Upgrades?

[jonnie5]

I have a 93 lp Turbo (Conv ) as my daily driver and I don’t enjoy the car as I probably should. I’ve been toying with the idea of changing it for something else, but it has now occurred to me that I could spend lets say £1000 on a few mods to liven things up a bit.

My first thoughts are to improve the handling and then maybe look at extracting a bit more power. I know very little about the Saab scene so what would you guys recommend for upgrades and are there any good independents in Oxfordshire?

Cheers
Jon

[matt_t16]

Jon,

You have to be careful not to go over stiff suspension wise on a drop top and introduce more chassis flex as a result. I'd look at bracing the top suspension turrets to reduce flex in that area coupled with a set of grippy tyres.

If you want more power for ease of overtaking then look no further than www.maptun.co.uk £550 should get you 225bhp.

Best Regards
Matt

[nicecupoftea]

In addition to what Matt says, the VRK (Viggen Rescue Kit) by Abbott is a very worthwhile upgrade, certainly the steering brace transforms the car by all accounts - go for that and the brace

[jonnie5]

Excellent response, thanks.

Matt, 50% increase in power for £550 is a bargain! Do you know if this ECU upgrade is 'detectable' at service time (and for insurance purposes)? and also where would you recommend getting a brace for the suspension turretts from?

Martin, the VRK looks exactly what I need - the improvements to the steering it claims are exactly the things that dissapoint me with the car.

Sounds like a result, does anybody know of a good Saab independent in Oxfordshire (Wilts/Berks etc)?

Cheers
Jon




>> Edited by jonnie5 on Wednesday 9th February 14:32

[jonnie5]

matt_t16 said:

Jon, Have a look around www.partsforsaabs.com www.elkparts.com Unfortunately the upgrade will be detectable if they look hard enough. Plug a Tech 2 in and it'll all look like standard until you check the versions. As for Oxfordshire Specialists afraid I don't know but I'm sure someone will be along shortly with an answer Matt

Cheers Matt, I'll declare it to the insurance co. anyway, and as long as I can find a decent indie there will be no issues

[nicecupoftea]

I'll put in my standard plug for West Midlands Saab Specialists - it's out of your way, but they are good

[jonnie5]

nicecupoftea said:

I'll put in my standard plug for West Midlands Saab Specialists - it's out of your way, but they are good

I may well have to have a day out at WMSS in March (service and upgrades ).

More questions I'm afraid

I notice the Elkparts also do a steering brace, like this

which is almost a third of the price of this one from Abbotts

So is it worth the extra £200 or will I notice such a difference with the Elkparts one that I can spend that one something else

Also Matt, is this the sort of brace to which you were referring?

Many thanks for your help on this, good advice from people who know what they are talking about makes such a difference

Jon

[jonnie5]

An update on this one.....

Took my car to West Midlands Saab Specialists yesterday for a 66K service, a steering brace, front subframe brace and poly bushes on the wishbones.

Wow! what a difference, it really is like a different car - I have so much more confidence in its cornering ability now, it just feels so much more solid.

Thanks for the recomendations guys, WMSS were excellent and well worth the 8 hours of driving yesterday


Jon

[doz]

Any upgrades for the new 93 Aero? Nothing on Maptun site

Sorry, just seen the upgrade on Parts for Saabs from 210 to 247bhp and 313 to 388NM for £519. Has anyone tried this and what difference?

I once did a chip upgrade on my RS4 from 380 to 440 - yes it was quicker but it made the car less "smooth" (a little more raw as the turbo's just whammed in). Whilst more power would be good, the Saab's an excellent all-rounder and I am always a little skeptical as to what has to be sacrificed in order to achieve this small power increase?

Any thoughts?

>> Edited by doz on Wednesday 23 March 16:10

[NiceCupOfTea]

Not heard anything about 93ss Aero upgrades. There was an Abbott one before the Aero came out.

Maybe try the 9-3ss forums on saabscene / saabcentral?

Jonnie> Sorry, didn't check back here so missed your last messages. The Abbott kit is always nice, but you pay for it and I have heard mixed tales about their service recently The brace Matt was referring to was a strut brace (between suspension turrets) I believe, as opposed to the steering brace/clamp. Academic as you got both! Glad you found WMSS to be good, who did you speak to, John or Paul?

Got to ring them tomorrow, they have my new shocks in, just got to ask them to get some springs in and then with the other work (suspension bushes) should be like a new car .

[ylee coyote]

doz said:

Any upgrades for the new 93 Aero? Nothing on Maptun site Sorry, just seen the upgrade on Parts for Saabs from 210 to 247bhp and 313 to 388NM for £519. Has anyone tried this and what difference? I once did a chip upgrade on my RS4 from 380 to 440 - yes it was quicker but it made the car less "smooth" (a little more raw as the turbo's just whammed in). Whilst more power would be good, the Saab's an excellent all-rounder and I am always a little skeptical as to what has to be sacrificed in order to achieve this small power increase? Any thoughts? >> Edited by doz on Wednesday 23 March 16:10

I can personally recommend maptun for their mapping
the consensus is that their tuning is a lot smoother than others
I have the stage 6+ and they managed to make the power controllable (ish) but its very smooth when all hell breakes loose...

[jonnie5]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Jonnie> Sorry, didn't check back here so missed your last messages. The Abbott kit is always nice, but you pay for it and I have heard mixed tales about their service recently The brace Matt was referring to was a strut brace (between suspension turrets) I believe, as opposed to the steering brace/clamp. Academic as you got both! Glad you found WMSS to be good, who did you speak to, John or Paul?

Spoke to both John and Paul. I told John what I wanted to achieve and he made recommendations, even talking me out of spending more money and Paul made everything happen. Very good service.

Thanks for your advice

Jon