A Point in the Right Direction

[Destiny245]

So after a couple of years of deliberation on what to do with my 900 8 valve non-turbo CIS management and I've decided to go ahead and +T with MegaSquirt II. From the amount of googling i have done it looks like it should be a 16-valve head swap, turbo manifold, intercooler for sure. I have come across a few points that i have not been able to clear up.
Do I need to upgrade/swap the tranny? I know Spec has some clutch upgrades for the 900s.
It seems the turbo and non-turbo motors share the same bottom end, is this true?
Suspension seems to be the biggest thing I can find no info on. I'm looking to lower the car with full poly upgrades and hopefully increase the sway size. Is there anyone making these products or do I harvest them off a different car?
I'm sure I will have more questions as the list grows. Thanks in advance for the help.

[nutcase]

Welcome. That's an ambitious project What's the end goal with engine power wise? K-jet is pretty tunable as is.

Having said that, sounds like you plan to turn the car into a 16v turbo? Instead of rebuilding the engine, you'd be much better off obtaining a complete 16v turbo engine from the off. To convert yours you'd need to change the pistons, head, timing gear, oil pump, engine mount frames, and sort something for the turbo return oil as that's the one difference with the blocks. Cranks, rods etc. are indeed all the same.

If you do swap to 16v the current "in" method of doing the injection is to convert to T5 rather than megasquirt, have you considered that? It's a more elegant (and Saab) soloution as I understand it.

Transmissions are essentially identical, you might want to change the primary ratio to a higher one if your current one is a bit low. (type 5 or maybe 6).

Powerflex make every suspension bush in polyurethane, and there are a number of choices on springs. Not sure on sway bars. SAS used to make one but don't know if it's still available.

[Destiny245]

The googling seemed to point that the 16v head was the way to go if turning. I have no problem sticking with an 8v. I know the older Saabs - pre 86 - did have an 8v turbo. There is one in a junk yard here where I live.

Oil return I'm sure I can find a way to tie it back into the oil pan but I'll definitely do some research on that.

Glad to here I won't need a tranny swap! Those seem to be a bit of a pain and the ones I've come across in the junk yard were shot.

I read a little on the t5 swap but seems more like an ecu drop in. I already know ms really well so I figured I'd stick with it. Currently have a Volvo +t with ms and building a second Volvo motor to also run on ms. Just figured I'd keep it simple in that aspect.

Thanks on the heads up for the suspension. I'll have to contact them and see what they still have.

[rawill]

Originally Posted by Destiny245

I read a little on the t5 swap but seems more like an ecu drop in.

True but, those who have done it say the car runs very smoothly, compared to previously. And the T5 suite software means you can tune your car to what ever you want and have the Saab engine protections systems working for you, and maybe saving your engine.

However since you know MS well this is not an advantage for you.

[dmgb5]

T5 is far from an ECU drop in. It requires adding new components and subtracting old ones and build a harness to integrate into the car. If switch over to 16v head it can be done. Think of it as standalone engine management system using Saab parts and software.

[rawill]

Originally Posted by dmgb5

T5 is far from an ECU drop in.

Yes - I should have said that too.