Summer Project 900 turbo S
Discussion
Following a daft last second idea of bidding on this un-seen 91 900 turbo S, it is now parked on my driveway!!
Spec: 1991 turbo S 16 (red top), white with black leather, 85,000 miles, 2 previous owners.
The car is back of the road since being parked up in dry storage in 2003, and has recently had new brake lines, radiator and tyres. The shell is thankfully very solid and in very good condition for its 22 years of age! The leather interior is in fair condition with the drivers seat showing a fair bit of wear but is probably salvageable! The bodywork is in very good straight condition with just some localised surface rust spots from paint chips etc. I have no intention of any major re-painting but may have some localised areas re-finished just to keep the car looking tidy.
The drivers window doesn't work (common issue) but should be a fairly easy fix and the interior could do with a few replacement bits of trim and a good clean! The headlining is sagging (another common issue) and I shall have my trimmer friend look at this when I've got some of the other jobs sorted.
My plan is to do some basic jobs on the car and make it a useable modern classic without going over the top and ruining it's quite charming patina.
I'll post some more pics later and add some updates as I get jobs completed.
Any useful hints, tips or recommendations much appreciated as I am a saab virgin!
Spec: 1991 turbo S 16 (red top), white with black leather, 85,000 miles, 2 previous owners.
The car is back of the road since being parked up in dry storage in 2003, and has recently had new brake lines, radiator and tyres. The shell is thankfully very solid and in very good condition for its 22 years of age! The leather interior is in fair condition with the drivers seat showing a fair bit of wear but is probably salvageable! The bodywork is in very good straight condition with just some localised surface rust spots from paint chips etc. I have no intention of any major re-painting but may have some localised areas re-finished just to keep the car looking tidy.
The drivers window doesn't work (common issue) but should be a fairly easy fix and the interior could do with a few replacement bits of trim and a good clean! The headlining is sagging (another common issue) and I shall have my trimmer friend look at this when I've got some of the other jobs sorted.
My plan is to do some basic jobs on the car and make it a useable modern classic without going over the top and ruining it's quite charming patina.
I'll post some more pics later and add some updates as I get jobs completed.
Any useful hints, tips or recommendations much appreciated as I am a saab virgin!
I've always thought of these as a sort of odd car, but they have quite a following.
A contact for you, a personal friend and a Saab specialist restorer, it is his own company, Graham McDonald, McDonald classic cars, based in Bromyard, Herefordshire, he isn't a car dealer, he's a restorer, I've seen him with cars like yours, but mostly with the old 96's, I especially like the bull nose two strokes, telephone number 01885 482042.
Good luck with it.
A contact for you, a personal friend and a Saab specialist restorer, it is his own company, Graham McDonald, McDonald classic cars, based in Bromyard, Herefordshire, he isn't a car dealer, he's a restorer, I've seen him with cars like yours, but mostly with the old 96's, I especially like the bull nose two strokes, telephone number 01885 482042.
Good luck with it.
Well, despite watching the F1, I've managed to spend a couple of hours tinkering with the old girl this afternoon and fixed the following:-
Central locking - seems to have started working all of a sudden!
Drivers door mirror - electric connections cleaned
Interior lights - electric connections cleaned
Rear wiper - electric connections cleaned
steering wheel alignment - just needed removal and replacing a few degrees to the left!
Whilst on a stretch of motorway, I tried the cruise control out. It sort of works, but the car seems to constantly gently accelerate away from the 'set' speed! So it's best left alone for now. Any ideas?
I've noticed that both registration plates, the tax disc holder and the rear window sticker are all still original supplying main dealer - Saab Manchester. I even found an original bottle of Saab washer fluid in the boot with the tools!
Whilst out in the car just now, I spotted it's twin in a local car park so stopped for a few picks! The other car has covered an additional 100k and although not as tidy as mine, it still looked presentable.
The only real difference in the cars (apart from the roof rack) was the rear quarter vents?
Can anyone tell me what the difference is, I've seen the partly covered ones on earlier cars but thought the later ones had the flush vents like mine? There's something I like about the older partly covered ones so might have to find some!
Here's my flush vents
Here's the partly covered ones on the other car
So what's the reason / difference?
Shame the weathers gone off this evening or I'd be starting with the deep cleaning of the interior :0(
Central locking - seems to have started working all of a sudden!
Drivers door mirror - electric connections cleaned
Interior lights - electric connections cleaned
Rear wiper - electric connections cleaned
steering wheel alignment - just needed removal and replacing a few degrees to the left!
Whilst on a stretch of motorway, I tried the cruise control out. It sort of works, but the car seems to constantly gently accelerate away from the 'set' speed! So it's best left alone for now. Any ideas?
I've noticed that both registration plates, the tax disc holder and the rear window sticker are all still original supplying main dealer - Saab Manchester. I even found an original bottle of Saab washer fluid in the boot with the tools!
Whilst out in the car just now, I spotted it's twin in a local car park so stopped for a few picks! The other car has covered an additional 100k and although not as tidy as mine, it still looked presentable.
The only real difference in the cars (apart from the roof rack) was the rear quarter vents?
Can anyone tell me what the difference is, I've seen the partly covered ones on earlier cars but thought the later ones had the flush vents like mine? There's something I like about the older partly covered ones so might have to find some!
Here's my flush vents
Here's the partly covered ones on the other car
So what's the reason / difference?
Shame the weathers gone off this evening or I'd be starting with the deep cleaning of the interior :0(
Edited by Sifly on Sunday 21st April 17:53
Hello there, nice car, congratulations.
You said it's a red top? What did you mean?
Is this one currently a full pressure turbo or the diet model?
The rear vent covers were a dealer fit option when new, think they add about 3mph to the top speed too iirc.
Interestingly you get a good idea of how well built/ sealed they are with those vents if you put the cars heater on full, close all the doors and feel the air being pushed out of them.
Have you checked all the usual grot spots on it? The crucial ones are drive shaft tunnels and corner of the boot/ under the rear seats.
Edit; having re read that it seems you've got a full turbo and the red apc box?
You said it's a red top? What did you mean?
Is this one currently a full pressure turbo or the diet model?
The rear vent covers were a dealer fit option when new, think they add about 3mph to the top speed too iirc.
Interestingly you get a good idea of how well built/ sealed they are with those vents if you put the cars heater on full, close all the doors and feel the air being pushed out of them.
Have you checked all the usual grot spots on it? The crucial ones are drive shaft tunnels and corner of the boot/ under the rear seats.
Edit; having re read that it seems you've got a full turbo and the red apc box?
Edited by MrMoonyMan on Sunday 21st April 18:04
MrMoonyMan said:
Hello there, nice car, congratulations.
You said it's a red top? What did you mean?
Is this one currently a full pressure turbo or the diet model?
The rear vent covers were a dealer fit option when new, think they add about 3mph to the top speed too iirc.
Interestingly you get a good idea of how well built/ sealed they are with those vents if you put the cars heater on full, close all the doors and feel the air being pushed out of them.
Have you checked all the usual grot spots on it? The crucial ones are drive shaft tunnels and corner of the boot/ under the rear seats.
Edit; having re read that it seems you've got a full turbo and the red apc box?
Hi, yes it's got the red ECU so I'm told it is the full pressure turbo. You said it's a red top? What did you mean?
Is this one currently a full pressure turbo or the diet model?
The rear vent covers were a dealer fit option when new, think they add about 3mph to the top speed too iirc.
Interestingly you get a good idea of how well built/ sealed they are with those vents if you put the cars heater on full, close all the doors and feel the air being pushed out of them.
Have you checked all the usual grot spots on it? The crucial ones are drive shaft tunnels and corner of the boot/ under the rear seats.
Edit; having re read that it seems you've got a full turbo and the red apc box?
Edited by MrMoonyMan on Sunday 21st April 18:04
I've never driven another 900 turbo so have nothing to compare it to, but it seems to pick up fairly well with the boost gauge reaching about 2 thirds up the scale into the orange. It's not quite the whip lashing boost experience of the old R 5 GT turbos I had years ago, but it's certainly no slouch (for a 22 year old)!
Our family passat 2.0 TDi is probably a tad quicker but that's 20 years of automotive development for you!
Thankfully, probably due to the low mileage and 10 years of dry storage, the shell is in excellent solid condition, the floors, cills, door bottoms etc are all in a very good state!
Edited by Sifly on Sunday 21st April 18:45
Well I got to spend a couple of hours on the car today, so gave the interior a good clean up.
Seats have come up really well considering, even the suede sections now look nice and fresh!
Having given the interior a good going over now, I could do with the following to finish the interior:
2 x seat forward tilting handles as I have one missing and the other falls off every time I use it!
Possibly a replacement centre console (between the seats) as mine has a hole from an old alarm system in it.
I also need a rear ash tray as mine is broken and wont stay in place.
Then there is just the headlining to address!
Seats have come up really well considering, even the suede sections now look nice and fresh!
Having given the interior a good going over now, I could do with the following to finish the interior:
2 x seat forward tilting handles as I have one missing and the other falls off every time I use it!
Possibly a replacement centre console (between the seats) as mine has a hole from an old alarm system in it.
I also need a rear ash tray as mine is broken and wont stay in place.
Then there is just the headlining to address!
I decided to freshen up the engine bay a little, I've no intention of getting a tooth brush out, more a case of spray on de-greaser and the jet wash!
Before
10 mins later: And thank the lord, she started up again first time!!
Not a massive difference as the bay wasn't very dirty (for 22 years) in the first place!
Now.....what to tackle next!
Before
10 mins later: And thank the lord, she started up again first time!!
Not a massive difference as the bay wasn't very dirty (for 22 years) in the first place!
Now.....what to tackle next!
Fabulous - I had a 1992 'J' plate T16S for nearly ten years and 100k miles.
Try to resist the temptation to modify it!
The cruise control is vacuum operated - as are a lot of other things, including the heater controls - so it's worth equipping yourself with 15 metres or so of 3mm silicone hose and systematically replacing the lot.
Try to resist the temptation to modify it!
The cruise control is vacuum operated - as are a lot of other things, including the heater controls - so it's worth equipping yourself with 15 metres or so of 3mm silicone hose and systematically replacing the lot.
Another busy afternoon in the workshop!
My replacement window motor arrived this morning so that was the first job.
the motor thankfully works alot better than it looks! Typically, fitting the replacement motor took about 3 times longer than stripping the old one out, and I now have alot less skin on my knuckles! But it was well worth the effort.
With the window working like new, I could finally put all the door trim back for the last time (hopefully)!
With things comming along so well, I couldn't stand looking at the drooping old headlining anymore, so it had to come out!
With no previous knowledge of the task I just took my time with the main issue being not to break the backing board!
It took about an hour in the end and was fairly straight forward.
The roof panel finally removed along with the rear quarter trims, all ready for dropping off at the trimmers :mrgreen:
The inside of the roof and sunroof assembly are like new, with no signs of water ingress or damage.
As I couldn't work out how to remove the sunroof lining, I have decided to leave it insitu as I don't want push my luck and risk breaking something when it all looks good and works perfectly. So I will just give the fabric a good clean and accept the fact that it wont quite look as fresh as the rest of the headlining when finished! :?
All the removed trims will be treated to a good clean up before re-fitting with the new headlining.
Thats it for now, the cars off for a wheel bearing next week whilst the headlining is at the trimmers.
My replacement window motor arrived this morning so that was the first job.
the motor thankfully works alot better than it looks! Typically, fitting the replacement motor took about 3 times longer than stripping the old one out, and I now have alot less skin on my knuckles! But it was well worth the effort.
With the window working like new, I could finally put all the door trim back for the last time (hopefully)!
With things comming along so well, I couldn't stand looking at the drooping old headlining anymore, so it had to come out!
With no previous knowledge of the task I just took my time with the main issue being not to break the backing board!
It took about an hour in the end and was fairly straight forward.
The roof panel finally removed along with the rear quarter trims, all ready for dropping off at the trimmers :mrgreen:
The inside of the roof and sunroof assembly are like new, with no signs of water ingress or damage.
As I couldn't work out how to remove the sunroof lining, I have decided to leave it insitu as I don't want push my luck and risk breaking something when it all looks good and works perfectly. So I will just give the fabric a good clean and accept the fact that it wont quite look as fresh as the rest of the headlining when finished! :?
All the removed trims will be treated to a good clean up before re-fitting with the new headlining.
Thats it for now, the cars off for a wheel bearing next week whilst the headlining is at the trimmers.
IroningMan said:
Fabulous - I had a 1992 'J' plate T16S for nearly ten years and 100k miles.
Try to resist the temptation to modify it!
The cruise control is vacuum operated - as are a lot of other things, including the heater controls - so it's worth equipping yourself with 15 metres or so of 3mm silicone hose and systematically replacing the lot.
Thanks for the info and tip. Try to resist the temptation to modify it!
The cruise control is vacuum operated - as are a lot of other things, including the heater controls - so it's worth equipping yourself with 15 metres or so of 3mm silicone hose and systematically replacing the lot.
I've no intention of modifying the car which is currently completely standard appart from the CD player. I'm not after a 'mint' showroom example and will just carry out 'light' restoration work and repairs. The car will be clean, straight and usable but 'importantly' will keep it's 22 year patina and charm.
Thankfully, the body work is generally in very good condition and will be largely left alone appart from a deep clean and light detail.
DKS said:
Utterly lovely. Very jealous!
UKSaabs is a good forum full of knowledge, and Dan at Paradise Cars in Romsey is a bit of a legend, although he might be packing up now. There's an excellent buyer's guide and roofling (inc sunroof) removal guide too on his site.
What what? How come? UKSaabs is a good forum full of knowledge, and Dan at Paradise Cars in Romsey is a bit of a legend, although he might be packing up now. There's an excellent buyer's guide and roofling (inc sunroof) removal guide too on his site.
O/p, what a lovely example - quite a few extras I see, carlsson seats with the suede inserts, and leather door cards!
Wish I had time to do a bit of tidying to mine.
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