i'll finish it some day but untill then I've just bought a free standing pod.


I'd actually never seen a red Aero untill yours, they must be very scarce, it does look smart with the anthracite wheels. I need to get mine sorted after the winter (or upgrade to something decent like compo's, speedlines or raceline's) cause theres a little bit of flaking around the valve stem on one of them

Ref the boost gauge, Im guessing you have got OpenSID since Karl did the map for you?

Im not a fan of gauges personally so just use the OpenSID to monitor Airmass request and actual Airmass, Ill be fitting a wideband too when the 2.3 goes in and using the OpenSID to monitor that too

Yes Laser Red is very rare in 9-3 Aeros, They do actually do a Beige too which is foul

yeah, i've got openSID, I usually have it on the Teng/Tair readouts.. just so I can see my inlet air teps go through the roof when I'm erm... making progress.

the whole "millions of gauges" look is a bit pony to be honest, but one subtle one should be ok.

what I'd really like is a racetech dual oil temp/pressure gauge.. I dont think openSID can show these readings can it?

At least you've got some way towards mounting your gauge properly. I've got a 4 spare pillar trims (that i've had for a few months) and my gauges are still mounted like this. (its even worse now since i've got new tweeters that are also pillar mounted)

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ケイ Homebrew Stage 3 - 256HP 360NM

got another couple of parcels through today (the people in the mail room at work must love me!)



which comprised of this



Speedparts leather gear gaiter - a £10 ebay bargin

and these



Koni springs, another £75 ebay bargain.. I know some people don't like these but I'll give them a try.

I fitted the gaiter at lunch time cause its only a 5 min job

before



turn the new gaiter inside out and slide it over the handle



secure it with the supplied cable tie

pull it round the right way and clip it in







secure at the front with the supplied screw - not ideal really having self tappers on show but looks miles better than the standard hoover brush. It's really nice quality leather, only downside is it's a little tight on the underside when the handbrake is on, but then mine does need adjusting.. and it fits ontop of the plastic surround instead of securing the same way as the brushes like the cheap ones on ebay.

I like that gaiter, however I would spend another £5 extra and get an original one, which would fit perfectly

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Saab 9-3 SE (T5) Modified Kei's Brew Stage 3 with TD04-15T
Jawa 50 Typ 20

An original one? enlighten me? I thought the NG900 and OG 9-3 all had the brush thing. or do you mean swapping in a whole 9-5 handbrake ?

Elkparts used to have them, but they have gone to administration..., however I have found custom made ones to fit on eBay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/.../SAAB-9-3-SAAB ... 0494095591
The Elkparts one had plastic clips which fit in the same place as brushes...

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Saab 9-3 SE (T5) Modified Kei's Brew Stage 3 with TD04-15T
Jawa 50 Typ 20

those ebay ones are the cheap ones I was on about.. i think they look nasty fixed where the brushes mount.

and also I had a gearstick gaiter from the same seller in my E46 and the quality wasn't good. Just came with the suede (which discoloured really quickly) and I had to pull the plastic surround off the original and glue it on.

Looks very clean mate, pity that the gaiter needs a screw through it but looks alot better than the standard brushes!

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Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it into a fruit salad..

nice work there
If you're in Gosport and need some help twirling spanners there's a few of us in the area (myself, Niven, Beardydave, Ommony and a few whom I forget ) just drop us a line

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Rich
CC Carlsson - shhh! The colour's a secret
CSi - midnight blue

thanks, I'm around in Gospit during the week (based at HMS sultan) and plymouth at weekends, then in newcastle for leave periods.. sure I could be persuaded to come out if theres a meet or something.

So... I've spent the last two nights fitting my Bilstein B8's, Koni springs, new top mounts and bearings and powerflex bushes. Well, the fronts are done anyway (the car club is only open from 4:30 till 9 pm and NOTHING went easily, tbh it was about as awkward as a job that should be very easy can be) i'll have to do the rears next week.

I didn't take many pics because I was getting stressed and I didn't really want to get my phone filthy with grease off the bushes - which mainly ended up on my hands and forearms.

the collection of bits




taking it apart



strut off





and that was the end of the pictures...

I've not driven it (well, about 1km at 20mph) since I've finished it so no verdict yet but i'm glad it's done.. feel like I'm making some progress with the car now.

Give all the Bits a bit of time to bed in, When i first did the mine and all the bushes it fealt a bit odd to drive.....almost disconnected and but after a few hundred miles it just seemed to gel and work and now im very happy with it.

Great set up the you have got there, Id also get the geometry checked/adjusted and if possible set to Viggen spec for the front toe in/out settings....The Viggen has slightly different settings with a tighter tolerance If you want the settings i have the settings at work on the Autodata 2001 book we nearly threw out haha.

If your really anal like me get someone with a 4 wheel alignement machine just to stick the gauges on so you can see what the back ends doing too with regards to camber as if its excessive then you can shim the rear also should you want to.

Cheers Simon