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Quick easy questions for you experts...

2K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  mt.aero 
#1 · (Edited)
I did do plenty of searching, so please go easy on me. Anyways I know very little about cars, just bought my 2002 9-5 linear 2.3t and am super pumped (replaced my 900 that is now just sitting in my yard). I got the 9-5 for 9,000...48k on it, manual..not a bad deal right? Car is in great shape.

Anways, you have to admit its a bit hard to follow some of these threads regarding cheap upgrades for the car. I first began looking for an intake. Thats the first thing I want to do, but the problem is I am getting confused with cold air intakes, and drop ins, and everything inbetween. As of now, I plan on getting the 80 buck kit from GS. (1) This should give me a bit more power, and allow me to hear my turbo much better correct? The videos I saw about installing this differ from my car, as I can not see the airbox from under the hood. It looks like its under the car. Will this still work, or do I need a special one for the linear? So if i bought the kit off saab, I would have to go under the car, take out the old airbox, and replace it with this. Question is, how would a splash guard help if the filter is only a few feet away from the ground?

(2) Once the intake thing is figured out, and I am able to hear my turbo, i would like to replace the front headlights with the ones you see on the newer beamers. Its like the blue tint LED light, or thats what it looks like anyways. Any idea on where I can get these for a decent price?

Feel free to mention any other upgrades that are worth doing..I am not interested in touching the brakes or suspension, (as I learned from here the linear has not as good brakes and suspension as the aero). Going in for tints tomorrow, pretty pumped.

Edit: Instead of making another topic, is there something I can do about the display in the car. Just like my 900, the pixels are all messed up, making it real hard to read all the features that it can provide? (3) Is there an easy fix, or a recall for this part at all?
 
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#3 ·
get ur SID fixed by BBA Rem. they do really good work. and for ur headlights just get some good bubs like Osrams or Phillips.
Three80ate said:
I did do plenty of searching, so please go easy on me. Anyways I know very little about cars, just bought my 2002 9-5 linear 2.3t and am super pumped (replaced my 900 that is now just sitting in my yard). I got the 9-5 for 9,000...48k on it, manual..not a bad deal right? Car is in great shape.

Anways, you have to admit its a bit hard to follow some of these threads regarding cheap upgrades for the car. I first began looking for an intake. Thats the first thing I want to do, but the problem is I am getting confused with cold air intakes, and drop ins, and everything inbetween. As of now, I plan on getting the 80 buck kit from GS. (1) This should give me a bit more power, and allow me to hear my turbo much better correct? The videos I saw about installing this differ from my car, as I can not see the airbox from under the hood. It looks like its under the car. Will this still work, or do I need a special one for the linear? So if i bought the kit off saab, I would have to go under the car, take out the old airbox, and replace it with this. Question is, how would a splash guard help if the filter is only a few feet away from the ground?

(2) Once the intake thing is figured out, and I am able to hear my turbo, i would like to replace the front headlights with the ones you see on the newer beamers. Its like the blue tint LED light, or thats what it looks like anyways. Any idea on where I can get these for a decent price?

Feel free to mention any other upgrades that are worth doing..I am not interested in touching the brakes or suspension, (as I learned from here the linear has not as good brakes and suspension as the aero). Going in for tints tomorrow, pretty pumped.

Edit: Instead of making another topic, is there something I can do about the display in the car. Just like my 900, the pixels are all messed up, making it real hard to read all the features that it can provide? Is there an easy fix, or a recall for this part at all?
 
#4 ·
  1. The open air filter will add noise but not performance - the splash guard keeps the unit from getting soaked in heavy rain etc.
  2. Changing to the later HID's is not easy even though you already have a face lift car as you also need to add the level sensors to the chassis - I would agree with better bulbs being an option
  3. There is a thread in the FAQ's (top thread in this forum) telling you how to fix the SID
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the quick response.


Chris, can you elaborate a little more? You seem to have a decent knowledge about some of the questions I asked. Care to explain a little more about the intake, and how its done on the linear? Is the airbox, infact, underneith the car?

Any other input?
 
#7 ·
#8 ·
Ya I checked most of those out. I actually spent the better half of day reading most threads related to my car. I ordered the kit off GS for 80 bucks, which requires me to take off the airbox. Hopefully that goes smoothly, as I found a good guide online on how to do it.

I have also been reading through all the xenon threads, but its still hard to figure out the best place to get a kit for my car. I guess my car takes H7's, but on that popular site for xenons (forgot name, got it from here), I can only select H7 when I just get the kit for the high beams. If i get the kit including both, and also fog, h7 is no longer an option.

Ill keep looking for those.
 
#10 ·
Tinted windows are nice, but I don't think you'll get much performance improvement until you install a tuned ECU. My Stage 1 from BSR really added a lot of liveliness to an already lively ride.

By the time you work through the list of ideas you mentioned, you'll be most of the way towards paying for a Stage 1 but not getting a whole lot of performance improvement. Instead, why not just save your money for the ECU then buy the rest as you can or need to.
 
#11 ·
Where is the best place to get these Xenon kits from? I see that the prices vary in range. Can someone reccomend some updated websites that they have purchased from recently? If it matters, im going for the blue look, two kits.

I also noticed the thread with the marroon red saab, both kits from ebay? Should I go this route, or am taking a risk?
 
#13 · (Edited)




I love how these came out (taken from another thread on here). I want to try to match this saab with a kit from ebay.


Will these, in the color Brillant Blue, be a good match?

If not, what color do you think would match how that car came out?
Also, do I need two HID kits if I want both the fog and normal lights? Or do the fog only require the HID with the box and everything?

From my understanding, both the fog and headlights will need two boxes each that come with each HID kit. Right?
 
#14 ·
I think Xenon kits are overrated IMO. Just good bulbs like Osram will do just as good. Most of the Xenon kits look blue and don't shine any better than stock.
It is not serious:cheesy:,with low color temperature they shine white and even older car with HIDs produce in way more light than newer one with Silvania or other performance halogens.
May be you compare them in well lighted city,but anywhere else the difference is huge;).
 
#15 ·
Problem is though the standard lens is designed for halogen bulbs and doesn't make the most of the light output because the reflectors are a different shape.
Having gone from halogen on the 9-5 to xenon's on the Renault i can attest how much more light they shed on the road.
 
#17 ·
Aftermarket HID bulbs are H2R-reflector,not projector type and are designed for use in reflector type headlights.
Aging of the headlight lenses is problem,but nevertheless there is gain.;)
 
#18 ·
I realize the output is not much of a gain at all, I am going for the color. Anyone have an answer to my questions above?

Where to buy? Are those ebay ones I picked out similar to the picture above? The car above claimed to use just different bulbs, and HID in the fogs. But he said he bought two kits of HIDS which is rather confusing.

Basically, im trying to match his color, and see how many kits I actually need.
 
#20 ·
Ya I read it all. I emailed xenonlink and asked if they ever figured out all the problems they were having with the saabs. He said yes they did and I should have no problem, but who knows.

Tempting to pick up the bi-xenons as well. What i dont understand is, does that mean the highbeam and normal light will be the same brightness, but at least I will still be able to use both as a xenon opposed to having my normal xenon and highbeam halogen?


Also going to do th fogs...maybe ill order them this weekend. Will update with pictures.
 
#21 ·
This HID upgrade thing has never appealed to me personally, I think the saab lights are pretty good, or is this for cosmetic reasons? (Not that you can see them from behind the wheel) :confused:
 
#23 ·
But when do you look at your own lights? :confused:

( I freely admit to looking at my car's reflection in shop windows etc :p )
 
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