I finally got the one I've been waiting for. It's my fifth C900, sixth car all together. All the rest have had one problem or another that has kept me from really dumping my heart and soul into it (usually rust, lack of a turbo, or a combination).

I bought the car in Michigan and drove it back to my home in Missouri. That was quite an adventure, which you can read about here (http://saabguy.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-new-1991-saab-900-turbo.html).

Anyway, a quick picture of the car as I drove from my parents' house to my own:
http://gallery.wonderart.us/Cars/Saab-900-Turbo/i-XjPxXZJ/0/XL/2011-07-0706-38-11-XL.jpg

This project will be life-long and slow going. I'm in college until May of 2013, so obviously budget and time are big problems, along with space and tool availability. But, I've found myself what I believe to be the perfect rolling project, and I see no reason to ever give her up. I have a turbo, and she's mine.

I've gotten a couple things straightened out since I bought her:
- clutch slave cylinder replaced
- fuel pump replaced
- steering wheel bushing replaced
- various fluids & thermostat replaced

Parts that I have in my garage waiting to go in:
- KYB GR-2 shocks while I save up for Bilsteins
- tie-rod ends & boots
- radio antenna

Short-term Todo List:
- fix APC problem (http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216460)
- find random rattle (exhaust?)
- find random scraping noise (no idea?)
- replace gear oil
- need to rewire... well, everything really (craptastic butt-connectors everywhere)
- keep snow a minimum of 1 garage door away

Long-term Todo List:
- Make 50,000 psi
- measure economy of car by transmissions/mile
- repaint... possibly blue
- fix the little bit of rust that does exist
- install recaros from a 9k aero
- general restoration stuffs

I found a nice little treat the previous owner left me. Check this out:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HxcpbI44Xgg/UATsJvm9-iI/AAAAAAAAQCg/U1_jZAthQtc/s1209/2012-07-15+23.13.08.jpg

Also, in the middle of replacing the heat shield. What a PITA. Good news is, I've removed all the carpets, seats, and sound deadening so I get a chance to clean them and let the car air/dry out. Both front carpets and passenger side rear were very very wet. Surprisingly, unrusted floor boards though! Thanks for whatever that liner is Saab!

Life lesson:
Stop buying cheap crap.
I finally got around to installing (only the rear) KYB GR-2s on the car. To get the old shocks off, I had to cut the top of it off with a hacksaw because the nut was rusted on there.
Turns out, the 21 year-old OEM shocks were stiffer than my brand new KYBs... :roll: At least they were cheap.

Never saw your project before, this is all new to me! Good find, hope it's not giving you too much pain! Looks like it could use a nice detail though! And I think the 15 spoke rims without the covers look amazing for winter driving!

The rears are horrible, because the nut is situated right in the well with the wheels, so it gets all the water and road splatter all the time. When I installed my new Koni shocks in the rear, I had no choice but to take an angle grinder to the old shocks from the top, which worked well, but it was scary as hell! When I installed the new shocks, I coated the threads with anti-seize, and the new shocks came with a rubber nut cover as well. I filled the whole thing with anti-seize and cupped it over the nut; it appears to still be rust free a few years later now. If you can perhaps take a rubber cap or vacuum plug and you can probably do the same thing. The fronts are much easier because the same amount of grit doesn't make it up to the nut as it isn't in the wheel well.

li Arc

I'll definitely keep that in mind. I actually had a lot more trouble with the lower bolts on the rears though - they were completely frozen and I had first saw the bolt-head off, then pound it through with a 5-pound mallet (I tried a normal hammer and it wasn't heavy enough), cut off half the bolt, then pound the rest through.

Next step in the project though - diagnose the symphony of noises coming from under the hood. And the pool of fluids leaking from everything lol.

I know it needs a lot of love on the outside, but I'm just finding it hard to care very much. The paint is complete and utter #$%*. Half of it has been (horribly) repainted and the other half is a single-coat base that's cracked across the entire hood. So, I'm not even going to try to restore the outside until I have the money to sandblast the whole thing, fix a couple rust spots, and repaint it. Possibly dark blue... maybe bright orange.... lol.
http://www.saabsunited.com/upload/images2009/10/saab_99_image_gallery/Saab99T-16V.jpg

I just amazed myself with that image again. I want that car!

Anyway, I have full boost! My roommates kicked my butt into gear and convinced me to get to work on really diagnosing the turbo problem. We never did figure out what it was, but pulling the knock sensor out, testing it out on a digital oscilloscope
http://david.zemon.name/downloads/knock1.bmp
http://david.zemon.name/downloads/knock2.bmp
cleaning the surfaces, and installing a knock LED seems to have cured it! Like I said... I have no idea what was wrong, but she pull VERY hard all the way to 10.5 psi now!

I have two things equally high on the priority list now: a digital, calibrated boost gauge that I will build myself, and a steel diff cover. I want to up the power but I refuse to ruin what is currently a perfect transmission.

A full update can be read on my blog (http://saabguy.blogspot.com/2012/10/booooost.html).