SaabCentral Forums banner

New member needing help?

1K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  Saab999-5 
#1 ·
Hey guys and girls. I just recently purchased my first Saab. Its a 1999 Saab 9-5 2.3 Turbo 5 speed. Black paint with beige interior. I just recently had 5% tint all around done. I used to be apart of Maxima.org forum with a 1996 Nissan Maxima, that i had invested $10,000 into in the past two years. I loved that car it was amazing and today still is an amazing car, but now things have changed and ive moved up in the world with my turbo saab. I always kinda liked these cars but i never thought about them alot. Got such a good deal on the car i couldnt turn away. When i drove it i was like holy **** this thing is crazy fast. So here i am. I want to thank you all in advance for helping and opening your doors to me. Now iam no stranger to modding but Saabs are new to me along with turbo's, well i know about turbos but making shure i mod it right shall be the task. My buddy is currently supercharging his 2001 maxima so its my job to put the car to shame with a turbo. :). I know bsr makes somethings for my car and abbot racing. It seems abbot racing makes more for this model then bsr. Right now becuase of my tight budget iam looking at alot of small upgrades that makes alot of power such as delivery pipe,3"exhaust,3"downpipe,intake and possibly a small ecu uprgade. Also i want to replace/get a new dump/blow off valve to get that really nice pssssht! Noise. And last but not least i was wondering about getting a boost controller to turn up boost on the stock turbo. All comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. And again guys/girls thank you for the pleasent welcome. It if wasnt for forums we would probally all be lost in the modding world.

Andy
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Welcome. I hate to be the first to do this, but check the FAQs. [in the nicest way possible]. There is a list of tuners, common upgrades, and maintenance items. The members here are more than willing to help.

If you have anything near the old budget for your Maxima, you will have a lot of fun.
 
#3 ·
Welcome Andy!

First check out this thread. It also has a lot of good links.
http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84017
Our cars dont use a dump/blowoff valve. It is a recirculating system that uses a Bypass valve and the best way to get that Pssshhh sound is an open air intake.

Second, there is a heated debate about SMBC's right now just a few threads down. Check it out and make your own decision.

Third, as a general rule of thumb, we all want to see picks of your ride. Post 'em up! :cheesy:
 
#4 ·
I do have pics of the car from the other night on my friends camera but getting the camera away from this girl to get pics off it is like taking a pork chop from a pitbull lol. Also i still have my MTX system from my maxima and 18" wheels and tires for it as well so when the weather clears up here i shall be putting the wheels on and my stereo will be added next week
 
#5 ·
Check the bolt pattern of your 18's, as...

not many bolt patterns fit the Saabs.

Also, look up posts by Stipud for help with Audio system upgrade/modifications. Some of it is easy, some ain't.

If you want to see truly monster modded 9-5's look up posts by Fatship(DaveShip) or Garrett.

Also look at GenuineSaab website for the various performance upgrades available.
 
#6 ·
Welcome :cool:
You've found the best site. Period.
Saab999-5 said:
Hey guys and girls. I just recently purchased my first Saab. Its a 1999 Saab 9-5 2.3 Turbo 5 speed. Black paint with beige interior. I just recently had 5% tint all around done.

I used to be apart of Maxima.org forum with a 1996 Nissan Maxima, that i had invested $10,000 into in the past two years. I loved that car it was amazing and today still is an amazing car, but now things have changed and ive moved up in the world with my turbo saab. I always kinda liked these cars but i never thought about them alot. Got such a good deal on the car i couldnt turn away. When i drove it i was like holy **** this thing is crazy fast.

So here i am. I want to thank you all in advance for helping and opening your doors to me. Now iam no stranger to modding but Saabs are new to me along with turbo's, well i know about turbos but making shure i mod it right shall be the task.

My buddy is currently supercharging his 2001 maxima so its my job to put the car to shame with a turbo. :).

(1) I know bsr makes somethings for my car and abbot racing. It seems abbot racing makes more for this model then bsr. Right now becuase of my tight budget iam looking at alot of small upgrades that makes alot of power such as delivery pipe,3"exhaust,3"downpipe,intake and possibly a small ecu uprgade. Also i want to replace/get a new dump/blow off valve to get that really nice (2) pssssht! Noise.

(3) And last but not least i was wondering about getting a boost controller to turn up boost on the stock turbo. All comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. And again guys/girls thank you for the pleasent welcome. It if wasnt for forums we would probally all be lost in the modding world.

Andy
: politely: -try Paragraphs - They're Grrreat!

(1) You'll probably find that adding hardware doesn't help as much as you hope it would. That is to say - you need to match your software to reap all the benefits.

Trionic 7 is extremely agile and will dial back torque requests once it detects that the torque is too high. I'm starting to think that this is why we here almost nothing about transmission failures....

Anyways, Save you pennies and get a Nordic or BSR stage one tune. This changes the software to push your car to the edge of its design capabilities - safely. After that you need to add some hardware to realize more gains.

(2) The psssht! will be best achieved by adding a cold air intake. If you look around long enough you'll find someone around here was able to fab up a K&N filter with a length of Stainless pipe to make it just like the kits that are for sale.

Some also say that a Stainless Forge BPV will get you a crisper psssht. I don't know if that's true - but the sure are pretty. :cool:

(3) :nono; Boost Controller - Nope! Like I said before The Trionic ECU Handles all of this from the software end. Usually any added hardware gains will be adjust away soon enough (see several exauhst posts). Any extra equipment (Boost Cntroller, BOV, even a poorly adjusted SMBC) will throw a Check engine light . And after that it could even harm your sweet, sweet engine.
 
#7 ·
Sorry about the paragraph thing. Ive done that before without realizing it.

Well what my plans are right now becuase iam on a tight budget is to make up a 3" exhaust with a street(straight through) magnaflow muffler and 3" pipping. Then an intake from either bsr or abbot racing.

Doesnt seem to be much difference in the intake so i dont think it will matter what intake i buy.Then i plan on buying a 3" downpipe and abbot racing manifold.

I personally think i will see alot of gain from these mods but soon after all that is done i will be getting a delivery pipe from abbot racing and then the bsr stage one to top it off. I think that shall do me for this summer comming.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Saab999-5 said:
I personally think i will see alot of gain from these mods but soon after all that is done i will be getting a delivery pipe from abbot racing and then the bsr stage one to top it off. I think that shall do me for this summer comming.
With respect I disagree.

The exhaust will help - a little as flow will improve, the biggest restriction being the stock cat(s).

You will see NO gain from the delivery or intake (cobra) pipes.

Manifolds are crazy expensive and really are not needed till you get big power say 350-400bhp plus - same goes for the air filter although an open element does give you more "noise"

None of that hardware is spec'd for a stage one, most tuners add a cat back exhaust for stage 2 and that only adds about 5-8 bhp with some torque improvements.

If you are on a budget - spend it where you'll make a power difference which is usually on decent software at the start.

The best was to "speed up" your car is to improve the braking - less time "on" the brake pedal really helps ;)
 
#10 ·
As a fellow Canadian, I fully endorse genuinesaab.com, and eeuroparts.com. Both have offered me exceptional service, while ordering from overseas has been nothing but a headache (i.e. months for parts to come, astronomical shipping and duty fees).

The ECU controls the boost in our cars, so you need to ensure you have the proper ECU for your modifications. Boost control valves do not work like they do on the older Japanese cars. Our car already has one, but it is controlled by the ECU. Trying to trick it will only set a check engine light.

If you're planning a full exhaust and dump valve, getting a stage 3 tune will be perfect for you. It includes all of the parts that you need in one package (exhaust, open filter, tune):
http://www.genuinesaab.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=47_49&products_id=196

I personally recommend Nordic, Maptun or Hirsch software, as all three of them have a very strong grasp of Saab tuning. BSR does many other brands, so they aren't totally focused on Saabs. They don't offer any tuning beyond stage 3, and have no room for custom tuning. Nordic on the other hand had no problems making custom maps for my Abbott GT17 hybrid turbo, intercooler, etc.

At stage 3, your stock intercooler will be saturated in warm weather. I would say the most important upgrade beyond 250hp is the intercooler. You can either get a drop in replacement, or fabricate your own front mount. I personally went the drop in route and couldn't be happier!
http://www.genuinesaab.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=47_53&products_id=478

However, the guys posting above me are correct. You absolutely need to do your suspension and brakes FIRST. The stock suspension was so god awful that I was terrified just to take corners on stock power. With nearly 300hp on tap, you can make things a lot scarier in the corners without having suitable suspension.

One of the most popular options is simply upgrading to Aero suspension:
http://www.genuinesaab.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=47_51&products_id=359

I personally went half that route, but the Aero shocks are still crappy. So I got used Aero springs, new beefy anti-roll bars, and Bilstein HD shocks. The Bilsteins are a much better match to the Aero springs, offer tons of comfort but much better performance damping at the same time. Shox.com was awesome for getting the Bilsteins.

Alternatively there are many lowering kits, if that's your bag.

For braking you could simply upgrade to a better pad. I went with Axxis Ultimate Ceramics from eeuroparts, though pads like Hawk HPS and EBC Redstuff are also awesome. Another great upgrade is getting the caliper carriers and bigger rotors off of an Aero. The increased rotor diameter improves your braking substantially. However, with so many Saab enthusiasts, finding these carriers can be complicated (I for one am still looking :( ).

Finally, to put the power down onto the ground, and to manage cornering and braking you are going to need the MOST IMPORTANT THING!!! TIRES!!!! If you have crappy generic all-seasons, this should be your first upgrade. I personally bought a set of 17" Aero rims off of eBay for cheap, along with some sticky Nexen N2000's for summer. Then I used my stock 16" rims for winter tires, which is an absolute necessity in Canada.

That should be enough to get you started ;)
 
#13 ·
It really depends on how fast you like cornering. If you slow down to 20 under the speed limit like most people, then you probably won't need to upgrade your suspension. Then again, you probably wouldn't need stage 3 either in that case ;)

It's also possible your previous owner upgraded the suspension. It's a very popular thing to do.
 
#14 ·
Well now the car feels slightly sluggish but it's mainly due to the fact I have a leak in my tire, or mag.. I keep losing psi in my back tires. Once I change them I will know if its the suspension that sux or just my tires =P
 
#18 ·
Also becuase of the recirculating system on the saab i was wondering if i had a custom blowoff valve setup made for the car will it cost me by loss of power or anything. A friend was telling me it could mess up the tunning of the car.
 
#20 ·
Saab999-5 said:
Also becuase of the recirculating system on the saab i was wondering if i had a custom blowoff valve setup made for the car will it cost me by loss of power or anything. A friend was telling me it could mess up the tunning of the car.
Unfortunately our engine management system would see the release of pre measured air by a blow off valve as an air leak and probably throw a check engine light at the very least - could mess with your fuelling too..........
 
#21 ·
Yeah i thought that, i guess by upgrading intake,exhaust,delivery pipe,downpipe,turbo etc. Will open everything up and give that nice sound. Well it may not be as loud as a bov but when a mustang pulls up next to me and revs his new exhaust system and i rev and he gets the exhaust and wooossssht!! kinda noise i think he will know hes out done. lol. Im builting up my parts and jumping right to stage 3...The other stages are a waste of time in my opinion if iam going to upgrade to stage 3 later....I do plan on making 400whp but that cool wont be acheived anytime soon.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top