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Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



I've got myself stuck in home isolation for 14 days so what better to do to forget the poo poo state of the world than to start off another project car...

In my parents garden I have a tent, which for the last 10 years or so has held one of my dads cars along with a load of assorted crap. He bought the car in the 90's and drove it for a couple of years before it got parked up for some reason and first lived in his garage and then my tent.
I bought the tent on the basis that the car would eventually become mine...


Earlier this week I convinced my parents to dig it out and attempt to put some air in the tyres and I paid a man with a truck some money to go visit their house:


Somehow all the tyres hold air and the brakes were not stuck on and half an hour later I got this dropped off in my drive:
There is a spoiler and rear louvre for the tailgate but they got left in the garden at my parents house for now!








Check out that go-faster stripe :gizz:

Somehow the interior is still perfect (other than the headlining) and smells of mothballs?
Apparently the interior on this car was refurbished shortly before my dad bought it in the 90's



The engine however is covered in mouse poo poo and spiders and is disgusting..


The body is in remarkable good condition, but there is some nasty rust around the windscreen at the top and the bottom edges.
I think the rust at the top was one of the reasons it was parked up.



This side has been patched with some fibreglass (apparently before my dad owned it)

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Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



DAY 1:
The negative battery cable has disintegrated, so with the aid of some jump leads I fitted a battery and attempted to turn the key. Amazingly the starter motor works but the engine will not turn over.
No surprise the fuel pump doesn't work.

After one turn of the key the ignition barrel seized up solid and locked the gear stick up too (the ignition barrel in this car is next to the gear lever and is supposed to lock the gear stick into reverse when you remove the key). The key is also stuck in the barrel.

Lack of a working engine does not worry me as my plan here is to remove the original engine and replace it with a later 1990-ish Saab 16V Turbo B202 engine (which I happen to already have...)

Strip down begins and the coolant has apparently turned into sludge


After an hour or two of spraying plus-gas and skinning my knuckles and I can see lots of horrible K-Jetronic stuff. This is all going away and I'm gonna run this on a speeduino ECU :)



lots of kjet and wiring removed:
I have also managed to desconnect the gear linkage, remove the speedo and get the engine mount bolts undone.


Next is removing the driveshafts so that I can lift the engine and gearbox out

Lots of spiders:


Got the hub off and removed the caliper and separated the driveshaft from the CV and then sealed stuff up to keep the dirt out:


Hub refitted without caliper and driveshaft (so I can roll the car). Rust visible. I think this is the rustiest inner wheel arch...

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Seat Safety Switch posted:

I love everything about this car. Does the original engine at least turn?

I cant make it turn with it in the car but you cant get a socket and big bar on the crank on a 99 because of the bulkhead. (I will be cutting an access panel into the bulkhead to fix this!).
I had a quick go at levering it via the clutch assembly but without making a dedicated bar that would fit in it better (I think that there is a special saab tool for this!) feared for my knuckles too much if i slipped.

Its got oil in and has been dry so I suspect it will free up - but then would still need a minimum of a light rebuild and some work to get the sludge cleared out of the waterways and replace seals (like the waterpump) and I suspect will also need the wastegate rebuilding (it has a diaphram and valve in), then on top of that will need lots of work on the K-jet to actually make it run properly.
I hate K-jet and don't want to touch it ever again, and the engine also needs to come out so I can weld around it so I'm just going to fit the better later engine that I already have!

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Day 2:

Stripped the passenger side front axle out. Had to chop the caliper up with an angle grinder to remove it. I don't think this side needs any welding doing to the inner arch!!


Removed the engine.
Tried to get it to turn over again when it was out and no success yet


Started stripping and cleaning the engine bay. This was underneath the engine!! #saablife


found 2 mouse nests while doing it.


Engine bay stripped out


Then rolled outside. The big pile of rust is the remains of the exhaust


Pressure washed, scrubbed and degreased as much as possible


The rustiest side:
My dad told me that when he bought it in the 90's it was parked in a farmyard and there was a hedge growing around the front. It was clearly on this side!


Test fit of new engine:


I need to cut a couple of 15mm recesses into the bulkhead for it to fit (as expected)

Unfortunately I found the gearbox that was attached to my 16v engine is not the one I thought it was and in order to get the 5 speed box I wanted I will have to undertake a proper engine shuffling mission :(
currently debating leaving the car as a 4 speed

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



I just ordered all the parts to rebuild both front corners with new ball joints, tie rod ends, CV boots, brake disks, calipers and brake lines.


zundfolge posted:

I’m excited to see your progress! I’m working on reviving a 1984 Volvo 245 turbo right now and it’s interesting to compare the way the two manufacturers implemented the K-Jet. I’m planning to keep it but I converted my last 240 from K-Jet to EFI so I may yet go that route if it ends up being too frustrating. The rest of the car is so original that I feel like it deserves a chance at least.

Have you got a thread for your Volvo? I love old volvos but have only ever owned one and it was a boring later diesel one.

This car was original too - but I really hate K-Jet after the fight I had with my last K-Jet Saab. (Note - I only hate K-jet because the parts are all now 40 years old and buying new bits costs stupid money so getting it running reliably seems impossible without much time and money).
I want something that will start, idle and for which it doesn't end up costing thousands for any engine parts.


Seat Safety Switch posted:

That's quite a bit of rust, but it could probably all be fixed.

Is the 5-speed case bigger or is there some kind of linkage fouling problem?

There is quite a bit of surface rust and small bits but I haven't found any massive structural rust. It looks like an easy fix to me. This car is amazingly solid relative to the other ones I have worked on!
You can barely get 3 fingers through the worst rust hole in the engine bay...

The 5 speed box is the exact same dimension as the 4 speed and is pretty much a straight swap (you have to swap the linkage over too but I have the parts for this)
The gearbox in the photo has the later front mount fitted (you can swap the front cover over to fix this) so isn't sitting on the front mount properly

My problem is that:
The gearbox on the original engine is a 4 speed (last used approx 25 years ago)
The gearbox currently on the 16v engine is a 4 speed with the wrong front cover fitted (last used approx 15 years ago)
I have a 5 speed box which I wanted to use here - but it is currently installed in my other old Saab which doesn't run and is parked under my carport on a gravel drive with limited access around the sides

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Day 3:


Moved Saab out of garage


Got the other saab running so I could move it. Only took a couple of hours. 2 of the LPG solenoids also died in the process which was weird - I think they must not be sealed and rust up inside or something. One worked again after hitting it but the other I had to swap out for a spare.

Drove it into the garage


Began a game of musical gearboxes:

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Day 4 + 5
I've been slacking taking photos because I have been enjoying playing loud music off my phone instead!

Operation musical gearboxes has been a success and yellow car is now reassembled with a 4 speed box.
Yellow car now starts and runs (though starting it can be a pig as the choke cable is broken and you have to tap one of the LPG solenoids with a hammer sometimes to get it to open)
5 speed box is attached to the engine going into the black car.
Removed engine and gearbox have now been sealed up to prevent water/animal ingress and are now outside under a tarp.

The black car has a weird smell inside it that makes your eyes and throat hurt so today I wore a mask and stripped out the interior and headlining to see if they were causing it - and so that I can start chopping and welding around the windscreen and bulkhead.





I am not convinced the seats are the culprit as the smell is still there when they are out and they only smell musty if you sniff them outside the car.

Mouse ingress into the interior seems to have been none/minimal - there are no turds to be found. I think they were happy in the engine bay (where I removed 2 nests and many turds)
It has been a bit moist in there (all the screws are rusty), but nothing was damp other than a bit in the front which I think came from my pressure washing.
I have scrubbed some light mold off the door trims and dash.



When I got the boot floor out I found that there is no fuel pump fitted (I was expecting it to be dead but not missing!), so the tank is just venting into the interior. I am now hopeful that the old varnishy/petrol fumes are the source of the smell



Unfortunately the fuel pump fitting is also different to all the later 99 and c900 spares that I have, so even though i have already bought a new pump I cant mount it as I dont have a suitable hanger/cradle/bracket for it

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Day 6:

My photos of today also suck.

Started by hitting the rusty front corner with the needle scaler:





There were some previous poo poo repairs on this wing.

I also hit the front panel :(


I then spent a couple of hours with my grinder and cut out a poo poo load of rusty bits


Then I did a test fit of the new engine as it needs some bulkhead mods:


Clutch master cylinder is very close but i can flip that 180 degrees


Had to cut a hole for the end of the crankshaft.
I'm using a bottom pulley on this that has been converted from a double to single belt in a lathe.


Now the waterpump touches the bulkhead and the alternator is really close:



I have started cutting to make some clearance up here.

I also need to make up a top bracket for the alternator and find a belt that fits. Stock is 975mm but the brake servo stops me using that.

I think I need to buy a 950/925mm belt and try that and hit the brake servo with my lump hammer a few times to ensure the alternator fins don't touch it.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Fuel pump hanger retrieved:



Now I need to find a bit of 2.25" (55-60mm) fuel resistant hose to hold the pump up.

I am assuming that fuel filler hose is probably my best bet here?

edit:


lol. I'm not sure if adding Austin/MGB parts to a Saab is a good thing but it looks like its the perfect size and price!

Tomarse fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Aug 26, 2020

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



User Error posted:

I always thought old Saabs were designed by people who had heard of cars but never actually seen one up close and personal. Why why why is the motor backwards? Why is everything else the way it is?

because Saab :sweden:. Since clutches are more frequent service items than timing chains it makes sense to me to put it backwards...

Day 7:

As per skid factory requirements I removed and refitted the engine approx 20 times and ended up with a cutout in my bulkhead that lets the engine fit and gives enough space to change the fan belt:


The alternator cooling fins are however REALLY close to my brake booster. I am waiting for a couple of slightly shorter belts to arrive to see if I can move the alt in some more before I hit the brake booster with a lump hammer or start shopping for a smaller one.


I also drilled out my trigger wheel and chucked it onto the crank pulley. I need to mount the sensor and then fix the wheel to the pulley behind it.


Day 8:

Cleaned up the rusty roof:


I found this guy in the roof above one of the sunroof mounts. He should be easy to remove.


The windscreen surround is a different story though :(


I can cope with the holes at the bottom:


But i'm not yet sure about the best method to repair the top rail:


I've made a start on the bottom first:

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



I have found a man willing to sell me 2 inches of the roof off a donor car!

He also has a new green tinted windscreen (original OEM Saab turbo 70's spec) for sale to replace my lovely de-laminated non-tinted one.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



InitialDave posted:

Will he sell you the entire panel, then you can split and re-weld along the original seams?

I think i'd rather do one big weld right along the front than have to take off and weld on the whole roof skin. It should be easy enough to grind the weld down because access is easy to the top side.

There is a structural bar running behind the outer skin (which is still solid) so I can grind my outer skin off and plug weld the donor bit back on along the bottom edge

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



STR posted:

You need hose specifically rated for fuel submersion if it's actually going to be in any liquid, otherwise it's just gonna fall apart.

Otherwise yeah, filler is probably gonna be fine. Probably.

I am hoping that fuel filler hose is suitably fuel resistant to deal with this. Its only going to be submerged when the tank is between 75 and 100% full.

On the Austin/MG it is designed for I suspect that it also sits full of fuel for a while when the tank is filled up too - so I would hope it can deal with it

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Found some documentation today. This car was last MOT'd when I was aged 7 (and the car was aged 9)!

It also doesn't have a current registration document (it has one from 1987 but they changed in the uk in the 90's and it never got a new one) so I am going to have to talk to the DVLA to find out how I go about registering it.


Bulk Vanderhuge posted:

On the British cars the fuel cap is on the rear deck so the rubber piece just connects the fuel filler pipe to the fuel tank inlet. The rubber hose is never in constant contact with gasoline unless you way overfill the tank. I would double check.

If the filler hose doesn't like it then my fuel pump will drop into the tank and the interior will start smelling of fuel so i should find out pretty quickly!

I have the MGB filler hose now. I could leave it submerged in some fuel for a few weeks as a test and see if it dissolves?

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Tomarse posted:

Found some documentation today. This car was last MOT'd when I was aged 7 (and the car was aged 9)!

It also doesn't have a current registration document (it has one from 1987 but they changed in the uk in the 90's and it never got a new one) so I am going to have to talk to the DVLA to find out how I go about registering it.

Turns out it only took a 5 minute phone call and didn't cost me anything and a registration document is now in the post.

Within 5 minutes of the call it started working in the online lookup utility (previously it would give a 'details not found' error).

32 years expired tax is pretty good going :lol:

Manufacture date is wrong on the documentation (its actually a 78), but it is still early enough to be instantly tax and mot exempt (once i fill in the form for that)

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Seat Safety Switch posted:

Glad there won’t be too many hassles with tax at least. With no MOT required, you don’t have to get it inspected either?

The ‘tax’ for cars here is a monthly fee that you have to pay which is loosely based on emissions/random numbers.
It being historic/exempt saves me around £20/month.
Not a massive amount but it’s nice.

Yes - it is also exempt from compulsory annual inspections :) - though I will probably get an initial inspection done just to get a professional confirmation that I haven’t missed anything important.
The guy who does the inspections at my local garage knows his poo poo.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



InitialDave posted:

Yeah, the DVLA have always been really good when I've phoned them. Compared to the American tales of their DMVs, it's really quite remarkable.

I need to find out how to get the manufacturing date of the 924, as it's registered in Jan '82, so probably built in '81, but isn't registered quite early enough in January to be considered '81 by default.

I got the 101fc date changed. I had to get an official build certificate from the heritage centre at Gaydon (who have the LR records) and send that off with a letter and the V5 (and some photos and stuff). You probably need a factory build record or owners club equivalent.

Pomp and Circumcized posted:

I've got a bare Speeduino 0.42 PCB lying around (was a spare from an old project, never needed), if you need?

cheers for the offer! Some utter twat of a postman attempted to deliver my Speeduino and wiring loom today at 14:30 (it was supposed to be a pre-12:00 delivery....). I was outside in the garage by then having given up waiting so didn't hear the doorbell.

He didn't try next door and just left a card and took it away again and back to the sorting office.

The sorting office and royal mail call centre is closed from midday today until Tuesday (not open on Sunday or a bank holiday). I cant book a re-delivery slot until Wednesday. Awesome.

I was gonna start wiring it up in the evenings as a non-neighbour annoying quieter activity

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Rust repair on the bottom edge of the screen is really kicking my arse.

Drivers side is now solid again but still needs the windscreen seal retaining angle section making and welding on.
before shot:

The middle bit is also solid but also needs the seal retaining angle refitting. I've got the piece made up for here but it needs trimming down and attaching


When i cut the rust out I found that there is a void under here above the heater box which you can just reach into from the sides. It held mouse nest no. 5.
Gonna drill 2 access holes in through the top of the dash so I can spray wax in here.


The passenger side was the worst and is now almost finished. It needs some more cleanup and the seal strip is made up but needs welding on and end by the door is still open - but I need to take the door off to fill it in.
before shot:

Had to keep checking against the screen that I had the lines right as I cut out so much of the top and the panel is both angled and curved:
Much of it is hidden under the screen seal anyway!


I am gonna aim to get the lower screen section fully completed by tomorrow.
I then need to take out the brake booster and fix a big hole that I have noticed under there. I found water stains when I took the dash apart and it looks like water has got through the holes in the lower screen panel and sat under the booster along with mouse piss from nest no 4 (which was around the back of the booster).


I also still have to fill in the bulkhead cutout I made for the crankshaft pulley but I need to draw out a template first so I can bend/weld a recessed panel up for it.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Aaaaaaargh.

I finished the lower part of the windscreen...





but then started poking the bulkhead behind the heater box and made some holes and ended up having to strip out a load more stuff so I can get at them...

brake booster out:
most of the bolts snapped here rather than coming undone and I think i need to take out the whole brake pedal linkage to replace them. This is behind all the internal heater ducts....


heater matrix and heater box out:


This area was home to a massive mouse nest and stinks of piss.

I have hoovered it, wire wheeled it and left it stewing in POR15 metal ready.

On the plus side at least I now have a chance of being able to use the heater and vents without it stinking of mice.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Bulkhead and lower windscreen area now done and I managed to get the brake booster frame untangled enough to grind out the snapped captive bolts (its the thing on the dash)



Clutch master cylinder has been leaking for the past 20 years so the clevis pin that holds it to the linkage below is a big rusty lump and I cant get a hammer on it in order to remove the cylinder. Have doused it in plus-gas. Cylinder needs to come out so I can fit a seal kit.
I suspect that I am going to have to chop poo poo up with the grinder/reciprocating saw and then replace bits. I can lift it up about an inch so can in theory chop the main shaft and then probably saw the clevis pin out working down through the hole. I have a spare master cylinder and am assuming that I can buy a new clevis pin of the right size.

Bulkhead shelf took a while as I had to pre-drill lots of holes in my repair sections in the top section


UK goons may notice that the crankshaft hole box that I made is based on a 1 gang backbox..



Also made a VR sensor mount


Its not quite perfectly straight but I think it is close enough and I got sick of trying to bend it the right way to get it spot on.

I now need to work out where TDC is and how many teeth I need to be before it and get the trigger wheel bolted to the crank pulley.

Changing that belt is going to be a bit of a fucker with the engine in the car but should be possible.

Tomarse fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Aug 31, 2020

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Done some more metalwork today in the front corner



Also fitted a flywheel in an attempt to find TDC on my engine.


Got very confused for a while because the TDC marks on the flywheel were not lining up with TDC on piston1.

Took the valve cover off to check the camshaft timing marks and found that flywheel TDC didnt match camshaft TDC either.
(and I broke one of the stupid plastic oilway connectors when I was taking the valve cover off too :( )


Then I realised that the flywheel I am using is not originally off this engine but is instead off an 8v - and the timing marks look to be in a slightly different place due to having a different starter location and cylinder head thermostat housing layout.

I'm therefore gonna go with the camshafts and piston and ignore the flywheel

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Only had a couple of hours today but got more metal refitted!

Even though it still has some massive holes left to fill most of the flex has now gone from the front wing.




Also finally got an ECU.
Its a ready built speeduino compatible. It basically an integrated speeduino and arduino board, which then plugs into a custom mainboard which has some module slots and an output connector on it.
Its got an integrated wideband controller and came with a 2.5m wiring loom and an ignition coil module and cost around £400

I am thinking of moving it into the original saab/bosch ignition module housing to gently caress with people (I was going to mount it in the same spot anyway!)


Got an ebay special chinese 6 way fuse and relay box too which is going to hide here and hold all the ECU related relays and fuses.
I could wire everything into the original fuse box and use the relays in there (and the spare slots) but the 40 y.o wiring is all a bit hosed and on all my other saab 99's has been unreliable - so i shall just keep the original wiring for all the lights and stuff and put all the engine and ECU stuff into a new one.


My 925mm fan belt also arrived and is a tiny bit too short. Have now got a 935mm on its way which I hope is gonna hit the spot.... (If not then it looks like 937mm and then 940mm - 950mm is too long)

Tomarse fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Sep 2, 2020

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



jink posted:

What the fuuuuuuck you are flying through this!

I can't wait to see how this turns out. I would have walked away from that rust... your results are great! Wow.

Doesn’t feel like I am flying through it :(

Was hoping by now to have the engine bay welding all done, the bay resprayed and the engine in and able to be started...

In reality I have spent £1000 on parts and have not yet actually got to the point where I can fit _any_ of them. My living room is full of saab parts and I have used 0.5 m^2 of metal sheet..

cakesmith handyman posted:

I should come out of my favourites and browse the forums more often, great progress but I guess if you've not much else to do might as well keep busy. Love the turbo stripe and the red interior.

I’m actually free to leave home tomorrow now. I think I need another holiday now to recover from the amount of hard work I’ve done on this car!

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Goddamn, that was a mission:

before:


after:

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Spent a long while wiggling the engine back and forth and hope I have now found TDC (using a stick in #1 and the cam timing marks), re-punched some marks on my flywheel and got the trigger wheel and VR sensor correctly aligned with the missing tooth 9 teeth/90degrees ahead of the VR sensor.
Its hard to find due to the slight duration of TDC and I might be very slightly out - but hopefully only +/- 1 degree at the most
Then I managed to drill my trigger wheel and crank pulley, thread the pulley and bolt it on and only seem to have a max of about 0.3mm of runout. Hopefully this should be fine.

I am waiting for my next fan belt to arrive before I finish turning the scrap of flat bar bolted behind the waterpump pulley into a proper alternator mount

(pictured not at TDC!)


Fitted an IAT sensor in a convenient pre-existing bunghole


Found a location that works for the boost solenoid and as a bonus the pre-existing Saab return line that i dug out of my parts box just for the rubber bung at the end actually fits perfectly. I'm not sure that a jubilee clip mounting is the most professional technique but it seems to work well!


Then pulled the dissy off and chopped a big bit of 100mm O/D 3mm wall box section up to make a coil pack mount that bolts onto the end of the head. Cant finish it because I don't yet have any long enough bolts/threaded bar/spacer tube/threaded tube for its excessively long bolts..



meltie posted:

You must do this!

rough measuring has indicated that its gonna be toight and will probably involve some dremeling and patching of the old connector hole. still want to do it though!. I think i can even reuse the rubber boot off the bosch plug too for my wiring... IF I can manage to untangle it from the current loom...

The old loom is inside sleeve which has all gone pretty solid with age and is stuck to the wires so I think i need to cut it to get anything out and it will be a mission :(

Tomarse fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Sep 6, 2020

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Got sick of welding so did some wiring:

Fitted the old battery tray. It has about 5mm of clearance off the cam cover at the back corner so I might have to trim that corner. I found a small battery in my scrap pile that leaves space to allow that and have now ordered a new one that isn't hosed.
The tray also needs the base rewelding - but i'll do that later.



All the old battery wiring was destroyed so I have run some new stuff through. It has to go to the other side of the car and unfortunately I cant finalise the position of most of the cables yet until I rebuild the dashboard - but i've temporarily shoved ends on it that should work for the moment.

I also found a location for my ECU fusebox and built some brackets


Then I started laying out my ECU loom and adding some power cables into it.
The ECU will mount on the old ignition module mounting bracket that goes in that spot.


And then ran some new fusebox wiring


and then wired up the fusebox. I am quite impressed with it considering it only cost around £6


and drilled a hole to run the wiring through behind the old fusebox


and tidied up the engine side ready to attach some connectors (which have not all arrived)


I have had to replace some cables in the old loom and found that I could split it with a knife and either pull stuff through with old wiring or feed it through.

Tomarse fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Sep 7, 2020

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



After realising that my flywheel was off an automatic car and that i needed to get a pilot bearing for it I fitted a clutch.

Step 1 - break out the 2.5 ton press to compress the new pressure plate and fit the saab special spacer ring which holds the fingers in the compressed position.


This is necessary because you have to slide the whole lot (along with the clutch slave and release bearing) into here and its a tight fit:
before doing this i re-sealed the slave


You can then slide the clutch shaft back into place.
It is held in with an internal circlip whichis generally an utter bastard to get aligned


I then refitted the engine again and managed to get a nice signal for the ECU off my crank trigger wheel.
I struggled a bit the first time I tried this as my VR sensor was slightly too far away and was not getting a clean signal. It is now around 0.5-0.7mm away and gets a perfect signal.
I've got the plugs out at the moment so there is no compression affecting the tooth log (and so i dont kill the battery so quickly)


Coilpack is also fitted on its bracket and i've started crimping connectors onto my wiring loom
I had to also make some mods and replace some cables in the original loom to deal with the starter motor, alternator and oil pressure light


Then today I also reworked a 900 downpipe into one that fits in my car:
I am now going to buy a c900 backbox and think that this will then join to that with the addition of 2 x 45degree bends and a metre or so of straight pipe (to replace the mid-box section)

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Also - I think there is still a mouse living in the back of the car above the fuel tank as I have twice seen a confused rodent hanging around. Hoping to trap him tomorrow!.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



got myself a bit of donor car! Totally forgot to take any photos of his awesome field of dying saabs! :(



Its missing a tiny bit at the far end where someone else has had the A pillar but it shouldn't be too bad to patch this (especially since it can be done before I fit it onto the car)

I also found out how to separate the outer skin from the inner frame (its lots of spot welds)

I'm thinking i might actually cut pretty much this whole section off my car and do two short joints alongside the sunroof hole. I think this is going to be easier to get right than welding right along the front edge - although I will pay for it in time spent drilling the spotwelds out of the side gutter

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr





I have never chopped this out of a car I like before!. It was held on by spot welds along the edge along with seam sealer and they were utter bastards to drill out.




I stripped the skin off the donor section and had to do a slight repair to one corner of it.
I think the repair went OK. Welded it very slowly and in sections along with a wet sponge. 90% of the bit I put in came off my old roof (fortunately this was a good bit) and I bent it slightly while removing it due to a stubborn bit of seam sealer and a massive spot weld.
I think I’ve beaten the worst of it out and Hopefully the rest will level out ok once covered with primer and a tiny bit of surface filler.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



I spent a day removing and refitting the panel about 1000 times and gradually removing metal. and did a lot of clamping. Got it lined up and checked that the sunroof tray fits perfectly


Then did some very slow welding and then spent roughly 4 hours polishing the tops off all my plug welds in the channel.


Some primer and one coat of filler over the joint roughly knocked down with the palm sander and its looking like i got it low enough and didn't distort anything too much!


Got this bit looking better too:


Also managed to remove the tailgate on my own. It is indeed very heavy


Been cleaning up some surface rust at the back and have also managed to get a fuel pump fitted into the tank


The spare tyre is looking healthy. The wheel itself looks unused so I am assuming the tyre was swapped onto it and whoever MOT'd it last in 1987 didn't bother looking at it.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



There is lots of progress happening because I have been doing maybe only 1 or 2 hours per day of actual proper paid work because the world is in the poo poo :(

I did a lot of sanding and fillering today and went to the paint shop and bought some paint.
I think It’s gonna take me a lot of primer build to get this roof flat as it has had a respray in the past and the old paint is quite thick in places at the back - so I’m gonna try and blast a first primer coat over it on Sunday I think - expecting to then have to spend another day fixing and filling it and building some areas up.
I can’t even easily sand through the old paint to remove it - but it’s well attached on the roof so it can stay!


I feel like I’m going about this car in a bit of a messed up order...

I still have a load of welding to do on the outer wing, inner arches, rear suspension mounts, inner sills and front valence - but I’m going to get the roof, bulkhead and engine bay painted first...

I want to do this so I can fit the windscreen and make the car weatherproof (and get the windscreen off my sofa..), fit the engine to get it out of my way and then start refitting a lot of the dash and interior poo poo that is currently filling my living room and hall.

If I can also make the engine start and run it’s gonna make moving it around to work on it a lot easier - I’m just going to have to be really careful to cover it up all the time when I’m grinding.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr





jink posted:

Well... the world is indeed in the poo poo. At least you are taking that and turning it into productivity. That's positive!

I like your plan! This is way over my head in repairs, but that seems like a good approach. Keep us updated.

Thanks for the motivation post! :)

I’m not feeling very positive but this car is helping!

As suspected, getting the roof flat is a total nightmare :(

Masked it up over the weekend and cleaned my garage out to make space and attempt to remove some of the dust.



One long day of spraying and rubbing down and filling and spraying and rubbing down completed and looks like another one to come...

This is the good corner


This is still a work in progress


And of course I’m getting a weird reaction from the old paint in a few spots including this one which is a nightmare to rub down.
This is after taking it back down and trying again.


There’s another spot being a dick right in the middle of the roof too. Typical.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



I finally finished primering today.
It’s not 100% perfect but I can live with the few small marks and dips that remain.
The roof seems to have had lots of dips in it from factory! Getting my welded sections flat was easy compared to the dents and dips in the section I haven’t touched!


I also took the cover off the heater box and stripped it down so I could clean all the mouse poo poo and detritus out.
It was disgusting (sorry for the rubbish photo, better after shots will follow!)

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



StormDrain posted:

Getting the top laser straight would require a skim coating of body filler across the whole thing and a lot of block sanding. I don't blame you for drawing a line somewhere. I'd also bet some of the dips and imperfections came from body flexing.

Looks good from here though!

When i started on this car i specifically vowed that I was not trying to restore it to concours condition but was going for 'usable and wont go any rustier' - but with paint surface prep I find it hard to stop trying to make it flawless!


After having a nightmare with some paint reactions from its 80's resprays undercoat I have finally got paint on the roof and it doesn't look terrible

The front is awesome (the reflection of the door makes the back look weird in this photo)


The back is "good enough, send it"


Because I lost my first coat and a 1/2 of colour on the roof to stupid paint reactions (and then spent 8 hours and approx 15 sheets of 600 and 1200 grit paper) flatting it back I ran out of colour coat so the bulkhead has had zero coats of colour and the lower screen panel has just had one coat of colour which will now have to be rubbed right back before I do any more to it :(

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



I’m still alive

Today I wet sanded and polished some of the orange peel off my roof and then polished the lower windscreen panel where the laquer had bloomed slightly.

It started pissing it down the day I painted the lower panel and the electric fan heater in my garage couldn’t quite do enough




Tomorrow I am hoping to refit the dash lining and the windscreen

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Mcqueen posted:

Didn’t know this thread existed. You’re doing an amazing job and this makes me miss my old 900 a ton. One of the few cars I wish I had kept.

Thanks! :3:

Glued the dash panel down and refitted the windscreen. I'm getting pretty good at doing saab screens now!
Could do with new trim sections - gonna see if i can find them for sale somewhere.




Have also rebuilt most of the sunroof mechanism ready to refit that. The internet says i can remove the painted panel out the top without messing with dropping the whole tray so i might just refit it all and take the panel out again once i am ready to paint it.

I managed to buy a non-rusty donor c900 sunroof panel (unfortunately in metallic blue) for the bargain price of £30 (and a 250 mile round trip to pick it up) to replace the absolutely hosed original one.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Thread title is finally not a lie. I braved a wasps nest and retrieved this from the bush in my parents garden where it has been living for many years.



Missing one clip and one other clip is broken so i need to make or buy some of them. It is an Autoplas louvre (a well known make) and there seem to be a few people reproducing the clips - which will probably be longer lasting than anything I can 3D print myself.

Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



Spent far too much time trying to get this front wing flat (it is about 25% new metal)



Had a tailgate off a c900 stashed in the tent at my parents house that I saved approx 8 years ago. The paint on it is hosed but it is structurally sound. There is one tiny rust hole at the very bottom and some surface rust around the bolts for the plate. The original tailgate almost folds in half at the bottom..
Fitted it so I can push the car out of the garage without it filling with water:


Unfortunately the bottom section of the 900 tailgate is slightly different as saab added the fog lights properly rather than them being surface mount ones. They also changed the profile slightly in the centre and changed the trim and handle assembly.
I want to fit the original trim and handle and lock assembly and use the old style lights but this is going to take a bit of effort.

original:


I now need to decide if I want to make up a full width replacement panel for the bottom half of the tailgate and do it properly (this will correct the profile of the bend at the transition and make my trim fit properly and everything look perfect), or just make covers for the light holes and leave the profile all a bit wrong and make up spacers to mount everything level and fill the gap behind the trim.

the former is obviously better but is more work - and helpfully the tailgate is 102 cm wide so I cant do it with the 1m wide metal sheets I already have.
the latter option is gonna be a lot easier and probably wont be noticeable unless you know what you are looking for (I can 3d print spacers to level stuff up) BUT I WILL KNOW AND IT WILL BUG ME ...

There is a bit of rust at the back of the front wheel arch and I am thinking of just filling it with body filler because I am suffering from 2020 and don't feel like fixing it properly right now (I can come back and weld it later as a pleasant weekend job once the car is running)


Decided to do some painting this week so i can actually put the engine in properly but my spray gun had different ideas:
Left a tiny bit of thinners in the tank for 3 or 4 weeks and the pickup pipe dissolved and split!


Fortunately (for me but not for a future without covid) my local machinemart tool supply shop is still open during lockdown as it is 'essential' and i was able to buy a replacement gun. I did however have to buy a fancier one as they have gently caress all stock due to transportation issues.

I managed to undercoat this bit of the inner wing


and my sunroof panel
this is not the original panel but is one i bought from a c900 which is much less rusty than mine.



While waiting for paint to dry today I have also rebuilt the camshaft oil feed pipes on the cylinder head of my replacement engine.
These took me by surprise as I was not expecting them and I therefore touched them when i was inspecting the engine thus triggering the 35 year old plastic to fall apart.

For 18 months during 1985-86 saab 16v cylinder heads used a surface mount oil feed pipe to oil the camshaft bearings. From 86.5 they changed the cylinder head to make the oil feed internal. You can see the pipes here:



The oil is fed in/out of the pipes via 11 plastic fittings that push into the head with O-rings. Because these were not used for long only 10 of them are still available and they cost far too much :(.
I ordered all 10 that I could get and they finally arrived. I had to leave one old one in (but fitted a new o-ring on it). When this one goes it is new cylinder head time.
before shot:


I was surprised to find these stupid things because the 16v engine that I am fitting came from a 1993 c900, and the block has a 1993 date on it. Clearly at some point the 1993 engine had the head replaced with a 1985 one - which isn't great news :(

I have also found someone remaking the fixings i need for the louvre but they cost 60 Euros which is a lot for 6 bits of plastic.

Tomarse fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Nov 7, 2020

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Tomarse
Mar 7, 2001

Grr



cakesmith handyman posted:

What do the Louvre fittings look like? Are they a candidate for 3d printing with something more exotic than PLA? (I guess you can justify a roll of material if the alternative is £60)

They are 100% 3D printable if you can find the right material that can cope with being outside and getting warm?

I need 2 of these side fittings:

(this is the one i have but it is a bit hosed)

This is the fixing that goes into the top of them:


Then i need one of these:

because this end is broken


This is a vertical bar that goes up the middle.

Guy that sells the remade ones says that there are 2 more clips that go at the top too. not sure if that means here:


I was assuming that I could just use some sticky stuff to glue it down to the glass here.

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