Problem:

PB blaster and air tools do wonders:

Misc parts:

Finally:

Thumbs up:

One engine out, one to go. Then one to install. Updates to follow.

 

lol

I was expecting to see a shot of an engine removed after all that PB Blaster.

Fix yo links!

Good luck on your project!

 

Just caught that after posting. Fixed.

 

lame, the rod only came out the oil pan.

 

fanta ftw

 

CocaCola seems to be the beverage of choice at PoisonBeef's when doing engine removal.

 

Nice, where you working on it?

 

Looks like a garage.

sorry, couldn't resist.

 

That is some truly epic CNY rust you've got going on the beige car.

Paul

 

Yes, it really is. It was perfect timing with this blue 900...

Wow, looks like you are completely fucking up that guys floor.

Yeah, spills happen...We cleaned the floor spills up with some high quality cat litter after. The garage is used to having spilled oil/coolant..trust me.

 

Wow, looks like you are completely fucking up that guys floor.

 

Both engines out:

109k and 192k:

Original clutch:

Vig PP:

6 puck:

Flywheel:

Exhaust:

Custom bend in order to fit MP DPnot original JT but do have orig. piece)

Tip (needs to be rewelded for placement)

Inside of T28:

Here's an update: Both transmissions/clutches are unbolted. Injectors/Turbo/Plugs/DI and Serp tensioner/Alternator are all swapped over into the good engine. Stripped the torx pulley right under the Idler pulley(at least its on good/I do have a spare when this goes). Besides that everything went well.

Now I am in need of a clutch alignment tool, yet no one around here has one...Any ideas?? Also, clutch is wearing just on the outside edges, is this normal for 6-puck? Inside the T28 turbo it is very white, normal or signs of lean? Thanks guys.

 

Update:

900's:

FMIC :

109,002 mile oilpan:

Pickup screen:

Rear Mount tightening:

Engines in!:

All and all things went well today. Clutch was aligned with a perfect broom stick "alignment tool!" It worked out perfect. The Flywheel was transferred over as well as the whole clutch assembly. Throw out bearing is smooth. We got the trans to bolt up to the engine. Poly engine/Trans mounts are on.

The engine is dropped into the car and bolted to the body via two poly mounts and the subframe via the rear mount. The driveshafts are in, and well as the subframe torqued down to spec. It could use a new control arm, but I will need to swap that over later when its all up and running.

The oilpan has been cleaned as well as the pickup screen and black gasket sealer as been used to seal it up. All thats left to do is coolant hoses, align shifter, clutch cable hook up, intercooler hoses, intake hoses, fuel rail, various grounds/hook up positive to alternator, put on serp belt, fill trans fluid, fill oil, fill coolant, etc. It should be all plug and play from here...

 

Update:

Everything is hooked up and the engine is running properly. There are two problems that I see for now.

-The shifter linkage isn't fully engaged.. The male end going into the shifter linkage is still showing about an inch, but it won't seem to budge and further.. Any help?

-The dash lights as well as gauges intermittently work. They are acting strange and and will flicker on to off, stay on for a while, then flicker off...Rheostat/Dimmer switch?? or Back of cluster itself (bad ground?)

All and all everything looks good as it is now. Nothing leaks, it has fresh fluids in it, but it won't go far with how the linkage is right now... 1st automatically stalls out no matter if I try to rev it/slip it to take off. It has to be the fact that the male end isn't fully in, which causes it to stall right off the bat? Reverse works and it is able to be moved/won't stall in reverse. All gears are there (not fully most likely, but there)...

Here's the youtube of the startup:

 

Well, the shift linkage is aligned and the car runs/shifts into all gears. Pretty proud to say the least. Most things went well on the swap. During the total swap: Starter blew,, linkage was a pain, getting trans aligned into shaft was a pain 1 stripped alternator bolt, could use new tirerod(s), and 1 torx pulley stripped, but nothing broke and nothing major is wrong.

A couple of hang-ups here and there, but after some thinking and solving things went well. I still have a lot to do to this car to get it to my standards, but it is driveable to say the least. I'm going to have to track down a slight oil leak, but I think I know where it may be (hoses from oil cooler to block?)... We'll see but all I know is that this thing boosts!! Past 20 psi, it hauls!

I'm lucky to inherit this car with all the upgrades the previous owner has done. It's far from perfect, but with some quality time and effort it could be the car I want it to be! Far from done, but HUGE step in getting my car back

Pics/video will be added soon. I am one happy man.

 

no saab scania badge on the hood of the 97?

 

Nope. These badges must be new...

Video soon

 

Lookin good!

 

Video

So its Saablink.net and its a 900. My friend is a character. He owns a 2003 9-3 Linear sport. Here's the vid..

Update: It is occasionally misfiring. Sometimes at 10 psi sometimes 20 psi. I believe the DI's I have are good units, although it seems it may be tune related. Also sometimes I've had a erratic idle when decelerating in gear then pressing clutch in before I stop.I have ran it for 50 miles so far filling oil/coolant when necessary. Tomorrow the car will be inspected so I can see what I have to do for it to pass inspection.

Coolant is spraying out of the intake manifold gasket(Guessing under higher boost). Should I just stop coolant from passing through the throttle body? Isn't there a thread on it? I'll be sure to order a gasket also. The oil leak will be tracked down tomorrow and tightened up. Then I'll give her a nice vacuum, wash, and wax. Maybe throw some paint on.

One last thing: The 6 puck/vig pp/cable clutch is quite tricky in 1st and for the 1-2..Grabs hard and slight chatter sometimes, but it holds!

 

Sounds like it's coming along pretty well. Is it necessarily a good idea to stop coolant from going through the TB? I think the IACV uses that coolant and needs coolant to operate.

 

Na, the coolant was designed to go through the throttle body to keep it from sticking open in extreme cold that the Sweden/Finland can see. I had it bypassed on my '96 for probably 4 years and no ill effects. I did it back when there was not much tuning around and it was one of those "things" to do at the time. Circa '04-'05.

This is how I had mine.

 

Marcus,

Seems like you're doing a good job with the car. Getting rid of the coolant at the throttle body might stop coolant from spraying out of the intake manifold, but if coolant is making it out of the manifold then it's likely that air also is escaping, i.e. boost. I would get a new gasket and reseal it. When and in what situations is it misfiring? I had the same problem with the clutch combo - just give it slightly more revs when going from a stop and ease the clutch up even gentler.

 

Marcus,

Seems like you're doing a good job with the car. Getting rid of the coolant at the throttle body might stop coolant from spraying out of the intake manifold, but if coolant is making it out of the manifold then it's likely that air also is escaping, i.e. boost. I would get a new gasket and reseal it. When and in what situations is it misfiring? I had the same problem with the clutch combo - just give it slightly more revs when going from a stop and ease the clutch up even gentler.

I hear you on that Jesse. That car would boost to 26 psi and gradually fall back. I looked into it more and there was a loose hose going to the throttle body. I'm not 100% on whether or not this solved the problem, but it was pretty darn loose, so it could be that instead of the gasket.

It isn't misfiring anymore, but it does have a funny idle sometimes. usually around 1000 rpms is where I like it. It would drop to 800 or 700 in a couple situations when coming to a stop and when fuel is low... It was the DIC that was causing the misfiring though because I switched out it for a known good one and boost is good now.

I'm getting more used to this clutch combo tho! It holds great still too after so many miles.

Na, the coolant was designed to go through the throttle body to keep it from sticking open in extreme cold that the Sweden/Finland can see. I had it bypassed on my '96 for probably 4 years and no ill effects. I did it back when there was not much tuning around and it was one of those "things" to do at the time. Circa '04-'05.

This is how I had mine.

Thanks Mark! I'll be doing this when I have some spare time.

You mentioned the 3" exhaust for sale. You still looking to unload that?

Still for sale, but the 3 inch DP is SOLD. So I still have the JT 3inch Catback

 

You mentioned the 3" exhaust for sale. You still looking to unload that?

 

Here's an update on the status of the car:

The alternator went on me due to and oil leak at the oil filter housing (am told oil kills alts), luckily I had a good spare one (tested at Advance - holding 15 strong). I fixed the alternator but installing the new one, but let me tell you, what a PITA.

SAAB obviously designed the NG to be serviceable to a point where its annoying. WHY is the alt there?? WHY is the tensioner assembly shitty and aluminum? Balljoints? nope replace the whole control arm.. It seems like nothing is simple with this vehicle. No working room anywhere!

/rant

either way, the alt came out with the most hassel it could possibly give me, and the new one was a bitch to get aligned and install. The upper bolt is almost impossible to get to, but somehow managed to tighten it with the 8mm hex socket (without wrench) and tightened it as much as possible without stripping it (bc let me tell you it took going to 4 shops to get that damn serp tensioner assembly off the alt cuz of top bolt stripped).

Then the big pulley was not tight enough when I started the car, so I immediated shut it down, took belt off, and got a small torx bit in there and had to use an adjustable wrench to tighten that. I've driven it 10 miles or so since then and it runs good. Charges good, boosts good, but leaks oil at the housing.

I took it down to Monro because these bolts are non accessible unless I dropped the subframe..I don't have the time or airtools (godsend) to undertake this job again. I'd rather have them do it. I hope the bill isn't too much, its honestly not that hard if you have a lift and the tools etc..

Also, I plan on driving it to Buffalo today and am banking that it will make it. It will be the first long trip since swap. When the oil leak gets fixed it should be fine to drive long distance.

100miles + already since swap.. It still has a couple of issues but runs great!

 

Well good luck. The idle issue could be the evap purge solenoid thing. It is on the pass side of the engine near the firewall.

 

Oil leak dilemma

So I took the car over to Monro Muffler. He called me up said I needed a gasket for the oil filter housing to the block. I searched around and couldn't find a gasket for this part.

I called them back up and suggested they use anerobic sealer, just like it was an oil pan. They said they recommend getting a custom gasket made etc.

I needed to make it out to Buffalo yesterday and did, but IT STILL LEAKS.I lost an alternator to an oil leak and better not lose this other one b/c this oil leak is still there. Monro also said after the "fix" that it was fine to drive 3 hrs to Buff, besides the fact that it needs tierods.

Monro said they used new O-rings on the hoses, and made a cardboard gasket as well as used anerobic sealer. It shouldn't be leaking, but the housing was indeed overtorqued to the block. He showed me the bolts and they were pretty overtorqued...Could this have cracked a leak in the Block? I assume the housing would have cracked first, but it doesn't appear to be cracked from the outside.

I would imagine with a cardboard gasket AND sealer that it shouldn't leak, but the car is pushing 25 psi, which may have something to do with it. How do I get this fixed???

Is there a gasket for this housing? If so, where can I find it? What do you guys reccommend. The housing appears to be leaking now, not the hoses. There is oil dripping down the control arm and is all over the axle. I assume its from the top or passenger side of the housing.

I spent $100 at Monro to have less of an oil leak, but it's still unacceptable. What are your opinions on the situation?

 

Where in the wis does it suggest making a homemade gasket out of a used gino's pizza box?

 

Lol

Check out 21

Thats only seal I could see leaking down there.

 

Drain the oil yourself and give it a look.

 

Maybe I will give this a try. It shouldn't be too hard, I just want it fixed..

more rpm= more oil pressure= more loss... i hope boost is not making you lose oil, or i would be looking at the turbo as an issue...

i have pulled these engines apart a few times and its not that bad to pull that housing off and clean the surface and put on a thin layer of anarobic... thats all i have ever used to seal the housing to the block and it works fine, as long as its clean and dry

this is somthing you should be able to do your self if you are willing.... im at the point in my life where i am sick of working on my own car and would rather just pay some one else to do it lol

It shouldn't be the turbo I was just trying to say what you just said basically/
The housing is only 4 bolts, I know its not that hard but im in the same situation as you. I've been day and night working on this thing...It will pay off in the end.

Do you know the torque for the bolts by any chance?

Cardboard? How the hell would they expect that to work.

I have no idea. Idiots.

 

more rpm= more oil pressure= more loss... i hope boost is not making you lose oil, or i would be looking at the turbo as an issue...

i have pulled these engines apart a few times and its not that bad to pull that housing off and clean the surface and put on a thin layer of anarobic... thats all i have ever used to seal the housing to the block and it works fine, as long as its clean and dry

this is somthing you should be able to do your self if you are willing.... im at the point in my life where i am sick of working on my own car and would rather just pay some one else to do it lol

 

Cardboard? How the hell would they expect that to work.

 

i have know idea on the tourqe spec as i normally have a sheet when i did this at work... but in my drive way with out the spec i would just run them in till it "felt right" lol