[ferkle]

Hi

I just thought I would share my story, I have just finished a long and protracted refresh of a bunch of stuff on the car, and as is always the way in my case finding other stuff that needed doing. So the list of items changed in the past 3 weeks:

CV joints
Ball joints
Headlamps
Vacuum hoses
Alternator
Thermostat
Coolant temperature sensor (which I probably didn't need to change having rad Jim's temp guide)
Power steering pump
Tensioner pulleys
Engine mounts top and bottom (rubber/hydraulic)

All I can say is that the car is a completely different animal. I think that the PAS pump and alternator must have been worn before I got the car - I have never experienced the car so quiet, so smooth or so taught, having replaced all the bushes with polyurethane a year or so ago. Before, the car was rough and angry sounding all of the time, I put this down to pulley bearings and the car's mileage, however a friend of mine got hold of a similar milage 9-3 last year (user id Aud on here) which has never been anything like.

I enjoyed the car before, but now, I cannot stress how much better it all is! All I need now is a nice warm, dry day so I can give the car a proper polish and treat the leather.

Jobs for the future (immediate and longer term)

Tracking
Dome light
Gearbox linkage
Bodywork (the car is a seaside car so has tatty bodywork)
Refurb the wheels
Heated seats to be repaired
Treat and seal the underside of the car
Waxoyl the cavities.

Anyway, I am off for a drive.

Take care.

 

[ragtopcav]

What's this? We're having epiphanies about how good the 9000 can be be with a little TLC :lol:. I'd forgotten just how good our old 9k was too.

Enjoy the drive.

 

[ferkle]

Hehehe :lol: not only that, but we are getting all aspirational about how much better we could make it! getting nice and close to 200k and as a 'present'* I am in touch with my bodywork-mancing friends who owe me a couple of favours - looking to get the car as close to perfect as money and skills allow.


*not of course, that I would ever consider anthropomorphising a car you understand :nono;:lol:

 

[GTlegs]

Nothing like a mild R & R (rebuild and replacement) to make your car enjoyable to drive again.

 

[stew81]

good isnt it. Thats been about the one upside to me being fairly short of work at the moment, being able to tackle all those niggles that my car has developed. I now have properly functioning central locking and climate control again.

id love to get the bodywork sorted, but my car tends to look like this:

so not really worth it!:evil:

although saying that, there isnt a single bit of rust on it anywhere! its just all chipped and scratched.

 

[GTlegs]

Re rust: the only area they all develop it is undel the plastic sill moulds. If you take them off, there may be a slightly rusty line where the mould touches the sill.

 

[stew81]

Re rust: the only area they all develop it is undel the plastic sill moulds. If you take them off, there may be a slightly rusty line where the mould touches the sill.

ooh thanks for the tip! im gonna check mine out there asap.

 

[9000kev]

stew
i really want your wheels, im trying hard to get a set of them!

kev

 

[ferkle]

if its any inspiration this is what mine usually looks like

and what a couple of hours on a sunny day can result in.

Used turtle wax car shampoo with warm water, rubbing compound to take out some scratches and to take back some damage in the laquer, blutack 'clay bar' carnauba wax, and armorall trim cleaner, for the interior its gliptone leather cleaner and conditioner and a good vacuum, for the plastics armorall matt dashboard wipes, the glass is turtle wax glass polish after a bug and film remover. Wiper blades are rubbed down with vinegar. Good luck.

 

[stew81]

she cleans up nice ferkle. would you believe mine looked like that a few days before that picture was taken! it hadnt even been driven anywhere! ahh the joys of living in the 3rd world.

btw do you machine polish? or is it all done the old fashioned way

 

[ferkle]

Cheers, the winter has been fairly hard on the old girl. Its always the way though, polish your car up, and immediately it rains or there is a load of mud and grit sprayed about the place.

I machine polish the bottom of the car - ie below the rubbing strips as I use the back roads a lot, so there's not a great deal of point spending too long down there, but by hand above, I guess aching at the end of the afternoon means that in my head the shine is better, but I also like to feel the shine coming up.

 

[stew81]

I guess aching at the end of the afternoon means that in my head the shine is better

ha i know exactly what you mean. i have a range of products i got from cleanyourcar.com (great site btw, if you havnt checked it out), but the trouble is i live on a main road that serves two sand and gravel quarrys and under the laws of our great land its apparantly perfectly fine for the lorries exiting them to leave their debris all over the road and my car :evil:. so basically i cant keep the car clean long enough to wash it, ie. i wash it,start polishing the bonnet, notice fine layer of sand over roof already, give up.
The paint has really suffered from combination of sand and grit and automatic car washes.

hopefully taking it round a relatives to wash it during the week, that'll be the first time ive hand washed it ages, trouble is i wont want to bring it back when its clean!

 

[ferkle]

stew
i really want your wheels, im trying hard to get a set of them!

kev

i just bought some headlamps from this guy a couple of weeks ago, really nice bloke and cheap too. wheels with (mismatched) tyres £100 plus postage http://www.saabscene.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=31649771

 

[9000kev]

well if anyone see's a set of aero super wheels goin, let me know

cheers
kev

 

[stew81]

well if anyone see's a set of aero super wheels goin, let me know

cheers
kev

have the wheels gone then?

wheels with (mismatched) tyres £100 plus postage http://www.saabscene.com/forum/index...topic=31649771

shame, as your gonna do well to find some for 100 quid and someone willing to post.

 

[9000kev]

sorry pals.

ive read it wrong,
ive emailed minidan from saabscene.
hopefully i can collect these at the weekend, if there isnt too much interest in them. but there prob is: :x

its the only time i can get with him? i dotn know anyone up manchester who i cud ask to get them for me, + then collect off them.
lol

cheers
kev

 

[ferkle]

Kev,

Dan is in Birmingham. Of course having dealt with him previously I would be happy for them to be shipped to Manchester (ie where I am) but that's probably not a great deal of help.

I must admit, if I had the spare cash I would have had those wheels already, they are in really nice condition (especially compared to my flaky old ones - the two tone super aeros - which I keep meaning to refurb).