I have not driven my SPG extensively for a few years now. I bought an '02 MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works package and enjoyed that for a while, and then switched up to an '01 Honda S2000. Fun car. All the while, the SPG has been a bit neglected I'm sorry to say!

All the go-fast bits have been documented on my site, http://members.shaw.ca/saaboteur

I flirted with the idea of selling the car, but there were no serious offers. Parting it out would be heartbreakingly painful and probably wouldn't get me very much, plus would be such a waste.

I found that the SPG is uncomfortably hot in the summer and quite bad on its tires and bad on gas too (hence the S2000!). But I also dislike being stuck driving the '98 Volvo V70 winter beater for half the year, so the plan was formulated to drive the SPG as an 'intermediate' weather car - when it's too cold for the S2000 but not yet bad enough to break out the Volvo.

But the car needs a few things before I can do that. It has needed paint for a while, with stripping clear coat on one side, plus a few dings and dents here and there. Needs a windshield too. And I will have to get some tires more suitable for the conditions it'll see, so some cheap all season tires will be coming soon.

But the big decision was paint colour. I did not want to go all out and have show quality paint job, but I did want to do something different. I made the decision a few months ago to paint the car flat black. Since then, I picked up a good, used windshield for free and had to sort out a few other projects on the house and on the S2000. But now I'm free and work on the SPG again has started!

Taking some tips from a friend who does a lot of car painting and also here

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/John_Deere_Blitz_Black_paint

...I went to the local John Deere distributor and picked up some Blitz Black paint.

This past weekend I started stripping the car down. So far, all the SPG body panels are off the car, along with the rear bumper and rear lights and decor panel. Tonight I'll do the front bumper and headlights, spoiler and sunroof deflector.

I've already tested out the paint on a small portion of the car hidden by the bodykit. Just a simple scrub with a scotchbrite type pad and quickly hit it with the paint. Easy! Looks decent too!

I'm excited, the car should look quite demonic afterwards. Pictures of work in progress to be uploaded later today!

Here are some pix.

The first one you can see the area where I tested the Blitz Black, just behind the door.

The others are shots of the areas that need the most attention! Other than that though, the shell is not rusty at all. :)

what kind of wheels do you have on it? they look good I like em!

More shots of areas needing attention!

The wheels are 17x7 OZ Crono Evolutions. Now discontinued. Pity, lovely looking wheel!

They are in Ford Focus offset, so I'm running 10mm Speedparts spacers in there too to make them fit properly. The Wilwood calipers fit nicely behind them as well! :)

Hey Vince! Glad to see you back here. I always loved the SAABOTR and your work on it is inspiring to many c900 enthusiasts including me! I still kick myself for missing SOC '04 and not seeing it in the flesh.

Anyway, good luck with the revival. I'm sure you will enjoy piloting the SPG again :cheesy:

glad to see your keeping the car and rehabbing it! your work on that car inspired me!

Great car! Thanks for posting, though I don't think I would ever do the kind of work you did on your car. Your website is great reading material!

Vince… you know you should really paint it silver ;)

Glad to see ya back on the Saab boards! Looking forward to following the restoration of the beast.

cheers from down under
sab

Thanks for the comments guys!

Here are a couple more shots. Spent 20 minutes last night (after a short but sharp rain storm) and removed the front bumper, headlights and corner lights.

Took a couple gratuitous shots of the front mount and the Wilwoods. Rotors have a bit of surface rust from non-use...poor things. And then a shot of the worst rust issues on the front fender. Should be okay, I think I may hit it with some rust inhibitor.

The whiteness on the body is just dust/dirt that had been trapped under the bodykit. I'm going to give the car a bit of a wash tonight if I have some time, and also remove the side vents and vent covers and try to remove the spoiler too.

One mod you can't really see are the cheap aftermarket HIDs I added to the lights. Literally they were about $100, and include Bosch ballasts. Simple hook up. I have them on the Volvo winter beater too, and they are great for winter time. I will now remove the hook ups and brackets for the foglights, as those are now redundant. The headlights will need new 3M protection, as the existing protection is a bit tired now.

Aiming to get some more prep work on the body done on Sunday! Gonna pound out the dings on the hood and fill in with bondo, also attack a few other dings here and there too.

I keep plugging away at the car, every night this week so far! I want to get more 'serious' with sanding and filing in dings on Sunday, so I want to get as much ready for then before the week is out.

Last night I removed the vent covers and vents, rear spoiler and sunroof deflector. Yuck! Lots of crap underneath.

Then I removed the badges. To my horror, the spot underneath the hood badge was a disgusting, rusty mess. I also tried to pound in the two largest dings on the hood. These happened years ago when tools were on top of the motor and I tried closing the hood. Doh. :(

Anyway, I broke through the cracked layers of primer and paint, and I'll fill those in with bondo. I think I may also fill in the hood badge area too. Then I circled all the places on the body that will likely need a touch of bondo. Quite a few! There are a lot of smaller dings/blistering on the paint on the hood. Don't know yet exactly how to deal with these though.

Finally, I tested the paint again on the right side of the car, where the clear coat has been peeling. Kind of hard to tell from the photos, but the peeling spots are still visible. I think I will have to just and down the whole side of the car, get rid of as much of the peeling as possible, or feather it down somewhere.

Any suggestions on the latter, please post up!

Hello Vince,

Hope you are well. Was it this spring when you dropped by to pick up the part for your Honda? God, I can't remember.

Great to see you working on the Saab. I still remember driving back from '04 and hearing your BOV in the tunnels in Seattle. Fun times.

My 900 is now transformed. I am running T5 with a modified box. Outstanding change to the car. I dropped in on the CO convention last week and saw some really nice 900's.

Thanks for posting all your new pictures. Good luck with the project.

Gregg

I like the gray, silver would be nice too. Could go with something like an Ocean blue, that would be sharp.

Porsche Ocean Blue Metallic rare and beautiful: (this car rocks)
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee237/kaenergie/OceanBlueMetallic-5.jpg?t=1187806006

Damn, I love the aircooled 993 turbos! If I didn't own a C900 right now it'd be a 993 instead (although maybe not a turbo since I'm not rich)!

Great to see you back Vince! I haven't been by to see your car lately since it seems you've lost interest in it while focusing your attention on the S2000, and I was even a bit horrified to see it on the market! But it always helps to have some project to do on it, even if it feels like "Oh gawd, what now??" sometimes...definitely gives you much more time with your car and gives it some sentimental value! I personally can't see myself handling bodywork, since I'm pretty sure I'd botch it, so I usually have a shop do the work for me. Esp. after an accident with the other driver on the wrong side of the road but insurance still deems it my fault: it costs me $1700 to repair :evil:.

I think flat black would definitely be an interesting look, but I hope you're not planning on doing the whole car with cans! Are you planning to strip it down to the shell and have the whole thing redone, or just the exterior? Have you thought about perhaps a matte iridescent colour? I saw a car a while back that was like matte iridescent pearl and it was spectacular!

Maybe matte red for your crazy calipers? :p

Get yourself some tires with good wear characteristics, I remember seeing your camber wear! My car's been wearing evenly with my more conservative -1.6* camber, but somehow they were all 85% tread when I put them on early in the season and now the rears are still about 75% but the fronts are like 40%! Any my brand new specialty silicon carbide embedded winters were used one season, and were 85%/50% when I took them off! I don't think I drive *that* hard! :o ...do I? :p

li Arc

Took a bit more time last night and tried attacking the peeling clear coat. As a plus, the Blitz Black really does wonders and hides small imperfections - the different layering of the peeling clear coat is much less visible. But as a negative, it is still visible up close. So I took a 400 grit sand paper to the clearing parts last night and I managed to even it out a bit - it's much smoother to the touch. I'm going to have to do this to most of the passenger side. Got some more sandpaper at lunch, and I may have a go with some power tools later.

Gregg: It was just January that I was down there in your neck of the woods. We went again in July, but sorry mate, had to rush in and out, didn't get a chance to say hi! We'll be back in May and July again though. SOC '04 was fun times! That was a nice drive, though I remember the freeways in Seattle being pretty rough. The worst part of that drive, though, was my nearly bursting bladder! I'm glad we didn't get caught for urinating in public when we finally stopped at that park! Such a pity your 99 is gone now too. Contemplating selling my rally car. Interested? You could convert it to a street car again. Maybe. ;) The T5 swap looks interesting! If I had the time, I'd do it on my SPG. The cold start programming would be just lovely, instead of having to come up with it on my own in SDS.

Rennsport and lil Arc - car is for sure going to be rattle can paint job! No going back now. I'm too cheap for a proper paint job, and the Blitz Black has some decent results. I'm not taking it down to the bare metal, just enough to scuff up the paint as the hot rodders recommend. It will still be far from show quality, but it will make for a unique look. Hardly ever see any c900s on the road now around here too, so when I debadge everything, I think people will be wondering what it is.

Interesting thing about tires. I have a bit of negative camber on my S2000 on all four corners. With Dunlop Direzza 101s and Kumho 712s, I wore those out pretty quickly, with lots of camber wear. Now I'm running a set of the ultra nice Bridgestone RE01Rs, with less treadwear rating and a much 'racier' compound. Same alignment setup. But now the tire wears quite evenly. Weird.

Hmmm...maybe that's all I need then are better tires. The summers I'm talking about that I've got on right now are Nexen N3000's, which I want to replace with something much better, but they're actually quite decent as far as grip goes. I'm looking into Falken Azenis RT-615's, BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW's, or something else along those lines. I also heard that General Exclain UHP's were quite well performing for not a lot of money.

I had Michelin X-Ice winter tires previously that wore fine, but they needed replacing so I brought in these special tires from Colorado called Green Diamond Icelander tires. They were actually reviewed on the Snow Tire faq website, and seemed quite decent. They have silicon carbide bits embedded into the tread at random, so if the tread wears enough and the bits fall out, there are always new bits sitting behind. Not bad grip, but not as good as my previous X-Ice tires. I figured that meant better wear. Not so, apparently.

Personally I'm not a fan of all seasons as they seem a jack of all trades, but I suppose they are much cheaper to maintain as they have better wear characteristics in general and you only need the one set.

I'll have to swing by sometime perhaps to see how the paint job turns out! It sounds like what you've got is pretty easy to work with and quite forgiving, so it could turn out quite well. I assume you'll be sanding down the rust spots though? Some of the spots look like they may require new pieces of metal instead...one of my hoods had some slight rust on it before it went into the shop for painting. They sanded it down then painted over it, but a couple months later it started to bubble, so I wasn't very happy with that.

li Arc

HTRZ IIIs, or Kumho SPTs, no question, badddass ultra high performance street tires, or if you want to spend a lot more, Pilot PS2s.

Spent four hours yesterday working on the car. With my fiancee's help, I managed to give most of the car a good scrubbing with these large scotchbrite type pads I bought. So now most of the body has been sufficiently scuffed, though there are a few more places that need some further scrubbing.

I also used some 320 grit sandpaper, with both a sanding block and jury rigged orbital polisher, to blend in the peeling clearcoat with the paint underneath. Now everything is smooth to the touch.

Finally, I got out the bondo and patched up four spots on the hood: two large dings from tools underneath, one from some *****hole pick up driver who hit the side of the hood, and the hood badge indentation. Oh, and the rear badges have been removed too. Still have to sand down the hood badge bondo, but that'll be tonight's project.

Still left - have to scuff up the roof and SPG bodykit. At some point, I'll take the car into the garage and remove the windshield, side windows, door handles and locks and tidy up those bits.

I'll post some more pix soon!

After stalling for a bit - life is what happens when you're busy making other plans - I have got back on track with the project a bit more. On the weekend, I moved the car into the garage and removed the windshield, rear windows and the door handles and locks. My future brother in law lent a hand and sanded down the SPG bodykit panels.

I've also acquired some more John Deere Blitz Black paint, as I was most likely going to burn through what I had. I picked up some door edge guard to replace the worn out rubber strips between the bodykit and the body. I just ordered a new windshield gasket too. I was hoping to reuse the one I have, but it got a bit damaged on removal, much to my consternation and despite my best efforts to keep it in good shape. Oh well.

A friend had sprayed the front edge of his hood with this:

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

So I'm going to buy some of that stuff and do the leading edge of the hood, the grille, the bumpers and the SPG body panels in it. Kinda expensive, but it should be rather durable.

The sanding continues...but nearly there! I need to give the roof another once over I think. I've started to smooth out the bumps and dings on the leading edge of the hood now. I'll have to attack the grille too, it's looking ratty, with plenty of rock chips (I had painted it grey previously). I'm hoping to let the paint fly this coming weekend...pix to come!

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

I've thought about painting my vert in BB also. I even have a can of black Plasti-Dip in the garage waiting for a grille to shoot it on.

For something that costs a little less and is just as durable for the bumpers/SPG bits why not try Krylon Fusion? I've used it on my Volvo bumpers and it is AMAZING. Been on for about a year and has yet to show any signs of fading, chipping or peeling. I just smoothed them out a bit with a ScotchBrite, wiped them down with acetone and shot them.

Doh! Wish I saw that post before this morning - I bought the only 5 cans of the PlastiDip spray in the city. C$15 per can!

Last night I smoothed out the rest of the hood leading edge, and then washed the whole car. Then, feeling adventurous, I sprayed most of the hood. I think I need to do it again, it turned out a bit blotchy.

The rest of the week I will mask off the hatch and door glass, plus the wheels, and then plan to shoot the whole car in one day on Saturday.

Hard to get the spray cans to be not splotchy. Can you sand PlastiDip?

That's about the only way you can get the paint completely level.

Post pics!

Well, it's not the PlastiDip I'm worried about, I don't mind if there's a bit of texture there. The Blitz Black is a bit splotchy, but not too bad. Last night I sprayed the hood again, this time spraying back and forth in the same direction across the entire hood. Seemed to work a bit better. There are a few spots that need some more paint though, some of the bondo is still visible underneath.

Pix are here:
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black

I also masked everything off last night, and will be ready to spray the whole car probably on Saturday - busy until then! :)

I'm pleased with the results the second time around, and probably will do the whole car at least twice. Hopefully the paint will last, but I think it will. After having done the hood basically twice now, there's still some weight to the first can.

So, this weekend the car, next week and weekend, the bodykit!

Now, for tire shopping...thinking Kumho's AST all season tire. Should be suitable for what I need the car to do - mostly clear roads, but able to handle some snow.

I now have two coats of paint on the car. My fiancee and I spent an hour or so doing the first coat, and then I spent another hour doing another coat. Al in all, pretty easy. we only went through about four cans too, and I have seven more!

I think what I'll do is shoot another four cans and keep the rest for back up or other projects.

Anyway, it looks good! Very mean looking, can't wait to paint the panels and the bumpers and get the whole car back together again!

I've posted a few more pictures, same link as above.

Ah, going for the matte finish thing eh? That's kind of cool, I've seen a couple examples of them going around the city, but it certainly seems to be the new cool when it comes to car finishes! Hopefully it won't be difficult to maintain and will be 'detailable'...if that's a word!

li Arc

Just my opinion, but I think this hot rod black style looks best when paired with lots of chrome trim. Think in the lines of old 40's and 50's era type trim. They always had lots of chrome running the length of the car and lot's of chrome vents, panels, etc. It adds a contrast that looks fantastic with the matte black.

I'd suggest that you find chrome handles and hardware along with the chrome grille. I'd also consider having the plastic vents at the rear chrome plated if possible and maybe even run some chrome molding just under the crease in the middle of the body much like the black molding is normally installed. Chrome around the tail lights and on the hatch handle would also be a plus. Also, the chrome window molding insert and chrome window surrounds would look great.

Just some thoughts anyways. Looks like fun! :)

Another can and a half down, another coat of paint on the car! :) If I find time, I'll try and do another coat tonight, and another every day or so until I get really bored or run out of paint. ;) Still have six cans of the Blitz Black left!

Also have to start tuning my attention to the SPG body panels and the bumpers, they'll all be sprayed with PlastiDip. They are basically ready to go, except the bumpers may need a bit more attention. I'm also going to mask off a portion of the leading edge of the hood and hit that with the PlastiDip spray too.

Have to sand down the grille again too. Waiting for the new windshield gasket, and then the windshield can be put in!

Re: chrome trim - unfortunately, that's a non starter for me. I don't like chrome at all! :) Even before when the car was still grey, I made it a point of removing anything even remotely chrome, especially the plastic bumper trim strips.

Even if you like chrome, it's hard to get it to look good.

Fake plasti-chrome looks gawdawful.

Okay, no more painting! :) I think I must have about four or five coats now. Hopefully it'll stand up nicely.

Tonight I'm going to strip off the masked areas and start putting the car back together. The only parts that need painting with the PlastiDip now are the hood leading edge, the SPG panels and the grille. I just need to get some paint stripper to finish prepping the grille (it was painted previously too). Hopefully will be able to get all the panels painted this weekend, and then get the car back together during the week and next weekend.

Also ordered a set of Sumitomo HTR+ all season tires. Good price, and should be decent enough for the mixed weather conditions and cooler weather in which I'll be driving the car. Those'll probably get here next week too.

Picked up some new headlight protection film too! The older stuff was getting a bit rotten and gross. Hopefully the windshield gasket will arrive in another week and then the project can be completed!

I have been productive in the past couple of weeks, and especially this past weekend.

Fitted new headlight protection film, quite happy about that. Xpel doesn't make a pre-cut kit, so I just bought the film from the local distributor and cut it myself. Not the way I would have preferred, but it turned out fine. Had a bit of an issue when I was connecting the HIDs up again, but turns out the prongs inside the ballasts were off and didn't connect properly. Cheap Chinese made stuff, bleah. But they work, so that's fine.

The Sumitomo HTR+ tires arrived last week too. While I bought the same size as before (215/45/17s), the Sumitomos are considerably wider than the Falkens I had. The Sumitomos look like 225s.

The Falkens rubbed a bit before, so worried that any increase in section width would rub big time, I got out the fender roller I borrowed from a friend. Not being subtle with it, each corner took only about 15 minutes. I previously rolled the fenders on my S2000, and I took care with that, taking lots of time and used a heatgun and laser thermometer to make sure the metal stayed warm. But on the SPG, the right side fenders are starting to flake with rust, and I just want to get the car done, so I just went at it. The paint cracked a bit, but they'll be covered with the fender flares, so no worries. Whereas before, the fender curved down in a nice angle, now they stick out almost 90* to the body. Cool.

The trick, though, will be to find a way to secure the fender flares without intruding downwards into the fender too much, and thus negating some of the advantage of the roll. Still thinking about that. Might just use the normal attachments at the sides, and do something up different for the attachments near the top - where it usually rubs. More extreme would be to go all 993 GT2 and have them fixed with rivets or screws, but there doesn't seem to be an easy or nice looking way to do that. We'll see.

Then I also got the bumpers and grille painted, and last night put on the door edge moulding onto the SPG panels as new weatherstripping. It's starting to look like a car again! :)

Pix here:
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black?page=1

The ghetto rolled fenders here:
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0853
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0851

Now just need that windshield gasket to get here, and it'll be quick to finish! :)

Nearly there...

Should have the tires back on Saturday (when one gets a friend to do it for cheap, and whose shop is across town, one waits a bit longer than taking it to the shop down the street). :) Looking forward to seeing them on the car, and driving the car!

Windshield gasket had to be manufactured! Shop talked to the manufacturer the other day, expecting it next week. Fingers crossed.

Spent a couple evenings this week, finding some time here and there, to get just fasten down the bodykit. Just two small broken tabs, one on the right rear bumper extension to bumper, and on the right front bumper extension to the big rubber flap thing on the body. I'll jury rig something up, probably 'stitch' it with stainless steel safety wire.

A note on the safety wire. I bought it literally 12-13 years ago when I started kart racing. Back then, one of the guys said that I'd buy a roll and use it for at least 10 years. Guess he was right...still haven't used up that roll! :)

Fender flares will be the next little thing to do. The factory way of attaching them is with screws and quicknuts attached to the plastic fender lip, which is inside the fender flare. I don't have these on one side of the car, and the other two are about dead anyway. What I think I will do is mix up some bondo into a ball, clump it to the inside of the fender, and put a small screw into there. Then for attachment at the top of the fender, I'll use some double sided tape.

Looking forward to driving the car again. The weather has just turned crappy here, so no more S2000 fix. Need the SPG fix now... ;)

Windshield gasket is in, installers coming by the house this afternoon. Picking up tires tomorrow. Back on the road soon!

More extreme would be to go all 993 GT2 and have them fixed with rivets or screws, but there doesn't seem to be an easy or nice looking way to do that.

These are easy:

http://i36.tinypic.com/1zzsx1d.gif


And it doesn't need to look 'nice', does it? :cheesy:
Just use black allen bolts.
On your flat black body with the flat black flares that would look badass without being too ricer ;)

Ran into a snag when the glass installers came Friday afternoon. A) they thought it was too cold, and didn't want to risk breaking the glass, B) they couldn't figure out exactly how the gasket was to be fitted into the opening, and wanted the dash out and C) the three metal tabs that bend over and sit inside the lower part of gasket were either rusted out or broken off.

The latter was my fault of course, when I removed the old gasket. Didn't know that there were tabs there of course.

So Saturday I went to the junkyard and attacked the '87 900T that I knew was there. Removed the dash, the a-pillar trim and found that the windshield gasket is actually screwed into the chassis in two places. I then recovered the three metal tabs, which were in pretty poor, rusty shape, but at least weren't broken.

Then I sprayed the tabs with rust converter, and next I will spray them with Plastidip. The tabs come covered with a plastic or rubber film, but over the years, these deteriorate and then the metal underneath gets rusty.

Some pix of the tabs and the way the flap on the gasket is screwed into the car. Without the dash off, I couldn't tell that this was how the gasket is installed.

http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0857
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0867
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0864

So Sunday I took out the dash, a-pillar trim and also the remnants of the tabs in my car. Fortunately that 900 was in the yard, or else I'd be really scrambling. But also, stupidly, the new windshield gasket is about C$180, but the old one I got from the yard for like $7. Doh. Ah well, what can you do? I initially thought I could remove the windshield without damaging the gasket. Sucks.

I also found a solution to hold the fender flares in place. I took a page out of Saab's book. Some of the SPG panels have metal tabs riveted in place, then the tabs are screwed into the body. Because of the rolling, the fender flares have a bit of difficulty in staying in place. Also, I didn't want to negate too much of the benefits of the rolling by then putting the fender flare in its way again.

So I removed most of the material from the inside of the fender flare, mostly where the tire is closest to it. Then I cut some 3"x1" strips of sheet metal, riveted them to the inside of the flare, then screwed the metal strip into the inner fender. Secure! For the top, I will add some double sided tape. Oh, and I also used some door edge guard on the top of the fender flare, where it touches the body.

More pix:
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0870
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0869
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0868

I've done the right front, so three more to go!

It's supposed to be warm here again on Friday, so I will book the glass installers again.

I also found some Motul 80/90 mineral gear oil locally, a fluke for that actually. That'll go into the tranny in the next few days too.

Fingers crossed, back on the road this weekend. Have to remember to get insurance now! :)

I imagine that "warmer" is getting to be a relative term in Edmonton at this time of year. Was that snow on the windshield at the junkyard? I don't envy you having to go pull parts in that!

Yeah, winter is approaching, unfortunately. The S2000's been packed away since last week, and I've been in the Volvo winter beater again. Bleahs.

It was hovering around freezing when I was in the yard. Not much snow around, but a bit.

Strangely enough, it's supposed to be 20* here on Saturday! :)

Glass installers coming back Friday afternoon. By then, I'm hoping to have the tranny oil changed, and all four fender flares attached. Saturday morning to get the dash back in, then back on the road soon after!

didn't know about those tabs. mine didn't have them.

I took my windscreen out and I needed to get a professional to put it back in again... but there weren't any tabs. The dashboard isn't in the car at the moment. Think it needs to be out to do the windscreen seal.

I can't believe what you're doing to the paint. I didn't think you were a ricer? Didn't I read earlier at the beginning of this thread that you were going to matte the car! :nono;;oops:

I can't see the tabs doing too much either, but I figured too if the factory put them there, probably a good idea to keep them. The glass installers felt the same way too.

Too broke and cheap to pony up for a full on paint job, and in keeping with DIY theme, decided to go flat black. It's old school hot rod style, not ricer! :) Paint was trashed anyway, just about all the clear on right side of the car was peeling, and underneath the windshield too.

Nearly there now! Exterior is now done, save for reinstalling the black trim strips on the bumpers.

http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0877

Drained the tranny oil last night, will fill again with Motul HD 80/90 tonight.

Windshield should be good to go back in tomorrow afternoon. Once the glass installers are gone, I'll put the dash back in, and also hardwire my V1.

Thinking about adding keyless entry too. Now that I've driven cars with it for the past few years, it seems like a luxury not to be missed! :)

Looks pretty mean Vince!

And yes I second the keyless entry. It's something I definitely want to add to my convertible.

Check out page 20 of the current flyer at Princess Auto:

http://www.princessauto.com/

You can put in my postal code to access the flyer, as they are region specific, and Princess is a Canadian company, T8A 6A2.

It's a remote start and keyless entry system for C$50. I think I will pick one up this weekend!

That is ****ing sweeeet!!!

http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/albums/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0877.sized.jpg

Phil, thanks for the positive comments dude! :)

I'm expecting/hoping the springs to settle down a tad, because the car's been on stands for a week or two, and I haven't had a chance to roll it around much.

Have to figure out too if I'm going to put the rear decor panel back on or flog it. If I get rid of it, people behind will be able to see the 'Boosted by Garrett' sticker again. We'll see!

It's done! Pix:

http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0882
http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black/IMG_0880

The glass installers spent a couple hours on it Friday afternoon and got the glass in no problems. Then I spent a couple hours putting the dash and interior back together. Finished that off this afternoon, and then drove around running errands. Had nearly forgotten how loud the exhaust is. I must be getting old.

There are more fumes getting into the car than I remember too, so I'll have to figure that out. Got a headache just driving around.

Tires don't rub, so that's good. Everything works too, so quite happy!

Also hit 180kmh on the freeway, when some dick in a pickup truck insisted on being stupid and didn't want me accelerating around him and off to my exit. I did it anyway... :)

Car looks really clean, I mean, no badges, no pipes from IC can be seen - very nice :D Real sleeper in my opinion

It's a remote start and keyless entry system for C$50. I think I will pick one up this weekend!

Hmmm, this is available at Princess Auto? I may have to take a look into it. Last time I tried to disengage the door lock linkages (3 of them) I failed to dislodge even one. However, I've been trying to stay away from this for a while now because I remember reading about another forum member putting in an alarm system + keyless entry and ended up burning down his entire car! I'm a EE, but still, it's never 100% impossible for this to happen... :nono;

Also hit 180kmh on the freeway, when some dick in a pickup truck insisted on being stupid and didn't want me accelerating around him and off to my exit. I did it anyway... :)

I remember a while back, when most of my car was still stock, I maxed it out at ~180km/hr. I wondered if it was rev limited, but someone else said no, it was just 'aerodynamically limited' :p After my mods but before good tires, I hadn't really pushed it, so one night along a good long straight stretch of highway, I tried to see how high it might go. I hit 225km/hr and it still kept going up, but my tires were 10 years old and I didn't even know what they were rated for, so I got a bit freaked out and slowed down after; I know it would go higher if I let it! Turned out the tires were rated for 160km :o

Anyways, lookin' good there, but I wonder if there's something equivalent for matte finishes as gloss finishes for those patchy spots to even out the texture across the surface? At an angle, you can see some of those spots in the light. Perhaps I'm wrong, and all it needs is a nice car wash. All in all though, it's a better job than I would have expected from cans, and I hope it'll last through winter. The wheels match nicely with it, the silver contrasts with the bodywork great. Don't go with black matte wheels even if it feels right: if it's all monochromatic with the same texture it gets boring.

li Arc

Ah, patchy spots are due to my ignorance of good painting techniques, ie. dust! The hood and roof aren't as nice as the sides. The sides are quite smooth. I think if I took some fine sandpaper, say 800 or 1000 grit, it would smooth right out and look quite a bit better. I thought it was just dust that had settled on the car and that it would blow away once driven, but I'm mistaken. If I find time, maybe I'll do that extra sanding, and then just hit it again with another light coat of paint.

As it stands, I don't particularly mind at the moment, and am just going to drive it. I have also just listed the car for sale in the Classifieds forum. Need to help pay for my wedding! Wedding is in August 2010. If no one buys the car as a whole by the spring, I will have to part it out. :(

Changing plans - parting the car out immediately. Please see the classifieds forums for available parts.

Wow...

Sorry to see this Vince.

When Vince started blogging again and I read some of his posts let alone viewed his SPG and I said to myself...Vince just isn't into it (i.e.: his SPG). And when he started posting photos of the flat/matte black paint job, I said to myself...ha ha there's the tell tale sign. Contrary to what others were posting about the paint job (i.e.: raved about how well it looked), I took a different view, that is it seemed hap hazard and half assed. I hate to see Vince leave the fold. I also hate the fact that another SPG has bit the dust. Rather than part it out, Vince I think you should have sold the vehicle as is and blessed another enthusiast with the fruits of your past efforts and labor (eventually someone would've recognized its greatness and purchased it... I know that you previously had it for sale on TSN SAAB classifieds). Truth be known... your SPG was somewhat the inspiration for my '87 SPG.

Hey Vince out of curiosity...what factored in your decision to ditch the SPG as a project?

I am pleased to say that one of the local Saab nuts is going to purchase the car from me, and will be picking it up on Thursday night. SAABOTR will live on, though under new stewardship. :)I've known the guy who's going to buy the car for quite some time, and he's a Saab nut through and through. He has a built up 85 SPG as well, converted to CIS mechanical injection, and just refreshed his engine last year. The plan is to swap the bottom ends of the motors around, while also putting his Quaife into the Jorgen Eriksson 4-speed, maybe tune it a bit and then rock and roll. I am thankful that he is going to buy it, as it will keep the car in one piece. It would be a massive pity to part out the car. While there was a lot of interest in the various parts of the car, it would be heartbreaking and I would still be stuck with the shell, in all likelihood. And how often does one see a rust free c900 nowadays? There are hardly any c900s on the road period!

To answer some questions about why I'm parting with the car, I'll elaborate a bit, as it has not been an easy decision to do so. I've considered it my life's work! I must have thousands of man hours working on the car, let alone thousands and thousands of dollars.

My plan, which I hatched last winter, was to use the car as an 'intermediate weather' car - fall and spring, basically. The S2000 is so much fun to drive in the summer, but once it gets cold, not so much. My winter beater, a 98 Volvo V70, is just so boring, and I wanted to minimize the winter months I need to drive that. At the same time, the SPG needed paint, and bad - the clearcoat was peeling when I first bought the car in '99! As you can imagine, the intervening 10 years weren't kind to the paint. Seeing as how I am getting married next summer, plus wanting to keep developing my S2000, I didn't really want to shell out for a brand new paint job. And I just felt flat black looks pretty cool.

So I spent a couple months working on the car, sanding down the body, prepping the bodykit, good, used windshield into the car, new tires, hunting down parts here and there. I think I must have spent another $1500 in the past few months on those items, the majority of it on tires and windshield install labour.

But then I drove the car again, and honestly, it just can't compare to my S2000. No amount of reasonable modification to a 20+ year old car can make it handle like a thoroughbred sportscar. I guess it's just not exciting me enough anymore. When I built the car, I wanted it to do everything - carry lots of stuff, be fast in a straight line, fast in the corners. But driving a thoroughbred sportscar - two seat, RWD, lightweight, gloriously good shift feel - made me realize that no matter what I did, still can't compare to a car designed to be a sportscar in the first place.

To be really frank, the rose tinted memories of the SPG's driving traits are better than my current impressions, especially after driving the MINI and the S2000. The SPG's steering is a bit slow and not very feelsome. For shift feel, everyone can take lessons from Honda and the S2000. Chassis stiffness has moved on considerably.

Also, the engine's bottom end is not in good shape, it is belching smoke after hard throttle/lots of boost. Rings are a likely culprit. I'm going to be really busy in the next year or so, planning my wedding, maintaining my new (bought it last year) home and I don't really have the time to embark on another big project. As anyone getting married must know, need lots of money!

And I really want something different for my next car, something combining luxury with straightline performance. I want more cylinders, more displacement and more torque. In Alberta, where I live, we have very boring roads which are really not well paved. Something that is cushy and torquey is actually an ideal performance car. And when I do want to have fun in the corners, I have the S2000.

A few years ago I test drove a C43 AMG for a whole weekend. I didn't buy it then because at the time I wanted a more focused car. But now, it's a different story. Also, prices on AMGs are getting cheaper as the depreciation curve works in my favour... So I figure an AMG (say a C32, but ideally a C55) or S4 would be a very stablemate to the S2000, very different to each other, yet both obviously performance cars.

I am also going to supercharge the S2000 at some point next year. So those are the plans. The SPG has been pretty much sitting idle for a few years, ever since I picked up a MINI Cooper S with JCW package, and then the S2000.

The SAABOTR is also pretty bad on gas (big turbo, big injectors, heavy right foot), bad on tires (aggressive camber for cornering ability), loud (3" exhaust, no realy muffler), uncomfortable to drive in the summer (dark interior, dark exterior, no AC) and I was just getting to the point of not enjoying it as much as I should have, and did enjoy in the past.

So that's the story. A bit convoluted I guess, but there's my thought process all spelled out.

I will probably regret selling it, but right now, it's the right thing to do. I probably won't drive it very much in the future anyway, and I don't have the space for it at the moment (I already have four cars, and I want to trim it down to two).

I really love the car, I always will. My first car that I drove regularly was my parents' '85 900, 8v, normally aspirated, base model. So much fun. That lead to my love affair with the SPG, and I lusted after one ever since I first learned about them. Everything I learned about wrenching on cars, I learned on the SPG and will carry forward. I've met great people, people who I would trust with anything automotive related, and am glad to know as friends. I guess when it comes down to it, my automotive tastes are now more distilled, and I just want to drive something different.

Happy to hear the car is being kept in one piece Vince :)
I know how you feel, and fair dues for saying it, I'm not sure everyone would.
Over the past while I've bought a fair few different low budget cars, to sample them as possible replacements for the Saab. Its certainly true that it is not, and will never be a sports car. I've also been lucky enough to have driven a few more expensive sports cars lately, I can't quite afford one of them yet.
Its a bit different for me, I've got much less hours and money in the car, but that also means that selling it won't amount to a whole hill of beans.

And I've realised that it does have its place.. I don't want to ever sell it. Its such a great car to work on, and incredibly reliable for an old, modified car.
It holds up very well if you compare it to modern sporting, but not quite "sports" cars.
Its got character in spades. The steering lacks feel alright, but I have plans for that. I've realised that the handling, while solid is not and will never be on the same level as a purpose built sports car, so I'll be putting it back to a more comfortable spec, and using it as a sleeper for fast road driving, thats what it's best at.

And I really want something different for my next car, something combining luxury with straightline performance. I want more cylinders, more displacement and more torque. In Alberta, where I live, we have very boring roads which are really not well paved. Something that is cushy and torquey is actually an ideal performance car. And when I do want to have fun in the corners, I have the S2000.

A few years ago I test drove a C43 AMG for a whole weekend. I didn't buy it then because at the time I wanted a more focused car. But now, it's a different story. Also, prices on AMGs are getting cheaper as the depreciation curve works in my favour... So I figure an AMG (say a C32, but ideally a C55) or S4 would be a very stablemate to the S2000, very different to each other, yet both obviously performance cars.

Right there with you Vince. I sold my viggen last month, and picked up my '05 GTO last weekend. The c900 is a fun, tossable, lightweight car... But I just can't reasonably compare that to my RWD 6-speed car with a factory LSD and a six litre Corvette V8. You can't argue with 400/400, the numbers don't lie. Its a great combo of sports and luxury, and I can keep it stock.


Its sad to see you selling it Vince but much better than parting it. The car was truly an inspiration to me and my build. Good luck and keep us posted on your new ride!

No new car yet, probably will be a little while. All major purchases are on hold until after the wedding! In the meantime, here's a couple gratuitous shots of my S2000:

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?act=module&module=gallery&cmd=viewimage&img=657539

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?act=module&module=gallery&cmd=viewimage&img=539287

;)


Right there with you Vince. I sold my viggen last month, and picked up my '05 GTO last weekend. The c900 is a fun, tossable, lightweight car... But I just can't reasonably compare that to my RWD 6-speed car with a factory LSD and a six litre Corvette V8. You can't argue with 400/400, the numbers don't lie. Its a great combo of sports and luxury, and I can keep it stock.


Its sad to see you selling it Vince but much better than parting it. The car was truly an inspiration to me and my build. Good luck and keep us posted on your new ride!

Well, I was hoping to get some of those nice parts, but it's still better that the Saab lives on through someone else...perhaps you can get the new owner to post his new adventures with the car here! At any rate, it's true enough about the Saab not being a true sports car...it's not, because it wasn't designed that way. It was about combining performance and driving feel with functionality and everyday useability with the types of technology available at the time. Sure, it may not be able to compete with some modern day sport sedans and hatches, but for the engineering put into it at the time, most of these same companies didn't have something to compete in this market with. That's what makes the car unique, besides all the eccentricities we face every day as Saab owners, tuners, and mechanics. The Saab is a symbol of the ingenuity, engineering, and design we have all grown to love, lest we forget.

On that note, I'd like to see what's ahead for Saab's future now that they've been acquired by a company with a true racing pedigree. I'm not holding my breath, and I'm still looking for that 993 or 997 turbo somewhere, but maybe one day...

You'll dabble again in the future no doubt. People rarely stay away from Saab 900's forever.

What happened to that Orange 99 you had? Was that you with the orange 99 track car?

Here's some ideas for the future. S2000 could never look this good.


http://www.red-green.co.uk/web/photos/saabpics/mango/mango_99_replica_001.jpg

http://www.red-green.co.uk/web/photos/saabpics/mango/mango_99_na_car.jpg

http://www.red-green.co.uk/web/photos/gallery/99t16/full/99_donington_july08_001.jpg


Stig Blomqvist sitting in the replica works 99t pictured above:

http://www.red-green.co.uk/web/photos/saabpics/mango/stig_in_mango_replica_002.jpg

http://www.red-green.co.uk/web/photos/saabpics/mango/stig_in_mango_replica_001.jpg


Another 99t16

http://www.red-green.co.uk/web/photos/saabpics/mango/speedy_saab_99t16_001.jpg

Orange '74 99LE rallycar. Probably gonna part that out too. Shame, the shell is pretty much perfect on that car too! Caged, rally computer, intercom, etc. Rewired the whole thing, did my own brake lines (split the circuits front and rear, as opposed to stock diagonal, so that I could run a hydraulic handbrake). 8v, NA, but EFI and electronic ignition - ran it on SDS as well. They hadn't put in the Group 5 boosted 2wd rules in Canadian rallying when I was building it, otherwise it would have been turbo'd.

Same story - no time or money to run with that project. Beware of people who tell you that you can rally for cheap - 'just throw a cage and a rally computer in and go!'. It was bank bustingly expensive, as I had to travel quite a distance for the events, motel, meals, tires - for me and the crew. $500 entrance fee...yee. We were doing it for el cheapo at like $1200-1500 per event. And no tow vehicle either - bin it and there was no way to get it home easily!

Now stop it, will you guys? ;) You're making me feel bad. I parked the SAABOTR last night as I canceled the insurance. Had an emotional last drive with her. And I will not be ashamed to admit I talked to the car and thanked her for all the good memories, and asked her to look after her new owner and caretaker. Drove to work in the Slovo this morning, bleahs.

SAABOTR was retrieved by her new owner last night, one of the local Saabisti, a guy by the name of Trevor. I told him that the car was like a friend to me, and he said not to worry, he would look after her. I told him that I had told SAABOTR to look after him too! :)

Trevor already has an 85 SPG that's been built. I probably mentioned it before, it runs on CIS mechanical injection, lots of boost, has a Quaife too. The plan is to take the best parts of both cars and put them into the SAABOTR, so the car will be quite good. Really, the only thing missing was a proper diff, so the Quaife plus Jorgen Eriksson's 4-speed plus maybe a bit more dyno tuning and it should be quite good. I know the guy who'll be doing all the work on the cars too, and I may have a hand in assisting with the tuning in the future too.

As for me...I will soon be putting up another thread with the few remaining parts available, and am turning my head to finding a suitable AMG. I've never owned a car with more than 4 cylinders, so now's the time to sort that out! C55 would be nice, but C32s are half the price at the moment....

As I read in one car magazine lately, you know you have a good driver's car when the MPG number is lower than the cylinder count... :)

As I read in one car magazine lately, you know you have a good driver's car when the MPG number is lower than the cylinder count...That's just American nonsense talk... I wouldn't be totally against the idea of trying out a V8, V10 or V12 for a little while. But really, a drivers car ain't never going to feel good to sling around corners or during extreemly late or harsh braking before turns if it's got a great big HEMI under the bonnet. Ballance and weight are major concerns when it comes to driver involvement. If the car is so heavy that the brakes don't work and you have to really sling it round bends then that takes away a lot of the fun. Even the Saabs are slightly on the heavy side (although still light compared to modern cars)
There's a guy over here who's just managed to get more than 165hp from a normally aspirated 2.0 8v Saab engine. He thinks there's more to come too. This power at the moment is produced without any sacrafice to drivability so it is not even a high-revving race engine at the moment. The next tuning phases would start to impact on drivability if higher top-end figures become the goal. But as it is, 0-60mph in around 8 seconds isn't bad considering most of that time will be spent changing gears and pulling away from the line. Once rolling this car will entertain quite unlike many other setups. Normally aspirated power all through the rev range rather than 'peaky' turbo performance. Then with weight on your side (the engine is in a Saab 99 bodyshell) there is the option to carry your speed through the corners and the lower output will be the last thing you'll want to worry about. This kind of performance is great and it's a real joy to put the squeeze on something much more powerful when using all your other advantages to show how quick a car like this can be. I never had this sort of output from my own 8v 900 2-door... but I remember it being a fantastic drivers car and I'd like another one at some point.

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r310/sonett_01/DSC_0024.jpg

Actually, that quote was from Martin Buckley, a Brit, in Classic Car magazine or something like that. He was driving a Ferrari 400, the big 2+2 V12.

Lightweight, NA, throttle response - got all of that and 50/50 weight distribution in my S2000!! :)

Having the S2000 has directed me towards wanting a more of a 'bruiser' of a car, hence the desire for an AMG. I'm leaning towards a C32 at the moment, though a C43 converted to an E55 drivetrain (350 hp, 390 ft lbs vs. 300 and 300 stock on a C43) is also tempting. Both weigh around 3500-3600 lbs. Last night I drove my friend's dad's '00 E430 4Matic - 285hp, V8. Fun, but big. About the size of my '98 V70, so I'm leaning towards a C-Class based AMG.

As I may have mentioned before...Alberta has crap roads, and they are mostly straight. Here an AMG makes sense as a performance car. Relatively cushy, big torque = fun. The S2000 carves corners like nothing short of an Elise, so I have that too. The SPG fell somewhere in between. When I bought it 10 years ago, it was great, and it was great. Now I have the luxury of owning more than one car, so why not. I've been driving Saabs since I started driving in '93. Just time to try something different.

Ah, and the new owner of the SAABOTR has promised that I can still drive it once in a while...looking forward to that actually, with the Quaife and maybe a better tune. :)

Ahh, I'm only winding you up. But I suppose if your roads are mostly straight then a fat car isn't so much of a problem. Over here we have many, many, many corners and lots of roundabouts and if you use the old roads instead of the newer motorways then the old roads can be very entertaining to drive on. For example, a 70 mile route I used to do 3 or 4 times a year involved 25 roundabouts. Most of them would be two lanes around the roundabout so nice to take the racing line if there aren't other cars around. Maybe 15 miles of the trip would be just plain motorway driving in a straight line at cruising speed, mostly between 70-100mph on British motorways. When you get to the smaller roads you have some roundabouts only a mile apart or sometimes less... great for testing the point-to-point capabilities of your car. Breaking, cornering and acceleration all need to be good and no one particular area of strength is more important than the other under these circumstances.

:D

I lived in the UK for a year 'whilst' on exchange in '98-'99, in Egham, Surrey, where there's a Ferrari dealership and then a used Ferrari shop too! Didn't do any driving then, but on subsequent visits, I drove all over the south, Wales and as far north as Nottingham. Visited a Little Chef once or twice, mixed grille - good stuff! :)

I definitely think the S2000 is a very suitable car for the UK, every B-road was an adventure, and some of the lesser traveled A-roads were nice too. Snowdonia was great, the roads around Betws-y-Coed were very cool. Although as far as mountains go, not as big as the Rockies out here... :)

I think I may just go for a C43 now. With the money I sold the SAABOTR for, I could snag a C43 for almost the same money in the US. Beats having car payments! :)

Update!

Yesterday I donned my Saab hat (literally!) and went to visit 'my' car, the SAABOTR. I sold it to a local Saab nut, Trevor. Our mutual friend and mechanic, Marty, has been working on the car. Trevor has a built '85 SPG, he just freshened up the motor in that car last year. He has a Quaife in it too. So the past couple of months, Marty took Trevor's good block and Quaife and integrated it into 'my' car. (Heh...both Marty and Trevor still refer to it as my car!).

Trevor's 85 SPG lives on with a spare motor I had, and still runs nicely. Marty had converted it to CIS injection a while back. No such plans with the SAABOTR though. It is staying on SDS, and I guess I will remain as a consultant in future tuning. Trevor has already promised to let me drive it too, and yesterday we also agreed that if he ever sells it, I'll get the right of first refusal. In that regard, I figure I was just the car's guardian for a while... :)

Anyway, Marty also added a simple water injection system, redid the intake and plumbed in (again) the exhaust evacuation system. The water injection system uses two cold start injectors bolted to the intake manifold and runs off a simple pressure switch. Pure mechanical, not integrated with the SDS. The reservoir is a simple plastic tank right now, but will soon be swapped out for a custom made, metal tank.

For the intake, Marty cut a hole into the fender and added a length of hose, so the filter now sits underneath where the APC used to be. The exhaust evacuation system is an old school muscle car idea. I had it on the car before, but didn't like it. What it does is just take the crankcase fumes and spits them into the exhaust after the turbo. There's a check valve in there of course.

A few photos here:

http://www.saabphotos.com/gallery/SAABOTRs-going-flat-black

Meanwhile, I am now several months into AMG ownership, having picked up a '99 C43 in late November. Fun car, very torquey, very comfortable. With winter tires and the ESP system, it's fine in the snow. Got it for cheap, the paint's rough and the mileage high....reminds me of when I first bought my SPG! :)

I've already got a few suspension pieces, but haven't installed them yet. Lowering springs and adjustable camber/caster bits. Hopefully will paint it up in the spring. Then next year some 18' wheels...after that, will keep an eye out for a normally aspirated '55' AMG engine, as these swap in no problem....and give you another 50hp and 90 ft lbs.... :) But first, saving every penny for my wedding in August, and after that, the S2000 will get a supercharger... :)

Forgot to mention...Trevor is going to swap on a whaletail he has, and will repaint the car (again). Probably will go with a satin-ish black, same as his 85 SPG. Looks good.

He also told me that on the short drive back to his place from Marty's, after picking up the car, he romped on it in second gear and it scared him. Good job! :)