There are a bunch of guides and howtos on this site and TOS for pulling a C900 engines. The best advise is label all connections with tape and get a bunch of baggies and mark/label small parts.

Look at the shifter couplings and if your swapping the motor to something other then a 93, make sure that you get the electronics parts, just in case.

If your pulling from a donor car, I;ve seen interesting uses of sawzalls and forklifts, but if you've never pulled one and going to transplant it into another car, its worth taking the time and seeing how to take it apart so that you get a jump on what needs to be done on the next one.

Time is relative, it depends on how fast/careful you are in pulling it. I would suggest that you get someone to help when you are ready to use the lift, its helpful to have someone guide the engine when your pulling it out. Might consider a leveler, in addition to the lift.

 

There are a bunch of guides and howtos on this site and TOS for pulling a C900 engines. The best advise is label all connections with tape and get a bunch of baggies and mark/label small parts.

Look at the shifter couplings and if your swapping the motor to something other then a 93, make sure that you get the electronics parts, just in case.

If your pulling from a donor car, I;ve seen interesting uses of sawzalls and forklifts, but if you've never pulled one and going to transplant it into another car, its worth taking the time and seeing how to take it apart so that you get a jump on what needs to be done on the next one.

Time is relative, it depends on how fast/careful you are in pulling it. I would suggest that you get someone to help when you are ready to use the lift, its helpful to have someone guide the engine when your pulling it out. Might consider a leveler, in addition to the lift.

Thanks for the advice. I've read through the procedure in the Bentley manual several times, and I also have a couple friends available to help. I've found some threads, but get the impression that this really isn't a big deal. I'll post back with my results. Crossing my fingers.

Ha BTW I was making a joke yesterday about using the forklift at the shop to pull it....I guess that's been done already aye? And sawzalls? WTF for?

 

I just completed my first swap last week. First c900. First swap on any car.

Took me a week to pull two engines, swap gearboxes, and put them back together.

I definitely took my time with it, but it is not a hard process at all.
Actually, I was surprised by how easy and straight forward it really was.

One thing that made it a bit easier to pull was a load balancer for the engine lift.

 

Also, I had to swap the shifters and linkage with the gearbox.

I don't think you should have to though, as I think the change was between 85 and 86, so as long as they are both 86 or newer you should be all right.

Make sure that the axles are the same length on both cars, otherwise you will want to swap those to keep them with the right gearbox also.

 

just dive in!

 

Dived in this afternoon. Spent four hours with a couple friends, and made some progress. Major hangup was the shift rod bolt. Actually had to Sawzall it off. The only steps left are to remove the engine mounts, and pull out the inner joints.

The passenger side and front engine mounts will be no problem, but the driver side has these square nuts (WTF was Saab thinking???), and looks like the alternator has to be removed to get to the one closest to the firewall. We're going to hopefully meet up and wrap up the removal on Saturday. I'll definitely post some 'people in the engine compartment' pictures.

 

The driver side engine mount is one long horizontal bolt, which is removed from the front.

 

Your right. I had to really look to see it because it's coated with a layer of muck. Hope it comes out easy enough. Once this engine is removed and cleaned up I'm considering going the T5 route. Has anyone else on TSL done the conversion using this method:

I asked on the T5 thread, but haven't gotten any reply. Very curious to know what's involved. Seems more effective than the other method that Mike D used.

 

Hmm....I'll take a look tomorrow. If that's the case it should be cake from here on out. Thanks!

 

I knew that Sawzall comment would catch up with me.... The donor car is a 92 900S, and the recipient is an 89 900. I'm not sure if the shafts are of a different length or diameter yet, but should be able to figure it out this weekend when we get back into it.

I'm not doing the swap right away, as I wanted to clean this engine and trans up once removed. I know it needs a slave cylinder replacement, as well as some new hydraulic lines. I may as well get a clutch kit while I'm at it. The engine runs good, but since it sat for awhile it has it's fair share of oxidation all over everything.

 

Any square nut is welded to a bracket, so don't try loosening it or you'll be there for a while.

Those shift rod taper pins (which you referred to as a bolt) can be a real pain. The best way to get them is to use an air hammer with a flat face and just buzz them from the bottom. They'll pop out. Even if you cut them you'll still have to drill them from both sides to get the shift joint to slide off the transmission shaft.

You did put the clutch ring in the pressure plate right?

I used to pull 16V C900 engines out in under 3 hours and 8V engines in about 2.5 hours when using a lift and all the right tools at a SAAB shop I worked at. I've pulled engines out of 99s in 2 hours in my driveway and in a little more than 1.5 hours in my garage (no lift). That seems strange because C900s aren't that different from 99s I've also had 16V C900s take me 6 to 8 hours in the driveway. It really depends on how many things loosen the way they should, how much stuff breaks, how that taper pin goes, etc.

 

I haven't taken the engine out yet. Going to get together with friends to finish the job on Sunday I think. I've got the clutch tool for the pressure plate, but I'm going to do the clutch kit and slave cylinder once the engine is out of the car. If I had put the tool in I wouldn't have to worry about clutch play when taking the taper pin out right? I hadn't thought of that. Anyway, after we cut the nut off it just popped out.

I think your right on target with the timing. Next time I imagine we could do the entire pull in under six hours even with issues along the way.

 

Finally finished up removing the engine today. Some pics:

Pre-removal, and the OG9-3 in the back with a fresh oil change:

$100 engine hoist courtesy of Harbor Freight and coupon FTW:

We placed it on a pallet and forklift to get it in storage until I can start tearing it apart:

Finally a token 'in the engine bay' shot I'm sure Turbojohnny will appreciate:

For the first time doing this it really wasn't too hard. Fluid mess everywhere, but overall pretty straight forward.

 

we need a collection of these photos^^, nice work man

 

nice to see the progress!