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Freshening Up My 1991 900SE Turbo (picture heavy)

122K views 1K replies 47 participants last post by  mike d 
#1 · (Edited)
I would like to introduce you blokes to my Vert, my wife calls GraySE", that's short for Grey SE. In the US, this car is on of about 456 (or somewhere thereabout). SAAB imported an equal amount of the Platana Grey 900 SE (as it was badged) and the Monte Carlo Yellow. To my understanding, each major US SAAB dealership in 1991 received 1 car of either color (not so sure but thats the word).

Long story short, this car would classify as rare as the UK Ruby, except, it didn't come with any extra ponies; just Tupperware, Metallic paint, and the early three spoke SPG wheels, on a Vert.

I purchased this car 2 year ago from a lady that had it sitting on her driveway for about 2 years. We are the 3rd owners of this car. The PO purchased in a divorce liquidation for $5,000 in 1995. Her son crossed the battery terminals in 2008 or so trying to install a new battery and caused and electrical cluster mess. After that, a rain soaked interior almost sent the car to the crusher.

I purchased the car from her in 02/2011for $400.

I was able to get the car up to snuff in a short time. Once running it still had that new SAAB feeling. Chassis was tight and it was clear the rubbers were all still in good nick. Boost was nice but I think it was stuck on base boost (never got a chance to diagnose the issue).

Then an unfortunate episode occurred. My wife was going to see her sister in the hospital and I had taken the coolant res cap off to add some coolant. I noticed the res would drop off too quickly for my liking and I was going to take a proactive measure and replace the head gasket, as there were no exterior leaks.

Well, she never made it home with the car, I had to go get them both. it appears the overheated cylinders cause some form of a detonation and BOOM, piston 3 had a curled crown.

I been running this thread in another forum but since posting here I appreciate the temperament and would like to share my experiences here as well.

I have already rebuilt the motor and tranny is in good nick.

I will pick the project up here as I begin to refit the motor and get all the aesthetics in order.

Basically I already cleaned all the grease and did all the boring stuff, now I will document the build here and get her back on the road.

My "Sunglasses Holder" thread should give an idea of where I am going with aesthetics but piccys will molest this thread so in due time members/visitors of this forum will see where i am.

I will post up piccys this weekend.

Here is the car before I pulled the motor



Cheers
 
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#2 · (Edited)
leaqving Well enough alone

On a side note, I had the intention to replace the oring, ball bearing, and oil seals in the inner drivers.

I had already did this job on MY92 NA and the driver cup came out without much issue after I removed the bolts.

When i removed the bolts on the 91 Vert at the inner driver cup, the cup would not budge form the differential. after a few quick tugs, I stepped back, did a beard stroke and decided, "To leave Well enough alone!", honestly I cannot say either was leaking prior to engine pull so I wont fuss with removing them. I will just change the speedo O ring and be done...

Actually, thats where the oil seesm to be comong from so i pray I replace that small part all will be well and dry...
 
#9 · (Edited)
I love this car... I am not really huge on the color.. I would prefer a Black SAAB (highly considering a color change..). I think Black is the best color for a Classic 900 hands down,,,

I will be spraying this next month with Maaco after I sand all the paint down and have it primed. I would never just drop them my car and expect anything decent.'

HOWEVER, if you bring a reputable Maaco a prepped car, you'de be amazed at the results...

..
 
#8 ·
Thanks, my first SAAB was a 1986 9000 Turbo, I purchased back in 1991 (loved it in every essence of the word LOVE). I reunited with these cars in 2009.

Prior to 2009 I didnt know how to change oil on any car... I just put my best foot forward and hope it comes out right.. :) ...
 
#10 ·
No T5 Head! cant Justify the Mod Costs

Well, part of a project is trial and error; I will admit i have deflated my efforts to use the T5 head. I cannot justify the costs for modding the intake, head, and making other adjustments for steering rack mount, motor mount, and AC pulley.

It would almost cost me what I need to buy my top and a few other bits that are far more improtant. I cant even determine the actual benefits of the T5 head.

So since my DD has a bad 1st gear and I refuse to fix it, the 92 NA will become a parts car for my vert. This weekend I will pull the head (which I overhauled 2 years ago) and the intake mani.

This jumps me waaaaay ahead of plans. With a gasket I can actually put the motor back in the engine bay

Stay tuned.. I had another experience 2 weeks ago that will make the 92 and its defunked gear box a very good donor but I am waiting to finalize a deal! its actually a 5 finger discount!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So T5 Head is out and 2.1 head is in
 
#11 ·
Weekend Plans

This weekend is going to be very productive (hopefully).

Plans ae to bolt in my 2.1 head, intake mani, PS pump, AC compressor, and get my ex. mani to the welder...

I tried to pull the driver cups last night and after removing the botls, it wouldnt budge fomr the differential. I just cleaned the old thread sealant and put new sealant and repalced the bolts.

After lookinig really good, it seems the only thing that was leaking is the speedo cable. I will put a new Oring there and hope for the best...

I will update photos over the weekend.

Cheers,,,
 
#12 · (Edited)
Who doesn't like surprise FedEx packages :)

Last week I was bored and went to saab.com and registered for Customer Care Program.

Thought nothing of it really.

Look what they sent. A thank you letter and a bottle a genuine SAAB leather conditioner.

Go register ASAP!!!!! :)

 
#14 ·
I used bed armor in many applications both interior and exterior. It's durable and has a nice textured finish.

Here I used it on the wheel arches;

Before



After

 
#15 · (Edited)
I had an idea to fit a small tablet in the lower console. Underneath the tablet I want an outside temp gauge and auxiliary outlets for cell phone chargers.

The tablet is a 7 inch screen, fits perfectly in the lower din. After careful trimming, and cutting veneer for the auxiliary and temp gauge here is what I get so far.

The screen sits flush, veneer has been drilled for decorative mount bolts. Just need to cut the holes for the gauge and outlets. The Veneer will be stained and finished. Thinking about cutting a trim piece of Veneer for above the tablet.

I will use commercial grade Velcro to mount the screen.



...
 
#17 · (Edited)
I decided to finish up the console work this weekend. Still not done. Just a but more sanding and final finish coat of the veneers but here is a shot of the semi finished product.

I also added a piece of grey micro suede at the rear of the ash tray frame to deflect the stock light towards where the phone will lay (well, that's the plan anyway).

I probably need to add a trim piece of veneer above the tablet and my fingers are itching to recess the tablet about 1/8 inch but then I gotta fuss with supporting it. As it rests it pops up just a bit.

Give me your opinion on how it looks.



 
#20 ·
thanks. I take you :th_MySaab900Like:???

I am my worst critic, I see every tiny flaw, but i will take your word for it...

Thanks

The gloss finish is actually shellac. it dried nicely over night but I can still see the wood pours.

The craft shop has a poly finish with a high build agent. he said it is varnish and should cover my wood pours so i can get a factory smooth finish, so thats the plan; to fetch a tin of the varnish...

The small projects take the most time and attention. cant wait to be done and i will never do this again! :angry:
 
#21 · (Edited)
And the sunglasses holder. I had the SAAB emblem laying around so I popped it on. The veneer is not glued down as I am still finishing it.

Almost looks like it came as such from the dealer

 
#22 · (Edited)
Well I have come to find out that cast iron welding is not such a popular practice.

after sand blasting, i found My exhaust manifold, exhaust flange, and turbo exhaust flange all have minor cracks that will eventually get larger.

I found 2 guys (one local) so I took the work to the local guy. It's a 50/50 shot. The cost is bareable IF he can get THe weld to hold

Here ard the bits:

Exhaust mani crack



Turbo flange crack:



Once properly welded I will use 1200 degree grille paint on the exhaust manifold and exhaust flange.

I wish I could leave them as they are sand blasted but the rust is imminent.

Stay tuned...
 
#23 · (Edited)
Seats

Here is an idea of what I removed from the vert. All were as bad or worse.



I pulled front and rear seats from a 4 door 9000.

The front goes without saying are a direct fit.

The rear, well that was a bit more challenging; however with the help of a rebuttable seamster and my design idea the 9000 rear seat backs and bottoms were modified and stitched to fit a 900 vert.

Since the 9000 seat seats are larger I had to delete the mid section (I call it the hump) between the original seats.

900 vert seats are not even a full seat for each person, it's actually a fraction of THe whole seat and both rear passengers share what I call the hump on the rear seat bench. That's what kinda separates both rear passengers.

Same thing applies for the rear back rest.

And the pointed corners of the bench I didn't like either.

After stripping the old nasty, and nip tucking I got 2 full rear passenger seats and deleted both humps.

Now the rear passenger doesn't sink in but sits upright! This was a definite upgrade and I like the lighter shade of grey (not sure the color), oppose to the dove grey that is original.

If you own a vert, have a look at your back seat bottom, notice my seat doesn't have the hump. I now have two actual but rests.

The foam is far more thicker in the 9000 and the seats are much bigger. By eliminating the hump and stitching the 9000 seat bottoms together, it's a perfect fit.

I also modified the wood bench frame 900 verts have pointed bench corners. Mines are now rounded. I also changed the springs. The ones in the vert were rusted and had no bounce.

No more hump, the seat pipping was worked into the project to separate the seats



Front view of stitch work



Rounded corners



I eliminated the hog ties and used heavy duty commercial grade zip ties to mount the skins.

Got a near factory finish with almost ZERO creases



 
#24 · (Edited)
The rear back rest was complete hell and back!

I still can't believe we got it done.

Keeping it short I eliminated the hump and brought pipping down the center, which lines up pretty good with the bottom.

The rear back rest is 2 tone, as we kept the rear most part of the original back rest covering and only changed the face portion for lack of a better term. We also had to get creative to make up for a gap at the top.

I was amazed at the quality of the leather. after cleaning they look practically new. I paid $30 for all the skins and $90 for stitching. It was hell getting them to fit and I did that job myself.

Sorry for the plastic but I gotta keep em clean



Since we only used the front sections of the seat we ha a gap at the top due to the shoulder curves.

We filled it with scrap leather from trimmings and it came out quite nice



Her you get a glimpse of the original and modified leathers matted together. Once fitted you cannot see the dove grey. Only a bit at the top but if one didn't know they might think it came original





Under the light, the 9000 seat color is a better blend with the metallic paint: it just happened this way

 
#25 · (Edited)
Fired up the tablet tonight to see what it looks like. This is summing up to be a very practical mod. Should definitely bring more attention to the ergonomics of the classic SAAB center console.

I just saw a Cadillac commercial that now offer cars with tablets. Lol... I don't need to finance $70,000.00 to share the experience..



 
#26 · (Edited)
regarding those cracks just ask the welder how he cast iron welds.

they really need to
- stop drill the cracks and then cut a groove along the cracks (cut the cracks out)
- clean the rust etc off the metal
- heat the whole piece up to red hot, allow it to lose it's redness then weld as it loses it's red glow (still really hot)
- as soon as the weld is complete bury the piece in a container of pre heated sand - this allows the cast iron to cool slowly and helps reduce the risk of heat stress cracking

this is what my local engineer has said he does - I ask him random questions like this out of interest all the time lol

Another good option is to get them to braze it? A good braze can withstand about 800celsius - much hotter than your manifold will ever get, and braze often creates a flexible joint

LOL based on this video I jut watched I'd say my engineer knows his stuff, :p maybe he watched this too

 
#27 · (Edited)
What's up Ed,

They were brass braised if I am not mistaken. He explained it was the better option for success.

Picking up the bits today...i live in a metropolis and there are only 2 guys in the whole city the would even agree to look at the bits.

It cost my $100 U$ for the repairs but I sleep better knowing its done.
 
#30 · (Edited)
That would have been easier yes but not practical. Seeing there are no classic turbos in the yards and buying a manifold plus shipping would be about $70 and I still have 3 other bits with cracks, brazing was most practical and convenient. Plus I had already invested money into the bead blasting, it just made sense. The crack was not so evident with the surface rust, so a used manifold would have had to be blasted and inspected as well.

I think this route proved to be the better option. I would not have bought a manifold and bolted it. It still would have to Stan up to scrutiny and inspection...
 
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