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Jun 18, 2021 21:22:48 GMT
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This is my Saab 900 T16s, I have had it in one form or another for sixteen years now.
I have never written a thread on it before partly because I have had it so long, partly because these things are never really finished and partly because it is a real love/hate relationship!
I bought it originally in my second year of University. I sold a relatively new and unexciting Audi A3 to fund it. I have loved Saab 900s all my life and always wanted a Turbo one, when I first saw this it was love at first sight. When I bought it I didn't really know what to check for, I didn't look at any others and I got there just as the ebay auction was ending. I then sat in the owners front room bidding on it and going over what I had to spend.
All of this impulsiveness and foolishness did not turn out well. It had a manual boost valve fitted and a low ratio gearbox, this resulted in hilarious acceleration and shocking fuel economy. I'd be lucky if it managed 200 miles to a tank.
Still, I was in love with it and did everything I could to keep it on the road and use it as much as possible. I made lots of friends along the way and learnt a bit too. Never quite getting wise enough to sell it.
I don't have many pictures from the early days but do have one of when she went off for the big rebuild.
When this picture was taken it had sat in my parents garage all winter and was now off for an engine rebuild. I'll not go into details on here but the small engine rebuild did not get started by the garage for quite a while. When it did there was an issue with the first couple of engines he built. It did end up getting built with lots of very nice upgrades and having a glass out bare shell respray however.
Here it is when I finally got her back. Freshly painted and running in the new engine.
Rather fittingly on it's first long run I had a flat tyre and no spare or even jack. That was a rubbish morning.
It was 2013 at this point and I had been without it for nearly four years. I was just glad to sit and look at it.
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Jun 18, 2021 22:11:25 GMT
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Since then I have aimed to do about 5000 miles a year in her during the 6 months of each summer. Parking her up at a friends farm over the winter to keep all the nasty salt off.
I have continued modifying and adapting the car with the mindset of building something OE+. Aiming to use Saab parts as much as possible but from other, newer, models.
Here is an idea of the current spec list, hopefully now getting towards where I want it to be.
Engine: Rebuilt B202 16 valve engine Big red injectors T5 direct injection and engine management from a Saab 9000 PWR chargecooler with a permanently running pump Hybrid ball bearing turbo 3" downpipe T7 boost control
Gearbox Short shifter Type 7(ish) final drive Steel diff plate
Chassis Bilstein B6 shocks Kilen sport springs Corner braces from a convertible
Brakes 9000 Aero front calipers Standard rear calipers refurbed DS2500 pads
Interior Saab 9000 anniversary leather adjusted to work over original 900 frames JVC Chameleon with upgraded speakers Additional sound deadening
The seats came from a 9000 anniversary I had found for my beloved grandfather whilst he was still with us. They have Saab aeroplane logos stamped into them. I have not seen another 900 with the anniversary seats in and a tilt for a three door car. It's a nice reminder for me of him as he was the one who instilled my love of Saabs.
When building the car I always wanted to both retain all creature comforts as well as totally standard looks on the outside.
One of the really tricky bits for this was getting a big enough radiator to work the chargecooler happily whilst still allowing the air con rad and main radiator to have good air flow. I drew up the designs and had a company make that up. It's a lovely thing.
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shin2chin
Part of things
Making curse word cars slightly better
Posts: 820 
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Jun 19, 2021 10:07:26 GMT
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I love 900's. Another car I've missed the boat on price wise.
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1977 PORSCHE 2.0na 924
1974 VW Beetle 1600
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Jun 22, 2021 20:32:32 GMT
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I love 900's. Another car I've missed the boat on price wise. [br Cheers  Yeah the values seem to have crept up over the years for sure. I have this one and the convertible on an agreed valuation policy this year. Been meaning to do it for a while. |
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 2,010
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Jun 23, 2021 13:09:01 GMT
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Nice one! Always good to see one that's not black & boring.
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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60six
Posted a lot
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Posts: 1,679
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Jun 24, 2021 21:19:42 GMT
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Awesome motor - nearly identical spec to mine, and a year older too. Know what you mean about the gearbox - My original type 7 box blew after 270k miles and the replacement was a type 6 - Acceleration is crazy, even in 5th gear its crazy, but motorways at 70 the revs are at 3k - I have the old box primary gears but they will be a curse word to fit. Is that the positive battery lead running over the D/S wheelarch? Get that secured better. I did my relocation like that and the cable starts rubbing on the arch ....  |
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 2,010
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I have the old box primary gears but they will be a curse word to fit. Why? I've done it twice (from 5 to 7 and then back to 6) and it's really not that difficult. |
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,679
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I only have experience of removing the gears I have, and they were a proper !!!
Did you do yours with gearbox in the car?
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 2,010
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Yes.
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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aero
Part of things
Posts: 70
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Jun 25, 2021 14:34:54 GMT
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Nice car! Quite the list of mods too. Here’s mine, currently in two stroke to turbo for an extensive list …   |
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Jun 28, 2021 19:56:59 GMT
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Nice one! Always good to see one that's not black & boring.
Thanks!
I do have a black 9000 too so have the 'Saabs look good in black' box ticked as well |
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Jun 28, 2021 20:09:54 GMT
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Awesome motor - nearly identical spec to mine, and a year older too. Know what you mean about the gearbox - My original type 7 box blew after 270k miles and the replacement was a type 6 - Acceleration is crazy, even in 5th gear its crazy, but motorways at 70 the revs are at 3k - I have the old box primary gears but they will be a curse word to fit. Is that the positive battery lead running over the D/S wheelarch? Get that secured better. I did my relocation like that and the cable starts rubbing on the arch .... Cheers. It is good fun for sure. I actually have two 'boxes for this. The one in there at the moment is the one that was originally in when I bought it. It's not perfect but works well if you know how to use it. The other 'box is type 7 that is okay but a little tired. Long term plan is to have the spare rebuilt, potentially with a fancy diff, then put in. It makes me less precious about the gearbox that is in there. That said, it has been there a while and taken lots of power, fast runs and acceleration so maybe it will last forever! It does rev a little high on the motorway though. Yes, that's the positive cable there. It's been there a long time and is well insulated and well secured. A few years ago someone who I no longer use didn't reconnect it properly and we did have a little bit of smokey excitement though. Love the wheels on yours by the way.  |
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Jun 28, 2021 20:13:30 GMT
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Nice car! Quite the list of mods too. Here’s mine, currently in two stroke to turbo for an extensive list … Thanks, yours looks great too. Really nice with the super aeros on there. Not a set of wheels I have run on this one yet although I do have some on the 9000. I think if I remember right your brother has one too? That's pretty cool. When I first bought this a very good friend of mine had a cherry red T16s too and it was always great fun hooning round together in them. |
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Jun 28, 2021 20:28:34 GMT
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Having just got back from a nearly 800 mile round trip of Cornwall this last week in the 900 I am feeling pretty pleased with her. All ran really well with the exception of a failed exhaust rubber that caused a few clonks when going round corners. Typically I had just replaced another only a few weeks ago.
Here she is parked up in Looe. Lovely seaside town with some seriously vicious seagulls.
We have also taken her on several trips around the Highlands where the mid range punch, alongside the neat handling and strong brakes, makes for some very enjoyable driving.
And over on the Isle of Skye
Here is one more picture from a Scottish run that I really love. Think this was the dogs first time up in Scotland when he was just a pup.
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60six
Posted a lot
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Posts: 1,679
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Those are pictures good enough for a magazine photoshoot - you have the ride height perfect for the 16 inch alloys, and like mine, the red/grey/black combo is my favorite colour for them. What colour code is yours?
My alloys were an example of Right PCD, slightly different ET, and an inch wider than I should of gone, but they are my all time favorite alloys - found during a late night bored eBay browse. They are compomotive & UK made for ford sierras. They originally had the awful 1970's font raised lettering on them and someone thankfully ground these off, leaving no trace. After increasing the centre-bore to the Saab size the Fronts went on with only 3mm clearance at the back of the alloy, but the rears were a pig. A 4mm spacer was too big, but thankfully the 3mm spacer was near perfect, until I realized that when the rear of the car is off the ground the rear wheels would not turn! It was fine when on the ground, but it was fouling the rear stabilzer bar. Tyre size was everything here and 195/60/15 didn't work, but 195/55/15 did by about 1-2mm.
Trouble is the car is far too low for me to easily work on, so I will figure something out to put 60 profile back on.
I admit I wasn't a fan of clear indicators but with yours it looks right.
Had mine 13 years and paid 350 for it purely for spares, but after seeing how solid it was underneath and how well it still drove after 260,0000 I kept it on. Would love to use it daily as I did years ago but seeing just how rare these are getting it deserves to be looked after.
I have a spare engine I am slowly rebuilding, I just need a gearbox for it so I can just do a straight swap if this current engine gets sick ....
I have 3 9000's now which I prefer in so many ways, but nothing they can do is anywhere near as much fun as this 900.
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Last Edit: Jul 3, 2021 21:08:09 GMT by 60six
Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 2,010
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Would love to use it daily as I did years ago but seeing just how rare these are getting it deserves to be looked after. Can't you look after a daily? |
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,679
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Would love to use it daily as I did years ago but seeing just how rare these are getting it deserves to be looked after. Can't you look after a daily? Daily means 120 miles a day, not just popping to asda. |
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 2,010
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That's serious dailying 60six, I don't envy you! |
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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Those are pictures good enough for a magazine photoshoot - you have the ride height perfect for the 16 inch alloys, and like mine, the red/grey/black combo is my favorite colour for them. What colour code is yours? My alloys were an example of Right PCD, slightly different ET, and an inch wider than I should of gone, but they are my all time favorite alloys - found during a late night bored eBay browse. They are compomotive & UK made for ford sierras. They originally had the awful 1970's font raised lettering on them and someone thankfully ground these off, leaving no trace. After increasing the centre-bore to the Saab size the Fronts went on with only 3mm clearance at the back of the alloy, but the rears were a pig. A 4mm spacer was too big, but thankfully the 3mm spacer was near perfect, until I realized that when the rear of the car is off the ground the rear wheels would not turn! It was fine when on the ground, but it was fouling the rear stabilzer bar. Tyre size was everything here and 195/60/15 didn't work, but 195/55/15 did by about 1-2mm. Trouble is the car is far too low for me to easily work on, so I will figure something out to put 60 profile back on. I admit I wasn't a fan of clear indicators but with yours it looks right. Had mine 13 years and paid 350 for it purely for spares, but after seeing how solid it was underneath and how well it still drove after 260,0000 I kept it on. Would love to use it daily as I did years ago but seeing just how rare these are getting it deserves to be looked after. I have a spare engine I am slowly rebuilding, I just need a gearbox for it so I can just do a straight swap if this current engine gets sick .... I have 3 9000's now which I prefer in so many ways, but nothing they can do is anywhere near as much fun as this 900. Thanks! I do have quite a few pictures of it. Obviously I am biased but I just think they're such a great shape. So many cool angles and unique curves that make them totally unlike anything else.
Colour code 127H - Cherry red I absolutely love the Compomotives. Such a brilliant classic wheel design. They are on my list of wheels to keep an eye for to go on the e30 build. Well worth the pain in getting them on yours. I have been through similar issues getting wheels on before so know what a nuisance it is when you're set on getting them on.
People always have really strong opinions in 900 land about whether clear indicators are a go-er or not! We also have a white convertible 900 and I have kept the ambers on that, liking the contrast. For the red I have always preferred clear. Maybe it's just having had them on so long but I think they suit it better.
Completely agree with you about 9000s. Brilliant brilliant cars but a very different drive to a 900. I have had my aero for 12-13 years now and would never want to see it leave. It gets used for the really long journeys. Missus loves it too and tends to claim it a lot |
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That's serious dailying 60six , I don't envy you!
My daily commute has dropped from 30 miles to 0 these days. I am having to invent reasons to take the cars out. Most years they all get 5000 miles on each of them but won't be any where near that this year.
It certainly makes it harder looking after them when you are piling on the miles although I've found the most regular damage is from other cars when parked. That's always an annoyance to have to deal with.
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