[sirbow2]

Looks like I have some competition! https://www.saabplanet.com/this-is-highest-horsepower-saab-9-5-running-in-the-united-states-600bhp/

He has quite the headstart on me though.

 

[slowmule]

In all fairness, he probably had a clean chassis to begin with. I'm assuming that South Dakota winter roads are similar to Ontario winter roads?

Judging by your pictures you left your interior in place while you worked on your car? all of it? Some of it?

 

[sirbow2]

In all fairness, he probably had a clean chassis to begin with. I'm assuming that South Dakota winter roads are similar to Ontario winter roads?

Judging by your pictures you left your interior in place while you worked on your car? all of it? Some of it?

The car spent most of its life in Illinois, New Mexico, and Iowa. Im guessing minor rust started in Illinois and not much happened in New Mexico due to the dryer climate. Then it sat in storage in a damp Iowa building for a few months and it went down hill quick from there. It also caused mold to grow on literally every part of the interior. So I had to pull the interior for cleaning and have left it mostly out of the car since then for easier repairs.

The resto is being done in South Dakota where you can sandblast the underside but not paint it for 5 months and it still wont rust! I love it! There is still quite a bit of salt used on the roads here though.

 

[sirbow2]

It's been a busy week! I had job interviews out of state on my two days off so I didn't get as much done as I wanted.

First, I got the engine bits dropped off at the machine shop so that's quite the milestone. I am also working on pulling an oil pump from the junk yard saab. Its an 06 2.3T and has about half as many miles so that'll be good. Im pretty sure my engine issues were caused by bad balance shaft bearings and a worn oil pump. The balance shafts will be completely deleted (blocking oil passages).


Next, I finally had the time this weekend to paint all the suspension bits and prime the body.... which went well for the most part.

Soooo many parts...

This bondo'd area is very close. I should just be able to sand the primer and get it close enough.

I'm pretty sure that's just weird lighting making that antenna spot look low.

oh yea! look how smooth that engine bay paint looks now!

I completely screwed up this quarter panel. You cant see how bad it is in this picture....I'll just sand it back down and it'll be fine.

Next up:
-block the roof and rear quarter panels with 600grit in preparation for the base coat

-make a quick paint booth to prevent crap from falling into the paint. This wasn't a big deal for the primer... but I definitely don't want that in the base coat.

-Paint all the suspension/engine bay bits with the single stage black. This will be good practice for base/clear coat on the car, and they need to cure well before install.... I'm still waiting on my shipment of poly bushings from powerflex/eeuro

-I'm aiming to do the base/clear on tuesday as it'll be the only 60deg day for the next week.

 

[sirbow2]

It's crunch time! I have two weeks to finish this car...

Under body has rivnuts for heat shield and brake/fuel line mounts as well as the rusfre coating applied. Looks spectacular!

Mounted up the rear suspension. You can't see it, but i resprayed the primer on this quarter panel...today i'll block the car and get it ready for painting tomorrow.

I managed to knock one of the rear subframe nuts loose so that was fun to reposition...

I also installed all the powerflex black bushings I had (still waiting on the steering rack bushings). These things are a huuuge pain to install on the subframe. I'm sure the regular purple would be way easier. It took me 45min just to find a good method of installing them! The bushings would slip sideways because the bushing tool i was using wasnt staying perpendicular to the hole. Anyways, using a ring compressor tool kept the bushing straight enough that it would pull in.

So the guy I bought the mig welder from had a ton of Saabs...

I bought the hottest saab cams you can find, 7560808,7560964 which have 252 intake duration and 254 exh duration, for $40 from him. The maptun high performance valve springs are in the background.

There are tons of other parts here and on there way... 21mm rear swaybar, brake rebuild kits, stainless brake lines, ARP head bolts, ARP SS exhaust manifold/turbo studs.

All of the OEM parts I bought from eEuroparts to rebuild the motor will be here thursday. I ordered these Friday after the machine shop told me to use standard bearings. Also, I just got the call from the machine shop :cheesy: The machine work is done and ready for pickup! Ill go by there today and get that as well as drop off the flywheel and front brake rotors for resurfacing.

 

[Tboy]

Looking good, why do you have the two week time-frame now? Is that a new from a job change or something (you mentioned out of stat interviews). Seems like you will have your hands full finishing in two weeks!

Time to call in some friends!!

 

[sirbow2]

I'm a college student and I always planned on having it done before graduating so the time frame never really changed. I took a position 5 hours away (this one is actually in state still). I could trailer it there but why do that when the Saab can pull a uhaul for all my other stuff? haha

No Saab guys here in Rapid City unfortunately (that i know of)! It should be doable though. Once the paint is done I can really start throwing parts at it.

 

[turbojohnny]

I'm guessing to make it in time for Carlisle?'

Looks amazing

 

[sirbow2]

18.5 hour drive! yikes!

 

[turbojohnny]

People drive from further

 

[sirbow2]

true! I'd come, but with moving and the new job and all it wouldn't be a good idea. Next year though.

I spent a bunch of time sanding last night and put one last thin layer of primer on to seal up where i burned through in a few places. This time I got the paint thin enough so it went down really good. Its 45deg today so ill do the base/clear tomorrow. It's gonna be sweeeet!

Machine shop parts look good but ill probably sandblast the outside of the block because apparently their caustic soda didn't do crap for the paint or rust already on the block.

 

[sirbow2]

Well that was a bit of a **** show...kind of....I sprayed the basecoat and 90% of it turned out fine.

I followed the mixing instructions but i still had to do ridiculously thin coats to prevent runs. It doesnt make sense! I thinned out the epoxy primer more and it didnt run?! there is no way I could lay down the thick kind of coats that you see other guys do. Maybe i should just use pure acetone as a reducer so it evaporates fast. It was around 65deg in the garage when I started so it shouldnt have been temperature causing the issue (the issue didnt change throughout painting as it got colder).I dunno. I'm gonna get some sleep and then see if i can sand out the runs again (yes, again....) and blend it in.


brake calipers and misc stuff. Color looks pretty good. These just need clear coat.

Lookin pretty good! a bit white looking because of overspray. still no clear on this.

aaaand the damage. this is after sanding them out and trying to blend them in once.

 

[DrunkieTheBear]

I've been watching you do this build, it is incredible what you have done.

I'm thankful my rust wasn't nearly as bad, I had some of those areas as well but they were minor compared to the level you had. Still I wish I had the space, know how, and talent you have to go that far with mine.

I can't wait to see this thing done.

 

[unclemiltie]

Unless you are laying down lacquer you don't want ridiculously thin coats, you want a pretty good wet coat. Something's wrong with the mixing.

and if you don't put a good wet coat down, you're going to have a lot of over spray that is more like a powder than anything else, and that'll sit in the previous wet stuff and make a mess.


What are you painting with? is it a 2-part water based or something else?

 

[sirbow2]

Thanks drunkie! I can't wait either! I got most of the engine bits today so hopefully ill get this paint sorted and get the motor together this weekend.

Unclemiltie,

This is a urethane basecoat + clear coat system. No hardener in the basecoat, just a 3:1 ratio of base to reducer. I was sure to stir the paint well before pouring and there werent even any solids sitting on the bottom.

It's acting like the single stage that i thinned way down to spray when it was around 40deg outside. I sprayed that same singe stage today with no additional reducer and it worked exactly as expected. I'm about to go spray some more base so ill try adding less reducer i guess.

Thanks

 

[sirbow2]

Quick update here. I felt like death because of the terrible cold I caught after my last post so the Saab didn't get done before moving. I started assembling the motor that weekend, but the motivation was just not there for that or fixing the paint.

Soooo I just packed everything up and rolled her onto a trailer for the move. Well, the front suspension wasn't on, but that took like 2 hours to do. Right now she sits in a separate garage that i'm renting since the the housing options down here are pretty limited.

I'm kinda debating where I wanna go with the project as it'd be so much easier to just get her back to stock and use the compound turbo idea on a more tuner car (Starion maybe?). Plus then I can sell my POS daily and use the Saab!

 

[Dado]

hey whats been happening?

how did the move ended up?

btw.. the only reason i followed you story is cause i thought its a 95- Lightning McQueen 9-5 aero.... what would have been even more impressive.

but no doubt you've done a lot already.

greets from NewZealand

 

[sirbow2]

Lightning McQueen is a dark orange redish color so we'll call this close enough! haha


Move went alright, but the guy told me I'd get the whole garage and I only got half (think two parking spaces and a single car sized work area for an idea of what I have). Basically my daily has been in need of some repairs, so that has taken over. That should be done tomorrow maybe, but soon for sure.

Next up for the saab:
-reassemble interior + finish seam sealer
-build the motor so its not in a hundred pieces.
-finish paint
-assemble engine bay/fuel system/brake system
-build the compound turbo manifold

 

[300sdl]

Very nice work with rust repair and project. I've been down the road of rot before and recently acquired a 9-5 and I'm going down it again. Same issues as your car, rot in the rear although yours has far less rot than mine but same areas. Hmmm... I noticed you're doing tig welding. I'm doing oxy fuel gas welding this time. I used flux last project this time gas because it's a very thin metal compared to my last project.

 

[300sdl]

Oh just remembered. If you haven't coated the inside of the stiffening (frame) I recommend Eastwood internal frame coat. I've used it in prior restorations that required an entire floor and partial frame replacement and if you do a good job of cleaning the debris out and you get good thick coats it will never rust. It's been atleast 2 years since my last use of the product and no signs of rust or rot. Also any overlapping seams clean and spray with cold Galv compound before overlapping or hemming. I also use cold Galv spray whenever I take anything to bare metal and won't be painting it for some time. It comes off easier than rust and can be welded through. Just remove it prior to painting.

I'm not a professional painter or bodyman this is just my experience and testing. I find that roofing patch (tar) is a superior and cheap undercoating compound.