Shiting Plans and Life: Get fucking into it with Tomtation.

[Tomtation]

Hello shiters, i've been 5/8 wafting around for the last few days in the Saab floppytop, it is MEGA! I love it. Of course it needs a few jobs doing but I think 3k is a reasonable price for a good usable project for one of these? Prices seem to vary a lot, some of the really good turbo's seem to be advertised at anything up to ~10k 😱.

Stop no.1 post collection for poo break, coffee, pez (I FORGOT PEX PICK AAAH!) and most importantly Sunglasses.

I mentioned it was a 5/8 wafter, the front NS shock absorber is fucked, and one of the rear ones is a bit weak, there is also a major clunk over imperfect road surfaces, it's lovely on the motorway but irritating around the village lanes by me... Nevertheless driving it home from Brighton-ish on Monday in blazing, glorious sunshine with the top down the ENTIRE way was magic. It even has a decent bluetooth radio, so I connected my phone up and blasted an interesting mix of country tunes or Lady Gaga, i'm not sure if all the looks I got from ppl were because I looked that cool or because of the music choices 🤣

My initial thoughts:

1. Suspension needs looking at sharpish, a full set of shocks and bushes, at least one ball joint
2. It runs a bit lumpy at idle and light throttle, there's no SH apart from many stamps in the service book so I'll be going through all the ignition and fuel service items, it's running rich I think and there may be an exhaust leak somewhere up front by the smell. Sellers mechanic suggested looking at the MAF but we'll see what occurs after a service and investigation.
3. Roof is really good, a small amount of sealing required on each side of the glass window, otherwise spot on.
4. Wheels are FIT AS FUCK, cheapo tyres but almost new.
5. One wiper blade fucked the other new. Why?!
6. Heater stuck on full hot so that defo needs looking at! I'm told there's a UJ in the dash that is the likely culprit, accessible through the dash top speaker holes (see 8.)
7. A small bit of lacquer peel on the boot and bonnet, only really noticeable in full sun, the rest of the paint is so good it will be worth getting this done I think.
8. Front speakers fucked, they need replacing. Rear speakers awesome, appears to be a subwoofer because of BASS.

I think my coolness ratings have increased eleventy billion fold 😎

 

[cort1977]

Very nice, I somehow missed this before.  By coincidence my wife* is about to take delivery of one of these so will follow yours with interest.

[dome]

That Saab is FUCKING LUSH! I love a classic 900

Re the bushes/clunking-a really fucked shock could be the cause of your clunking. If you can't find an obviously worn bush I'd see how it goes with new shocks. 

Not so sure about Lady Gaga but I love a bit of country. Carry on!

[KitKat]

  On 09/06/2021 at 14:43, dome said:

Re the bushes/clunking-a really fucked shock could be the cause of your clunking. If you can't find an obviously worn bush I'd see how it goes with new shocks. 

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Good suggestion. The rear shocks on these very often suffer from the bottom bolts seized in the sleeves, and it’s a bastard to get to them to cut them because of the design of the trailing arm, so they’re often just left to get worse until the shock is absolutely shagged. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

thay colour is gawjuss

[chaseracer]

  On 21/05/2021 at 21:11, Tomtation said:

The BX is where it was the last time i updated this... A bit disappointed with myself about that. Although we are doing a roadtrip to the south of France next year in it with 30 odd other classic citroen nutters 😀

 

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You too?  See you in Dieppe!

[Tomtation]

I've spent hours writing this and the damn work computer won't post it, then lost the first 2/3 of waffle about my French fancies. So now I'm editing this on my phone ffs.

 

Anyway, it's been 2 bloody years! Much in life has happened and there has been plenty of life/house/vehicular progress, some of which is posted below. Fucking technology...

 

Volvo 740 Hearse - Much much progress has been made, the engine is almost finished and due to be re-inserted in a few weeks. Things have gotten a little out of hand, I've had the turbo serviced and turned into a hybrid (bigger compressor wheel and ground out casing etc), upgraded the injectors, gasket matched and port/polished the exhaust ports, started gasket matching the inlet ports and manifold, got a buddy to do an ECU/EZK chip and had the 531 'performance' head refurbished. I'm hoping for low 200's bhp wise  I'm booked to go to Retrorides Mallory park event in this, so you lot may be exposed to a lunatic attempting to drift a hearse with soft suspension 🤣

 

Before gasket matching, outrageous.

 

 

 

After gasket matching

 

 

 

 

Now I have 3 weeks to do a block gasket refresh, paint and reassemble! I've started...

 

 

 

Lexus hybrid - is awesome and still GLF! It is however at an age/mileage where stuff needs doing, tricky stuff like ball joints, wishbone bushes and apparently rusty rear subframes on a 2007 Lexus??! It also uses oil and I don't know why (PCV valve done already). The wishbone bushes I'm pretty sure I can do but the ball joints are supposed to be an absolute fucker of a job, you just cannot get to the top bolt (you need to separate the joint to slide the bolt down through and undo the nut as it drops) and they are so tight that most tools won't split it - that is if you can get the tool in there. Worse, you can't just smack the hell out of it with a BFO hammer, there is no space to swing. So we'll see about those.

 

 

Saab 900 - will shortly be for sale, I have waaaaay too much on to give it the love and attention (read: welding) it really deserves. However, I have really really really enjoyed it over the last 2 years and will have a convertible again when things are a little less hectic! It has received a lot of love from me but is just so needy, so if you fancy a go I'll do an ad soon. Just know that from a distance it's beautiful, but closer there are many imperfections, the lacquer peel has gotten quite bad on the bonnet and boot too.

 

 

 

Keep shiting folks!

[Tomtation]

As far as the French fancies go, i'll just leave these here pending an update...

(Driveway, caravan and nice house not mine...)

[mk2_craig]

That GT is the spit of the one my mate Boff crashed when he was 18. Epic stuff! 

[Tomtation]

  On 13/06/2023 at 08:44, mk2_craig said:

That GT is the spit of the one my mate Boff crashed when he was 18. Epic stuff! 

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Sad times about the crash, but it does seem a common colour for the MK1 BXs this 'bleu romantique'.