total motor rebuild

[foxracer52]

So after blowing my head gasket Tuesday night I've decided to rebuild the motor in my 97 cse after 3 years of owning it and 2 years of holset abuse on it. In October I replaced the Head gasket on the unknown mileage motor, I say unknown mileage because as the car sits it has 193k at 147k the motor was replaced by P.O. and the paper work I got with the car did not say if the motor was new or used. When I replaced the head gasket in October i got the head completely rebuilt and arp studs now my question is what gaskets, rod bearings, main bearings, piston rings and what ever else I might of left out for a stock rebuild.

[DanF.]

The Saab of the Month for this website has a pretty good description of a rebuilt engine (motors are electric, engines are combustion) Albiet, it's a 2.0L, but you'll figure it out.

Also, a previous SOTM, had a Holset on his 9000 Aero, and ran the engine as stock, plus the supporting hardware for the larger turbo. Food for thought.

[mike saunders]

Here are most of the B234 rebuild parts you'll need.

From eeuroparts (fastest shipping to New England and mid-Atlantic states):

8822033 Cylinder Head Gasket Set
8822041E Valve Cover Gasket
9173576 Oil Pump Seal
9130600 Oil Pump O-Ring
9131145 Timing Chain (Endless)
9145376 Timing chain guide (tensioner)
32000421 Chain Guide
9113937 Turbocharger Gasket
9145418 Main Bearings Set

Some parts are hard to find from Eeuro and you'll likely need to thesaabsite.com for them:

75-88-783 Thrust Washer Set
02-69-304 Rod Bearing Set (old number: 9145459)

You might need the dealership for two parts:

Oil pump gearset (can now be sourced from eeuro or saabsite, although the HUGE difference between aftermarket and genuine Saab parts worries me)
Piston rings (Deves are OK but I've talked to two engine duilders whi say to avoid them if possible)

good luck!

You should also replace o-rings and other bits that aren't listed here. Dip has an excellent reference in this thread:

[foxracer52]

Thanks for the input, also i was thinking about going with the balance chain delete but could/will i run into problems with anything since I'm going to be at such a high hp? For the head gasket my mechanist is really pushing towards a cometic but i have read about them here and how they just don't hold so my other question is the factory hg mls?

[chevyman]

You can get Sealed Power bearings from rockauto.com for a reasonable price. They are pretty popular for the musclecar guys, I don't see why their saab products wouldn't be as good. They also have Goetze rings, but I do not know about the quality of those. I believe Nick at genuinesaab has had better luck with the stock headgasket than the cometic. Rock auto also sells a Fel-Pro MLS headgasket, which I recently purchased, but have not used. It is only listed as fitting a b204, however there is no reason why it shouldn't fit the 2.3.

[Area6]

i also would like to know about the balance chain delete... im thinking about doing so my self

[chevyman]

I havn't heard any hp concerns with the balance chain delete, but some people say the vibrations are bad with a 2.3, but that is certainly a personal preference.

[foxracer52]

I was thinking about going with the sealed power bearings we just put them in my friends 5.3l with no problems and I know alot of people using them with no problems. As for the vibrations from not running the balance shafts that's fine. My biggest concern is what head gasket to run I have the arp studs already this damn head gasket has me stumped

[mvadenais]

9-5 and 9-3 2.3 had vibration issues. In a 9000 I dont notice any difference except maybe quicker revving as in a slightly lightned flywheel. People also had some issues with oil pressure. Ive had no such issue with my built 2.3 motor. 395whp/412ftlbs no issues with bs delete and im using an oem head gasket

[foxracer52]

That's good and reassuring. So looks like I'm going to have to get raped at the dealer ship for a head gasket

[mike saunders]

Originally Posted by mvadenais

9-5 and 9-3 2.3 had vibration issues. In a 9000 I dont notice any difference except maybe quicker revving as in a slightly lightned flywheel. People also had some issues with oil pressure. Ive had no such issue with my built 2.3 motor. 395whp/412ftlbs no issues with bs delete and im using an oem head gasket

This.

No vibration issues with a B234R; in fact, in a high HP build, think of the balance chain delete as three fewer things that can fail: the balance chain and the two bearings. I ran for 10-15K miles without the balance chain and only noticed slightly more vibration at idle. Nowhere near as bad as my winter car, a diesel Suburban.

The stock head gasket is fine up to 450+ hp with the ARP studs. Those went into my rebuild.

[foxracer52]

Thanks that's good I'm driving a duramax diesel now since my motor took a poop and on a nice cold morning boy does is shake ha so if its not as bad as that then Theres nothing to worry about

[Moreboost]

It might be worth your time to price out the parts from partsforsaabs.com and eeuro. When i bought parts for my attempted rebuild, the total price at partsforsaabs was about 200-300 cheaper than eeuro and that included shipping from UK. IDK how it is now but back then i was able to contact someone from eeuro, i emailed them a screenshot of my basket from partsforsaabs.com and they were able to match or beat almost all the prices and i got the parts 3 days later.

[foxracer52]

Alright will do and see how much of a difference it is cause I'm still a few weeks away from ordering things. I just want to get everyone's opinion out there on what things to use

[foxracer52]

Also I'm going to order a new clutch, even though mine still has a lot of life left in it, I'm just tired of the 6 puck has anyone tried the spec stage 3+?

[mr_saab79]

Remember not to skimp on it! Nothing's worse than putting a ton of blood sweat and tears into a project only to find out that you accidentally screwed yourself due to a slight oversight. A couple tricks I learned while rebuilding my 9k engine... Since a lot of the gaskets for the engine are no longer produced, Loctite 518 works wonderful! I found it the cheapest from "Summit". It is anerobic so there isnt the risk of pieces breaking off and clogging your oil pickup. The other little thing I did, you can use a .22 barrell brush for cleaning and decarboning the valve journals.

[mvadenais]

if you can have the head cleaned/hot tanked and decked. This way you will know your starting with a fresh head. It was easy for me to have this done as there is an excellent place to do so in RI. C&C motor works

[Green9kAERO]

Oil pressure issues come with balance shaft delete on 91-93 2.3 engines... as reported by Mike D

[foxracer52]

Yea I just had the head completely rebuilt in October but its going to go back to get checked. I took my block there out of another 9000 that I got and they said that it needs to be bored so what are my options with pistons?

[mvadenais]

I have Wossner pistons and my cylinders were bored 1 over. People also use JE pistons. Ive had no issues with mine. My friend had wossners put in his Viggen and loves them also