[DougR]

For the last couple weeks it has been around 90F with humidity that you could cut with a knife. Of course I have the AC on most the time, so I know I lose a little performance there, but with this hot humid weather, I have really noticed that the car lacks torque as much as anything. It just does not feel like I am getting that kick in back like I used to.

So what are some little things I can do to improve performance a bit? One thing I noticed when I was at the PA saab meet was that most people had tinfoil looking stuff wrapped around the pipe going from the intercooler to the turbo. Is this something special, or is it just tinfoil

I can certainly live with the performance drop, as the car can still move. If anything it feels like I am getting close to the same HP, but a lot less torque. But if there are some simple things that I can do to improve things a bit I will do them.

Also, is this normal to feel this dropoff with a T7?

Thanks

 

[stromer]

The biggest help you can do is to upgrade your intercooler. You can do a few smaller and cheaper mods in the meantime as well. I had a thread not too long ago tittled something like "three cheap and easy cooling mods" or something like that.

 

[DougR]

I have the HOT model, so doesnt that have a pretty decent intercooler as is?

 

[stromer]

Better, its the Viggen cross-flow design. But there is still much room for improvement.

 

[ricot83]

We just had a HUGE discussion on this like two weeks ago, and many many times before... do some research "cheap cooling mods"

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54457&highlight=cheap+cooling


http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51819&highlight=cheap+cooling

 

[DougR]

Thanks ricot

I made the mistake of searching more under "hot weather". I was searching for the symptom instead of the solution...apologies.

Stromer I found your old thread, very good stuff in there...thanks. I am definitely going to do the insulation wrap thing.

 

[DougR]

Its amazing the difference weather can make on these cars. It was around 82F with much lower humidity and the car was pulling like my dog on a leash(he has been known to drag my wife down the street like she was waterskiing), even with the AC on.


I did pickup the tape from home depot last night, and will put it on today.

 

[stromer]

If you don't mind, try putting the tape on and do before and after testing during similar temps. And report back.

Btw, my car was on fire today (good thing ) with around 78 and low humid this evening. I love it.

 

[DougR]

Didn't get a chance to do it yesterday. What I am going to do is check weather channel, and look for a stretch of 2 or 3 days where the temp and humidity will be the same, and will do it then.

 

[ricot83]

Doug dont bother, unless u have an intake temp gauge, as the difference will not be noticeable by "seat of the pants"


it will only deviate teh temp by a few degrees, u ahve to do a bunch of cooling mods, to actually notice even a slight difference, so if u only do one or two of the cooling mods u wont really get any benefit.

 

[cpenning623]

how much difference does the TB spacer make? i think that(cheap) is the best colling mod availble

 

[ricot83]

the tb spacer basically keeps the delivery pipe from heatsoaking backwards from the tb up... i am trying to make the manifold spacers, but its tough with a lack of time.... but i will get them done.

 

[WyldSaabMan]

i made my throttle body spacer the other day, depending on how hard I am on the car, the transition casting still gets very very hot. The problem is, is that it just gets so hot under the hood, that everything just heats up,

I have removed the under insulation, bypassed the coolant, and wrapped the delivery pipe, and finally the throttle body spacer....its still scorching hot under there....

hood vents:roll:???

 

[hunt.dogshome]

Wrapping the exhaust downpipe makes like no difference

Could try changing post (zip) code

Getting det-retard symptoms mid-RPM at 25C here in the UK at 15PSI even with Abbott intercooler and 98RON fuel

82C Stat helped

xxxMPH for a couple of miles really perks the old girl up. 5 Minutes in traffic and it's back to so-so.

Making black smoke after sitting in town sweating and then openin' her up to pass for the first time ;oops: ####cough##cough######

 

[bkrell]

Man, I hear T7 was better in hot weather. You may also be experiencing the same thing I am, where the TB position sensor doesn't seem to pickup on WOT, cutting the a/c compressor momentarily. The a/c compressor adds more load to the accessory belt, which means that the car is harder to accelerate.

I don't know what to say, I haven't got anything special. I wrapped the intake piping and added a heat shield last summer as I was expereincing saggy boost in the hot. Can't say it made a drastic difference. This year, since I switched to the Viggen cross-flow (once I got the piping sorted), I haven't had a problem with holding high boost. It punched up to 100 degrees here today, w a nice nasty shower, and I have been cruising along like normal.

 

[DougR]

It is still hot today, around 85. I just changed my fuel filter, and it seemed to make a lot of difference. The car has that "whippy" torque feeling again like when I bought it, and much more responsive on the throttle. It just felt really bogged the last couple weeks. I have a feeling that my fuel filter was starting to get bad...I was close to the 60k change mark. So if you are starting to lose performance, and haven't changed your fuel filter in a long time, it may be something you want to check into.

 

[bkrell]

Son't mean to discourage, but unless something drastic had happened, it's probably just the heat. It is good to change the fuel filter when it pops up on the schedule, but it shouldn't make THAT much difference unless you had a tank full of sand.

 

[DougR]

Son't mean to discourage, but unless something drastic had happened, it's probably just the heat. It is good to change the fuel filter when it pops up on the schedule, but it shouldn't make THAT much difference unless you had a tank full of sand.

Hey, are you raining on my parade :x :cheesy:

We'll what I don't get is it was still oppressively hot, like it had been all week, and the temps were fluctuating between 85 & 90 all week. Really no difference in temps, but I noticed a big difference in acceleration.
I suppose it could truly be all in my head. The reason I don't think it was in my head, is because when I took it for a test drive, I kinda was looking for the car to be a bit sluggish, as in I messed something up. So when you are redisposed to something, you often can find it. Like if you are looking in the clouds for one that looks like florida, you will find one.
Only thing I could possibly think is that a couple times about a month ago I had my tank run down really low, like less than a gallon left, I wonder if that pulled some crap into the filter.

I guess I will never know.

 

[bkrell]

Eh, it could be. Who knows what kinda junk gets in gasoline up there. You could get out a jigsaw and cut open your old filter! Not trying to rain on any parades!:cheesy: