119 replies to this topic

[bonelorry]

Right then chaps and chapettes, I thought now would be as good a time as any to start my project thread on here for my recently aquired purchase so here goes....

After a lengthy period of thinking about buying a car to have a bit of a project with i finally decided earlier this year to go down the Saab route, I decided on a 9-3 98-02 Model as a base car and began looking on here and the usual places. I didnt really know what 9-3 to go for but preferred the look of the Viggen or the later Aero models.

Anyway i spotted a Viggen i liked the look of, Went to view it and it had a missfire on the test drive. I was a little put off and gave up looking but with the money burning a whole in my pocket i ended having one last fling and buying a Honda Integra Type R.

I was made a good offer on the Integra about 5 weeks ago so i let it go and again began trawling the for sale ads for a replacement but struggled to get inspired by anything, I started looking at Saabs again and decided i would be more patient this time and wait for the right car to come up.......And it did  

As some of you guys now im quite anal when it comes to condition and so im hard work when buying a car as it has be upto scratch bodywork wise before ill even consider buying it. Luckily it was located at a small car dealers in Sheffield and was about 5 mins drive from my work so i had nothing to loose by viewing it, It had only been on the Autotrader website 1 day when i went to view it and was priced very low IMO for what it was. Anyway i went to look at the car and was very impressed with how clean it was, It was advertised as a standard car but has obviously been previously enthusiast owned as it has a few choice extras fitted which the dealer didnt know about....And ofcourse i didnt tell him. Anyway i test drove it, Handed my money over and these rest is history.

Heres the current spec of the car as it is today which is a bit weedy but will no doubt be changing very soon...

Car:

2001 Saab 9-3 Aero, Manual Geabox, Red 3 Door coupe, Currently on 62K miles.

Engine

Standard B205R engine, Custom 3" turbo back exhaust with sports cat and oval tailpipe, Forge FM007 Recirc dump valve.

Chassis/Suspension

Steering rack clamp, 6 point subframe brace, Eibach lowering springs -30mm.

Exterior

Standard Aero alloys powdercoated Anthracite, Smoked side repeaters, Shark fin rood aerial, Now fully debadged.

Interior

Standard Aero interior, Standard CD head unit with uprated Alpine speakers.

Ive got many plans for this car and ive been planning/scheming my options for quite a while now so i know roughly what i want to achieve in the long term. I want to do a bit at a time on the car but not because of money  but rather i want to enjoy the car and see it progress in which case i will not get bored of it as quickly as i would buying car already done.

Firstly over the next few weeks ill be dropping the sump and then giving it an engine service with 5w30 Castrol Edge, Air filter, Fuel filter, Pollen filter and NGK PFR6H10 plugs. Ill also be having a general poke around and make a to do list which ill stick on here when i do.

Im also going to OpenSid later this week and do a few logs to see whats going on at the moment...Maybe stick a stage 1 map on there for now.

Long term plans
Ultimately i want a reliable fast road car that doesnt cost the earth, It is still going to retain its interior and be a comfy car which is nice to drive daily but quick enough to give some expensive machinery a hard time. Thats my end goal and i know this car will give it to me.

Ill be going through all the bushings and uprating, Uprating the suspension, Uprating the braking system and fitting some decent tyres, Im going to build a 2.3 unit with a B234 Bottom end, T7 top end with T5 cams and fit hardware and a suitable turbo to allow 350-400bhp. Uprating the clutch to suit and Quaife LSD will be fitted to the gearbox.

I spent a few hours cleaning and detailing the car yesterday and today, I wont go into my full list of what i do as i know you chaps are not into that sort of thing but heres a few pics from earlier of the car....

Many thanks for reading the above, Sorry if ive rambled on.

Edited by bonelorry, 05 September 2011 - 18:53 .

[A6-TEZ]

That looks very nice mate. Look forward to your future mods.

[RobbieH]

Nice 'n shiney

And the suspension drop looks just right.

I still can't get over Saab's dash design though

edit: and given the plans for the engine I presume you'll be loosing the "ecopower" badging

Edited by RobbieH, 05 September 2011 - 19:05 .

[Redbrick]

'ecopower'   lol

Very very nice looking car, actually I like that a lot!

I thought/read they had a lot of Vectra in them and were therefore considered to be shite?  

Am I misinformed?

[bonelorry]

Redbrick, on 05 September 2011 - 19:12 , said:

'ecopower'   lol

Very very nice looking car, actually I like that a lot!

I thought/read they had a lot of Vectra in them and were therefore considered to be shite?  

Am I misinformed?

Yes you are right it has Vauxhall underpinnings, They do have a bed rep and when standard they do torque steer quite a bit but its easily sorted with a few upgrades like the Steering rack clamp and subframe brace etc

Coming from the Integra to this Saab i have to say im not dissapointed with it, It drives very well IMO and theres alot of scope for tuning.

[greenoneten]

Tis very nice, saab's have always been a bit marmite you love em or hate em! had an '88 carlson remapped and full scorpion exhaust and if i remember correctly was about 280bhp very quick for the time. It done 286,000 miles by the time i sold it, never changed anything major. still miss it badly till this day.
I love the way the dash curves round you like your in plane cockpit. nice how the alloys hark back to the old 3 spokes!
should be top fun after the mods if you keep it that long!
Nice

Do you still have to put it in reverse to get the keys out the ignition.

Edited by greenoneten, 05 September 2011 - 22:32 .

[bonelorry]

greenoneten, on 05 September 2011 - 22:31 , said:

Do you still have to put it in reverse to get the keys out the ignition.

Thanks mate and yes you do

It takes some getting used to the location of the ignition, I keep trying to put the key where i would normally HAHA.

[irf]

Lovely looking car there Simon, congratulations!

Did these models have some kind of problem with their bulkheads or am I imagining that?

From a purely selfish point of view it'd be interesting to see the 60-100 now and then see it at different stages as you go along. Look forward to the updates.

Edited by irf, 06 September 2011 - 06:06 .

[Keyser Soze]

Very tasty indeed.

Takes me back to my days as an owner of an '01 Y Aero 3dr coupe in Black (Abbott tuned) not too dissimilar to yours. I loved it to bits, every journey was a joy & left me grinning like a Cheshire Cat. I was fookin gutted when I had to sell it on due to me not being able to drive after one of my epileptic seizures.

I hope that you get the same enjoyment from yours as I did from mine.

[bonelorry]

irf, on 06 September 2011 - 06:05 , said:

Lovely looking car there Simon, congratulations!

Did these models have some kind of problem with their bulkheads or am I imagining that?

From a purely selfish point of view it'd be interesting to see the 60-100 now and then see it at different stages as you go along. Look forward to the updates.

Yes irf they can suffer with cracking bulkheads, Its worse on the performance models but the teller is if the pedal box moves or the steering feels disconnected when you turn the wheel. The steering rack clamp and brace fitted will stop and flex and its should be fine

60-100 probably 9ish seconds standard, Not been about 70mph in it yet as ive only done about 50 miles driving in total. I might not get the chance to do one when its standard as on Thursday im flashing a stage 1 map on there which is 250-260bhp with my hardware. Ill try and do some before and afters

@ Keyser Soze sorry to hear about your health stopping to driving your Aero I will enjoy it and thanks.

[adam b]

Very nice mate! Not a personal favourite of mine that 9-3, but i've owned an old B reg 900 in the past and very nearly bought a 9-5 back in January so i'm appreciating it.
Hope it goes well for you - looks in great nick

[Keyser Soze]

bonelorry, on 06 September 2011 - 09:27 , said:

@ Keyser Soze sorry to hear about your health stopping to driving your Aero I will enjoy it and thanks.

Thanks Simon. Over the years the spectre of epilepsy has severly dented my driving pleasures & ambitions. Thank fook that the rules changed in some respects. One time, an epileptic had to wait three years after a seizure to get their licence back, now its only 12 months! Touch wood, I've personally been clear of seizures since Jan 2008.

[bonelorry]

Well it was decided that some software was needed tonight so after about an hour of WOT runs (on a private road)and checking the loggings etc the car is now circa Stage 3.

There where a few niggly issues as the T7 B205R software has 289Nm limit on the stock map and the Baro/Altitude sensor needed disabling but once we got around them it was mainly just tweaks on the APC duty cycle and we got there.

The difference between the stage 1 and stage 3 maps on the B205R isnt that great, Its mainly hardware thats different and since its already got a full 3" turbo back exhaust and was stage 3 ready we thought why not  

Difference is like night and day, That extra 80-90NM in the midrange circa 3000-4000rpm has made a huge difference and according to the dyno plot its 270bhp/370NM now.

Just like to say a massive thanks to my mate Rich C for sorting the map out for me, Now ive got a bit more power i can go about upgrading the chassis further, Decent tyres, Bigger brakes and get a B234/235 motor built  :twisted:

[Muhammad]

Sounds good Simon, get some in-gear vids up!

[adam b]

Must be night and day driving this after the Honda. Awesome handling and not much torque versus not much handling and awesome torque.

[bonelorry]

Muhammad, on 14 September 2011 - 07:44 , said:

Sounds good Simon, get some in-gear vids up!

Im not really overly fussed at the moment, Im happy with how it is, It feels quick to drive and i dont want to do any times and be dissapointed then get into a habit of chasing low 60-100 times......I just want to enjoy the car

adam b, on 14 September 2011 - 09:02 , said:

Must be night and day driving this after the Honda. Awesome handling and not much torque versus not much handling and awesome torque.

Yes they are very different cars to drive but i dont miss the handling of the Honda and likewise i wouldnt miss the torque of the Saab if i went back to an Integra.

I never compare 2 totally different cars as its pointless, With the Integra you expect it to handle but deep down you know in a straight line it not going to be anything special and so i never drove it quickly on DC's and Mways but used to drive it with alot of pace in the twisties.

With the Saab i can find the limits of the chassis very easily on a twisty section but its not really that sort of car and was never meant to be, I enjoy it for its looks, Comfort, Ability to munch the Mway, Tunability and it cost a 3rd of the cost of my previous Integra to buy

I get equally as much enjoyment out of the Saab as it did driving the Integra, Once i get a B234 2.3 bottom end fitted, A quaife LSD and break the 350bhp barrier ill get a lot more enjoyment

[bonelorry]

Small update....

Just carried out the compulsory T7 sump drop and im happy to report only very minor deposits collecting in the sump, Gave it a new filter and some fresh 5W30 Castrol edge so all good in that department. It has got a slight leak from the timing chain cover but im not overly concerned about that as i should have built a 2.3 within 6months.

Decided to change the plugs too and found some NGK BCR8ES fitted, I know people use these on highly tuned applications but until last week it was a standard car so theyre a bit OTT and still are overkill even now its stage 3. Ive fitted the correct OEM fitment NGK PFR6H-10 plugs now.

I can start to use the car properly now i know its all good to go mechanically, I like that extra piece of mind  

Also i have began going down the slippery slope of buying some goodies for the car earlier today, I had been pricing bits up from day one so knew roughly what to expect.

Just ordered a brand new set of Bilstein B8 shock absorbers and full Powerflex bush kit from Neo brothers Saab specialists, They had a good deal on the Billies and bushes to UKSaabs forum members so couldnt resist

Got a set of 4 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric's in 225/45R17 94Y flavour to go on too when i get around to fitting them although ill prob put them on once all the other bits are fitted so i can get the Geometry checked/adjusted.

Ive also possibly got a gearbox with Quaife LSD lined up for when the engine goes in....

Thats it for this month bank accounts taken enough of a beating, Ill hopefully be doing all the brakes and upgrading the fronts next month.

[Barnsley-Bill]

It looks great Simon, and after you have sorted it I bet it flys .

[Mooster]

Nice car mate, apart from the dark rims perhaps!  Silver would look better to my eyes but each to their own.

I've had 3 Saabs, one for 10 years and still got it, also had a 9-3 Aero HOT but the 5 door hatch.  Bought cheap at 93k with low oil pressure.  Changed the mains and big ends (on the road on axle stands, engine in situ, which was a pain in the backside I can tell you), cleaned the sump and strainer and took it to 115k in 10 months.

Sounds like you're well on the way to making it go, stop and handle like it should do.  Good luck with it.

[Hallsy]

As I said over on SXOC, looks lovely mate

I love the way whether it be a 9-3 or 9-5, everyone starts harping on about it being a Vectra in drag.  Funny how that argument sticks for two cars with different wheelbases!!

From what I've read it's a GM2900 platform which was used between '88 and '02 (although a lengthened version was used to 2010 on the 9-5) so floorplan is shared with the Vectra, 9-3, 9-5 (or is that a different Vectra?) and many other GM cars, but almost definitely has modifications or different bolt ons between models.  Although I hear that some of the front suspension joints on the first gen 9-3 are the same as a Vectra?

Either way Simon, looking forward to seeing how this pans out.  I'm tempted to give take one of these and an '02 9-5 Aero out for a spin to see what I think!