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1987 SPG project

56K views 292 replies 40 participants last post by  jvanabra 
#1 ·
purchased a 1987 spg in summer of 2009 for $300 in a non running condition. i did a few things and got it running the night i brought it home. it leaked oil, ticked like crazy, and had a gearbox in poor condition. i started taking it apart the summer of 2010 and i pulled the motor and everything in the engine bay. i am going to paint the car (including the SPG kit) saab's lime metallic yellow and use satin black to everything else. the engine has transmission and head have been completely rebuild by scanwest in seattle. these guys are all saab nuts and were well worth the $. it has taken a long time to accumulate everything being a full time student and finding the time to work on it. i bought a 1990 spg as a parts car in 2011, i need lots of miscellaneous parts so this was perfect. as of right now the car is pretty taken apart and in primer, needs a couple more dings filled then she will be ready to be painted. i have taken a lot of pictures but have had 3 phones in the mean time so a lot has been lost. here are some current pictures.
 
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#2 ·
for paint i shaved the antenna hole, i pulled the handles, locks, mirrors, i will be pulling the glass, doors, lights, spg kit, bumpers, the engine bay is completely disassembled and the bottom of the engine bay has been painted with por-15 before primer and paint to prevent any possible rust. i blocked the whole thing by hand with 150 at first, then after i primed it i started to block it again with 220 and filled the smaller dings that were not spotted in the initial once over.

to finish paint prep is must finish blocking the sides then hit everything with 400 grit on the DA sander. i will be sealing everything with a light colored epoxy primer then the base coat lime metallic yellow, then clear. this will be followed by a wet sand and buff to remove any orange peel.

 
#3 ·
i have bought all new bushings, lots of sensors, gaskets, rebuilt the drive train, new water pump, timing chain & guides, seals, lots of new hardware including manifold & exhaust hardware. every thing that was not new has been disassembled and scrubbed clean. i bought a stage 1 spec clutch since i plan on about 230hp to the wheels for my daily driver ( i wanna keep the miles low on my turbo x i just picked up!!) i also bought a water/meth kit so i am not sure how this will play into the power, should work quite well. so all the long hard expensive work has been done now i just need to paint it and start the assembly process, and drive it until i can get the interior done.

from the 1990 i am using the whale tail :) side vent covers, hubs and upgraded brake assembly in respect to the 87's w/o the abs stuff though. i will also be scavenging and keeping some engine stuff for future maintenance and to replace some of the parts i think are worn. it is also nice to have a running diagram since it has been a few years since i took it apart.

the attached picture is a fine coat of bondo to cover the scratches from the course bondo bodywork

 
#4 ·
i am going to finish the bodywork and get it cleaned up this weekend and post some more pictures. if you guys have any questions about what i have done so far or what i am doing feel free to ask i am pretty handy. i also have a gang of extra parts so pm me if you need something i will let it go for pretty cheap.
the gray car is my project one before body work, the black one is parts (no whale tail available!)

 
#6 ·
thank you! i have spilled a lot of time and a lot of $ into this project, i just can't wait to get some color down, i have the paint now but now i just need to dedicate my weekend to shootin it out after finishing taking the doors and glass off/out. hopefully by sunday i will have some parts sprayed out and more pictures to post, i will post a picture of my clutch when it comes :cheesy:
 
#7 ·
more primer today on some random pieces, pulled the doors, rear windows, and gaskets. tomorrow i need to finish the passenger side gutter end mod i did, i thought this would look better than the caps. i'll grab some pictures tomorrow when they are completed. also i have started the re-assembly of the drive train assembly. tomorrow i plan to paint some color on some pieces to get a taste of the lime metallic yellow!

tomorrow i need to finish the bodywork on the hatch, pull the steering rack and firewall heat shield (the rivets are out) pull the rear hatch and window, prime any other spots that need it and finish the fiberglass part of the whale tail and prime that( i fixed the cracks with fiberglass epoxy), the rubber strip will be a bit more involved.

 
#8 ·
got bored @ work today waiting for bondo to try so i decided i wanted to see some color that is going on the spg. sprayed out the vents in the new car color (lime metallic yellow) for the whole car hand blocked, filled, sanding primer, blocked, sanded down with 400 (red scotch brite in the jambs and hard to get places) epoxy primer, color, clear. hope you guys like!
 
#10 ·
when i initially sprayed out the paint it was blinding in the sun really yellow with green flake that just popped, when it dried out before clear it really mellowed out and became more lime green with yellow flake. i was a little nervous to see if i would like this paint, but i love it. very different flops and fades, i cant wait to get it on the body over some contours to see the range of color within the paint. my goal is to have the front end painted by wednesday. i need to take out the a-arms and brake lines to get a quality job. while everything is out i will replace the inner sway bar bushings, a arm bushings, power steering rack bushings, and maybe start the hub swap from the 90 to the 87.i need to be careful spraying in those fenders.
 
#178 ·
here is the progress on the motor


Missed this project. I must have been spending too much time over on the other forum (link below ;ol;) - Your car looks awesome. I think these colours which have a sort of light metalic quality like what you've chosen and the prototype SPG colour are really good for the shape of the 900 / 99.

One question, in the photo showing the transmission from the front, what is that sensor which has been screwed into the hole for the 5th gear peg and what are you going to use it for?
 
#13 ·
Fantastic paint job! I'm always leery of painting in the garage, there's always dust that flies around. But without a paint booth, that's pretty impressive...is it done with cans or with a proper HVLP setup? Maybe I should invest in one, even with the occasional amount of painting I do...

li Arc
 
#16 ·
patience my friend! my dad helped me sand a lot of the car today while i tucked away some things in the engine bay. tomorrow i just need to do some minor scuffing with a red scotchbrite, mask and i will paint the body of the car. there will be many before and after pictures from every angle, i'll bring a nice camera instead of my phone. stay posted!!!!!!!!
 
#18 ·
Very nice work, can't wait to see the final product. I love this color, and the pictures look great on my end. now that you have painted the parts and put up the pictures, does the color look the same on your computer screen as the color on the car?
The reason I ask is there are times where the camera sees the color on the car differently and also how we see it on our monitors.
 
#19 ·
SO! today i stated at 10:45 and quit at 4:45

i pulled the front windshield and got rid of all the nasty goop around that so my lime yellow paint will not react with the silicon
pulled the sunroof, sanded and cleaned what you see when the sunroof is open, so the color change looks nice and complete
pulled a few more things that i forget of, but then i masked the doors, rear quarter windows, where the hatch goes, windshield, sunroof, any random holes in the fire wall and fenders that expose themselves into the cab.

then i got to sand more and more and more and more in all the little places a DA could not reach.

i took pics on a high resolution camera, but i am waiting to upload the pics until tomorrow when some (and by some i mean a lot) of color goes down.


before i left the shop, i wiped everything down with DX330 (wax&grease remover) twice so that i could do it again in the morning to get everything. i found a few more spots i need to sand then tomorrow i can epoxy the car in the morning, come back in the afternoon, tack the car down and spray some color, then do the clear!
 
#20 ·
in the pictures the paint looks gold, but in person the color is very nice, looks like the inside of a lime with yellow metallic in it, i think the pictures will be better when i get some color on the car tomorrow and have it out in the sun
 
#24 ·
i used PPG DP40LF (grey-green) the catalyst is DP402LF. you usually mix 2:1 but i do 2:1:1 with reducer so it sprays out smoother. although going to bare metal is nice, it is not needed, as long as you sand the car prior this epoxy will have no problem sticking.
 
#28 ·
lots of knuckle busting work there; I would advice you use as many power tools as possible otherwise its scrub a dub rub by hand.

Nice paint work! thanks for the smaller piccys; car looks really great. can't wait to see it all done. I wanted to do my 3 door in a dark blue but cant deal with the color changing details. doing the body work my self and will take it to Maaco for an exterior only spray for the $250 special :)
 
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