Thread: Dave's Saab Story 2.0 - TRANNY SURPRISE!

Dave, Why not just get a new car? lol

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Paint looks great.
What are you using these days for sealant or coating?

I just noticed the October winter wheel post. Those winter steelies are pretty badass.
Do you just hang your guzzlers up to dry?

Updates


I've been parts gathering, so some goodies first:
Adjustable FSB endlinks



315mm rotors



Tubular Manifold and TD04-20T with billet wheel




Just a bunch of parts



Shiney bits




Clutch





I have parts everywhere. Storage shelves above my car are full of parts as well.





I'm working on cleaning up parts and polishing some; right now I'm polishing the coolant logs to a mirror finish

Dropped the engine and parts off at the Machine shop



This was left on my front door step



Painting some parts



Believe it or not this frame has less rust on it than my current one on the car. Waiting to hear back from a few shops that can either acid dip this thing or glass media blast it. If the quotes are too high, back to grinding.

I'm working with a guy now for a dustless glass media blasting job on it, lets see what he comes back with.


My rear subframe was from a clean 9-5 in texas with 40k miles on it, I suffed it and KBS seal coated it, then chassis top coated it. The lateral arms were brand new from GM for cheap, I scuffed them, KBS seal coated them and chassis top coat. So my rear subframe will never rust. I already scrubbed the underside of this car up to the firewall and seal coated it. I plan to go back underneath the car during the winter and do an inspection and touch up any areas that may need it.


Machine shop trip!
Engine block is perfect, no need for oversize bearing on the mains, the bore is spot on. My piston to wall clearance will be an exact 0.07mm.



Flywheel has had 6lbs taken out so it is now 15lbs




Head is absolutely perfect, not a single thing was out of spec, infact every part was exactly the same measurement.






I wrapped the exhaust manifold. I probably should have had it ceramic coated, but my friend is going through a bit of a rough patch right now and can't do it for me. First time wrapping.





Things will begin to pick up in the coming weeks.


Goals
November-December - Interior tear down, carpets out, headliner, speakers, sound deadening improvment, dash fascia swap, new stereo


January-February - Rear suspension upgrades, undercoating check over, front suspension upgrades


March - Vinyl wrap car


March-April - prepare engine for pull through the top


May 3rd - Engine pull day (my birthday)


May-June - engine bay prep, repaint engine bay, assess what needs to be done


June - engine drop in, hopefully give it its first crank over end of june.


From there it is break in time, work out issues, and begin to tune it.


I only get one day a week to work on the car, Saturday. I work full time during the week and Sunday is family day.

Engine block





Head




Crank



Pistons



I finished a steering rack I rebuilt



Lightened Flywheel (qwik's favorite! LOL)




I finished the headliner



My garage right now

In other news, I bought a 1999 Saab 9-5 Wagon manual, pick it up Sunday.

Originally Posted by SubwayGuy

2 of my friends have 9-5 Aero's. One is a manual sedan and the other an auto wagon. I was surprised at how small the turbos on those things are. And was even more surprised when they said that Aero's have a bigger turbo than non-Aero's lol

TD04-15T for the aeros and GT17 for the base models.

It is easy to swap in a TD04-15T which is what I will probably do with the wagon in due time since I have them just sitting around.

Small doesn't always mean slow, they do the smaller turbo's to keep the torque down low. The 15T turbos can make it to 325ish before they really can't blow any harder. I'm doing a billet wheel 20T which should get me to 400hp. I wanted to keep it simple, stock lines, stock location. I got the billet turbine, tubular manifold, and lightened the stock flywheel, this should hopefully keep my lag about the same as stock, I really want the power under the curve not looking for top end power highway missile.

These cars are relatively light, pre-2002 I think they are really 3,300lbs. A guy has his down to 2,750lbs and tracks it with a stock ported 15T.

Guy with a GTX3076 is pushing 500hp crank, just couldn't see the extra 3000$ was worth it.

Got another car for the winter to beat on, best $50 I ever spent.

Dave.. I approve of that flexzilla. Have the same one and it's hands down superior in all weather for flexibility.

Sweet looking stuff you have going.

Powder coating came in





And I assembled something








Working on finishing up the interior next weekend, I've installed a full stereo setup, all new speakers, cleaned up some custom wiring, cleaning the interior. I am hoping to finish it up all next week, then vinyl wrap the car, after that I have to swap out the rear trailing arms for rust free units. Then it is time to pull an engine.


3M Gloss Ice Blue





Gauges I added. I added Oil temp/pressure, wideband o2 and boost gauge (in the glove box)




Well we are getting closer.


The wagon is going to start needing some love soon...short list:
-Brake booster
-Shocks/struts
-LCAs
-Clutch
-Turbo
-Exhaust
-Ebrake/rear trailing arm


All that needs to be replaced, some of it needs to be done so it can pass inspection. While I am doing it, I will throw in some Aero parts, basically I'll end up full converting this Base wagon to an Aero even though it is a rusted jalopy. For the clutch/turbo/booster....I'm thinking about actually just pulling the engine since it is incredibly easy I could do it the entire job in weekend. I'm also thinking I will replace the bearings, replace the timing chain, head gasket, valve seals and a general overhaul to keep the thing going. I also have a manual transmission with the upgrade parts I can drop in (2nd gear syncro/reverse gears fail). So maybe, when I get around to it. The car will get some serious love.


In the meantime, the sedan is a rolling chassis right now, I figured out how to get it under 3000lbs like I've always wanted to. :lol:


Also I'm the process of remodeling my kitchen, remodeling my living room and landscaping work on the house. To say I'm a little busy is an understatement.


...oh and my co-worker is considering me rebuilding an old John Deere Diesel backhoe rig he has. Should be fun. Gotta say I love working with my hands again, this typing behind a keyboard all day blows.


Pictures!


These aren't D2s or K-sports.





Monotube, dampening rate range choose by me, spring rate choose by me.


So I've replaced all the speakers in the car, except for the rear door speakers. I could not find something that worked there as good as stock. Here is what I used


Dash Speakers
Rockford Fosgate Punch P132 - These out perform the Kappa 32.9s by far - downside is the sit up a little high, I managed to get my passenger side low enough to fit under the cover but the drivers side was a different story. Some modification required


Front Doors
PowerBass L2-6C - These fit and perform within about 10% of stock. The stock speaker holders need to have the ring cut off


Rear Doors
I repaired these with new 2.5" foam


Rear deck
Retro Sound S-692 drops right in and performs better than stock




So here is the job of fixing the rear door





Dash speaker cover mod and my gauge pod finished on the dash





I don't have pictures of the front door modification, but it is obvious when you are mounting them up.


I've been working on a lot of little things, really can't remember them all


Here is rear subframe part 2. I decided to swap out the rear trailing arms and brake shield for less rusty ones





The underside of the car is super clean and no rust in site.


Also would like to note, those adjustable rear lateral arms do NOT just drop in, the bolt hits the gas tank. I've seen people on here claiming they are an easy drop in, they do require dropping the subframe from side to side to get the job done.


I also added this little number to get rid of the cig lighter, just have to dremel about 0.5mm out of the hole and this will fit in

I also dropped off my transmission for rebuild, 4.45 final drive, Quaife LSD and ARP ring gear bolts.




Having fun with the engine



Pressed in some bushings for my rebuilt steering rack



Hauling stuff in the wagon.





Teaching my daughter the important things



Got the combi adapter working



Got the headlights finished





So I drained the oil on the Sedan before the engine pull



And the engine is out







I've been gone for a minute but I'm back now.


So the 1999 wagon had to go, rust was too much, clutch was toast, just not worth fixing it, as much as I wanted to. I was sad to do this.




So I found a 2000 9-5 Aero Manual wagon with 67k miles, no engine/no trans, hadn't seen the road in 6-7 years, it was in North Carolina. So I drove 1700 miles in 2 days to tow it home.




This is exactly the color combo, year, style I wanted, believe it or not, this was weirdly a dream car for me. I wanted a no rust rolling shell so I could build it EXACTLY how I wanted.


First things first. Tear down the new engine

Randomness inbetween like cleaning/prepping
Clean out the back, test wheels





Remove everything and clean






Assemble the engine




Mess with the suspension





Bolt the interior together with fun







Put the engine in



Tune it



Restore things




Polish it

Drive it





Take the daughter for ice cream






This started in March, I just officially registered the vehicle for the Road Saturday and have a few hundred miles on it already.


2000 Saab 9-5 Aero Wagon Manual
67,700 miles
Black and tan
02+ Aero vented seats
06 engine with pcv intact
king cobra with T5 cams
New head gasket and timing chain
B08 manual transmission
All sorts of updates I can't remember but I got rid of alot failure points
New bushings everywhere (subframes, rose/lateral, trailing arm, LCAs...all rubber because I'm old)
Auto level suspension in the rear
Roll out floor.
02+ exterior mirrors with auto dimming
Custom stereo setup
Projector retrofit
LEDed interior EVERYWHERE
04+ 300mm vented rear brakes


So much more that I have done and lost track of.


This car is exactly how I want it, I eliminated the weak points or as many as I could. A/c works, it cruises great, ride is nice, it goes when I want it to. Its the perfect daily.


Things left to install is the Wagon spoiler, my grille I made, and some window tint.




As for my 04+ Sedan, I got it running and did the first oil change after startup but the brand new thermostat wouldn't open, a hose burst and I was sick of it for a while, so I parked it and let the project sit. I am going to get back to it here in the next few weeks now that my daily driver is sorted.

Got some groceries



It got wet:






Then it got dry:

So the Wagon needed some fixes off the bat
LCA Bushings that were brand new took a ****






Wheel bearing went, press it



and subframe bushings were bad



Underside so clean






69 giggity



Cockpit



Parking situation



Going on adventures




Daughter says she loves this car



And then this happened...that's right both my builds are running and driving




Still working out some kinks, but its on the road.