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What did you do on your Classic 900 today?

265K views 3K replies 274 participants last post by  4saabstoomany 
#1 ·
This is a topic which hopefully everyone can contribute to!

Today I contemplated the process for replacing the alternator in my 81 turbo sedan and wished I could afford right now to replace the quite worn tyres with something that will grip better off-road.

Craig.
 
#2 ·
I couldn't think of any servicing that I could afford to do either haha so I simply drove it and put $10 of petrol in it. Yes it was a pointless endeavor.
 
#11 ·
It may not be the motor at all that is slow, you may have to take out the whole wiper. Take the clips off of the spindles that hole the wiper arms and grease them. I had one that was so bad that it broke trying to get it apart, good thing I had a spare.
 
#5 ·
Going to buy 2 new tires for my NA so we can finally have both Saabs running at the same time;ol;. Give NA good cleaning to prepare for the work week.

3 alignment shims fell out from the verts left front upper A-Arm earlier this week, and was making a horrid clunking sound at low speed when load at the left tire (LHD) turning hard (i.e getting into or our of a park space). I wasted no time or posts trying to figure it out.

Took the car to the indy Saab guy yesterday and they put up on the lift and found shims mangled laying in the axle tunnel; they straightened the shims for me (no cost), handed them to me, and confirmed I only need to replace them when i get home and tighten the bolts properly.
They cleared the SRS mode flash for $45 since i replaced the horn ring earlier this month.

Was gunna put new top on today but wife and I promised daughter fun in the sun so off to the amusement park this afternoon:cool:.

Ended up getting a custom grey top for the vert and it looks good in my opinion.

Replacing Shims today before we go play games.
 
#9 · (Edited)
In the last month, I have:

-replaced the serpentine belt on my 9000CSE (SaabKen's ex Matilda)

-on Woywitka's '87 turbo convertible
--pulled engine/gearbox
--transferred engine accessories to new donor drivetrain
--transferred good driver's side inner driver from old drivetrain to passenger side of new donor drivetrain
--changed lower ball joints
--dropped new drivetrain in
--hooked everything up
--adjusted timing, idle, LH2.2 AMM using dwell meter

-converted an '84 8-valve non-turbo automatic 4-door to manual
--pulled drivetrain from '84 8-valve non-turbo 5sp 3-door which was unsafe to continue driving due to rust
--pulled the clutch master with the drivetrain so we wouldn't have to bleed the clutch! :p
--pulled shifter assembly
--pulled auto drivetrain from 4-door
--dropped 5-speed drivetrain into 4-door car
--transferred clutch and brake pedals
--hooked everything up

Last night, I was jacking around with the audio system in the '84 4-door. I've got an '88 Saab/Clarion system in there, and 3 of 4 speakers working. Gotta hit my garage and dig through inventory for some better speakers for the front--one sounds awful and the other is completely dead.

edit: finished stereo on '84 4-door today :)
 
#10 ·
I took Bella My 90 900s out for a relaxing cruise through town and the country..shes my daily driver and its amazing how she turns heads. it is the only Saab I have seen anywhere around where I live in SE Missouri!! Bought her from an older gent who kept her very well maintained and shes in almost like new shape.

I love when I stop at a store or wherever and get the questions... what kinda car is that, are you from another country.. or if its somebody who knows Saabs..... its OMG A SAAB!! :)

SAAB ON!
 
#13 ·
Nothing.. it was 105 degrees today..

it was 105 yesterday

Tomarrow will be cooler.. hopefully I can finish getting the engine and transaxle out of my dead 91 so I can send it off to the scrappers
 
#16 ·
I changes the tires to summer tires and I got my turbo rebuild kit but now I need Aeroquip flex lines for the return and feed oil lines to the turbo an I need to figure out where to get all that.

and I gave a look to my convertible that is siting there waiting for me to change the top and finish the interior once and for all..... :(.
 
#17 ·
New (reman) Bosch 80A alt installed in 81 turbo sedan - snookered by the tensioner!

Installed the Bosch 80A alternator into my 81 turbo sedan with a new mounting bracket as well as the alternator (since the early style bracket uses the smaller bolt) but got snookered by the slot in the tensioning arm not being wide enough for the larger diameter (and much longer) tensioner bolt! argh! I'm not sure I can come up with a way to substitute another way to tension it up that will be reliable without getting the correct tensioner bracket. bugger...

Anyway the new alt is installed, and the belt is on. I haven't wired it up yet and without a tensioner bracket to use I can't get the belt tightened up. I have all the wiring stuff I need including a cable salvaged from my 9k to join the M8 output stud of the 80 A alternator to an M6 terminal block onto which I can bolt the existing +12 v feeder wires which all have M6 hole lugs.

Shame I can't test it but I did remember to recover the 'key' from the shaft of the old alternator to use on the new one when re-constructing the single-belt pulley on the replacement alt. :cool:

BTW the old 70 A alternator has shocking bearing noises when I was rotating it by hand out of the car, so Good Thing I decided to change it and get a new good alt with a new vreg put into the car.

Oh well such is life! It looks like I'll be driving the landcruiser tomorrow and if I have any $$ in the bank accounts, ordering the right tensioner bracket from Saab Salvage. :cool:

Craig.
 
#18 ·
I'm still trying to diagnose my lifter ticking problem. Spent most of the day working on my beater's exhaust, but it's time to focus on the Saab again, so I took the intake cam off and attempted to measure valve clearances today. Nope, got two done then it was dinner time and chat with a friend. So much for being productive. Gotta get the darned transmission back out to fix a botch I did last year before the summer's out! :nono;

li Arc
 
#19 ·
At least you have warm weather at the moment - it's winter here and morning/evening temps are down in the single-digit C range, so I get a window of about 5 to 6 hrs if it's sunny, or a bit narrower if it's not, either side of which it's too cold to be outside playing 'bush mechanic'. :cool:

I still haven't had a chance to do anything more with the engine in the black 2.1 hatchback since I bought the skimmed cylinder head from Saab Salvage well over a month ago. I do though now have the special timing chain tool (genuine Sir Tools product) that I purchased from Pelican Parts again over a month ago - I'd also ordered a Sir Tools valve spring compressor but they're NLA.

Hopefully I can snaffle a week of annual leave out of work some time in the not too distant future and get the 2.1 car running. Even if I don't have the $$$ to reg and insure it, I want it to be drivable at least so it can be moved around to mow the 'forest' of grass growing under and around it!

Craig.
 
#21 ·
What I has been doing...

Nothing this week but last week Bianca got Waxoyled and a scratch repaired along with some rust on the sunroof wind deflector being removed and sprayed.

The Waxoyl smells great!

Coming out of the staff car park at work 2 weeks ago I looked in the rearview to see, alas, another white 900 S right behind. Both of us cruised through the hospital site grinning like Jack Nicholson in the Shining! People must have thought there was some sort of convention on.
 
#23 ·
Finished putting the interior back together, passenger seat and all!


 
#24 ·
Removed driver window mechanism to find the motor had seized, taped a plastic bag over the hole while awaiting the new part.

Trying to diagnose loss of shifting problem, posted about it here. I think it's the coupler, will order part today.

Noticed headliner sagging badly, read up on how to replace it, will do the job one weekend soon.

Until yesterday, the garage has been like an oven for two straight weeks. Fortunately I can ride my motorcycle for everything until the Saab is fixed.
 
#30 ·
Begining to tear down the vert engine to replace head gasket as preventative maintenance. Purchased with 180K and no history; the job will need to be done sooner or later; we opted not to wait for failure.

Yesterday NA was put back on road and looking great; doing body work for paint prep. Added wood door cards to NA as well... custom made myself..
 
#42 ·
Begining to tear down the vert engine to replace head gasket as preventative maintenance. Purchased with 180K and no history; the job will need to be done sooner or later; we opted not to wait for failure.

..
I recently did the same , replaced HG pre failure , but in this case I wanted to do some repairs to exhaust manifold studs, and it was best done with head on the bench .

Absolutely nothing against Prevenative maintenance , all for it , but my experience is most Head gaskets will give you lots and lots of notice of not being 100% , this notice usually preceeds failure for a considerable time , so if you are in tune with the car ...HG"s dont sneak up and bite .
In my case above , the car had exactly double your K's and from the (very complete) documentation that came with the car , it had never had the head off .
SO perhaps you are 200 k premature ...
On the other hand .. I have an NA that has 160 k , it is failing , but again it has been sending out signs for ages , Failure is not usually out of the Blue, so rarely should a failed head gasket see you roadside and wishing you had done Preventative ...
 
#35 ·
Replaced one of the instrument cluster lights....actually, the bulb was ok but apparently the PO when changing it, broke the holder....one of the metal clips was missing so a little surgery and good as new!

BTW, does anyone sell the 3w bulb holders? Good grief, I was hoping to just buy a new one but couldn't find one anywhere.

I also removed the vinyl dash fascia (what was left of it anyway), not sure what I'm going to do, but in the interim I painted around the ventilation knobs (why couldn't they just be all black?) with some touch up paint until I decide if I'm going to go wood or what....

Troy
 
#36 ·
the bulb holders that light instruments such as the instrument cluster, fan and heater control knobs (black bulb holders with 2 prongs) are available at www.eeuroparts.com - in addition the instrument cluster wedge bulbs are also available on eeuroparts.com

You may wish to swap your instrument illumination bulbs to LED - someone can chip in where a good site to get those from is!
 
#38 ·
Haha no problems mate! Oh what sort of consulting? I know the Ford factory (I live on the coastal side of Geelong [towards Torquay] that is the North [Melbourne/inland] side of Geelong. I don't really know what goes on at that Ford factory to be honest! :D

I only moved here a few years ago for Uni, originally from the country. My poor Saab is starting to get rust spots all over it! 8-| not cool, have been vaselining everything up to slow the corrosion haha! Damn coastal air laden with salt
 
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