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any updates since August?
9-5 Rust-eze Build
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Aghhh..... Haven't touched it since august.
All the blasting is done and kinda lost motivation (havent heard that one before!). I bought a motorcycle project and actually just finished that up so now I just need to work myself up to starting on the Saab again. I graduate in a few months so it'd be nice to have it back together.
All the blasting is done and kinda lost motivation (havent heard that one before!). I bought a motorcycle project and actually just finished that up so now I just need to work myself up to starting on the Saab again. I graduate in a few months so it'd be nice to have it back together.
Alllirghty, **** is getting done!
First off, honestly, the main reason i didn't do anything for months because I had to weld the last few patch panels upside down on the underside of the car. I tried this with the tig and had enough of that (hint: its super frustrating and doesnt work well with thin metal). Really all i needed to do was buy a mig welder, but me being stubborn just ignored it.
So, I quit moping and bought an old mig for $50 and some flux core wire (dont want to get another gas cylinder) to finish all the patch welding! My tig safe welding shirt is apparently not mig spatter safe and now looks like the night sky, but there aren't any rusty holes in the underside now.
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Then I put the rear bumper side mounts back on
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...And that's all from today. Damn, I feel silly now. Over the past few days I've been working on the exhaust manifold as a school machining project. I used a flatbed scanner to scan in the stock manifold layout and HX35 outlet flange. These were then manipulated and imported into CAD. Other flanges were drawn up as well.
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I also designed this 3D printed template (the black thing) to make a 12 degree merge collector for the exhaust manifold. I used sch40 1-1/2 PVC pipe to test it as I will be using schedule 10 1-1/2 steel tubing for the manifold. They follow the same spec, so it's easy to plan out a manifold with it.
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Next: it's getting warm again (~55deg for as far as the forecast goes) so I could blow out all the sandblast media and paint the underside tomorrow, but I think I will clean out all the random accessories in the engine bay and clean that up for the epoxy primer. It makes sense to do it all at once, I think.
Soooo yeah, this project is back on the rails and will be coming along quite nicely in the next few days/weeks/months. wooooot!
First off, honestly, the main reason i didn't do anything for months because I had to weld the last few patch panels upside down on the underside of the car. I tried this with the tig and had enough of that (hint: its super frustrating and doesnt work well with thin metal). Really all i needed to do was buy a mig welder, but me being stubborn just ignored it.
So, I quit moping and bought an old mig for $50 and some flux core wire (dont want to get another gas cylinder) to finish all the patch welding! My tig safe welding shirt is apparently not mig spatter safe and now looks like the night sky, but there aren't any rusty holes in the underside now.
Then I put the rear bumper side mounts back on
...And that's all from today. Damn, I feel silly now. Over the past few days I've been working on the exhaust manifold as a school machining project. I used a flatbed scanner to scan in the stock manifold layout and HX35 outlet flange. These were then manipulated and imported into CAD. Other flanges were drawn up as well.
I also designed this 3D printed template (the black thing) to make a 12 degree merge collector for the exhaust manifold. I used sch40 1-1/2 PVC pipe to test it as I will be using schedule 10 1-1/2 steel tubing for the manifold. They follow the same spec, so it's easy to plan out a manifold with it.
Next: it's getting warm again (~55deg for as far as the forecast goes) so I could blow out all the sandblast media and paint the underside tomorrow, but I think I will clean out all the random accessories in the engine bay and clean that up for the epoxy primer. It makes sense to do it all at once, I think.
Soooo yeah, this project is back on the rails and will be coming along quite nicely in the next few days/weeks/months. wooooot!
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Very nice progress! Keep it up.
First off, I need your guys' help as I've been thinking about what color to paint the engine bay. I still want to do the exterior in the classic saab orange, but im not sure if I should paint the engine bay that as well. Most of it will be covered by the engine etc, so It wouldnt be over powering. Thoughts, comments?
Anyways, I started by getting the wiper arms off, which, by the way, was a total pain even with a puller. Then I got all of the leftover bits out of the engine bay and started cleaning all the grease out with some sodium hydroxide (NaOH, super potent, but damn, it does a good job). It also eats rust (well anything really) and so I used to to clean up the battery acid rust and some other rust I found behind the strut towers.
Once I get all the gunk out, I can scuff it up and get it ready for the epoxy primer.
Before:
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After:
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Here's the bit of rust I found. It has cleaned up well with NaOH and a wire brush which is good since I cant really do anything about it. I may shoot some mig weld boogers in there, then paint and sealant.
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Anyways, I started by getting the wiper arms off, which, by the way, was a total pain even with a puller. Then I got all of the leftover bits out of the engine bay and started cleaning all the grease out with some sodium hydroxide (NaOH, super potent, but damn, it does a good job). It also eats rust (well anything really) and so I used to to clean up the battery acid rust and some other rust I found behind the strut towers.
Once I get all the gunk out, I can scuff it up and get it ready for the epoxy primer.
Before:
After:
Here's the bit of rust I found. It has cleaned up well with NaOH and a wire brush which is good since I cant really do anything about it. I may shoot some mig weld boogers in there, then paint and sealant.
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I think it is always good to match the engine bay to the exterior color. Just as they would have done from the factory.
Thanks for the input, I think that's what i'll do, but, it's time for an update as I've spent the past week sanding and prepping. I started painting at 9pm after finishing the prep and didnt finish until 2am 
:lol: but I shouldn't be too surprised after my first experience in painting that motorcycle.
This really had to be done today as it got up to 67deg and it'll be cold the next week. It can be sprayed down to freezing temps, but I figured it'd be better to do it now. Though it will still take a while to cure according to the tech sheet.
Here's the PPG pittguard epoxy primer. Both are pretty thick and one looks like caramel syrup. I didn't think i'd need any thinner according to the tech sheet but it was sputtering like mad and that was with a 1.8 tip. I thinned it with acetone and it went down much better.
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Here are some after pictures. Not sure why some parts have a tint, as it looks consistent in person. Overall, it went pretty good for my second spray gun job. The thickness of the paint caused some orange peel issues (ironic....) until I thinned it, but I should be able to smooth it out pretty easily before the base coat. We'll see how it self levels. the bumper was not painted as it has rust holes and will be replaced eventually.
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Next, a few things need to happen:
-Clean up the suspension and paint
-Purchase the base/clear and paint the engine bay (the door jambs, rear fenders, and roof might as well be done at this point too)
-Apply seam sealer and coat the underside with the rustfre rubber undercoating
:lol: but I shouldn't be too surprised after my first experience in painting that motorcycle. This really had to be done today as it got up to 67deg and it'll be cold the next week. It can be sprayed down to freezing temps, but I figured it'd be better to do it now. Though it will still take a while to cure according to the tech sheet.
Here's the PPG pittguard epoxy primer. Both are pretty thick and one looks like caramel syrup. I didn't think i'd need any thinner according to the tech sheet but it was sputtering like mad and that was with a 1.8 tip. I thinned it with acetone and it went down much better.
Here are some after pictures. Not sure why some parts have a tint, as it looks consistent in person. Overall, it went pretty good for my second spray gun job. The thickness of the paint caused some orange peel issues (ironic....) until I thinned it, but I should be able to smooth it out pretty easily before the base coat. We'll see how it self levels. the bumper was not painted as it has rust holes and will be replaced eventually.
Next, a few things need to happen:
-Clean up the suspension and paint
-Purchase the base/clear and paint the engine bay (the door jambs, rear fenders, and roof might as well be done at this point too)
-Apply seam sealer and coat the underside with the rustfre rubber undercoating
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1,888 Posts
It's so cool to see your progress. I can't say I've ever seen such a complete restoration of a 9-5.
I'm probably crazy and it's monetarily not worth it but pssh who cares. I've always wanted to do a resto and this car came into my possession and unfortunately had rust.... If I can get this body prep done well, the car should look sweet and it'll all be worth it.
I mixed up some more primer and touched up the areas that the gun couldn't get. I also redid the masking for body panel work (shoulda just done it like this in the first place but oh well) and started sanding the panels. Most of the dings and crap is on the doors so this should be a good place to start. The rear tailight patch and doglegs still need more bondo work.
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I dug out the suspension components and got them ready for sandblasting. I previously used the wire wheel and rustoleum method on some of these and surprise, surprise, rust is already showing. Most of that is due to wire wheels just polishing the rust instead of removing it, but rustoleum never hardens like 2k paint which made it easy for water to get back in through dings. I don't think ill ever use rustoleum on a car (or anything i care about again).
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I also spent like an hour trying to get this broken off bolt out of a trailing arm. I welded onto it and it wiggled abit but the threads were binding so I had to drill it.
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I mixed up some more primer and touched up the areas that the gun couldn't get. I also redid the masking for body panel work (shoulda just done it like this in the first place but oh well) and started sanding the panels. Most of the dings and crap is on the doors so this should be a good place to start. The rear tailight patch and doglegs still need more bondo work.
I dug out the suspension components and got them ready for sandblasting. I previously used the wire wheel and rustoleum method on some of these and surprise, surprise, rust is already showing. Most of that is due to wire wheels just polishing the rust instead of removing it, but rustoleum never hardens like 2k paint which made it easy for water to get back in through dings. I don't think ill ever use rustoleum on a car (or anything i care about again).
I also spent like an hour trying to get this broken off bolt out of a trailing arm. I welded onto it and it wiggled abit but the threads were binding so I had to drill it.
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Some types of drain cleaner are 100% lye or NaOH crystals. Found mine at Menards
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Yeah, fun stuff isnt it? I wore full coverage clothes and face protection.
Time for another update!
I received the orange paint and opened it to see what it actually looked like. I also have a gallon of single stage black for random engine bay and suspension stuff.
I've spent most of the past week working on the bondo and sanding the various external panels so i can lay down some primer.
This is what happens when you get a little too excited while welding thin sheet metal together....
I removed the GPS/NAV antenna and patched the hole.
Then I started the sandblasting of all the suspension components (And a few engine bay brackets) so they can be primered and then painted black.
Still got more than half to go:
Unfortunately, machining all the parts for the compound setup was "outside the scope of the class" according to the professor, which makes sense for all the machine time it'd take for this thick of steel. So, I just did the HX35 outlet flange and will get the rest laser/water cut later. I don't have time to fabricate everything for the compound turbos right now anyways. I'm just shooting for building the engine and putting the stock turbo back on for now.
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Impressive, as always.
Haha thanks!
So I just noticed something kind of funny about the project name which is related to the movie Cars. Lightning McQueen's car number is 95 and this is a 9-5.... Lol
Anyways, does anyone know of a distributor that has all of the Proparts Poly bushing parts for my saab? eeuro does not seem to have them all.
So I just noticed something kind of funny about the project name which is related to the movie Cars. Lightning McQueen's car number is 95 and this is a 9-5.... Lol
Anyways, does anyone know of a distributor that has all of the Proparts Poly bushing parts for my saab? eeuro does not seem to have them all.
Sure... It's a Harbor freight 25lb sandblaster which is actually pretty decent as this kinda thing isn't that complicated to design. Keep the nozzle valve wide open (so the blasting media doesn't eat through the valve) and vary the other three and it's pretty easy to dial in the settings.
As for the compressor(s), i bought two older 7scfm compressors from craigslist for about $150 total and tinkered with the pressure switch so that they both kick in at the same time. They do run the whole time, but they keep up and don't over heat with a box fan on each.
As for consumables: I use 25lb bags of black diamond blasting media from menards for ~$7. This can be reused if you take the time to sift out all the chunks. You'll definitely want to source some extra blasting tips and a full face respirator at the minimum.
Right with ya haha.
It's been rainy/snowy for the past few days so progress has been slow/impossible. I did manage to get all of the sandblasting done. I'm gonna have to figure out where to paint all of these parts. Dang.
I started to do the seam sealer (OSI Quad caulking, very good at what it does) but its just too cold to put on easily.... I already broke the caulking gun I have.
Along with that, the rivnuts need to be installed for the various rusty studs (brake line hangers etc) I cut out before. These probably could've been left it and sand blasted but oh well. I made this rivnut tool, but the stainless rivnuts I bought are ridiculously hard to put in, as in, they don't buckle very easily at all... Maybe they aren't long enough, but the sheet metal is already pretty thin. I ordered some regular steel, zinc coated ones to see how thoes go.
So, really im just waiting on above freezing temps to paint.
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