SAAB 900 NG convertible: AKA Operation Deathtrap

[RichardMoss]

I purchasd this slice of Swedish loveliness* on Autoshite a few weeks ago.  I'd never had a Swedish car before and with a fresh MOT it seemed like a good idea.  A 1996 900 convertible, to be precise - fresh MOT and £400.  I've always wanted a SAAB and who could resist a car made in a town called Uusikaupunki (which I think is pronounced "you-see-cow-poon-key" - works best with a northern accent!)

 

Time was short because I was on holiday and other things to do and the fact that the SAAB turned out to be a bit of a shed, to be frank, and needed/needs a lot of work.  The first thing to say is that although it had a six-week old MOT, there is absolutely no way on earth that it should have had one. The brake discs were heavily corroded and warped, the unions on the brake flexi pipes heavily corroded and some rigid brake pipes are a bit crusty.  You can see some of the brake pipe issues in the photos below. I am seriously tempted to report the testing garage to VOSA - and would do if it hadn't been for the fact that I've had to fix some of the problems just to make it safe to use.  Also THREE of the tyres were so badly cracked and split (on sidewalls and treads) that they were clearly unsafe - so they have had to be replaced (thank you to Northallerton Tyre and Battery for an excellent price on supplying and fitted some Nexens)

Faults include (but are not limited to):
All four brake discs rusty as **** and juddering like hell.
Front pads worn and friction material coming away from the backing
Rusty brake pipes
Rusty fuel pipes
All hose clips on fuel filler pipes rusted through and detached
Back box blowing
Radio not working (code needed)
Electric hood mechanism knackered (this I knew)
Iffy repair patches (badly) welded on rear end of sills
holes on rear arches - not major
etc. etc.

On the plus side the engine is good, the ride is smooth, the car is generally quiet and refined and I rather like it.

So, I replaced all four discs and both sets of pads - discovering in the process that the earliest New Generation 900s have many mechanical parts that are different from the later ones, meaning that some can be tricky to find from motor factors (some are shared with mk3 Cavaliers and other Vauxhalls).  However, Neo Brother on Waltham Cross are brilliant - decent prices, fast delivery and they really know their stuff.
Some pictures:  

Brown brakes:



New discs and pads:



The fuel filler pipe split (or was already split) and I only found out after sticking £50 worth of petrol into it - and watching £25 of it run out!



Rusty/failed hose clips



Culprit and replacement hose (note I taped up the original to stop loads of fuel escaping whilst I waited for the replacement parts):



Fitted:



Breather pipe clips replaced


The car is now fuel tight and stops properly . I also replaced one chafed radiator hose (rubbed on a bracket and VERY close to going through), distributor cap and rotor arm and cleaned up/painted much of the underneath.  Now that I'm back in the UAE work has had to stop but I may send it down to my father-in-law's local garage to get the brake flexi hoses replaced and any dodgy lengths of rigid pipe sorted out.

Dynamically it's not the best in the world - it does suffer some scuttle shake but is MUCH more refined than Mrs M's 200 cabrio in every respect.  I have to say that although the repairs have cost me as much as I spent on buying the car, I like it.  I will need to do a bit of bodywork, sort out the radio, try to fix the floppy gear linkage and so on but it's a nice car to drive.  I also have a plan for fixing the ridiculously complicated automatic hood mechanism by re-wiring it to bypass the million-and-one microswitches in the setup.

[Bobthebeard]

It's

A. 1996 Saab

B. It was £400.

What could possibly go right?

[RichardMoss]

What could possibly go right?

[CortinaDave]

I was thoroughly delighted to see the back of my 9-3 convertible as it disappeared into the distance tonight after a year of non stop woe.

 

Guy paid the full £1100 seemed delighted and drove off into the sunset. Apparently it's a present for his girlfriend. I hope she has more luck with it than I did.

 

I'd love a classic 900 convertible, but I'm staying clear of these GM jobs from now on.

[londonm]

Not bad in all honesty for 400 notes, you sound let down by it? What were you expecting?

[RichardMoss]

Not bad in all honesty for 400 notes, you sound let down by it? What were you expecting?

I suppose I was expecting the MOT to be reasonably genuine, rather than having been done over the phone by the seller describing the car to his mate the tester (a few assumptions there - but probably not far off the mark).

 

I know that an MOT is no guarantee of roadworthiness but as the test certificate was less than 6 weeks old, I would have liked it to at least have been roadworthy on the day of the test, which it clearly could not have been!  The photos of the brake discs don't do it justice - they were unbelieveably rusty and most definitely unsafe, yet didn't even elicit an advisory on the test.   Ditto the brake pipes.

 

Still, discs and pads are done so only the pipes to put right.

 

I'll get it in shape in time

[autofive]

most of the things that make you think it was a dodgy MOT could have been changed or damaged after the MOT and for 400 quid it still seems a good buy

[alfetta]

who did the MOT? I need someone to pass my mx5

[RichardMoss]

most of the things that make you think it was a dodgy MOT could have been changed or damaged after the MOT and for 400 quid it still seems a good buy

They could have been - IF the car had been driven any further than one trip home from the test.  However, it hadn't. 

[londonm]

Dodgy MOT aside, I still think it's good for £400.00? I wouldn't have been expecting concourse.

[londonm]

To put it in context, your entire car cost the same as a little respray on my motor the other day.

[RichardMoss]

Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining about the price (£400 to buy and as much again to make it safe) - my gripe is with the dodgy MOT. I know my way around cars, I had already decided to give it the once over when I bought it but a mechanical novice could still be driving around in it thinkin that it was OK "because it has an MOT" - as many people do.

[Sigmund Fraud]

In all honesty, I don't think that any of the faults you identified would have been spotted by the average MoT tester during a standard 30-minute test.

 

There are some anally retentive testers out there that will go over your car with a fine-toothed comb and advise on pretty much anything that is not brand new. But most of them have to work within very strict timeframes, so problems can be missed.

[RichardMoss]

Really? You don't think that an MOT tester can look through the alloy wheels and see heavily corroded brake discs or when underneath see fuel hose clips that have rotted through and snapped? Have a look at the photo of my car -I reckon that 80% of the brake disc/caliper is visible through those alloy wheels.

 

On any number of occasions I have received advisories for light corrosion on brake discs,a phenomenon which is clearly visible through most wheels!

 

Who does your MOTs? Stevie Wonder?

[Sigmund Fraud]

We clearly have very different expectations from an MoT test.

 

One possible explanation is that my MoT tester is visually impaired and the tests are actually undertaken by his guide labrador.

 

An alternative explanation, which I suggested above, is that testers are human beings, prone to error and fatigue, who may find it difficult to examine a fairly complex machine in a fair bit of detail within less than 30 minutes.

 

Anyway, we can agree to disagree on that. I must say your 900 looks lovely, and kudos for spending an amount equal to its value to sort it out properly.

[RichardMoss]

It will need another few hundred quid spent on it to make it nice, but as has been said earlier, it was pretty cheap to begin with.