Inspired by Matthew's incredible white T16 thread I'm decided to start my own here.
First of all, let's get things straight. I am no mechanic. In fact the idea of changing the oil terrifies me. I am afraid I am a tinkerer and a chequebook tuner :roll:. Generally when tinkering I break more than I fix, but I live in hope.
Anyway, I bought my black T16S in July 2004 from Dave Parry who was at the time Chairman of the Peterborough area of the SOC (Gripen Saab). Lovely standard 1991MY 90H T16S with 3 previous owners and 116k miles. Leather/suede seats, aircon, etc. Only obvious faults were droopy headlining and driver's door bottom rust.
It was my daily driver until March 2007 when I bought a Eunos Roadster to take the weight off (doing 15k miles a year).
Had a couple of early teething problems with it (Hall Effect sensor died on distributor, and pedal box weld broke on clutch), but after the first year nothing major went wrong. Only things I remember are air con being converted to R134a and the windscreen wiper linkage packing up.
Back in April 2005 discovered the rear shocks were leaking so took the plunge and went for a Bilstein / Kilen setup which held the road much better, but dragged the middle silencer on every speed bump I touched.
I acquired a set of 16" Carlsson alloys in late 2005 and got them on the car Jan 2006 fitted with 195 profile tyres, although they do scrape the rear arches from time to time.
Got a JT 3" exhaust fitted around Feb 2006 which sounded great and helped with the speed bump clearance problem.
In December 2006 got the rear n/s wheelarch repaired as the rust was beginning to show through. Looked gorgeous, but within a month I had a huge (1p piece sized) chip out of it - I suspect one of my ******** neighbours. Thankfully I have moved since.
Recently (before Christmas) I noticed the clutch was biting right at the bottom and it was difficult to change gear without a crunch. All my work up to now has been done by the excellent West Midlands Saab Specialists, but they are on the other side of the country so I have taken the plunge and dropped it off with Rowan at South East Saab.
Unfortunately he seems to have been majorly busy and I have been without the car for over 2 months now, but hopefully has managed to finish it off over the Easter weekend so I will have it for the London to Brighton run next weekend.
I asked him to have a good check over of the car, which he reckoned was in reasonable condition, and came up with the following:
- clutch problem caused by wear on master cylinder assembly pivot, enlarging the hole
- rust in driveshaft tunnel
- crankshaft pulley separating needing replacement
- engine mount missing a bolt
- questionable thermostat
- bulge in top hose
- APC solenoid held to slam panel with gaffer tape (I *may* have had something to do with that :roll::lol
- oil leak from cam cover
- air con not functioning (could have sworn blind it was OK but maybe gas has escaped after not being used for a few weeks)
- exhaust manifold gasket leak
- uneven tyre wear (edges of front tyres in an "overinflation" pattern - I know about this but it has done it since I changed the wheels and they're not overinflated...
- brake fluid / belts need changing
Gulp. Don't want to know what it'll cost
Anyway. Was running nicely before that after a full WMSS service in October so here's hoping. I don't think it's been as happy since I've been sharing the miles with my other car
So, my philosophy for the car has always been for a practical fast road car without hacking about original fittings too much.
Things that I need to do:
Engine/Performance:
- 900aero APC mod with knock LED. Already have spare APCs but need to determine where base boost is set. I have done a couple of dyno days with poor results (152bhp and 165 bhp after WMSS tweaked base boost). Ideally would like to see 200bhp useable at crank.
- Still under consideration are: chargecooler, and replacement recirc dump valve / wastegate actuator.
Suspension:
- Change the springs. I don't know what is special about my car but the -25mm Kilen springs make compressions on B roads too much and I often end up scraping the sumpguard when in full attack mode. Also it makes life difficult when I'm using the boot in the way it was intended. Still unsure as to which way to go (see recent thread in "Mods" section). Malbrads OE T16S replacements (sound good but pricey), PFS ones, or go custom...
Bodywork:
- Get chipsaway to attack that bloody stonechip!
- refurbish Carly wheels (polished lip, silver/grey centres)
- get whaletail sprayed and fitted
- Get door bottoms welded up
- remove rear bumper and attack rust
- remove removeable towbar and wire brush/por15
- touch up rear wing where hole drilled for old phone mast
- waxoyl nasty bits (bonnet corners starting to show signs of rust)
- Replace door glass with unscratched ones
Interior:
- Get stitching repaired on seats
- Headlining (held up with upolstery pins currently!
- New speakers front & back, replace wires, new head unit.
There's a fairly complete list of things I have done/had done to the car here:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/members/showcar.asp?carId=7201
Since I've been without the car I have missed it like crazy and decided to stop being so lazy and get some of the things on my list done.
The plan is to get the car really nice for the summer season (hopefully for the Bromley Pageant of Motoring).
Anyway, this is more of an aide memoire for me than anything else, just thought I'd post it up.
A picture to be going on with...
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