Jump to content

Collecshun Thread - Caught me a Griffin


Steve79

Recommended Posts

When does one come to the realisation that you can have just one car too many and not enough time? I've been mulling this notion over for the last month. I've already got a company car, an XJ8 and the Proton Aeroback, plus the wife is due with our first child in 7-weeks so really should be saving money!

 

I only really get to use the Jag at the weekends and i've only just finished putting in the new radiator for the Proton which i barely drive at all. So what to do? Sell the Jag or sell the Proton? There's no way on Gods green Earth that the Jag is going, and i'm not quite ready to let the Proton go (well maybe not at least for the next few months). So the natural course of action obviously is to buy another car.

 

I don't have many vices, i don't smoke, barely drink and the only real money i spend on myself is the car tax for the Jag and my mobile phone, so wasn't going to feel massively guillty about spending a very small amount on another toy! 

 

I set a myself a limit of £150 and started trawling scumtree and evilbay for likely candidates. Plenty of knackered clio's, corsa's and mk6 fiesta's but none of these are very inspiring. However the parts section yielded a suitable candidate.

 

C89hUdj.png

 

2000W Saab 9-5 2.3T SE Auto Estate with 163k. Initially the pictures didn't make it look that appealing with its scabby looking alloys and flat tyres. But the fact it was a 2.3T which means around 180bhp in standard form and over 230bhp courtesy of noobtune at minimal cost. Thought its got to be worth a look. I was greeted by a slightly sorry looking Saab. Almost every panel is either scratched or dented. MOT is just out but has needed little over the last few years. Owned by the last owner since 2005, it only had 3 keepers and has always been maintained as needed as it was their only family car.

 

Its also suffering from a few warning light issues which SiC reliably informs me could be down to the ABS reductor rings.

 

2Qgj0Qb.jpg

Owner wasn't keen on me driving it with no MOT which is fair enough. I don't normally buy stuff that i can't test drive but he was a top bloke and promised me that it drove fine and that if there were any performance issues on the way home once i'd paid for it then he would give me a full refund. Didn't need to take him up on this though! Had a barter over the price and secured it for £130.00 so i wasn't going pick holes in it.

 

The engine pulls like a train and the box changes through the gears smoothly. I haven't got any pics of the interior yet but the caramac colour leather is a bit cracked and needs treatment and the info display is pixelated like they all are. Owner wasn't keen on me driving it with no MOT which is fair enough. I don't normally buy stuff 

 

Pez shot below

 

1oJt5r9.jpg

 

Car has now been dropped off to be MOT'd to see what failure delights await me

 

MX6AnKv.jpg

LCCiukh.jpg

elT4y7T.jpg

http://CYJnvEo.jpg

Wish me luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great cars and a quick, cheap session with noobtune is money well spent.

 

No idea why they are so cheap, suppose it's down to people being worried about spares. I've had no issues on getting any parts and its quite easy to change the ribbon on the SID to get all the pixels back (I managed to do it).

 

Good luck with the MOT.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paying straight through doesn't surprise me one bit.

 

Nearly bought the aero hot version at auction last year before I got the zafira but it really was a touch too tatty, seemed a lot of oil coming out of the breathers too which apparently is a bad sign on these.

 

Looked through scumtree and found a lovely X plate estate in brizzle with one owner and 55k for a grand, just the auto box that put me off. Zafira is going great now but only after an engine swap so probably for £300 the Saab would have been a better buy.

 

Still, I'm glad to have saved the old girl, she's done me proud since the open heart surgery and is my temporary accommodation during the week in work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paying straight through doesn't surprise me one bit.

 

Nearly bought the aero hot version at auction last year before I got the zafira but it really was a touch too tatty, seemed a lot of oil coming out of the breathers too which apparently is a bad sign on these.

 

Looked through scumtree and found a lovely X plate estate in brizzle with one owner and 55k for a grand, just the auto box that put me off. Zafira is going great now but only after an engine swap so probably for £300 the Saab would have been a better buy.

 

Still, I'm glad to have saved the old girl, she's done me proud since the open heart surgery and is my temporary accommodation during the week in work.

Auto boxes suit these extremely well. Wafty comfort with umfph. It's what converted me to autos.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally got around to collecting this today. There's advisories for a rusty back box which i can live with and a blow from the exhaust system. The general diagnosis is that the blow if coming from the exhaust manifold. It pretty mired in oil as you can see below which looks to be coming from the rocker cover gasket. I'm hoping once i take it off i'm not going to find the dreaded sludge!

 

 

GFNrqs1.jpg

 

BWOHyGQ.jpg

 

Before anyone asks, no, the manifold isn't cracked, from what i can see its supposed to look like this. 

 

The car was filthy when collected from the previous keeper and it was too hot today and couldn't be arsed to clean it myself when the Polish/Romanian guys at one of the local hand car washes (which total at last count is 8 within a 2-miles radius) do such a good job. See the fine fellow hard at work

 

iveJjzn.jpg

 

I didn't think they'd be able to get any of the brake dust on the alloys off as it was absolutely thick with it but fair play to them, they got every last bit off.

 

Whilst mechanically the car seems to have been looked after (oil is still golden colour so looks to have been changed recently), the same cannot be said of the bodywork. Beware the pictures flatter it.

 

124lm4x.jpg

 

9TIqQLX.jpg

dDJl07F.jpg

njBwpr1.jpg

VW163lW.jpg

qwfEn92.jpg

2iqAps9.jpg

i3n4KIM.jpg

 

As you can see, its had its fair share of battle wounds over the years. The attitude of the previous owner was that as long as it was mechanically sound, they weren't bothered about what the car looked like. I'm not even going to bother trying to paint the doors as i think it would be most cost effective to either source replacement doors in the right colour or alternatively not bother at all as i think the woe begone look might grow on me!

 

The interior has fared slightly, only very slightly better. The leather could do with a damn good clean and feed, but is rip free.

 

Behold the caramac goodness

 

qi3qEr6.jpg

7MXJaDQ.jpg

2U69Ptk.jpg

J4kmbmI.jpg

L1pL3xF.jpg

9Ro1Vk5.jpg

CYJnvEo.jpg

 

The interior hasn't seen a good scrubbing since Noah were a lad! This will be one of my priorities as i can live with dirty paint, but not a dirty interior as i feel its akin to lying in someonelses used bedsheets! Also both of the front door grab handles have worn through to the bare plastic and are a funny green colour. They are also very sticky to the touch which makes me want to vom in my mouth everytime i touch them! They are getting replaced at the earliest opportunity!

 

Even though the carpets are cream, they've got this funny black tinge to them. I'm not sure whether this is dirt or that the carpet has worn through to the underlay. If its the latter then i might try and find a good carpet from a breaker.

 

Most pressing job on the list is sorting the SID display which is pixelated. I'm going to have the unit apart over the weekend and try to gain some improvement. Otherwise its off to Simply Saab (local specialist) to get one of their £35.00 'good units' with a 3 month guarantee.

 

Also going to contact noobtune for a price on a stage one remap to 235hp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The mechanic at the garage I use, who had my Tech 2, is on holiday at the moment. :(

 

Looks alright. A bit shabby, but if the oily bits all works, that's a very good start! This age will be one of the ones that are liable to sludge. Must have full-synth oil used. Ideal upgraded PCV system. Iirc the old system had rubber pipes that degraded in the heat of the engine bay (quite a lot of heat produced from the turbo & gearbox) which turned into sludge by the time it got to the sump.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Auto boxes suit these extremely well. Wafty comfort with umfph. It's what converted me to autos.

 

Odd you say that, because I did a lot of miles in the Car Mechanics 9.5 2.3 turbo auto, and thought it was the biggest crock of shit ever. That was a low blow one, but it was so bloody hesitant, and never seemed to be able to select the right gear. Put me right off autos for a while (until I got an Alfa 164 V6, YUM), and Saab 9.5s until I had a go in Twosmoke's manual. That I did like.

 

As one of the last cars with headlamp wipers, I reckon one of these could definitely tempt me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Odd you say that, because I did a lot of miles in the Car Mechanics 9.5 2.3 turbo auto, and thought it was the biggest crock of shit ever. That was a low blow one, but it was so bloody hesitant, and never seemed to be able to select the right gear. Put me right off autos for a while (until I got an Alfa 164 V6, YUM), and Saab 9.5s until I had a go in Twosmoke's manual. That I did like.

 

As one of the last cars with headlamp wipers, I reckon one of these could definitely tempt me.

Certainly not like the 5spd low pressure turbo one that I had and sold to Hooli. Despite a kippered box (when warm) and 210k on the clock. Pulled well and accelerated nicely.

 

If theres was hesitant, sounds like theirs wasn't running right imo.

 

Also was it the 4spd or the later 5spd auto?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Certainly not like the 5spd low pressure turbo one that I had and sold to Hooli. Despite a kippered box (when warm) and 210k on the clock. Pulled well and accelerated nicely.

 

If theres was hesitant, sounds like theirs wasn't running right imo.

 

Also was it the 4spd or the later 5spd auto?

 

I agree, it's a lovely old bus currently even with it's still kippered box. I wonder if theirs had any fluid in the box? it did get a bit like that before I traced the leak on the gearbox oil cooler connections & put about 3ltrs in to top it up. 218k might get seen on the way home today BTW.

 

I'm ignoring all references to noobtune, I can't think of a sillier idea with my dodgy box. Although the engine does feel like one of those which would feel better with a little tweakage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you send the noobtune guy another ECU, he can clone the contents of yours onto the other ECU then apply the tune. That way you can go from stock to tuned by just swapping the ECU. The ECU lives under the wiper scuttle plastic beneath the big rubber boot there. Second hand ECUs can be had off eBay for ~£30 or so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you send the noobtune guy another ECU, he can clone the contents of yours onto the other ECU then apply the tune. That way you can go from stock to tuned by just swapping the ECU. The ECU lives under the wiper scuttle plastic beneath the big rubber boot there. Second hand ECUs can be had off eBay for ~£30 or so.

 

>fingers in ears< lalalalala I can't hear how easy it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The mechanic at the garage I use, who had my Tech 2, is on holiday at the moment. :(

Looks alright. A bit shabby, but if the oily bits all works, that's a very good start! This age will be one of the ones that are liable to sludge. Must have full-synth oil used. Ideal upgraded PCV system. Iirc the old system had rubber pipes that degraded in the heat of the engine bay (quite a lot of heat produced from the turbo & gearbox) which turned into sludge by the time it got to the sump.

Thats the look i was going for 'shabbyshite'

 

Drives really nicely, doesn't bang through gears, kickdown responds well when you give it a boot and looks to have been taken care of mechanically.

 

I'm going to go over the engine bay tomorrow to check if the pcv system has been upgraded. If not then i'm going to get one on order.

 

I'll also need to drop the sump and check what kind of state the strainer is in which is a messy job that i'm not looking forward to. Might farm that out to a mate!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...