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Fixing up my 1973 96

11K views 62 replies 6 participants last post by  TROLLhattenschatten 
#1 ·
I recently purchased a 1973 96. It has a little under 50,000 miles on the clock, but mainly because one of the previous owners (second owner I think) took it off the road because it failed inspection in 1984 because the shock towers rusted through. The third owner fixed the shock towers, but never put it back on the road, instead he kept it mostly in his garage with some days of it's life spent outdoors. I bought it on May 1, 2010, so more rust had built up, but mostly underneath and in the floorpan. The third owner also fixed much of the body rust, his body work isn't pro-quality (the whole car has been painted with Rustoleom Enamel, among other things), but is far better than letting it rust away. It currently isn't drive-able due to a bad ball joint, and I'm currently in the middle of fixing that, just to get it on the road.

My goal with this is not a full restoration, that is way out of my league (money wise and skill wise). I bought the car to learn to work on. I can do the usual things like brakes, wire in a trailer/tow kit, install a trailer hitch, minor engine things, but I want to learn more, and this car has been a favorite of mine and was a great price.

My first step is to get it back on the road, so I'm working on fixing the ball joints so I can get it out of my Dad's spot in the garage, and hopefully inspected and back on the road so I can store it somewhere else.
 
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#2 ·
The ball joints have been a slow project. With 37 years of rust, the bolts were a pain to get out. The two bolts holding the lower part of the ball joints took about 2 hours, some bashed knuckles, and a lot of PB Blaster to get them out. The last nut, that holds the top of the ball joint to the wheel hub took somewhere inbetween 4-5 hours, a lot of cursing, a couple of smashed thumbs, and a sore back from squatting down there for so long. I tried ever trick in the book I knew, I started out with a long wrench for more leverage, and letting it soak in PB Blaster for a while, while I did other things. Come back every so often, give it another spray. After a day of that, still didn't work. So I put the wrench back on and started hitting it with a hammer, no avail, only started to strip the head of the bolt and the nut. From here I heated it up with a MAP gas torch, and tried again... nothing. So I decided to cut the nut off. This didn't help at all, so I decided I'd drill down the middle of the bolt, and increase in size a little bit, then try some PB Blaster. That didn't work. So I tried the heating process again... nothing. So I just increased the drill bit in size until the entire bolt was drilled out, and I cut off the top of the bolt. It worked pretty well, but the pinch clamp thing was rusted shut, so the top of the ball joint still couldn't come out. So I got a series of wedges, and wedged it open just enough to where I could get top of the ball joint out. After some hard work, I finally got it out. Here is where I am at now...
 
#3 ·
Here's a picture of the interior. It's in surprisingly good condition. Just a little dusty, and the radio and speaker is missing, along with two or three unknown bits.

(Some major rust is right below the carpet where it meets the wheel-well.)

Here is one of the things missing (I think something goes there). Anyone knows what goes there? There is an identical hole like this, just on the passenger side.

Anybody know what goes there? It's right inbetween the cigarette lighter and the "Fasten Seatbelt" light.
 
#4 ·
Great looking car... wish mine was that far along!

I am not 100% positive but I think that first hole in your dash is part of the heating and cooling system. Specifically, I think it's to defrost the side windows.

Not surprised that there is rust under the carpet. Don't let the pretty interior fool you... you'll still need to remove it all to make sure you don't have more rust, especially along the firewall.

Can't wait to see more picture. Best of luck.
 
#5 ·
I am not 100% positive but I think that first hole in your dash is part of the heating and cooling system. Specifically, I think it's to defrost the side windows.
That was my guess, I haven't really had much time to mess with it with the engine running. I've got one of the front axles taken apart as I wait for a CV boot to be shipped (my local guy with a couple of 96's and 95's is 94, and seems to having a bit of old people grumpy-ness or forgetful-ness and hangs up when I call for parts).

Not surprised that there is rust under the carpet. Don't let the pretty interior fool you... you'll still need to remove it all to make sure you don't have more rust, especially along the firewall.
Yeah, From what I've seen so far from looking under the car, and lifting up the carpets as far as I can, I've got about a hole the size of my fist (maybe bigger) where the driver side wheel well meets the floor pan, I've got just some surface rust on the other side in the same place, and I've got about a golfball size hole in the rear near the bottom of the backseat on the passenger side. I'm still a little confused on how I'm going to do it, but I think I'll figure it out (and certainly improve my welding skills).

Can't wait to see more picture. Best of luck.
Thanks, I've been following yours on your site... lots of good info you've got there.
 
#7 ·
Yeah, the guy is 94 years old and I think he might be losing it a little. I called him before I bought the car to make sure he still had some parts, and he did, and told me the price of things like a new windshield. I called him about four days ago, asking about parts, but he hung up before I could say what I was calling about, and he said he wasn't who he really was (I checked the number 3 times, same number as before). I called back, and got his answering machine, and left a message, I've gotten nothing back yet.
 
#14 ·
Anybody happen to know where I can get a bearing cap for the axle? They are the little caps with the little needle bearings in them that go on the ends of the "T" of the axle. I'm missing one, must of fallen off during transportation to my garage:confused:.
I may well have one
amsnare@comcast.net
I detest throwing things away. Particularily some of value, I have lost/dropped these little roller bearings. The Saab "sticky grease" is best as a prevent. Substitute motor honey??
The one or two that I have are probably for a 99/900. These may be interchangible.
Great pic:cheesy:
 
#11 ·
http://www.skandix.com/
Best place i know of for parts for the V4's. it would help if you are German fluent (or even have a German-English dictionary) as that one has a bigger inventory.

I know there where a few places in the UK that where parting 3 V4's out about 3-4 months ago...may still have some things if you need a hard to find part.

The owner of Impact Motors (SAAB specialty) in Rochester owns an old 2-stroker so i am sure he could answer a few questions too if need be.
 
#12 ·
Scandix doesn't have it. I called a guy in West Virginia (West of Sweden Saab) and he (very helpful and nice) doesn't have any, and he told me that he's always looking for more because they don't make them any more, so if I found a stash, to give him a call back. The guy at Impact was great, he only has his own personal 96, and doubts that he has any, but he is going to look and give me a call. I'm going to try a junkyard that I heard might have a few old Saabs. Thanks Troll! I'm finding that most people with these cars only want to help, and are super nice.
 
#16 ·
Finally got some more time to work on the car today. I finished putting on the new ball joint, took some use of the new spring compressors (first time using ones) and a little force. I still have to put on my new CV boot, and new axle cap bearings. I've also been fiddling with getting the water pump (it's cracked somewhere I can't see) out, and it's been a pain. Two of the five bolts are in an impossible to reach place, so I'm going to have to remove some other things to get to it. Once I fix all of those, I should be able to take it around the block for a quick test drive. Then I'll have to replace the windshield so I can have an attempt of passing inspection.
 
#17 ·
So I've been tinkering around with the waterpump, but I can't get it off. I've undone three of the five bolts, and the other two (the ones on the far side of the pump, closest to the engine block) are next to impossible to get to. Any tips on getting those two bolts out?
 
#18 ·
So I finally got the water pump out, and it's pretty bad. There isn't really any good way to get it out, besides taking out/moving all the coolant tubes that are in the way. I've read about a way to change the two "hard to get to" bolts into a nut/bolt system so you can get to it from the front. I plan on doing that, and I'll post the link once I find it.

Also, my dad was trying to help, and he ended up mashing the threads of the axle nut that I had to take off to get the axle out to replace the CV boot (a dirty job). Turn out, I ended up just pulling the CV boot over the "T" of the axle, so I didn't have to take it all apart, but it did make it much easier to pull over (didn't rip either!). I must admit though, I had a moment of complete stupidity, I put the boot on the wrong way. It was easy getting on the wrong way, but not easy getting it off, and I was worried about ripping the boot. But it ended up working out, after I kicked myself in the *** about ten times.

As a plus, my dad told me to look through his collection of old license plates to see if there are any 1973 era ones (for NYS, it was either the blue, with orangish-yellow writing, or orangish-yellow with blue writing--there was an overlap). In NYS, they allow you to put "vintage" plates from the era of your car on, if you supply the plates, the number is not taken, and you have the correct number of plates for the era. I managed to find some blue ones, and they are in decent nice condition too. I checked www.nysdmv.com and the numbers aren't taken either. So as soon as I get my title problems fixed, I'll have the car registered with some awesome vintage plates!

Oh, and those needle bearing caps I was looking for, and found after about a week and a half of searching? Well, I found the other one underneath the carpet in the car. I had gone over the entire car before, so I don't know how it got there, but there it was. Good thing about me getting the new ones though, the one I found is missing some needles.
 
#19 ·
Finally got some time to work on it again. I got the water pump in, and now I'm in the middle of replacing the worn water hoses. I had to pull the radiator (actually pretty easy) to be able to replace the one that goes from the radiator to the water pump. The hose I used for that actually goes to a Mercury boat engine or something... the guy at my new favorite car supply shop did some searching in the back and found a bent hose that would fit, I just had a trim off a 90 degree bend on one end, and it fit perfectly! Lots of the hoses have been a PITA to replace, ripping when coming off, and then the new ones don't want to go back on, even after sanding the parts clean/smooth. I also finally got the axle back together, I had to use an impact wrench on the axle nut to get the axle back through the bearings in the hub, and it took about 30min of fiddling with that to get it set. To get it drive-able I just need to put the brakes back together (I need a schematic of the caliper assembly if anyone happens to know where I can find it online... I think I'm missing a couple parts:evil:) and finish getting the hoses back on, and I'm set for cruising around. To get it legally back on the road I've got to replace the windshield (rather large crack) because it won't pass NYS inspection without a new one.
 
#21 ·
The guy in Greece has a few, and he'll sell me one (or so he said, long story, but he isn't crazy, I was somehow getting my calls forwarded to some other guy near Greece, but the guy with parts is very nice and willing with his spare parts)... I'll give Ray Sands Glass a call to see what they charge. The hardest part of it will be that I won't be able to legally drive it there, because I can't get it inspected before I get the glass fixed.
 
#22 ·
In NYS when you register a car you get 10 days to have the car inspected. trust me i have driven a vehicle that needed a lot more than a windshield within those 10 days :lol: just don't over-do it - they do check! you will get stopped just so they know you are not over the time limit.

Also, i believe Ray Sands glass has free home service.
 
#24 ·
One of the things that you may want to consider paint wise, is doing all of the prep yourself and then waiting for a Macco special. If the shop is "user friendly" you can get a real nice deal for like a few hundred bucks.

I would strip all of the cars bolt on items like trim strips and such. Then do the body work (it's not that hard to do the minor stuff and Ok, sometimes you have to do it a few times till it's right but so what ??), primer .. go to a good auto paint shop and get cans. You are going to "shoot" the primer with the foo cans and then sand it out anyway. Dang, I'm getting old, and can't remember the # of the grit I used .. finer than 800 .. like 1200 ???

So, all the chrome and ... most of the time it was my "daily driver" ... some essential items like turn signals, I'd loosen them. Yep, drive the car to the shop and then take those final items to be legal off.

Our Macco would let you bring your own paint too and this was a savings for them since the $299 Special included some basic colors .... like white, one shade of blue and a red ... or something. You want to stay with pretty much the original color ... or ... do the door jambs with the aerosol cans before you take it in.

Not going to win any shows with this .. but it was nice to have a respectable looking daily driver. What makes the job (except for the hood and jambs), a notch better than the usual $299 special, they just would mask over the chrome trim and turn signals and such. At the end, pick it up and just tighten enough to get home, let it sit for a day and then put it back together. If you cracked down on the trim or moldings too early the paint was dry but not hard.
 
#26 ·
Thanks for the tips with the paint. I think when I get to it (the floor pan needs to be replaced first... that will probably next summers main job) I'm going to try my hand at it first. I'm just going to paint it piece by piece. I've never painted before, but my dad picked up a spray gun a while back in a combo kit. I figure I can't really make the job any worse... and if I do, I'll only loose a the value of paint used, and some prep time (don't worry, I'll be getting pointers from friends along the way). For this summer, I'm just slowly (very slowly) working on getting it running smoothly, and ironing out the kinks.



I'd like one of these

But of course, the wooden ones arn't far behind in my opinion...
 
#27 ·
IT LIVES! So I finally got everything back together... I know, I work slow! It started up after a little cranking. Right now I'm in the middle of the grossest coolant flush I've ever seen. It's coming out poop brown still, and this is the 2nd refill that is currently draining. I've noticed that my temp gauge is a little jumpy, often sticking down, but once tapped it jumps near the red "over heat" section, and then it will slowly settle down just slightly above mid-way. Anyone know if it's possible to aim a laser heat reader on a part to see if I'm actually running too hot?
 
#28 ·
The temp gauge figured itself out apparently. It was just a little stuck, and once I had it running a couple times, the gauge began to work a lot better. I took it for a spin around the block a couple times, but I couldn't go far because it isn't registered, inspected, or even properly titled to me yet. But boy, was it FUN! It has to be one of the loudest cars I've heard. People were looking for some muscle car ripping down the street, only to see me puttering by at about 30. I've found a couple kinks, the brake warning light is always on, the turn signal indicator (the one in the car) doesn't work when signaling left. The front driver side turn indicator also doesn't work (connected to problem in the car?). Also, I'm going to make a new hood release for the car. The old one broke, and is too short now. I'm just going to take the current handle, make a new piece of metal to screw into it, drill a hole for a new cable and hook it all together. By the way, how hard is it to pull the hood release. I've currently just got some 90lbs test cable in there, and I can't release it with that, so I've got a rigged system going.
 
#29 ·
Still been tinkering with it, trying to get it to run smoother. I'm waiting on new spark plugs, a distributor cap, air filter and I just ordered a new muffler. Until then, it sits waiting for the title/registration to be straightened out, but don't worry, I still take it for quick laps around the neighborhood.
 
#31 ·
The floor pan is a monster! I've got pretty big holes (a fist sized one, surrounded by small ones) by the driver side firewall/wheel well, and it's thin on the passenger side. There is also some holes in the back corner right before the rear seat meets the floor. Also, the paint is some-what of a sham. The PO painted it with rustoleum, and used quite a bit of bondo... he did a decent job, but I'll need to fix it in a few years. The floor pan is going to be next summers project, but I'm not sure if I'm going to buy reproduction pans (over $500 for each!) or try to make my own.

The seats are in like new condition, and the headliner only has one small tear in the back above the side windows, and it needs a little cleaning. You should make a thread showing off your car, and logging the progress.
 
#32 ·
I just got back from the COOLEST SAAB PLACE I have ever been. This guy that lives about 40 min away from me has the most Saab stuff I have ever seen. The guy is 93 years old, and as sharp as a tack. He gets around very well, and was willing to sell anything he had. He must of had about 8 or 9, two stroke engines, but most were seized and old, over 20 V4 engines, I saw about 3 or 4 different 96/95's sitting around in in various stages of being taken apart. Three garages full of random parts, a trailer/shed thing filled with parts, and a basement full of parts. He also had a fairly nice looking 99 (Triumph engine one) sitting and waiting for someone willing to restore it and keep it in good condition. Anyways, I ended up walking away with a Windshield (he must of had 10 of them, for 93's and 96/95's) a used front muffler (rusty, but solid, and only 10 dollars), a radio (I dug through a shelf full of them for the best looking AM and FM ones that said Saab, ended up getting two of those, and some lug bolts. I wanted so much more, especially the earlier longnose front end.
 
#33 ·
How did you ever find him? I was telling my wife a few days ago about my old landlord and his chicken coops that were filled with every year Triumph there was ... like twenty some .... and none for sale. Another guy I used to buy parts from had a dozen VW/Porsche 914's all apart in his crawl space and neat as a pin. There were quite a few 911/912's down there too. All the parts nested in each other.

Good find but take a few pics next visit ... if he allows it of course.

Mecca .. the "mother lode" ... :cheesy:
 
#34 ·
How did you ever find him?
The guy I bought the car from, bought the car from the older man. So I was given his number, and told "he has a couple extra parts." But the older man was great. He was happy a youngster like myself (19 years old) was going through the work to fix one of these up. He told me to give him a call and stop by any time I needed a part, or just to look up in some of his Saab parts catalogs and books. Great, great, great guy. He also has a 1987 9000 as his daily driver, and he still drives... only 2 miles down the road, but still driving!
 
#36 ·
So I finally got it properly registered and titled... didn't get to use the vintage plates like I wanted, but I can if I want to change my insurance to "Historical Insurance" (whatever that means... but I'm pretty sure it'll cost more) and send in three bucks to the gov't. I took it to a glass shop, and had them put in the new/used windshield I got. On the way back home it DOWNPOURED and I a tad bit wet from water coming from a hole in the wheel well... I didn't want to drive it in the rain with holes in the floor.
 
#37 ·
Shazam, don't bother with Antique plates. The only advantage is that the car doesn't need state inspection with antique plates (if it's even required in your area to begin with) but the plate limits your annual mileage and you can't drive after dark and you can only ever take it to shows and such functions. I checked into antique plates and decided it was soo not worth it. For insurance, try Grundy or Hagerty. Both are collector/classic car insurance with agreed value. So you tell them what your car is worth and they base the premium on that and what other cars of your type are currently being insured for and selling for. In my case, there aren't many 95s around so I based it on what the 96s go for, with a little wiggle room since my particular year/accessories is very rare. For an entire year of the car insured for $7k with higher liability limits, was only $120. Were I to insure it with my regular insurer, Geico, it would have been about twice that, with the payout in case of an accident probably not getting me what I paid for the car. Definitely worth it to go with collector insurance. There are no annual mileage limits, but you can only drive it to shows, meets, car club functions and limited pleasure driving (taking it out on a nice day for a spin, taking it to show off to a friend, etc) but no errand-running or taking it to work and such.
 
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