[xassh]

i figure it is about time to post some information about my own rolling project car.

1992 Saab 900 turbo 5 sp.
~290,000 miles on the odometer
~385,000 miles on the block (which i killed when i blew my radiator and overheated badly)

Engine Mods:
T3/T4 hybrid turbo w/ .63 exhaust housing on a stage 3 compressor wheel and 'new style' trim 50 wheel on the intake side (whatever that means, was something the shop that built the turbo was talking about... new technology as compared to old, supposedly this wheel is nearly equivalent to the old style trim 57 wheel)
K&N open filter
minimally ported throttle body housing
gasket match ported and polished to 100 grit 2.0 intake manifold
Turbo XS 'type H34 racing bypass valve'
Swedish Dynamics APC, EPROM, 'red series' injectors (i believe to be 34lb? correct me if i am wrong)
Summit Racing 'turbo' muffler - it's all about the price ($15) and sound (car alarms chirp at me when idling in parking garages, a blip on the gas gets cars honking)
what else? i am drawing a blank right now, this post will be edited many times i am sure.


Suspension Mods:
Bilstein HD shocks all around
poly lower front shock bushings
PBR brake pads all around
ball joints, tie rods, control arm bushings replaced ~50,000 miles back
front ARB removed
Saab Savior Rally Skid Plate


Sound System:
Kenwood head unit (cannot recall exact model... MP6025?? 50watts x 4, 4.0 volt preouts for 2 speaker amps plus sub, MP3 player jack, remote, etc)
Pioneer speakers in 4 stock locations (i could not find Kenwoods for the rear and spilled coffee into one in the front, hence all Pioneers now)
2x 10" Kenwood 'tornado?' subwoofers in dual enclosure box
800watt 2 channel amp mounted to the box
1 farad cap inline to the amp.
fused, of course.


on the TO DO list:
3" DP (in the garage)
EVO 8 FMIC (in the garage, inlet/outlet need to be cut and rewelded)
900aero APC mod (again, in the garage, just too much in line in front of it)
build myself a fresh motor, over time, to eventually replace the one i am currently working on installing.
full respray in OE color
MegaSquirt (of course!)
front door speakers, maybe tweeters at the corners of the windshield, or in cutouts next to the dash speakers


on the PARTS KILLED list:
5 transmissions - i nearly cracked the casing in half on the last one
1 turbo - the compressor wheel got shorn off when i sucked a rag into the air box near 5k rpm in second gear, boosting hard)
1 MSD coil - lead wire vibrated loose and caught fire
1 more MSD coil - failed to produce spark over 5psi of boost after 20,000 miles, i am back to using stock coils now
1 frame - i broke the front suspension at the left side upper control arm rear bushing bracket. the bracket is bolted through the frame, both nuts were welded on, prior to me breaking them off and there was a crack running between the two holes in the frame. i got airborne at 120mph in Death Valley, CA with a full load of camping gear and tools/parts for a 2 week road trip. dont do this.
4 or 5 front motor mounts
can i count 3 broken headlights, 4 lost front corner lamps, 2 grillEs and a front bumper here?


here's some inspiration for me to get moving with finishing the body repairs - the hood and hatch both were dented when i bought the car, the left front fender had been pushing in, then an amateur pulled it out, filled with bondo and let it be. all is now fixed and primered. sadly, paint has been moved far down the list of things to do in exchange for things like... getting an engine installed that is not seized.

headlight wipers have since been removed
fog lights are not currently mounted (one has broken glass)
wheel center caps have been replaced
driver's side headlight glass has been swapped for one that was much closer to the nearly new pass. side

 

[DanF.]

I like it...

...especially the one about 120mph through the air ( yeah... born from jets)

Keep the pics coming. (I saw your engine rebuild threadon SL)

 

[xassh]

a couple of weeks ago i was showing a Dodge Charger what was what when i blew my radiator and did not notice the water temp gauge until it was near the top. i got off the freeway as quickly as i could and shut the motor down before i was fully off the road. i was hoping for the best, it turned out to be the worst - the head i just put on is surely warped, the block is seized. i must have overheated worse than i thought.

so i shopped around, found a motor for $300, spent another bill on seals and gaskets and went at it.

this work was done a few days ago on the 'new' used engine that is going in. 180,000 mile 2.0 turbo engine out of an '87 c900

the crank pulley came off without any problem at all, the oil pump as well.

the oil pump itself... this worries me. i wonder if large pieces of metal were floating around and did this damage. perhaps carbon? i have another pump off the another engine that is going in, there is no apparent damage to the spare i have.

how does this look? it definitely has some miles on it, but everything looks completely usable to me. in fact, it looks damn good.

i have a new endless link timing chain going on. every seal i can get to so far will be replaced. i would not want to do this in the car, i am feeling rather happy that i had the foresight to do it now

 

[xassh]

yesterday morning i got back to work on the motor, started with turning it to TDC for the timing chain swap. water poured out of cylinder 4, lightly rust colored water, which scared the crap out of me. i talked to the guy that sold me the motor and he said it was out of the car for under 3 months, but he would be willing to make good on it if i need. i figure 'well, i can turn it over by hand so i should check the cylinder walls and see whats going on.

the cylinder wall rust appeared to be only at the bottom end of the cylinder bore where 1) it will very quickly be cleaned up by the piston rings and 2) there is no compression happening there, i have nothing to worry about. the work can continue! yay!

i pulled the old timing chain off and took a look at the guides. oh boy! these are worn. i wonder if this is the upper engine noise that was thought to be lifters that i was told about.

so i run to storage to pull the guides off my spare motor. hehe, these were not put on here too long ago. barely broken in!

i also decided to update my flywheel - to one that has some actual timing marks on it. my cracked Sachs pressure plate will not be used, i am installing a stock plate in it's place, though i do need the friction disc off the dead motor...

i cleaned every gasket surface thoroughly using a scraper and brake cleaner, i also cleaned the surrounding area to be sure i dont get any grit in the gasket while installing.

rear main seal installed

i cleaned quite a bit of oil and grease off the tming chain cover before reinstalling it. the water pump that is half bolted in was only used to get the gasket to properly seat.

new timing chain
new rear main seal
updated flywheel and clutch
new front seal (at oil pump housing)
new oil pump o ring
new timing cover gaskets

every gasket surface and o ring got either a spray of copper gasket sealant (aerosol can) or a bead of copper gasket maker from a tube. i primed the oil pump with vasoline (i dont think i will ever use that much vasoline again in my life. personally, i tend to stick to water based when needed...) the oil pump was swapped for one in far better condition.

i need to remove the clutch from the dead engine, along with the exhaust manifold and turbo, unbolt the gear shift rod and unbolt the passenger side motor mount and that sucker is coming out!

 

[xassh]

i could not post this in the last reply so...

and the updated flywheel bolted in.

 

[TheRedBaron]

Love the color - why is 900aero mod on your to do list, though if you already have an SD box?

 

[Palmer1980]

Hi!


I was wondering if you were going to make one of these threads...

 

[TheRedBaron]

Also, how is that SD EPROM? Do you run way rich with the larger injectors, or does the chip do it's job? I'm asking a lot of questions because in it's current state of tune (well pre-charger incident) your car is proabbaly just about where I'd like mine to be at )

 

[IronJoe]

why is 900aero mod on your to do list, though if you already have an SD box?

Great question. IMO the SD box is much better than self modded... I went from the 900aero mod to a SD stage 4.

There's probably no point in you even trying it out.

 

[xassh]

Love the color - why is 900aero mod on your to do list, though if you already have an SD box?

adjustability. i would do this only so that i can run potentiometers to my dash to adjust boost on the fly.

 

[xassh]

Palmer, yeah, i have been thinking about it, just finally got around to doing it. i never knew where to start so i figured i'd start with my current project.

the SD EPROM seems to do its job and do it decently well. i need to go back up top and add wideband O2 sensor and gauge to my list of To Do items before i can say much more than it feels good and the spark plugs show signs of running slightly rich - which is a good thing!

i do like the retuneability offered by JSP chips and i think that is the direction i would go if i were to do it all over again. but i wont, ill do MS next time

in part, i want to do the 900aero mod just so that i can say that i did it and that i have successfully soldered more than one circuit board thus far in my lifetime. i loved the tune on the SD APC with the stock turbo, i am starting to wonder about it now that i am using the T3/T4. i think i need to either a) get used to my new found turbo lag or b) see if i can get rid of some of that lag with an APC tune. SD puts a drop of glue on each of the potentionmeters in their boxes, negating my chance to do any sort of adjustment. hrmmm, you mention stage 4 APC? i wonder what sort of credit would i be looking for with my current APC (bought as part of a package deal) and what's the cost of upgrading. i have not called them in a while because i know i would end up on the phone with Gary for over an hour. i dont have that kind of extra time most months on my cellular phone plan.

 

[xassh]

Great question. IMO the SD box is much better than self modded... I went from the 900aero mod to a SD stage 4.

There's probably no point in you even trying it out.

ahh, but the satisfaction of saying "I did this!", that is reason enough for me, whether i install the box and hate it or love it or never even use it.

 

[Palmer1980]

ahh, but the satisfaction of saying "I did this!", that is reason enough for me, whether i install the box and hate it or love it or never even use it.

I was standing over the broken remains of my first c900 transmission, and I thought "I did this with sodering a few things"

 

[scubasaab]

What's the concern over doing your own APC?
A soldering mistake?
I have built many recording studios and repaired countless consoles and tape machines costing fortunes (800,000+ for a console), so I can solder in my sleep.
Is there a design problem with the mod?
Thanks,
John

 

[TheRedBaron]

What's the concern over doing your own APC?
A soldering mistake?
I have built many recording studios and repaired countless consoles and tape machines costing fortunes (800,000+ for a console), so I can solder in my sleep.
Is there a design problem with the mod?
Thanks,
John

Supposedly the sd box is just that much better - they do a lot more to it than the 900aero mod

 

[Palmer1980]

What's the concern over doing your own APC?
A soldering mistake?
I have built many recording studios and repaired countless consoles and tape machines costing fortunes (800,000+ for a console), so I can solder in my sleep.
Is there a design problem with the mod?
Thanks,
John

No issues at all. The increased power made my 3rd gear vaporize.

That's all.

 

[xassh]

What's the concern over doing your own APC?
A soldering mistake?
I have built many recording studios and repaired countless consoles and tape machines costing fortunes (800,000+ for a console), so I can solder in my sleep.
Is there a design problem with the mod?
Thanks,
John

the only problem is getting around to doing it. it seems like every time i think about popping open my spare APC box, i break a transmission or spring a major oil leak or this time, blow up a motor

 

[xassh]

i finally got the time to finish on Monday night. i pre lubed the motor like a good boy should (hall sensor unplugged, turn motor for 15-20 seconds, wait 2-3 minutes, repeat a few times) - after 5 minutes of wondering why my new starter would not do anything. that problem turned out to be ground wires i left loose on the transmission casing and at the radiator cross member. oops! :roll:

before installing the motor, i did a bit of cleaning. you can see there are some new parts in there.

i removed about 2 pounds of sludge from the bottom of the engine compartment before realizing that more than needing a clean engine bay, i needed to get my car back on the road.

most of that happened over the weekend, i kept getting pulled away by other stuff going on so i did not get as far along as i had wanted. i had wished to hear the engine fire up that night, but only got it as far along as dropping the engine in.

(insert image here, photobucket went offline for maintenance moments before i clicked on the link to a picture of the engine in the car)

 

[xassh]

bah, i am sometimes picking up a CEL during or soon after heavy acceleration. i think it is due to the long stud i broke off in the turbo at the exhaust elbow.

one more reason to get my 3" DP installed

 

[xassh]

the charcoal canister finally came off my car today. the lines to/from it had been patched two or three times, i don't know if the solenoid works or not and, well, it was original so i doubt it was doing anything more than getting in the way.

i spliced the two lines together with a check valve so that i would not pressurize my gas tank... until i blow out the check valve.

i had feared idle problems, but have noted nothing more than the usual

my car is a good 2-3 pounds lighter now! yes, yes, i know, my car is dirty under the hood