Project Saab 900 (lost my mojo and now sold).

[sierraman]

Completely understand why you've done the arch how you've done it. It's hopefully stemmedthe rust for a bit and it's turned out good.

[tooSavvy]

Completely understand why you've done the arch how you've done it. It's hopefully stemmedthe rust for a bit and it's turned out good.

 

I think Wob gets a bad press* here.... 

 

* .... pausing to read about Winter of Discontent, whilst reapplying schutz to my inners 

 

 

TS

[sierraman]

It just depends, I wouldn't advocate trowelling it on over rusty E Type Sills, but on the other hand if it gets you another 5-6 years out of a patch which would otherwise get worse I can't see a problem with that.

 

If the cars at a low value there's nothing wrong with it as a repair to keep the car on the road. It's all relative. I did it a few years back on a Fiesta wheel arch, ground it back and patched with some P40. It outlasted the car in the end so it kept it looking presentable. Some might say weld in a new arch and you've sorted it out, but it's a big job welding arches on not to mention the associated grinding and matching into the panel.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I'd be more than happy with those arch repairs - the arch covers actually suit it well. As you say they aren't structural and are now solid.

 

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

[Adrian_pt]

Looks good - congratulations - haven't seen a 2 door for a while. Have a 90 in red, which is the same but with a 99 front end - terrific car and surprisingly swift. How's the headlining?!

[Joey spud]

Ah the headlining was replaced about three years back so all good.

 

There was a red 90 on ebay around the same time i found this one,i was tempted...

Rain has stopped play for today but yesterday i was having a go at polishing out the wiper arc scratches on the screen using a cheap kit and electric drill.

It didn't totally remove them but after a couple of hours and a few drill recharges they are now sufficiently reduced that they can't be felt with my finger nail anymore.

[Joey spud]

 

 

Fitting of the rear arches covers can wait until i improve the previous welded repairs on the ends of the sills.

 

I went for a short run out around the lanes yesterday and it is a lovely thing to pilot.

Two things i noticed though firstly the heater is stuck on hot and there is a bit of wear on the clutch pedal linkage somewhere causing about an inch of free play at the pedal.

[chatsharris]

I'm loving this project thread, it's looking really good already!

[Joey spud]

Been looking for a rear spoiler for my 900 for months now.

Hatch and convertable ones pop up on ebay most weeks but booted version ones seem to have gone from the face of the earth.

 

Then the other week one turned up listed as suitable for a 900 saloon,the images were not great but the seller said he had owned it for years but never got around to fitting it to his car.

I won it for £40 including postage and when it arrived it looked nearly new but alas it dont fit my boot.

The seller said sorry and post it back but i looked at it and thought i could possibly make it fit.

Then i had a google and realised it was actually a mega rare Saab 99 saloon item so it seemed a shame to mod it to fit mine.

 

I placed it back on ebay with my now suspected correct fitment details and had two guys fighting over it and it resold for £150.

That kind of thing never happens to me.

[Joey spud]

I had noticed the car was a little hesitant and flat when pulling away so i dug out my old timing light and twisted the distributor body a few mm until the marks aligned as per the info in my Haynes book of lies,this helped but it still wasn't right.
I checked that the distibutor vac advance unit was ok by sucking on its pipe while the engine was running and sure enough the revs came up so that seemed fine.

In the paperwork that came with the car there was an emissions printout taken at its last mot and this showed the CO was rather low at 0.6% so i had a bit of wiggle room to increase that and gave the mixture screw about a 1/2 of a turn clockwise.
Then i reset the now too high idle speed and noticed that the throttle damper unit wasn't correctly fitted either so wound that in so it now acts against the throttle arm and does its job of slowly dropping the idle.
All of this and a splash of injector cleaner in the tank has made a big improvement
.
I use Rock Auto in the U.S for my hard to find Subaru Brat bits and tend to get a big order together to make the postage less painful and while i was getting Subaru bits recently i had a look at what 900 bits they could do too.

These dealer close out (old stock) plug leads cost me £3.85



The next work to be attended to was a couple of nasty bits inside the drivers front wing and around the jacking point.
In the past it has had welding done to the driveshaft/chassis area and it isn't great to be honest just an mot patch up rather than a quality repair.
This bit of the inner wing closes a box section that the bottom arm bolts to so needed cutting away and the lower part of the panel behind it replacing before plating over again.




This little thing is growing on me and even her indoors got in it the other day and after a quiet few miles had to admit the curved windscreen and chunky window winder handles had a certain charm.

[Joey spud]

I had cause to look under the carpeted boot floor where the spare and tools lived the other day and was dismayed to find what looked like a pool of urine sloshing around.


I was relieved to find i didn't have a tramp squatting in the car as it was only rain water so i gave the boot seal and rear lights a good soaking with the garden hose and the most likely culprit was the drivers side rear lamp

I removed them both and sure enough the caulking type sealant was missing or dried out,i didn't have any silicon to hand so refitted them using Tiger Seal which is going to make them structural now and a bugger if i need to get them back out again in the future.


.
While i was playing at the rear i decided to look at the slightly skew whiff back bumper so took it off.It has been rattle canned in the past so has gone up the shed for future improvement.



Then i did the classic school boy error of picking at a brown scab behind the back seat.
.







And i think my door lock is a bit worn too



Anyone know if the door locks are handed as i thought i could swap the driver and unused passenger locks over but leave the passenger one unconnected.

[bezzabsa]

Gorgeous old barges......don't think i've ever seen a saloon , only hatches..

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

These were such good cars - love the economy arch repairs!

[Six-cylinder]

I used to have one, some time ago.

[Joey spud]

Very nice Saab there.

 

Do you recall if the gold stripes were factory applied as i have never seen them on a 900 ?

 

They look a bit Saab 99 Turbo/EMS stylee.

[Six-cylinder]

Very nice Saab there.

 

Do you recall if the gold stripes were factory applied as i have never seen them on a 900 ?

 

Sorry I don't know about the strips, I would have asked the seller if I had know I was going to be asked that question 20 years later! Yes I bought it in 1996 and sold it in 1997, it was a stop gap car while I was having a 1975 Merceded 280CE restored for daily use. It was a good car that never put a foot wrong, but I had a Mercedes to use instead so I sold it. Strangely I bought another Saab this week, this time a 1998 9-3 Turbo convertible.

[Joey spud]

When i was a little kid playing with toy cars took up most of my time fourty years on i am still playing with cars but have recently realised i'm not overly enjoying it these days.

So i am quite suprised i have got out side in mid November and done some more Saab fettling.

The rust in the o/s rear sill / arch area that i knew was there but hadn't looked at too closely spread once i started poking at it to include the floor as well.
The mot is up in March so i figured it's warmer in November than March so i best get on and tidy it up now,i don't have the luxury of a garage so everything i do is on a gravel surface outside my house.

Here is how the grot grew.




In front of the wheel is a little mudflap that collects dirt around its mounting and rots the floor out.







Despite a lack of images all the weak bits were cut away using a cutting disc on a grinder and i made plates to out of 1.2mm zintec to replace the damage.
It's not very tidy i'm afraid as i can't get my mojo up to speed when its cold outside but its way better than the previous repairs of banging a patch over a rotted panel.

 

 

 

Red oxide and a coat of rubbery tiger seal has now been applied and left to cure fully before i top coat it tomorrow.

[Joey spud]

I have been after a boot spoiler for months and got lucky when a guy on the Saab Uk forum offered me one that he was thinking of fitting to his 900 Convertable (a kind of double spoiler hybrid !!) but thought better of it.

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

It's held on with five nuts and lots of double sided tape and obviously like an impatient muppet i drilled the first set of holes in totally the wrong place but luckily they were still covered by the spoiler.

 

Back in the 80's when i was in my late teens a black rubber bumper on a Saab or xr3i was seen as the ultimate in coolness around these parts and i have lusted after one for years.

[Joey spud]

My rear bumper looked a bit rough strangely it had been rubbed down with a DA sander then painted with a gloss black rattle can

It wasn't pretty to say the least so i bought a can of this trim repair paint for £7.90 from ebay.

 

 

I used thinners to clean the old paint from the bumper and just sprayed a few coats of the K2 stuff on not really expecting miracles but this stuff is the mutts nuts.

 

 

It's easy to recreate a realistic textured finish by varying how close you hold the can from the surface and the colour has a slightly charcoal black hue to it.

 

Something good from ebay shocker..

[Zelandeth]

That's worth remembering!  Can see that being handy if presented with scuffed bumper ends and the alternative is to replace the whole thing...

 

Really need to start thinking about what to do with my C900...

[Joey spud]

I just about finished the o/s rear arch repair today.

The welded bits were triple coated with rattle can stone chip and that will do.

 

Then it was the messy task of applying lots black Tiger seal to the arch lip and inside the arch trim before setting it into position and taping it on until it cured.

 

 

 

 

So that's three down one to go..

[bezzabsa]

much likey going on ........

[Guest Hooli]

 

Back in the 80's when i was in my late teens a black rubber bumper on a Saab or xr3i was seen as the ultimate in coolness around these parts and i have lusted after one for years.

 

Years ago when I was a yoof & put a rubber spoiler on a Mk3 Escort I made sure the bolt holes were in the right place by lining the spoiler up & twatting the top of it with a big hammer. Then I drilled the middle of the dents the bolts made & it fitted first time.

[Talbot]

Then i did the classic school boy error of picking at a brown scab behind the back seat.

 

As Arthur Scargill found out in the 1984 coal miners strike.  If you pick it, it won't get better.

[Joey spud]

The weather is sort of improving and so i have ventured outside to get the Saabs final bit of grot sorted.

I never realised how well these cars can rot underneath although this one has been well undersealed from new it seems damp has got under the old flakey coating and caused havoc plus the mud flaps have collected years of wet crud and rotted out the inner arches.

Front of inner arch / end of sill.






So thats whats lurking in the passenger rear arch and end of sill area.

 

Someone has been there before and patched the outter arch and bit of boot floor too.

 

It's just a cheap fun car so i can only cut out and patch it in a workman like fashion as my mojo is still hiding under the duvet.

 

Plus looking on Ebay there are currently two sister cars that appear less grotty than mine selling for not much coin.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Saab-900-I-classic/273144488267?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49138%26meid%3D3156ece0e13e42ee96e98548e257feba%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D192499643298%26itm%3D273144488267&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAAB-1989-Classic-900i-2-door-saloon/192499643298?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

[Joey spud]

I got my arse in gear when the sun came out last week and started to replace the missing inner arches and end of the sill.







This was simply cutting out the weak metal and stitching nice new 1.2mm Zintec and took just a couple of hours tops.
The hard bit was dealing with the grot that lived behind the mud flap as this had spread into the inner and outter rear wing as well as the boot floor.

[Joey spud]

It sort of looked ok from the outside but from in the boot there was still a few bits of metal missing.

 

Just needs a bit more Tiger seal and some Stone Chip paint splashing around and that's all the grotty bits cut out and plated.

 

I never realised these things could rot out in such strange places.

And as they're still worth sod all it's easy to see why they get broken up rather that fixed.

[Joey spud]

 

That'll bloody do.

 

Just need to see why the clutch tends to drag a bit when its hot and persuade someone to issue an mot for it.

[Talbot]

Every photo of this car seems to show it as a different shade of red. I think I'd describe it as "tomato soup" coloured.

 

Good job on the arch covers. They look a fair bit better than the el-cheapo edge covers that were on it originally. Looks a lot smarter for them.

[Parky]

Liking this, some simple fixes have taken years off this car