SRowell's Saab 9-3 Aero 2.8 V6 Turbo

[1616six]

The two coolant pipes from the vauxhall spares site were perfect and I fitted those up. £15 or something silly for them delivered. Couldnt find them anywhere else on their own yet alone at that good a price.

Need to connect the rear camera up to the dashcam and see how that works. Annoyingly the power cables are to the rear camera so i need to find a power source and earth at the back of the car.

Once i had fitted the dash cam hardwire kit the left headlight blew. Annoying as they are D2S bulbs. Halfords want £180 a bulb etc and they are down to £80 on ECP. Ebay gets them down to £60. Eventually found the philips ones which were £45 a pair. Philips i believe are the OEM bulbs used by saab. Apparently they are meant to be replaced in pairs etc and it takes time for the colours to set in so Ill put both bulbs in. Theyre 6k bulbs which should be white with a hint of blue.

D2S bulbs are £30 EA from Halfords on trade FYI but seems like £45 a pair is a good deal!

[Eeyore]

i was a bit worried about replacing these. Havent done it yet but i thought the bulb and ballast was one unit. Looks to be simple. Just need to make sure im wearing gloves when i do it. Need to take the air box out on the drivers side and the battery lid and washer bottle spout on the passenger side.

Bulb fitted and it was super easy apart from getting access.

[Ruan]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-Genuine-Os...SwYmZXKc-S

Pair for £35 and are Osram Xenarcs!

[Eeyore]

News!

MOT failed last week...
3 tyres to be replaced with an advisory on the 4th.
DSR Upper suspension arm bushes gone.

Advisory on the tow bar wiring being cable tied on.

Tyres at the MOT were £627. At my local tyre place £504 fitted next morning, and through black circles at the same local tyre place £390 but on tuesday. I had to get to work so took the £504 option. All new Michelin Pilot Sport 4s. The 3s lasted a year and a half, probably about 16,000 miles. 

Got the upper wishbone delivered from ECP and arrived with free delivery 2 hours after i ordered. Tried to fix it but couldnt access the inner bolts or undo the other ones. Gave up!

So dropped the car off on Monday. Upper arm fitted and MOT retested and passed. £55 for the labour. £40 for the initial MOT.

hopefully another year of happy motoring to come! Clutch slip is getting slightly worse and steering UJ still has play.

[bashbarnard]

Is this all at purlings man??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Eeyore]

Is this all at purlings man??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

it is indeed.

[Danny Wideboy]

Upper rear arms are a bit of a faff without being properly underneath the car on a ramp.
First job I have sent a car away to be done instead of doing it myself for years. Brother in law has a garage and wanted some wood work doing so no money changed hands thankfully.

[Eeyore]

Upper rear arms are a bit of a faff without being properly underneath the car on a ramp.
First job I have sent a car away to be done instead of doing it myself for years.  Brother in law has a garage and wanted some wood work doing so no money changed hands thankfully.

yeh a gravel driveway in the dark with a work light isnt great. Good to know other people have taken it to a garage. Im happy to have paid that to not roll around on the floor.

[bashbarnard]

they arent exactly expensive there either and they are very very good mechanics. i may be slightly biased though as its the only place i liked to work as a mechanic

[Danny Wideboy]

Not saying it can't be done on a drive, but like yourself I thought it far easier to be under it with all four wheels up off the ground, on a ramp, by another person . I had spent the previous day under somebody elses scabby focus on their drive and was just about sick of working on cars. Still am TBF.
Although, I am looking forward to welding my transit with it's new panels.

[Eeyore]

So bit of an update on this. It passed its MOT!

£508 for the 4 new tyres fitted. On the retest it said one was near the limit so slightly annoyed thats going to be on the history. Also on the retest they noticed the crack in the windscreen so another advisory there. They fitted the OSR suspension arm and car feels a bit more solid now.

Clutch slip is getting worse but only when trying to get power on. Its still driveable just need to be careful as always. Need to give it a really good clean as its really dirty. Tax is due which is £500 and Insurance renewal is £470 which i dont believe as it was £330 this year. Confused.com is quoting £461 which is concerning as it was giving much less last year. Ill have to ring up and get a proper quote and see what i can do.

One of the keys also went through the wash and stopped working. Bought this to recase the spare which had worn buttons. Comes apart super easy and came with a batter which i put in the washed key. Both now new and working!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251331856695?_trksid=p2057872

[Eeyore]

Finally had a clean. Standard pressure washer and bucket and then some alloy wheel cleaner. It was getting dark by the end but feeling happy about it as it always looks so good when its clean!

[Eeyore]

ah always so good to ring up with insurance renewal. I think the woman i spoke to must have been particularly festive as she tried a whole load of things to bring it down. So renewal was £476 the best I got out of confused.com last week for £460 and today £480 but on the phone to hastings direct they got it down to £426. Winning!

[Eeyore]

Not a lot been happening with this and its not even been used for the past few weeks as the sticking nsr caliper issue has returned. Ive now bought two new calipers at £60 each from neobros which seems like a bargain. Nothing about sending your old ones back either. Thought best to replace them in pairs and then at least I can have an attempt at rebuilding the old ones.

Also looking to get round to fixing the steering play issue as I want to get the car as perfect as possible. Looks like used joints are £120 and new are £240. Going to try a used one from neobros as their reputation would suggest they wouldnt sell a used one that has play!

[Eeyore]

So this saturday I finally tackled fitting the brakes. Tom came over to lend a hand. First off moved the car and both rear brakes were dragging. Started off with the problem side, We had left the dust cover off this one after freeing it up the last time as I knew we would be replacing them.



First issue was getting the hand brake cable out. It sits in a hole and it was corroded in. Much hammering later it hadnt moved at all so we dremmeled through the surround it sits in which freed it up to remove. The rest was easy. pads were worn unevenly so replaced the pads as well. Sliders wire brushed and red greased as well.



Onto the next side and went straight for cutting the handbrake cable out. Easy.

The handbrake mech has more travel in this so we had to adjust the handbrake adjuster a lot to bring it back to what it was. Finally we went around the entire car replacing all the fluid with some premium castrol dot 4. The fluid that came out was extremely dark same as the reservoir so well worth flushing the entire system.

Obviously didnt test it all before i needed to drive to work on monday morning but pleased to say its all working. Pedal is firm but seems to be quite far down. I think its because Ive been in the range rover for two weeks now and its all in my mind. Certainly stops the car so it must be fine! The calipers cost £60 a side and im super pleased with them so far. Came with the copper washers for the banjo lines, the nipples and covers and a pad fitting kit. Easy to fit, super fast delivery and cheap, all from neobros!

[Eeyore]

Bit of an update. It was service time so its had an oil change, oil filter change, fuel filter and air filter which i did all in 30 mins. Then i spent an hour fitting new grooved and dimpled EBC discs (GD1187) and some ferodo DS2500 pads (FCP1706H). The pads are actually listed for a focus st that shares the same calliper. Very little info online for saab stuff so took a gamble and it paid off. Also fitted new meyle HD drop links which took over an hour as I had to cut one side off.

Car feels transformed! Still bedding the pads and discs in but have much more confidence in it now. Less knocking noises with the new drop links. Just clocks from the famously crap suspension top bearings now! The steering become notchy and has play after the grease was washed out so ive ordered a new used UJ from neobros. At least if that one has play i can send it back!

Still waiting for my LFR7AIX to be shipped from america. Its done probably 30,000 miles on the last set so i hope the plugs fix the slight feeling of misfiring and its not a full set of 6 coil packs!








The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that there is a stud sheared off in the first pic. Its going to be a pain to get out. its one of the locking ones as well! And for anyone wondering its getting 32-34mpg on vpower! Not bad for 320hp. Clutch next!

[welshpug]

theyre bolts

shouldnt be too bad unless cross threaded, a good centre punch then drill it taking care to oil and not heat it up.

smash a torx bit in and wind it out.

[Eeyore]

theyre bolts

shouldnt be too bad unless cross threaded, a good centre punch then drill it taking care to oil and not heat it up.

smash a torx bit in and wind it out.

thanks for the advice. its late. too many things going on. Ill see what I can do! Main thing was to get the car driveable. I swapped all the brakes out because the front drivers disc was warped and with any kind of heat in it i would say it was dangerous and stopping ability really wasnt there! Probably cost 3 times as much for the upgraded bits over the stock but will hopefully reduce risk of warping and increase braking

[Eeyore]

So what has happened since the last update...

That sheared bolt came out super easy. As I drilled it out it unbolted through the back of the hub. Win! Spare bolt off ebay and that was sorted.

Its now done 173k! Ive got plugs and still have got round to doing that. The expensive drilled and grooved brake discs seemed to warp instantly. not sure why but ive kept them to try again in the future.

4 new tyres again this year. PS4s as always. A new windscreen for £85 excess instead of the £850 it would have cost!

It had its MOT last friday which it failed on the offside handbrake not working at all. Looks like the handbrake mech is broken inside the caliper but I had a spare so threw that on and its working and ready for retest!

Generally its still running great. The plugs will fix the roughness. It needs a good clean though!

   

[Eeyore]

Fitted the new caliper with tom and subsequently got flamed on FB about how an idiot must have fitted the calipers previously as having the handbrake cable without 2mm play means the mech cant adjust. Flaming handled, ive checked and the arm appears to rotate back to its original position with no issues.

I took the car out for a rag tonight to check the brakes before a retest tomorrow. All good however the pedal does get to the floor. Googled and it appears the booster allows this to happen anyway but it felt as if it was happening a bit too fast. Checked fluid and it had gone down. Wheel off and found it was leaking slightly from the banjo. Took it off, sanded it down a bit to clean it up before putting it back on and rebleeding. Tested and isnt leaking now.

Ready for MOT test tomorrow!

[welshpug]

randomers, they need slack so they can actually adjust!

internet mechanics eh!

seems these V6 models have held their value as you can't pick one up anywhere near as cheap as you can a Diesel I've noticed.

[Eeyore]

randomers, they need slack so they can actually adjust!

internet mechanics eh!  

seems these V6 models have held their value as you can't pick one up anywhere near as cheap as you can a Diesel I've noticed.

ohh I think the opposite. It depends which diesel. For a boggo 1.9 theyre cheap but the TTID aeros are 3k+. The v6s can be had as little as 1500 for sub 100k! Right bargains if you can afford to run them! Getting out of the rallye from using it daily this week and getting into the saab felt so good!

[welshpug]

ahh yes I had not even looked at the twin turbo things, they'll always be out of reach, especially if they break

[Eeyore]

Just done over 181k now and still going strong. Currently at Carl Chambers for spark change and swapping out the steering UJ which has had play in it for years. Made sense to leave it when i collected the 306. Makes a few knocking noises over speedbumps but its either drop links or top mounts. These seem to eat through them!

[Eeyore]

Been a long time since an update.

Had the sparks changed and the steering UJ was replaced so no play in the steering any more which is lovely The manifold gaskets needed replacing which took a few weeks to replace so its sealed at the moment but not with the OEM gaskets. Have these on the shelf ready to go when needed.

It went for its MOT again and failed on the handbrake, stuck rear caliper (no doubt the handbrake issue), numberplate LEDs and a banana arm on the rear. left with Carl for a week and all fixed. Advisory on the tyres so two new PS3s on the front. Didnt need them on the rear so ive got a pair in the shed now. Rear calipers on these are a nightmare, dont know how they manage to make them so shite.

Its on about 188k miles now so still going well. The clutch is starting to slip more and more but Ive been "enjoying" driving it so under normal driving conditions its fine.

Tax has just come through and its £540... which is my biggest issue with this car as well as the fuel consumption. I reckon im down 3mpg as the coil packs need replacing but thats £300 minimum to replace them. Its a fantastic car but I have no idea what else I would get! Apart from a diesel version of the same...

[welshpug]

yep I had also found the saab to be very expensive to insure, its nigh on double my 525 tds

[danny deedee nash]

i just need to no what i need to upgrade 2 fit a turbz on my 306xsi 2.0 16v

[Mighty306]

This is only what I've read / understand to be correct .....the 16v engines aren't well suited to turbo-charging as they're already high compression at 10.4:1.  The older 8v XSi's could be more easily turbo'd.

The Bosch MP5.2 ECU on the 16v XSi also can't be reprogrammed and can only handle very small deviations from the original map so you'd be looking at fitting a stand-alone ECU which will have to be mapped = expensive!!

You'd be better finding yourself a GTi-6 and enjoying what that has to offer instead, or meddling with an XUD turbo.  The XU10J4R isn't a bad engine but there aren't many off-the-shelf mods for it & others that you can make power more easily & cheaply with.

[ekjdm14]

My thoughts too, you'll get better power and more DIY tunability on a budget with a TD lump from the get go... our TD swapped 206 is still on a K14 turbo/22psi currently (estimate 180+bhp) with mild pump mods and mated to a GTi180 flywheel/clutch and GTi gearbox it's mental & the engine picks up revs so much better with the lighter flywheel while still being plenty torquey enough. (only thing with the GTi 'box though is you're quite high in the rev range at 70mph, not that the derv won't rev 6k+ but it's loud at motorway speeds. If we were regularly on dual carriageways/m-ways I'd go to a longer legged DT 'box).

Saying that, given the limitations of the ECU and high compression engine I think low-blow supercharging might be a worthwhile avenue to look at with the 16v lump. It'd give a nice boost in torque at low revs with no lag & a worthwhile increase through the rev range, but not really a project for newbies as it'd take either solid working knowledge of the engine/ECU as a whole OR my preferred method of just enough knowledge to be dangerous mixed with a little research and semi-educated guesswork & risk-taking on part selection. (We've been sort-of considering a blower on the 180, although not seriously enough to have any helpful info on that route yet, just the idea in my head and the theory that it'll work well)

[Eeyore]

get off my thread! Its all about saabs here!