The new adventures of Brownnova! Another Saab joins the fleet… 13/10/24

[wesacosa]

22 hours ago, brownnova said:

 

Oh… there’s the Yugo…. 

 

 

 

Still loving the Yugo.  Can't remember if I asked before but what's the story with those graphics? They look too wacky even for 90s dealer fit

[brownnova]

7 hours ago, wesacosa said:

Still loving the Yugo.  Can't remember if I asked before but what's the story with those graphics? They look too wacky even for 90s dealer fit

They were fitted by the original owner’s husband. She said she kept losing the small white hatchback in car parks so they put stickers up the side to help it stand out.

If and when I get it back on the road the stickers will stay, and any which are compromised by the rusty panels will be replaced as my brother does vinyl graphics as a part of his business. 

[wesacosa]

Nice story. Normally if I bought a car stuff like that would be the first thing in the bin but on this I'd definitely keep them 

You may have already seen on his own posts but we now have a Yugo botherer over in Serbia, @IronStar who maybe able to help with any hard to get parts once it comes to that point 

[IronStar]

I’m happy to source any bits you may need and send them over to you.  Mostly everything is still available to buy in a shop or in classifieds for not much money. As part of my Yugo bothering, I bought a parts store that was closing with tons of random bits (I have something like 300 exhaust hangers 🤦‍♂️), and have disassembled an entire car with its bits sitting around my garage now.
Plenty of NOS panels available for sale in Serbia as well.

[brownnova]

9 hours ago, IronStar said:

I’m happy to source any bits you may need and send them over to you.  Mostly everything is still available to buy in a shop or in classifieds for not much money. As part of my Yugo bothering, I bought a parts store that was closing with tons of random bits (I have something like 300 exhaust hangers 🤦‍♂️), and have disassembled an entire car with its bits sitting around my garage now.
Plenty of NOS panels available for sale in Serbia as well.

This is really good news!!! I definitely have some parts I’ll need, and some bits I know I’ll find hard to get here. Not sure how I hadn’t pegged a Yugo fan on here! 

[IronStar]

5 minutes ago, brownnova said:

This is really good news!!! I definitely have some parts I’ll need, and some bits I know I’ll find hard to get here. Not sure how I hadn’t pegged a Yugo fan on here! 

Anything you need!

Only bits I probably can’t get are RHD specific ones such as dash. All other bits are fair game. Anything I have in the garage as an extra you can have under the going rate 😄

[brownnova]

10 minutes ago, IronStar said:

Anything you need!

Only bits I probably can’t get are RHD specific ones such as dash. All other bits are fair game. Anything I have in the garage as an extra you can have under the going rate 😄

I’ll start making a list! Brake calipers and the panel underneath the windscreen are key bits for sure. 
 

I’ll have a look and draw up a list! 

[stuboy]

On 09/07/2024 at 00:41, brownnova said:

Still here… gathering dust… 

is it a 2 rear lighter or later 4 rear lighter?

[IronStar]

2 minutes ago, brownnova said:

I’ll start making a list! Brake calipers and the panel underneath the windscreen are key bits for sure. 
 

I’ll have a look and draw up a list! 

Not sure of that panel is inverse for RHD wipers?  Can you do some measurements so I compare it to mine?

I have an extra set of brake calipers you can have for the postage. Original type, same as yours. However I’d recommend you to go for a newer type, that’s shared with Florida (or Sana as you know it in the UK). They should bolt right up to your carriers, they clear the 13inch wheels , and are peanuts to buy as well. 
I upgraded mine to 257 discs off a Bravo I think, but you need 14inch wheels for this.

[brownnova]

55 minutes ago, IronStar said:

Not sure of that panel is inverse for RHD wipers?  Can you do some measurements so I compare it to mine?

I’ll have a look… no idea. 

 

55 minutes ago, IronStar said:

have an extra set of brake calipers you can have for the postage. Original type, same as yours. However I’d recommend you to go for a newer type, that’s shared with Florida (or Sana as you know it in the UK). They should bolt right up to your carriers, they clear the 13inch wheels , and are peanuts to buy as well. 

Ok, I’d have to look at where I could get those from. Thank you for the tip! 

[brownnova]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

is it a 2 rear lighter or later 4 rear lighter?

Later 4

[IronStar]

22 minutes ago, brownnova said:

I’ll have a look… no idea. 

 

Ok, I’d have to look at where I could get those from. Thank you for the tip! 

You probably never got the newer type in the UK. They are plentiful here, and I’m happy to get them from the breakers and send it to you along with the rest of the stuff. 
 

I see it’s missing the rear wiper arm, I should have that spare as well I think. Common “mod” is Punto rear wiper arm as that fits the spline of the wiper. 
 

[richardmorris]

25 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Later 4

I see you’ve let the children crayon all over it.

[brownnova]

It’s a one in from me! And yes, yet another Saab! This is the third Saab convertible to pass through my hands.

Story is thus: 

Having sold the Blue Saab to DirtyDaily (which he then sold to Purplebargeken) I went on the quest for a new steed…. Originally the plan was for a diesel 93, but then I got distracted and started looking for something different that I fancied owning and would do a decent job of the commute. I looked at Rover 75s, a Renault 19, an older Saab convertible, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta… and that is just the stuff I went to view locally! But nothing was right… 

Then a late night look at cars for sale within about 50 miles and this pops up in Llangollen.

A viewing later and it seems a good one… 

A 93 diesel in 16v flavour as denoted by the red T

Silver isn’t really my thing, but the grey wheels really work imo.

One thing worthy of further investigation… 

I wonder if it’s been breathed on… 

Drove really well all the way home, and bar needing a bloody good clean there isn’t too much to do with it… should be ideal for the commute! Wonder if it’ll be dry enough to have the roof down this week? 

[Split_Pin]

Nice!

Hirsch was a factory approved catalogue you could buy from, a bit like Irmscher and Vauxhall/Opel at the same time. There might be tuning bits, there might just be cosmetics - who knows!

Gotta say, I'm hankering after another 93 Convertible again.

[Keymaster]

Top work!

[brownnova]

16 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Hirsch was a factory approved catalogue you could buy from, a bit like Irmscher and Vauxhall/Opel at the same time. There might be tuning bits, there might just be cosmetics - who knows!

Ah, I did wonder if it might just be cosmetics… I’ll try and contact them and see if they can divulge that information to me! 

[Split_Pin]

I seem to recall if you give them your VIN number they can check.

[hairnet]

3 hours ago, brownnova said:

 

 

 

Will laugh anc point on way home later

[brownnova]

The sun was sort of out when I left work… so I couldn’t resist…

Needs a minor bit of assistance to get the tonneau down, but it works! 

In other news, this is the first car I have bought for myself which features a touch screen…

And the key test… does it come with a free CD already in the player…. 

Im tempted to put that one back through the sellers letter box!  

[Keymaster]

Hirsch, Bose and Nav! That thing must have had EVERY option box ticked 

[Split_Pin]

I think you made the right choice over a 75.

[MAF260]

Saab looks great. I'm still loving mine, been doing a few jobs on it, will update my progress thread soon.

[brownnova]

11 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I think you made the right choice over a 75.

Me too… I think I needed to try it and the others to realise that the Saab was the one for me!

[brownnova]

In other news one out today as well.

The Volvo V70 I had picked up for someone else (after a late night drunken ebay bid from him) and has been here nearly 2 months. I’ve done about 750 trouble free miles in it. Opened my eyes to how good these V70s are… quite sad to see it go off to a new owner today. The chap who bought it off eBay never even saw it 😂

 

[brownnova]

So, it might not look like a big difference… but this has had the full cleaning experience… 

Whilst from 10 meters it looked clean up close you could see that it hasn’t been that well cleaned. All the nooks and crannies were rather algael! Lots of green in the boot shut, in the plastic trim etc.

It is no longer an Algael car, and all the corners, trim inserts and edges are clean. The car is remarkably scuff free. The roof has a few more stubborn marks, but I’ve cleaned and protected it with Autoglyms finest roof protector, which I still had in stock from one of my previous Saab Convertibles! 

Interior is also nice and tidy now too. Leather treated and fed. 

A week of using it and now a good clean… what have we learnt?

Firstly, it seems as though pretty much everything works. The one thing that doesn’t are the parking sensors. But everything else does. It drives really well, and feels rather more rapid than expected. It’s far tighter and better together than the last one of these I had. 

The only minor niggles appears to be a chuggy idle on the second start up of the day. Always fine in the morning. But when I leave work it’s a lot of vibration, which clears after about 30 seconds.

There is definitely a slight leak into the cabin somewhere, only very minor. Some minor bubbling on one arch too… 

But, the overriding feeling is that I’m very very pleased with the purchase - especially for the price I paid! Moreover, all three kids (including the teenager who is rarely impressed by anything) like it and the wife had a drive today and was very impressed. I know Saabs suit me, and I love having the roof down. But this one seems to be a good one which feels like I can have confidence to take me anywhere. Plus, being a diesel suits my 20 miles of A55 commuting. The six speed box is lovely… when I remember to select 6th rather than leave it in 5th! 

I sensed with the last one I had that I liked them as a car, but found the foibles on that particular one too irritating. But I’m glad after trying other things it was clear that this is what I want.

This one just seems spot on.

Which will probably mean it grenades tomorrow… 😂