Project roll neck, Saab 900 turbo and the garage it doesn't fit in

Dumb question but how do they get all the paint off to make it look like new, just a strong paint stripper fluid?

I’m loving this thread. My old housemate/band manager had a white 900 turbo.

We had many adventures in it. I loved the “sit up and beg” position in the front.

Perfect choice I reckon. Really looking forward to seeing it back together

Update time.

Some good news and some sad news. Starting with the latter, my pup had an unexpected illness and had to be put to sleep. Why am I sharing this here? Well, she was a bit of a handful when we got her, and the car quickly became her happy place. We ended up doing a lot of road trips together and given her age i had many more planned once I got the car back. She was a big motivation behind doing the car and without her it does change the way I feel about the project. That said and done a trip to Japan and popping in to see Luke at TBP has helped get me back on track. Both reminding me that if you going to do something then do it properly. Luke invited me to visit on a Saturday whilst he worked on his race car and ended up giving me hours of his time for nothing.

On to the good news, all the welding is done! The rear wing is in and the rot from the tailgate has been cut out and repaired. Furthermore, despite me wanting to keep work minimal to manage costs Luke hand made and replaced the three other arches. He wasn’t happy with grinding back the rot and thankfully cutting through the metal didn’t reveal any horrors behind. The results are amazing and without too much extra work. The sunroof panel was awful but luckily my dad sourced a replacement at a fraction of the cost of repairs. Whilst digging in the crates he also found some newer door hinges in much better condition that will be stripped and painted. And on closer review the section my dad had welded in previously was deemed good enough, other than a little finessing and filler the panel can be left alone saving a days work. The car is now in expoxy primer curing for a weeks before the final tidying is done.

It’s now past it’s original deadline but given the extra work and circumstances I’m more than happy to wait a little longer.

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Wing work

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Stripped and ready for paint

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And now in Epoxy, i'm not totally sure why it goes on before final fettling but all the imperfections are still yet to be ironed out (Front wing section is the old repair!).

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Very nice.
Shame about the pup.

And more on this another time but borrowing this opened a new can of worms...

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The extra car work doesn’t sound too bad considering what you see on some yt vids of people cutting into rust on old cars. And now the fun part begins!

Sorry about your dog.

Thanks guys.

In other news, whilst the car is off the road i've been able to turn some attention to the interior. As mentioned previously the seats are special edition Ruby numbers from the final run of 900 turbos. Instead of being full leather they have lovely Zegna wool inserts that give it a distinctly 80s/90s sporty vibe. The problem is the wool isn't as durable as leather and although it's lasted reasonably well, has started to let go. To make matters worse the replacement wool is over 400 euros and i haven't found a trimmer willing to take on a fabric restoration project (basically full re trim only). Thankfully, the rear seat is in pretty good condition as it's had a dog cover on it and the passenger seat should be locally repairable. The drivers seat however is not in good shape.

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So, with bodywork and paint costs going higher than expected i need to limit spending elsewhere. Step forward my dad, his vintage sewing machine and my hen's teeth find of a used but useable replacement wool panel. Knowing the seat needed attention i've been feeding the leather for the last 6 months. It's now lovely and supple and more more importantly the cover has been taken off without causing any further damage. A leather dye kit from Woolies is in the post and my dad has is sourcing the correct (purple!) thread to to re-stitch this.

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I'll also need to finish sorting the brakes at some point and these unused HEL lines of an abandoned project for a tenner were a nice find.

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Now that you know the full picture re the dreaded rust, would you say your car is typical for its age?

Sorry to hear about your dog. Looks like there's been a lot of progress, when you're waiting on delivery of the right shade of purple thread this is my kind of project. Keep the updates coming and hope the invoices aren't too eye-watering!

typical for its age

I don't have too much to compare it to but for a Saab this is a fairly good one and pre GM Saab has a reputation for being solid in comparison to some other brands. The rear wing was unavoidable and the water trap on the tailgate unfortunate. The other areas could have been less work if i'd taken better care of it. The bodyshop described it as pretty good for its age. Given how little money or effort has been put into the car over the last 10 years i'm pretty happy with the amount of work needed to get this right. My Neighbour has an 850R which looks like it'll need more work as will my best mates Golf MK2 16V if they ever get round to sorting them.

Finessed, filled and polyester primed. Getting close now.

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Excellent work

It's manga! Don't paint it! And get a matching G-Shock https://g-shock.co.uk/ga-2100mng-7aer

Shots like this always impress me as they show the extent of work involved to get a quality finish.

Yeah it's been an amazing service so far, getting detailed shots of everything done, before and after (and then having them line itemed in an invoice!). He even kept the cut out rusty metal until the final primer went on. As mentioned the rest of the car will take a lot of work to get to the same standard but i'll be happy to chip away at that myself in the future.

I can’t begin to imagine the labour costs alone on this labour of love. Its lovely but I hope it’s worth it!

The initial estimate was higher than hoped but as time passes it actually seems like very good value. In terms of figures the insurance pay out was £3.5k and by switching to a different (and better) insurers afterwards my premiums didn't go up. My initial budget was double that but once we stripped the car it was evident it would need more work and was going to cost more. Luckily i've built a good relationship with Luke and by extending the deadline and helping out where i can (doing all the parts stripping and rebuilding myself) i'm hopeful we can keep this under £10k. When you consider a good quality paint job on a new car could easily be in excess of £5k that seems like good value to me.

Dipping into the car thread i'm always surprised what modern car ownership is costing people. Given i've kept maintenance costs down over the 10+ years i've had the car £10k doesn't seem like an awful lot! No idea if and when it comes to sell i'll get my money back but i'm hopeful that won't be something i have to consider for a while.

Getting close now. Bodykit has been trial fitted prior to paint and is now back with me ready for a clean up. Spent the weekend giving all the lights plus a bunch of other trim a deep clean so it can go straight back on. In time i'd like to restore everything more thoroughly using the various polishing kits i've collected however i'm more then happy with how they look after removing 20 years+ of grime build up. OG Saab parts really are good quality.

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Loving the updates. Still got fond memories of hooning around north wales in my mates black 900 turbo, many many years ago..