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I boughted a Saab


Uncle Jimmy

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  • 2 weeks later...

Steel is approx 1.4mm thick, Saab used heavier gauge stuff than most. I have no English wheel or stretching kit so have to make do with pleating stuff to get some curves and using whatever comes to hand in terms of blocks of wood, steel and hammering to get the right profiles. I do have a sheet metal brake which struggles to do the thicker stuff.

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  • 11 months later...

Then got to work on the box which surrounds the nearside front suspension.

The offside is very good but the nearside is heavily pitted and areas rotted out from around the two cutouts. One welded up today, will cut out and replace metal around the second later next week.

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Getting very close to finishing the weldathon around the engine bay/front valance inner front wings.

Next step will be to finish painting and any underseal in that area, then on to prepping the engine and gearbox ready to return to the car.

Then I'll be able to punt the car on and off ramps and do the repairs to the footwells and floorpan.

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Also bought a Jetex exhaust system this weekend, a most unshitely £275...

Since I've reluctantly sold the Volvo I reckon it's allowable and actually not much more than welding up one myself, which would have to be mild steel too. It'll be much smoother inside too.

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The last* bit of welding done to the engine bay/inner front wings area completed. No work today or tomorrow so time to do a bit on the ugly Swede and fixed the nearside indicator on the W124 which mysteriously ejected itself out of its home orifice on Sunday. A soldering iron and some bits of thermoplastic from a power tool carry case and the tabs were back in place :)

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The extra strengthening strap which the suspension bolt passes through is a pretty accurate copy of the other side; shows how 'handmade' these old Saabs were.

I recently found detailed photos of some of the homologation rally cars from the early 70s. I may copy some of the braces they added to them on my car, it's very simple stuff to make and tack on, in fact there was very little required to the Saabs to make them strong enough for rallying.

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OK, done a couple of hours more today, wire brushed the hell out of the new bits and any rusty areas and then gave the lot a good dousing with some rust remedy, followed by a bloody good clean with some thinners soaked rags.

Finally a couple of coats of high build cellulose primer.

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Thankfully there was only surface rust and some pitting at the bottom of the firewall, that's the one really nasty spot where these Saabs rot.

There's a lot of pitting on the floorpan in places which if I can be arsed I'll fill with some bondo tomorrow. Then a couple of coats of seaweed green and it's engine refurb time :D

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The big question with the engine is whether I stick to my original plan of a scrub up, Jetex exhaust, twin choke intake manifold and a bit of exhaust manifold work....or whether I loose the plot and get the engine and gearbox rebuilt with strengthened internals, big valves and bored out another 200cc. This involves a new crankshaft, forged Pinto pistons as well as the head work so it ain't cheap!

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The big question with the engine is whether I stick to my original plan of a scrub up, Jetex exhaust, twin choke intake manifold and a bit of exhaust manifold work....or whether I loose the plot and get the engine and gearbox rebuilt with strengthened internals, big valves and bored out another 200cc. This involves a new crankshaft, forged Pinto pistons as well as the head work so it ain't cheap!

Depends on what you intend to use the car for at the end of all this work?

Personally I prefer the standard engines in cars, but I totally get that they can be hard work nowadays like that. Maybe try it the original plan way and see how it drives. If it still needs more of a kick take it further then?

 

Great job so far though, it’s looking good!

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Tried out a HVLP gun with a bit of cellulose on the floorpan; I bought the gun, an Earlex,to do some emulsion work a couple of years ago- it was hopelessly slow for that but I had a suspicion it would do for a bit of car spraying and I'm already pleased with the results.

I should have turned up the paint volume a bit as it's dry looking but it's good enough for my needs :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Moooo.

Got a bit more done; the last couple of days I've been off work...back tomorrow.

I gave the bulkhead a scrub up with Jizer and rinsed, then ground out every bit of rust I could find, rust remedy, then primed.

Hard work and something many don't like but I find it kinda therapeutic, says much about me I guess...

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Another few hours completed today; was supposed to be going away but that didn't happen so I cracked on, can't sit about for more than about 2 hours before I get bored!

Rubbed down all the primer, filled a few areas with a bit of P38 and went to town with my professional* spray kit. Multo pleased with the result, looks a bit Khaki in this pic, much more sea green in reality. I'll stick another coat on tomorrow if there's time.

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  • 1 month later...

A chunk more work done, to the heater matrix, box and fan.

The steel box was very corroded in places so I welded a couple of patches and stuck the two halves in a water tank for some electrolysis. A few coats of rustoleum sprayed on and a reasonable result, I used the contents of a c1960 can of 'Dum Dum' to seal the two halves.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...

After a hiatus due to overwork I am back at it; done a fair chunk the last couple of days. The gearbox is back in with clutch slave re-bushed. The driveshafts are back in and front suspension and anti roll bar on. I believe I have my car mojo at least partially re-ignited. I'll post some more pics tomorrow. 

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'Box back in, driveshafts connected, top wishbones and steering arms on. Also got one spring back in situ today; not easy, they're very long, 391mm to be precise and needed to be compressed just about as far as is possible to get them in. 

Will get the drivers side spring back in and get front wheels back on. Then it's onto the engine block which I'm now looking forward to immensely. 

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1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

Certainly is.

When are we doing the o/s spring? ?

Soon hopefully...will be good to get the Saab back on its wheels. Thanks again for the assistance both physical and motivational yesterday! Full set of gaskets arrived today so I can make a start on the engine over the weekend.

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