Jiffy's Saab 93

[Jiffy]

After the Xantia's disgraceful failure at the MOT, I need some new wheels. The Xantia needed to much welding to keep on the road and it was now leaving big trails of hydraulic fluid on the road everytime I braked so I couldn't drive it. I didn't want to spend too much. I just wanted something cheap to run around in while I got my 306 back on the road.

Anyway, a bit of late night Ebay bidding got me this:


It's a Saab 93 2.0l with low pressure turbo giving 154bhp. This one dates from 2000 with 104k miles on it. The main faults in the ad were non working ventilation controls (common Saab fault), very stiff handbrake and body scuffs and scrapes. Yet again, it was an elderly chap selling the car. He was the second owner and had bought it from the local Saab dealer 6 years ago. He'd mainly used it for going back and forth from the golf course so I think it's probably had quite an easy life. Unfortunately, he'd lost the service history but the biggest problem was that it only had 2 weeks MOT so it was a bit of a gamble.

So, the first job was to take it for an MOT and see how much work was needed. I couldn't believe it when it passed first time! I did get a bunch of advisories for the handbrake, brakes hoses slightly perished, minor exhaust leak, uneven wear on front tyres and a bit of imbalance on the front brakes.

So, important jobs are:
Brakes - fix handbrake and check front brakes over
Service - It was last serviced May 2012 and there’s a slight misfire occasionally so spark plugs probably need replaced
Ventilation controls: Need to open it up and see if I can araldite the shafts or need to buy new ones (about £15)

Less important:
Stereo - only 1 speaker works and electric aerial is clunky
Lighter socket – my phone charger doesn’t work unless you push it in all the time
Exhaust - has a minor leak somewhere but passed MOT
Tracking- wearing inside of tyres out and the steering wheel is not quite straight
Rust – filler flap and rear arch
Paintwork – needs a good polish
Bonnet badge – missing!

Future improvements:
Fix turbo – No lpt for me! Fit T7 apc and get ECU remapped
Tyres – Current tyres are good for a while yet but will start looking now on Gumtree and Ebay for a cheap set of nice alloys with good tyres
Piggyback rear arb – very cheap and effective suspension improvement: http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11397
Fit cruise control – apparently all the wiring, etc is there and you just need to change the indicator stalk then get someone to reprogram the trip computer: http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=92382
Add remote central locking: I think I replace TWICE unit and get someone to reprogram the thing
Fit leather seats – oooh posh!
Fit missile launchers – help with traffic congestion

Anyway, enough text! More pictures:






As you can see from the last pic, it could do with a wash. As a reward for passing it's MOT I gave it a nice bath:




That purple stuff is brake dust being removed by Wolf Chemical Brake Duster.

My 306 has no ECU at all so I don't know too much about all this computer stuff. The last time I read codes was on my Ford Sierra with a thing that blinked an LED that you need a degree in morse code to understand! Things are much cooler now. I bought this off Ebay:


I've just downloaded the Torque app for my Android phone so I'm away to see what it says now!

[cpikey316_]

Might need sensors too for the cruise control

Front fogs are a cheap and easy fix and make the front end look tidier!

Aerial is a common thing, you can get a new kit on ebay, just have to remove the old one and thread a new one into the motor.

I looked at the piggyback ARB, but it looked with a pain (too much fannying about making things) but there is a steering rack brace you can fit to help with torque steer (also a PITA to fit I understand)

Central locking, you may have the unit already, just need a 'slug' keyfob. SWSS reprogrammed it for free for me, but then I was spending about £300 on something else at the time!

Ive got the 2.0 T (full pressure turbo) but i've been thinking about a bigger turbo for a while.

Mine was sold to me as a t (154bhp) but the previous owner was a muppet clearly!

[Niall]

TD04 from a 95 aero is bolt on apparently! Or just a 95 aero lump! Always wanted a 93 Viggen. They are mental quick especially when 350bhp is achievable from a simple map!

[silverzx]

Mates got one of these, he loves it!

[cpikey316_]

Wouldnt 350bhp chew up tyres though?

Its easily wheelspinnable even with good rubber on a dry road at 185!!

[Niall]

Wouldnt 350bhp chew up tyres though?

Its easily wheelspinnable even with good rubber on a dry road at 185!!

Yes but who cares when you have 350bhp!
Mine was very good actually and the traction control worked really well so i never had any issues with that unless i wanted to be a hooligan and turn the TC off and spin all over the place but at £140 a corner for tyres, i didnt much lol. Tbh i think they did well to be able to put 350nm of torque through a FWD car and have no torque steer at all so why not push it and put more though it

[cpikey316_]

I need to buy an extra button for traction control.

Looking at turbos on ebay now..... Damn you all!!

Oh, and in addition to servicing. If you are planning on keeping it for any length of time, you need to take the sump off and clean any sludge out of it. Another common problem!

[Jiffy]

Thanks guys. The front bumper is a mess so a good second-hand one with fogs sounds the best idea.

I've looked into the oil sludging thing and it was a problem on the newer B205 engines. I've got the older B204e which seems to be more rugged.

More of a concern is the cracking bulkhead business so I might look into a steering rack brace to try and prevent it happening to me.

Good news on the ECU thingy. No fault codes found!

[Niall]

With regards to the oil sludging, the updated PCV kit is available for about £35 so its worth fitting!

[cpikey316_]

engines are SO weird on these. i should have a B204 as its a 1999 but i have a B205!

[Jiffy]

After 500 miles happy motoring, this happened:

The occasional slight misfire became a major misfire. I was happily doing 60 in 5th when it started misfiring really badly then lost all power. I pulled over and couldn't restart it so it was RAC to the rescue. He reckoned it's the DI cartridge and, judging by what I've been reading on the forums, it seemed the logical conclusion:

I found one on Ebay for £40 that had supposedly only been used for 2 weeks. Once it turned up, I ignored the burnt smell from it and put it in the car (after keeping it upright for an hour beforehand to allow the fluid inside to settle) but it still wouldn't start. It span over fine and rev counter moved up. The spark plugs stunk of petrol but there was zero ignition. I spent ages trying to work out what else could be wrong with the car.

In the end, I decided to buy another DIC. I bought one with leather seats and 4 alloys wheels along the rest of a car attached to it:

It's really swish. It's a B205 lpt but an SE so it's got all the toys. It's really gorgeous inside and out but failed it's MOT on front suspension struts. It was also smoking on startup. I paid £250 for it so couldn't lose whatever happened. After 11 miles, 'whatever' happened!

The clutch went! It had no drive so it was RAC to the rescue again. Anyway, once back home, I put the DIC from the 2nd Saab into the first Saab and after changing a blown fuse it started. I put the Ebay DIC in and it was no go so I sent that back and got my money back.

Next thing was to check the brakes over and give the car a full service. I got fully synthetic GM 5w30 from NeoBrothers along with original oil filter. I used cheap alternatives for air and pollen filters. The oil that came out of the engine was surprisingly clean. I am used to jet black oil all the time. Regardless, I decided to chuck in some 10w40 Castrol semi-synthetic for a few days as a kind of engine flush. After less than a hundred miles, I put the fully synthetic 5w30 in:

Changing the pollen filter was a bit of a palaver but well worth changing:

I could feel a big difference in air flow inside the car afterwards.

Next job the brakes. I had been hearing some noise from the brakes and feeling some vibration. They were all in good order except for one disc with corrosion on it:

I took it out and did some heavy braking and that cleaned it up nicely.