1983 Saab 900 turbo - barn find to daily driver
Discussion
A new daily driver for me this week. It is a Saab 900 - 1983 flat-front, 5-door, 8 valve turbo.
When I first became aware of the car, early this year, it looked like this...
It currently looks like this...
Now please note that I claim no responsibility for the transformation from what was virtually scrap, stood for thirty years in a barn, to running, driving car. That work was all performed by a fantastic Saab nut up in Scotland. I simply drove it 368 miles home earlier this week, largely without issue.
The following pictures are all his, used with his permission, to briefly document the work he performed - just as a bit of background. I think they speak for themselves.
And finally one from my journey home
I say the journey home was largely uneventful because, on the whole, it was. Smooth easy cruising, no nasty noises. The two main issues were the indicators ceasing to function half way home, and a heater stuck on full heat combined with an inoperative driver's electric window.
Those who know Saabs will know the effectiveness of their heaters, so the latter combination plus a little sunshine was a good recipe for cooking me! Fortunately the passenger window was operational, as was the (manual) sunroof, so it wasn't too bad - just glad I didn't collect during a heatwave!
The indicators were just an iffy loom joint - fixed for now by jiggling, will have to see how long the "fix" lasts... The heater needs a new valve - ordered.
Bodily the car is rough - far worse that it looks in pictures, although the issues are almost all cosmetic. Thirty years worth of items being rested against, stored on or falling onto the car have taken a toll. Structurally though, the time in the barn has saved it from the ravages of thirty winters, and the recent work has seen the entire underside sealed up and cavities pumped full of wax. One rear arch will need a small section of new metal, I am pretty confident that everything else will be a matter of cleaning, treating and painting.
The door bottoms for example, a notorious C900 weak point, are all present and correct.
The interior is decent - needing a damn good clean but no signs of rodent damage, and minimal wear.
Hopefully then, this will be a tale of fettling rather than major repair. But despite the excellent work already done, much of the car is nearly 40 years old, so I fully expect various random items to complain when the car is put into regular use. Time will tell...
When I first became aware of the car, early this year, it looked like this...
It currently looks like this...
Now please note that I claim no responsibility for the transformation from what was virtually scrap, stood for thirty years in a barn, to running, driving car. That work was all performed by a fantastic Saab nut up in Scotland. I simply drove it 368 miles home earlier this week, largely without issue.
The following pictures are all his, used with his permission, to briefly document the work he performed - just as a bit of background. I think they speak for themselves.
And finally one from my journey home
I say the journey home was largely uneventful because, on the whole, it was. Smooth easy cruising, no nasty noises. The two main issues were the indicators ceasing to function half way home, and a heater stuck on full heat combined with an inoperative driver's electric window.
Those who know Saabs will know the effectiveness of their heaters, so the latter combination plus a little sunshine was a good recipe for cooking me! Fortunately the passenger window was operational, as was the (manual) sunroof, so it wasn't too bad - just glad I didn't collect during a heatwave!
The indicators were just an iffy loom joint - fixed for now by jiggling, will have to see how long the "fix" lasts... The heater needs a new valve - ordered.
Bodily the car is rough - far worse that it looks in pictures, although the issues are almost all cosmetic. Thirty years worth of items being rested against, stored on or falling onto the car have taken a toll. Structurally though, the time in the barn has saved it from the ravages of thirty winters, and the recent work has seen the entire underside sealed up and cavities pumped full of wax. One rear arch will need a small section of new metal, I am pretty confident that everything else will be a matter of cleaning, treating and painting.
The door bottoms for example, a notorious C900 weak point, are all present and correct.
The interior is decent - needing a damn good clean but no signs of rodent damage, and minimal wear.
Hopefully then, this will be a tale of fettling rather than major repair. But despite the excellent work already done, much of the car is nearly 40 years old, so I fully expect various random items to complain when the car is put into regular use. Time will tell...
Great write up - had similar work done on the engine bay and front end of my car last year and it cost me an absolute arm and a leg. It’s all really thick steel so difficult to fabricate properly. Flat fronts have really grown on me, and although I’m not a massive fan of the “opera lights” in the 5-doors it’s really nice to see the less common cars being rescued and fettled, not just the ubiquitous 3 door 16vT in black with Tupperware (like mine).
Are you planning to daily it? I’m terrified of taking mine out of the garage now
Are you planning to daily it? I’m terrified of taking mine out of the garage now
NiceCupOfTea said:
Are you planning to daily it? I’m terrified of taking mine out of the garage now
Very much so - I believe it is substantially better rustproofed now than when it was new, so the plan is to use it as a car.Cosmetically it is pretty rough at the moment so no brave pills required before parking it anywhere.
ClaphamGT3 said:
Splendid work OP - love that you didn't succumb to the temptation to over-restore.
Just to reiterate, the work above is not mine but that of the PO - just to show where it has come from, to where it is today...That said, I do have a fine line to walk going forward, I would like it quite a bit tidier, but not so much that I am afraid to use it.
ClaphamGT3 said:
Any idea why it was taken off the road at 9 years old when it would still have been a reasonably new and valuable car?
Talking to the previous owner, it appears to have been front damaged when fairly new. It was repaired with genuine panels by Saab or (presumably) at a Saab approved body shop. However the repairs succumbed to rust prematurely and it was taken off the road for repair, the front end stripped down.Perhaps it turned out to be a bigger job than anticipated? Whatever the reason, there it sat...
Fantastic! Well saved example, I would say. AN ideal daily - I hope it serves you very well indeed.
As you know I have a specific attachment to the 900 and this looks to be a good one. I am exceedingly jealous of your doors, though I can triumphantly trumpt 8 extra valves (and so on...).
Good luck with all the fettling. WIll send you a PM on the Scottish fanatic I have heard a lot about on the old instagram....
As you know I have a specific attachment to the 900 and this looks to be a good one. I am exceedingly jealous of your doors, though I can triumphantly trumpt 8 extra valves (and so on...).
Good luck with all the fettling. WIll send you a PM on the Scottish fanatic I have heard a lot about on the old instagram....
Spinakerr said:
Fantastic! Well saved example, I would say. AN ideal daily - I hope it serves you very well indeed.
As you know I have a specific attachment to the 900 and this looks to be a good one. I am exceedingly jealous of your doors, though I can triumphantly trumpt 8 extra valves (and so on...).
Good luck with all the fettling.....
Cheers, I always enjoy your Saab and Alfa updates. Not done much fettling this weekend, replaced a dead DRL bulb and chased an audible vacuum leak behind the passenger side of the dash at idle - unfortunately I think it may be the brake servo As you know I have a specific attachment to the 900 and this looks to be a good one. I am exceedingly jealous of your doors, though I can triumphantly trumpt 8 extra valves (and so on...).
Good luck with all the fettling.....
amstrange1 said:
Looks like the PO did a great job of saving that 900.
Do you still have the 99t?
I do still have the 99t - it is very much as it was, on the rotisserie and awaiting my attention. Besides ratty old Saabs, my other automotive love is ratty old American stuff and I have decided to prioritize the build of my '67 Camaro over the 99t, so unfortunately it will have to wait a few more years yet.Do you still have the 99t?
However it is safely stored in a dehumidified garage and many of the worst rust areas have been stabilized, so I'm happy it isn't getting any worse.
In other fleet related news, I have decided to part with my '66 El Camino. Impending loss of storage is forcing my hand and the cash will come in handy for an ongoing house extension. Quite sad about it but needs must.
Giulia Jon said:
I had a 3 door one of these in 1986 , when it was 3 yrs old ,didn't keep it long , I changed cars far too often then due to immaturity and being laissez faire with money .
Beard alert ,yours has the wrong front grill ,it's off a 1984 > car .
Should be this style I think. Perhaps an "update" applied when it was repaired early on?Beard alert ,yours has the wrong front grill ,it's off a 1984 > car .
Quite like the colour coded front spoiler on that car too...
I've been tacking some of the immediate niggles on the 900. Since I enjoy my fresh air when driving, having manually adjusted the heater valve to "off" behind the dash as a temporary fix, the next thing was to get the driver's window working.
Removed the door card and was somewhat dismayed as much of the lower half of the hardboard backing disintegrated onto the floor upon removal - it was absolutely sodden and rotten.
It was immediately apparent why - at some point in the past, some bright spark had replaced the plastic waterproof membrane between door and card with the sort of thin foam used to wrap items. Which isn't waterproof - quite the opposite, it holds water like a sponge! And of course it held it in direct contact with the door card...
It also held moisture against the window mechanism - oh joy...
On the plus side I was able to examine my door bottom more closely - I've never seen one look this good on any 99/900 over ten years old so a well earned smug smiley face for that
Now, how to remove that window mechanism. Normally when the motor fails, the mechanism can be manually "compressed" and removed after unbolting the motor. In this case I didn't hold high hopes that I would be able to compress it but removing the motor at least makes the overall mechanism slightly more compact.
Saab, in one of their less fiendish moments, made the motor bolts semi-accessible (albeit the third requires some gentle flexing of the lower metal to reach)
Bolts removed, motor off - yep that's had it.
As expected, with the motor off, there wasn't a hope of compressing the mechanism within the door. Fortunately the cut out is big and after much maneuvering and muttering, I found the magic angle and out she emerged.
Hmm, those teeth in the fully closed position don't look pretty.
To quote Derek from VGG, "we'll just pretend we didn't see that"...
Doused every pivot point in penetrating fluid (think it was a Lidl own brand) then put the mechanism in a vice and started bashing. Big hammer, much effort.
After a while it finally cracked and started moving. Much more hammering and it completed one full "up and down" cycle, still super stiff.
Spent perhaps half an hour repeatedly spraying and exercising it. Literally rivers of rust juice flowing across the bench but eventually it moved by hand, changed to spray grease and continued. Took some doing but it finally freed off enough to almost feel "nice".
Right, those teeth I didn't see earlier.
Cleaned them up to bare metal as best I could and then welded a nice hot bead over the top of the worst three. Flatted it back on the sides and to the required external curve.
Then made a template from the other end, which had never been used, by spraying black paint through the teeth onto a piece of paper. Trimmed the paper and stuck it where I needed the new teeth and then cut them out with the angle grinder.
I'm not claiming it to be a particularly precision repair, but they mesh ok and don't bind so will do the job for now - really the proper solution is to find a less utterly shagged mechanism. But I've made the best of what I had to hand.
Inset pic is what the original, unworn teeth look like for reference (and also shows just how heavily worn the remaining teeth are).
Reassembled with a new motor and a working window? Erm, no.
At best very intermittent when pushing very hard on the switch. Fortunately the switches on these do come apart easily so a quick clean of the contacts finally had it working reliably.
Now to find some suitable plastic sheet for the membrane and decide what the hell to do with the door card...
Removed the door card and was somewhat dismayed as much of the lower half of the hardboard backing disintegrated onto the floor upon removal - it was absolutely sodden and rotten.
It was immediately apparent why - at some point in the past, some bright spark had replaced the plastic waterproof membrane between door and card with the sort of thin foam used to wrap items. Which isn't waterproof - quite the opposite, it holds water like a sponge! And of course it held it in direct contact with the door card...
It also held moisture against the window mechanism - oh joy...
On the plus side I was able to examine my door bottom more closely - I've never seen one look this good on any 99/900 over ten years old so a well earned smug smiley face for that
Now, how to remove that window mechanism. Normally when the motor fails, the mechanism can be manually "compressed" and removed after unbolting the motor. In this case I didn't hold high hopes that I would be able to compress it but removing the motor at least makes the overall mechanism slightly more compact.
Saab, in one of their less fiendish moments, made the motor bolts semi-accessible (albeit the third requires some gentle flexing of the lower metal to reach)
Bolts removed, motor off - yep that's had it.
As expected, with the motor off, there wasn't a hope of compressing the mechanism within the door. Fortunately the cut out is big and after much maneuvering and muttering, I found the magic angle and out she emerged.
Hmm, those teeth in the fully closed position don't look pretty.
To quote Derek from VGG, "we'll just pretend we didn't see that"...
Doused every pivot point in penetrating fluid (think it was a Lidl own brand) then put the mechanism in a vice and started bashing. Big hammer, much effort.
After a while it finally cracked and started moving. Much more hammering and it completed one full "up and down" cycle, still super stiff.
Spent perhaps half an hour repeatedly spraying and exercising it. Literally rivers of rust juice flowing across the bench but eventually it moved by hand, changed to spray grease and continued. Took some doing but it finally freed off enough to almost feel "nice".
Right, those teeth I didn't see earlier.
Cleaned them up to bare metal as best I could and then welded a nice hot bead over the top of the worst three. Flatted it back on the sides and to the required external curve.
Then made a template from the other end, which had never been used, by spraying black paint through the teeth onto a piece of paper. Trimmed the paper and stuck it where I needed the new teeth and then cut them out with the angle grinder.
I'm not claiming it to be a particularly precision repair, but they mesh ok and don't bind so will do the job for now - really the proper solution is to find a less utterly shagged mechanism. But I've made the best of what I had to hand.
Inset pic is what the original, unworn teeth look like for reference (and also shows just how heavily worn the remaining teeth are).
Reassembled with a new motor and a working window? Erm, no.
At best very intermittent when pushing very hard on the switch. Fortunately the switches on these do come apart easily so a quick clean of the contacts finally had it working reliably.
Now to find some suitable plastic sheet for the membrane and decide what the hell to do with the door card...
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