adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Yeah, I'm probably being harsh to the first gen 9-3 as a whole as it could be the case that this one in particular just likes having little things wrong with it I am determined to make it a nice car before it moves on though! The car I've been looking at is even less suited to the pages of this forum but its a Mazda RX8... Nice and sensible daily choice again
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Last Edit: Mar 18, 2015 7:03:03 GMT by adam73bgt
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You wanted the rx8 before didn't you?
Get one with a compression test done
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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I did indeed, my eye keeps getting drawn back to them I'll have a look at a local one this weekend just to see what I make of the car in general, then if that goes well I'll spend a fair bit of time looking for one with compression results etc. Though I am keeping my options open, I did think maybe I should try the other side of the Swedish car industry and get a Volvo as I do like the look of 740's when lowered... but then I did also get very tempted by a Triumph 2000 recently
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 21, 2015 20:14:08 GMT
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Well ignoring thoughts of potential replacement dailies, I've decided to battle on with the Aero for the time being First job for today was to try and fit the drivers side seat panel with my 2nd attempt at a fix This is the issue, the panel attaches using two screws, at this particular mounting point, the plastic has broken off the end, resulting in the panel drooping off the seat.. I previously tried to reattach it with some Araldite 2 part putty but it didn't work. This time however I was using the proper araldite stuff, the same glue which has been holding my glasses together for the past year or so after I walked into a wall (amusing story which I won't go into here ) The fix seemed to be holding well until I tightened the screw a little bit too tight and it broke gaaaahhhh!! So I'm going to have to come up with a 3rd fix for that I also tried a locking wheel bolt remover tool but it didn't work so brake work still isn't happening! So I decided to turn my attention to the non-functioning headlight washer/wipers. A slightly brave choice considering the ballache that fixing the headlight washers on the Jag was Thankfully in this case, the headlight washers are simply accessed by removing the headlights, which are only held in with a couple screws The washers are attached to the wiper arms, turning on the headlights and trying the washers showed that nothing much was happening. I took the rubber lines off the jets and tried the washers, both of them eventually started working with a little bit of blowing down the lines So with the washers washing, it was time to get the wipers wiping.. As neither of them were showing any signs of wanting to work, I decided to take them out and work on them in the warmth of my flat So this is where things are at the moment I'm currently part way through dismantling the motor gearbox casings in order to clean them out and grease them up in the hope that that gets them working, there is a guide online which also details taking the motors themselves apart but I don't know if I want to go down to that level just yet! Hopefully I'll know by tomorrow if my repairs have worked
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 22, 2015 23:29:42 GMT
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Today saw a rare event on the Saab in that I managed to successfully complete a job that I started So a common gripe with the 9-3 Aero is that the handling could be better. The rear anti roll bar mod is one way of helping to remedy this but another widely recommended mod is to replace the steering rack mount This is the standard mount The rack is mounted directly to the bulkhead via a bracket and a rubber bush which allows quite a lot of slack in the steering. The modified mount that I'm fitting is a solid mount and also incorporates a small brace to further help the stiffening up of the steering rack location Getting the old bracket off wasn't all too bad really, its held on with a bolt at the top and a stud with nut underneath both of which came undone with relative ease. It was a bit fiddly threading out the bracket past the rack and power steering lines but it got there and the rubber came out easily leaving me with this A comparison of old and new there. The rubber bush was actually in decent nick but is just too soft for this application. The new mount comes in two parts, the back half had to be maniuplated behind the rack first of all. This was a bit of a pain but with some leverage of the steering rack it eventually went into place, after which the front half went into place and was tightened on With the clamp fitted, it took me a little while to work out how the brace was meant to fit.. A quick google of the problem showed me where the brace was meant to bolt to I took it for a quick test drive this evening along the same route I drove last night before I'd done the mods. The first obvious change is that torque steer is reduced. Obviously if you boot it in 2nd it will try to steer a bit but thats just what you get with high power and front wheel drive.. The steering feels good on turn in though so I'm happy it was a worthwhile mod The handling should be improved even further once all the weight of the brakes bits are gone from the boot.. Ah yes, no day of working on the Saab is complete without a mishap of some sort suffice to say the wheels are still staying where they are so I shall have to bite the bullet and find a friendly garage to help me get these bolts out! And I've rebuilt one headlight wiper motor unit, didn't get a chance to fit it though so no news on whether it actually works yet! More soon
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froggy
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,099
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Has the other side of the bulkhead got any cracks in it ? Later cars don't suffer as badly as the ng900 but I've done a few 9-3 s . Subframe brace makes a huge difference on these
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 23, 2015 10:03:32 GMT
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Nah I had the Saab place check the bulkhead and sort any cracks so should be nice and tight now I'm still undecided about the future of this car with me, if I was definitely keeping it long term then I would look into the subframe brace and a bit of lowering too but at the moment I'm trying to be very tight with the expenditure!
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berendd
Europe
why do I need 3 keys for one car?
Posts: 1,449
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Mar 23, 2015 10:10:22 GMT
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slowly getting sorting all the little problems, would be a shame to move it on really if it's all done.
some cars do have a habit of throwing all sorts of problems at you and the only solution is getting rid of them.
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 23, 2015 18:02:03 GMT
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You're right in many ways in that it would be a shame to sort the car to sell it, but I just get the feeling that I could end up spending way too much time and money on the car for little return really Sorting it for now will allow me to have a sorted car to drive around while I take my time deciding what I fancy next
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shin2chin
Part of things
Making curse word cars slightly better
Posts: 820
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Mar 23, 2015 18:53:48 GMT
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Have you got a pic of the offending wheel bolt? Might be able to help, I bought a good removal tool a while back you're welcome to try.
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1977 PORSCHE 2.0na 924 1974 VW Beetle 1600
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 25, 2015 20:04:28 GMT
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Have you got a pic of the offending wheel bolt? Might be able to help, I bought a good removal tool a while back you're welcome to try. Bit delayed but I do indeed! One looks like this A second one looks like this (Still rather impressed at how the head managed to come off the locking bolt leaving the rest of the bolt in place ) And a third one looks like the first but hasn't cracked yet I should have been looking at places to buzz off the bolts this week but to tell the truth I just couldn't be bothered with it! At least the Air Bag light has gone away I suppose
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 28, 2015 22:48:44 GMT
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More good news to report on the Saab! Although there is a little bit of a catch.. So about a week ago I took the headlight wiper motors off the car as they didn't seem to want to do any wiping. Once inside, I took one apart to clean up the gears, apply some new grease and just generally have a poke about to see if I could coax it into life A lot of this sort of business going on After getting the back of the case off, it was a fairly straightforward job to pick all the various gears out and give them a bit of a clean. I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of everything in there, didn't seem to be anything seized solid at all So after a bit of a clean and some new grease, I stuck it back on the car to see if it worked.. Nothing. curse word! So I thought I'd take it to a mates so he could hold a test bulb on the plug while I operated the washers (should have done this before I took the motor apart really) Sure enough, no power at the plug. 'Have you checked the fuse?' my mate asks.. 'No', we check the fuse and sure enough, its blown.. (should definitely have checked that before taking the motor apart) Replacement fuse put back in and we have power! Took the car back to mine to try the motor on it and we have headlight wiper action! The passenger side motor worked straight away also even though I didn't take it apart at all, which makes me think I wasted my time taking the other one apart The other slightly annoying thing is that when I put the motor and gears all back together, I put the gears that control the wiper parking back in slightly wrong, as I have one wiper that parks the wrong way Should be both pointing towards the middle.. So that needs to come out again and get fettled a bit, but otherwise I'm really happy with them Saab certainly design a much better headlight washing system than Jag did.. even if the whole concept of headlight washers is largely redundant. The locking wheel nuts are still an issue I've yet to tackle, so its not quite all happiness and sunshine with the Aero just yet
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GoJo372
Part of things
www.gojoflocking.co.uk
Posts: 552
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Mar 28, 2015 22:55:47 GMT
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Sorry to read about your trials but I did find the wiper thing very amusing! Sorry,. Lol RE the wheel nuts I had the same problem on an old car of mine. I spent a whole day drilling them out. Started off with a small bit, then larger, and larger etc and so on. Took ages but worked a treat. Took out one if the Normal nuts for a depth gauge of where to drill too. Don't know wether that helps
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Last Edit: Mar 28, 2015 22:56:55 GMT by GoJo372
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Mar 28, 2015 23:04:19 GMT
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haha no worries, its a good lesson in trying the easiest fixes first Yeahh, unfortunately I've only got a puny cordless drill in Cov, so it would take me about 3 years to drill them out haha, I will pull my finger out and find somewhere to sort them out but I just can't be bothered to face them at the moment
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shin2chin
Part of things
Making curse word cars slightly better
Posts: 820
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Looking at the photos I think your wheel bolts are too recessed for my removal tool.
Try either Endemere garage or Spon end tyres, Endemere should be able to sort them though.
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1977 PORSCHE 2.0na 924 1974 VW Beetle 1600
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Another week, more aggro with the Saab...
I've gone back to Suffolk for a little Easter break so I thought I'd take advantage of the parents driveway to work on the brakes (serious case of déjà vu there...)
But this meant the damn wheel bolts had to come out. So I took it to a local garage who came recommended
Long story short, after an hour or so of banging and take gun noise, all the bolts were still where they started! They wanted to book the car in to have a longer go at it but wouldn't be able to do it before I had to go back to cov, so I'll try a garage in cov now
Its due to be remapped next weekend which may rekindle some mojo for the car, but I suspect it will just be another thing to add to the sale ad....
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Apr 14, 2015 17:39:09 GMT
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Well things had been getting a bit negative with the Swede but there is some good news at last! (if you're a Saab fan) My motivation has partially returned, a big thanks in part to a Stage 1 Noobtune remap, meaning the Aero should be kicking out around 250bhp and 370NM Here it is about to have the magical electronic tuning done Karl was a really cool guy and explained how the map did what it does (I won't try and repeat it here as I couldn't do it justice ) It wasn't exactly dog slow before but it definitely has a turn of pace now! it is still holding back a bit though so I've got a couple of things to look at The APC (boost controlling thingy) could be a bit past its best The BCV (Bypass control valve) could also be past its best but I've got a mod to try which bypasses it (bypass the bypass...) And theres this rather poor picture which shows where the pipe from the recirculating dump valve goes back into the 'Cobra' pipe There is a lot of slack in that fitting as there is a missing clamp which is meant to hold the pipe in place, hopefully I'll get some better pictures once I find a suitable clamp Those are the 3 things to try first and they should all be pretty cheap and easy to do which sounds good to me One other thing that the remap has highlighted is that the clutch is just starting to show signs of age as it is sometimes slipping at peak torque under certain conditions. It was doing this before the remap as well so I knew it was on the list. The previous owner did say a new clutch was fitted when the engine was changed last year but I don't know how much I believe that, so its going in to the Saab specialist to get sorted regardless (hopefully they'll have some luck with those pesky wheel bolts as well...) So the car won't be for sale just yet after all, realistically it provides as much or more performance than stuff I was looking at to replace it with and has loads more economy and practicality to boot! It does blend in a little bit too well though for my liking, so some lowering springs, possibly dampers and some new wheels are on the cards along with a couple other bits and bobs.. Also my SID (system information display?) repaired all its broken pixels the other night! (they still intermittently fail..) More to come soon
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Apr 19, 2015 16:28:02 GMT
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Just about managed to scrape together enough for another little update, no work being done by myself though I should add.. As the weather has been getting warmer of late, I had noticed that the cabin temp inside the Saab wasn't quite as cool as it could be so I popped it in for an air con leak test and regas at ATS Euromaster They sorted me out pretty well with the Jag so I was happy going there again the machine was doing its stuff and after it did the vacuum part of the cycle to remove the old gas, I was told that there was nothing in the system! This didn't bode well as it did indicate the potential that there could be a leak somewhere in the system but 35 quid later and I had a fully gassed up system with no leaks Its still not the coldest in the world so they've told me to come back again within a couple of days to get it regassed again as it can be necessary sometimes when filling up a completely empty air con system. It has to be said that after a little run down to Bristol yesterday, I did find it a little bit colder than it has been so it seems as though the system is getting back to how it should be But before I get to take it back for another regas, the car is going back to the West Mids Saab people for a new clutch tomorrow as its pretty clear that the clutch slipping is only going to get worse. As part of doing the clutch they're going to encounter the rather chewed up locking wheel bolts so I may be able to kill two birds with one stone Once I get the car back, I will have a couple of styling mods to do along with sorting a couple of engine boost related issues, then it will be time to start saving for lowering springs
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,871
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Apr 23, 2015 20:19:36 GMT
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Quickfire updates! well for me anyway.. Clutch is now done, the old slave cylinder was looking decidedly past its best and was allowing fluid to get on the already worn clutch, which wasn't helping things.. But all sorted now and the car is slip free even under the hardest boosting While they had the car, they did note a couple of leaks which I was kind of aware of, firstly there is a coolant leak at the gearbox end of the engine, under the hoses in this pic Its only a slight leak, but I will be keeping an eye on it to see if I can find where its coming from The cam cover also looks a bit leaky with oil, I may have the covers off at some point for a bit of painting anyway as they look a bit nasty with the corrosion as they are Another thing of note is that some of the wires haven't been routed very well, presumably when the engine was changed last year.. Main issue was a couple swinging a bit close to the cat So I've got a bit of pre-emptive tidying under the bonnet to do I've also picked up a bit of audio for the car in the shape of a new head unit, so this will be going in once the DAB aerial arrives Today saw another aircon regas (free this time mind) in an attempt to get the system cooler, the next few days will tell how well its working It almost looks nice from a distance..
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Apr 23, 2015 22:25:41 GMT
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Found this pretty interesting, glad to see your mojo has returned. A Viggen is very much on my list for some point in the not too distant, so this pleases me greatly. Got a lot of time for these...
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