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

Love old saabs. Subbed.

Ooh I’m very excited to see the progress on this, the Swedish know how to make cars!!

Have you read this book at all?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774964-a-man-called-ove
He drives a Saab, his neighbour drives a Volvo and he hates him for it haha. As a V70 driver I’m really glad that we get on haha.

Will be following excitedly!

I still miss my T16S. But it was a bit thirsty, what with the extra boost and my terrible driving. The speedo needle would go right off the end. And when it did you could pretty much see the fuel needle moving.

Haha, thanks, i'll check that out. If i didn't have the Saab i'd likely be hunting down an either an early 80's or Ulez compliant Volvo so i think we're good!

Another quick/free bodge... Turns our my number plate wasn't warped and someone had given it a whack at some point, looks like tow bar damage to me. A few minutes in a vice and it's back where it should be, the bumper fixing holes are shot so i've hammered in some wall plugs and used wood screws! The bumper will be getting painted down the line so it'll get a proper repair then

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And after listening to @jambon I went for the better quality Halfords tool chest. The staff laughed when I asked them to help me put it in the car boot but sure enough it went in with ease

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At least looking like you know what you're doing is half the battle eh, but maybe that's just me. Still determined to dedicate a drawer to premium biscuits for when things get serious.

To counter my big spend at Halfords i manage to wrangle a genuine Vitra office chair that’s in need of some proper TLC for free and almost broke my back dragging this vice home that I found dumped in a skip

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It’s borderline in quality but is super useful for stashing stuff and makes it easy to try different layouts.

Everything is thrown loosely in place but I’m liking the rollneck vibes

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And finally some tarty crap for the 900. I'm not a fan of many aftermarket bits but i have a thing for genuine Saab accessories. I haven't managed to verify if they're are original (suspect not) but i have these Eric Carlsson air vents (aka snow vents) that i removed when they started to look a bit too tired.

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They were unpainted and had scratches all over them so a while back i gave them a quick rub down and a few coats of satin paint and the result was... still horrible looking vents.

So with the sun out over the weekend i decided to try again. A lot more prep work went in with the wet and dry and although i could of done with high build primer the cheap stuff did the job. I'd heard good things about Kobra paint but i can't say i was impressed, perhaps the low pressure nozzle would of helped but there's far too much texture for my liking. Still, they look a lot better in matt black and they'll get a proper coat of paint when i do the bumpers and bodykit.

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Oh and shiny new Cross Climates fitted onto the back to match the new fronts.

Great stuff. Excellent vice find, amazing that someone would chuck that in a skip.

Quite a lot of progress on the Saab but as always very few decent photos taken.

Good stuff.

It sailed the MOT with only a loose exhaust clamp as an advisory. It ran cleaner than expected but a new set of clamps should hopefully improve emissions further. The resilvered headlight reflector went in without too much of a fight (tricky job normally) and the new lamps seem a little brighter (albeit i'm still not happy with the beam spread). Prior to the MOT my dad patched up the rust hole in the rear arch, not the neatest job but it'll get redone when the wheel arch get replaced. Also found a very good rust and dent free bonnet in a colour that doesn't look too out of place atm so the car is free (AFAIK) of any notable rust. On recommendation my dad tested a local dent puller who turned out to be excellent so i'll be booking in a session asap. And a small victory but after a few failed attempts i found some Thule end caps to fit my genuine Saab rack.

Not so good stuff.

The other headlamp reflector serviced around 4 years ago has already started too dull. Given that these are supposed to be a quality coating on a genuine reflector i'll be going back to the supplier to get their take on it. I also lost 5th on the way back from Bath and then reverse last weekend on a trip to Bournemouth. Being that Saab gearboxes are known for being fragile this came as a concern but after a look underneath we found a very worn coupling bush which for now has been bodged with some cable ties.

After being told my insurance claim shouldn't have a significant impact on my premium i was pretty shocked that my renewal with an insurers i've been with for years had an 100% price increase and mullered my no claims (docked 5 years, i had a 3 year lay off driving where i lost my previous 10 so am now down to 2). I was all but ready to throw in the towel when a forum recommendation for modified car insurance came up gold and i'm now only paying a 20% increase over last year with Keith Michaels.

The other big shock was the price of decent used parts. I went to one of the few proper Saab breakers left in the country (luckily local) to pick up the bonnet and had imagined me walking away with a boot full of spares however prices are way over what i'm willing to pay atm. Furthermore the guys there think the boom in prices is likely to fall in the not too distant future given world affairs.

This all gives me pause again on what to do with the car given the possible expansion of the ULEZ next year. My dad has found someone to do the paint if we want to go that route but a likely month or two of the road plus £4K plus on paint is not sounding all that appealing now. So for now i've decided the next batch of work needs to be as effort free as possible so my dad and i can regroup and come up with a plan. Hopefully within the next month or two...

Session with dent puller to sort doors, tailgate and maybe rear quarter up until the damage wheel arch.
Dyno session at tuners to max performance/economy.
Refit exhaust, fit new Aero springs on back, change gearbox coupling and refit new bonnet (current gaps are not great).
Get it on the ramps at a local garage to do a proper rust inspection underneath.

Rust hole, not too bad considering this is the only spot we've found

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Old reflector

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New reflector

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Trip to the breakers (of course it’s pissed down for the first time in weeks)

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And a cleaned up rack with new end caps and (aero gainz) security bolts ready to go back on

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Haha great yarn, what a lot of work on an old banger! In my neighbourhood there's a SAAB 96 in orange, pretty torn and frayed but still alive. Over 50 years ago my mate Jim had one of these which he drove like a maniac, especially when demonstrating the unique freewheel feature, apparently introduced so drivers wouldn't lose traction on icy Scandi roads.

I salute your dedication!

The freewheel feature was, IIRC, due to some Saabs having a two-stroke, and therefore as lubrication is part of the combustion process with those, if you drive the engine with the wheels, no lubrication is happening = boom.

So how do you notice it's there when you're driving?

No engine braking, and you can tuck in behind a lorry and slipstream them with the engine idling. Bit nervous but tremendous MPG.

Hmmm. I don't remember the no engine braking.

That doesn't make sense does it? Vacuum in the chamber still draws fuel through the pilot jet just less of it hence why a car can tick over with no throttle. Think of all of the two stroke motorcycles in the world surely they would all seize the first time you rolled down a hill if this was correct?
Is it something to do with the mass of the car being able to pull the car at a higher sustained rpm for longer?
Two strokes have a much lower compression ratio, are you thinking about that being the freewheel feature, as the engine braking is a lot less noticeable.