Topless Swede - spit & polish

[MAF260]

Time for a couple of pictures?

I’m sure my choice will polarise views. I’ve had this image in my head for so long, so I was a little nervous fitting the new wheels today, hoping the outcome would be favourable.

I’m over the moon! I absolutely love them!

Before:

 

 

Now:

Diamond cut 18” Vauxhall VXR wheels. Tyres have gone from 225/45/17 to 225/40/18, so no difference in rolling radius.

Hopefully the slimmer sidewall won’t make too much difference to the ride, but I’m not really bothered as I love the look!

[MAF260]

[Split_Pin]

Those look marvellous. Did you keep the spacers?

[MAF260]

8 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Those look marvellous. Did you keep the spacers?

I’m glad you approve!

Yes, spacers still fitted. The new wheels must be a similar width and offset as they still fill the arches nicely.

[MAF260]

I’ve ceramic coated them and bought new SAAB wheel centres. The wheel bolts are a little tatty, so I have something coming tomorrow to sort that. Next job will be the big brake conversion, I need to refinish the new calipers and check all the hardware before I do this job in a couple of weeks.

[brownnova]

Yeah, that looks spot on in fairness! 

[MAF260]

With new boots on the outside I further lavished the car with some new tailored floor mats.

Old

New:

[MAF260]

The car then repaid my generosity and kindness with a sweet message:

Ungrateful bastard!

Aside from moving the seats to fit the new mats I can’t see any reason why this has suddenly occurred. I’ve probably disturbed some wiring under a seat - I’ll investigate in due course.

[brownnova]

26 minutes ago, MAF260 said:

The car then repaid my generosity and kindness with a sweet message:

Ungrateful bastard!

Aside from moving the seats to fit the new mats I can’t see any reason why this has suddenly occurred. I’ve probably disturbed some wiring under a seat - I’ll investigate in due course.

Theres a wire which goes by the seat runner next to the transmission tunnel. I knocked that on my old one and got that warning. It was easy to reattach. Hopefully that’s the same on yours. 

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, MAF260 said:

The car then repaid my generosity and kindness with a sweet message:

Ungrateful bastard!

Aside from moving the seats to fit the new mats I can’t see any reason why this has suddenly occurred. I’ve probably disturbed some wiring under a seat - I’ll investigate in due course.

Thats a shame its come back. I had that issue when I bought the car, the proximity sensor right down the left hand side had been ripped out by a careless upholstery repairer. I went to a scrapyard and picked out the whole loom from a seat and re-wired the seat and the light went off. However, about twice in my ownership it briefly came back on but went off after a short drive and never came back. I'd give it a few drives before doing anything more.

One thing I've learned about old Saabs is that their electrics can go a bit senile!

[MAF260]

52 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Thats a shame its come back. I had that issue when I bought the car, the proximity sensor right down the left hand side had been ripped out by a careless upholstery repairer. I went to a scrapyard and picked out the whole loom from a seat and re-wired the seat and the light went off. However, about twice in my ownership it briefly came back on but went off after a short drive and never came back. I'd give it a few drives before doing anything more.

One thing I've learned about old Saabs is that their electrics can go a bit senile!

Thanks, I’ll take a look at some point. I was enjoying being ‘bong free’, but it sadly hasn’t lasted!

Whoever ‘repaired’ that upholstery needs shooting and a career change. The driver’s seat is a joke - thick, mismatched paint slathered on, a lot of it has worn away. I don’t know if the seat can be rescued with a Furniture Clinic kit or not. I don’t want to spend the time and money in vain.  I’ve been on the look out for a replacement seat or pair of seats, so far to no avail.

[Split_Pin]

They also sheared the front right seat bolt and repaired it with.....2 self tappers. Gingernutzz replaced it with a proper bolt so I didn't die in a crash 😆

[MAF260]

11 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

They also sheared the front right seat bolt and repaired it with.....2 self tappers. Gingernutzz replaced it with a proper bolt so I didn't die in a crash 😆

I hope they step on Lego with bare feet!

I’m now also grateful to Mr Nutzz for the lowered likelihood of dying in a crash.

[MAF260]

Also looks good with the top off

 

and I’ve sorted the tatty wheel bolt issue with a cheap fix.

Before:

After:

[Wibble]

That really does look fantastic. Those wheels really suit it and look brilliant.

[MAF260]

A big parcel was delivered today which contains something that might sort a couple of issues...

Any guesses what it could be...?

 

 

 

[Split_Pin]

New driver's seat?

[MAF260]

There are no prizes as it's too easy!

 

A spare driver's seat, of course.

I've been irritated with the state of the driver's seat since I've owned the car. After an initial deep clean I discovered it had been fiddled with by somebody - thick 'paint' of the wrong colour all over the seat front which has led to really bad, deep cracking and has also come off in some places.

I've since found out (one of the benefits of this car being a forum bike!) that it was allegedly professionally 'restored'. Whoever had the temerity to accept money for their shoddy, sub-par efforts must have skin thicker than the heavy, badly-applied coats of thick paint on this seat. Not only was this work a pile of dung, but they wrecked the seat loom and refitted the seat using self tappers (according to Mr Split-Pin of this parish).

I've done some research into a DIY restoration using Furniture Clinic products, but this seat is beyond any decent outcome. The only option I'm left with is to find an unmolested seat in decent condition to either just run with the patina as it is, or use as a good base to try my hand at improving. Finding a suitable seat from an almost 20 year old car in decent condition and at a sensible price has been a challenge. This particular seat was on my watchlist for some months at a price I wasn't willing to pay. Then, 2 days ago, the BiN price halved and I snapped it up. I'm waiting for some Gliptone intensive leather cleaner to arrive before I attack this seat and see how well I can make it come up. I suspect I'll ultimately splurge on the FC kit and have a go at improving both front seats. The new seat came with the seatbelt mechanism - nla and anyting from £100-£200 used, an excellent condition head rest and an undamaged loom - I'm hoping that will resolve my most recent issue with the airbag malfunction warning. More to follow when I've got some time to look at this all.

[MAF260]

Next up to sort is the boot lid. At some point the car has had a rear spoiler fitted - presumably from the witness marks this was a proper Saab Aero rear spoiler. No idea why it was removed, but the work carried out to remedy the old fitment holes and make good must have been done by a paralytic Ray Charles. At night. handcuffed. With the most inappropriate tools available.

 

A replacement boot lid in Laser Red is a tall ask (I've been looking for months). I could likely do a better job of stripping it back, preparing and painting the boot lid, but that's a lot of time and probably expense for an unknown outcome that I likely wouldn't be happy with as I'm very critical of my own work.

Time to think a little laterally - if a spoiler has been fitted before then another could surely be fitted.....?

The factory Aero spoiler is colour coded on all cars; I'm undecided if I like that or not. What's almost certain is that I'm not going to find one in Laser Red. In the spirit of trying to sort this as easily and inexpensively as possible something fell into my lap - a black spoiler with the fitting studs missing. Not only are the spoilers held on with studs, they are also stuck to the boot lid with 3m tape - in my experience this is easily enough to secure a spoiler on its own.

So, a trial fit...

 

I really like it! I like the contrast of the black against the red and best of all it hides the iffy paintwork underneath.

It also pays homage in a way to my late father's favourite of all the Saabs he owned over the years

 

I need to find some strong tape and make this more permanent.

 

 

[Surface Rust]

Stick it on with Sikaflex and it'll never come off again (or it will lift off the Ray Charles handiwork)!

[mk2_craig]

I think that black spoiler is as good an outcome as you could have hoped for under the circumstances. Loving this thread and all the attention the Saaaab is receiving. 

[MAF260]

While I've been lurking around the rear end fitting the spoiler(with tape for now) I remembered I'd bought a couple of other bits for the car that would replace manky original parts that let the car's appearance down.

The shark fin on the boot lid.

Grim...

 

And the body trim for the antenna on the rear quarter.

Nasty!

 

Boot trim removal

 

Remove the nut underneath holding the shark fin to the boot lid, leaves this to be dismantled...

 

3 tiny screws and the old rubber monstrosity is off. Naked shark:

 

The keener-eyed amongst you will notice the tide mark around where the base sat. The bodger who fitted and then removed the rear spoiler clearly decided to paint a bit more of the boot lid than I thought. I can't believe the levels of laziness in masking and painting around the shark fin! I guess it just shows the car became a fairly low-value object to somebody who didn't see the value in doing a proper job. Whilst they clearly made some effort it's hard to understand why they wouldn't put a little more in for a far better outcome.

Dirt cleaned up, paint polished, now very obvious. Oh well.

 

Replacement shark fin is plastic and a slightly different shape. I want everything to remain functional, so the innards are fitted to it.

Bolted back up and boot trim refitted with new matching clips

 

That's the best I can do in the circumstances.

 

Next up - an original Saab part.

 

Unscrew the antenna and gently prise the old trim off.

 

Clean up the grot.

 

OId part vs new

Fitted

 

Stand back and enjoy the fruits of my labour. I'm happy it looks less tired now.

[MAF260]

Although the car presents quite well, especially for its age and colour, I wanted to give the paintwork some attention and see if I could add some depth. I also had some side trims that I'd bought last year that were in better condition than those on the car - seemed like a good opportunity to do this at the same time. The rear bumper has oxidised a bit and the nearside rear quarter has been painted some time ago - a reasonably decent job, but again subject to oxidisation. I'm not a fan of too many badges on a car and the 1.8t nomenclature just doesn't make sense on this car. It's a 2.0 turbo, just in a lower state of tune as standard.

Oxidised bumper and annoying badges:

After a thorough clean and dry the car was ready for some machine action. I'm just a bumbling amateur at this, I have no idea of the correct compounds, polishes, pads etc. I just use a bit of trial and error and will only use a d/a machine to avoid any disasters.

Old side trims removed

Cleaned

I masked up a few areas to avoid getting any product on them - you can clearly see the oxidised paint on the rear quarter here

And then approximately 12 hours of compounding followed by polishing!

I managed to get some shine into the door mirrors that I think Split_Pin had previously painted:

After the machine polishing it was time to apply a coat of wax

After removing that I fitted the replacement side strips. As these are used items they needed some love to get them back to more of a black colour. Out with the heat gun - you can clearly see the difference this method makes:

Some decent reflections created

Time to admire the results of a lot of hard work

Of course doing this has highlighted some imperfections in the paint. It's no show pony and will never be worth a fortune, so I will address the significant ones and enjoy the car's new lustre.

[CGSB]

That looks superb. Well done.

[FakeConcern]

That black spoiler looks even better with the extra shiny paint and especially with the black hood up.