My best all rounder - 9000 Aero.
Discussion
Morning All,
Been meaning to post up some info on my MY97 Saab 9000 Aero here for quite a while. She goes into storage from tomorrow so what better time for a write up?
I have been into my Saabs for years but never intended on buying a 9000. They just seemed a little too 'sensible' for me!
In February 2009 some friends made me aware of a car being advertised very cheaply at the other end of the country from me. With little description of the car, poor pictures, a failing relationship, no money and no job it seemed like a great idea to call the TVR(!) dealer who had her in the morning and put a deposit on it.
£225 later and this is what I drove home;
Immediate reactions were of a car that actually drove really well but was beyond filthy.
She had had one owner most of her life with lots of Saab service history but with the owner for the last year apparently using her as a 'dog car'. For the first week or so I had to drive everywhere with the windows open, not good in February.
Soon we got to cleaning her up to discover what lay beneath all the grime and filth;
It was at this point all promises made originally to the (then) other half about selling or breaking her for parts were broken!
Soon I found myself very happily living 100 miles South back with my parents and several cars. During this time the 9000 proved herself as an excellent all rounder, providing 32-38 mpg and decent comfort.
I was then invited to my first rolling road day. After a quick 'Stage 1' remap and whilst battling a standard exhaust system with leaking manifold gasket she managed 230bhp. This was at the time on very tired standard suspension with tired standard brakes. Rather scary.
"Interesting" thought I - "there's clearly more to come.."
So I borrowed a barn from a friend, parked her up and carried on running my other car for the summer months whilst a plan hatched.
My plan was simple. Make a properly quick but fully trimmed winter car that was a bit different from all the other 9000's out there. She already had heated seats and mirrors so I added heated washer jets to complete the 'winter spec'. Unlike my other projects this car was to be completed with a firm date in mind.
Work in progress;
Getting the windscreen rust and wing sorted;
I then decided to change the interior over to a contrasting interior. A beige Aero interior was duly sourced and I made up my own contrasting door cards. Just to be a little different;
After lots of very very stressful incidents we were on the road.
During the winter months and for the entire following year (2010) she has proved to be a superbly fast, relatively frugal (Av 32mpg) and faithful car.
A new free-er flowing exhaust system and remap to suit managed to get her up to 297 bhp and 337 lbf.ft. This is the limit of my current set up although a 3 bar MAP sensor and bigger injectors will get me up to the next stage which would be about 330bhp.
This alongside a host of handling modifications have created a car that is fairly comfortable as an everyday proposition but with the added benefit of decent handling and stonking overtaking power (over 300 torques between 2500rpm and 5000rpm).
She has been used in the snow, for moving house, for sleeping in, long journeys commuting and track days. All without much fuss - apart from the brakes trying to set fire to themselves at the new Snetterton the other day!
Some more random pictures of the last year;
Disclaimer for the usual suspects; Yes, my insurance company know all about every single modification. Yes, I know the 'plate is illegal. But it is how I like it, no police that I've spoken to have a problem with it and nor do their cameras! It's just a bit of fun after all.
Been meaning to post up some info on my MY97 Saab 9000 Aero here for quite a while. She goes into storage from tomorrow so what better time for a write up?
I have been into my Saabs for years but never intended on buying a 9000. They just seemed a little too 'sensible' for me!
In February 2009 some friends made me aware of a car being advertised very cheaply at the other end of the country from me. With little description of the car, poor pictures, a failing relationship, no money and no job it seemed like a great idea to call the TVR(!) dealer who had her in the morning and put a deposit on it.
£225 later and this is what I drove home;
Immediate reactions were of a car that actually drove really well but was beyond filthy.
She had had one owner most of her life with lots of Saab service history but with the owner for the last year apparently using her as a 'dog car'. For the first week or so I had to drive everywhere with the windows open, not good in February.
Soon we got to cleaning her up to discover what lay beneath all the grime and filth;
It was at this point all promises made originally to the (then) other half about selling or breaking her for parts were broken!
Soon I found myself very happily living 100 miles South back with my parents and several cars. During this time the 9000 proved herself as an excellent all rounder, providing 32-38 mpg and decent comfort.
I was then invited to my first rolling road day. After a quick 'Stage 1' remap and whilst battling a standard exhaust system with leaking manifold gasket she managed 230bhp. This was at the time on very tired standard suspension with tired standard brakes. Rather scary.
"Interesting" thought I - "there's clearly more to come.."
So I borrowed a barn from a friend, parked her up and carried on running my other car for the summer months whilst a plan hatched.
My plan was simple. Make a properly quick but fully trimmed winter car that was a bit different from all the other 9000's out there. She already had heated seats and mirrors so I added heated washer jets to complete the 'winter spec'. Unlike my other projects this car was to be completed with a firm date in mind.
Work in progress;
Getting the windscreen rust and wing sorted;
I then decided to change the interior over to a contrasting interior. A beige Aero interior was duly sourced and I made up my own contrasting door cards. Just to be a little different;
After lots of very very stressful incidents we were on the road.
During the winter months and for the entire following year (2010) she has proved to be a superbly fast, relatively frugal (Av 32mpg) and faithful car.
A new free-er flowing exhaust system and remap to suit managed to get her up to 297 bhp and 337 lbf.ft. This is the limit of my current set up although a 3 bar MAP sensor and bigger injectors will get me up to the next stage which would be about 330bhp.
This alongside a host of handling modifications have created a car that is fairly comfortable as an everyday proposition but with the added benefit of decent handling and stonking overtaking power (over 300 torques between 2500rpm and 5000rpm).
She has been used in the snow, for moving house, for sleeping in, long journeys commuting and track days. All without much fuss - apart from the brakes trying to set fire to themselves at the new Snetterton the other day!
Some more random pictures of the last year;
Disclaimer for the usual suspects; Yes, my insurance company know all about every single modification. Yes, I know the 'plate is illegal. But it is how I like it, no police that I've spoken to have a problem with it and nor do their cameras! It's just a bit of fun after all.
Me too! It looks like your seats are shrugging 
Nice car, nice write up. I have a 200000 miler with about the same power but with an 2.0 lpt gearbox (considerably lower final drive ratio), which makes things interesting. I put her in storage when started to fall apart at the seams (tinworm), still considering whether I should put the old girl back together and back to work.
Fantastic bit of kit, would buy again.
Fantastic bit of kit, would buy again.
Wow! Cheers guys. Didn't expect such a good response. 
I'm a big fan of anything remotely sleeper-ish. During last winter I had a sidelight out one side, headlight out the other, layers of salt/grime and I had some fantastic tussles with a few cars. Quite a few surprised faces..
NCoT - Nope, 17" mate, amazing how it swallows them up. I've already toyed with the idea of testing them out on the 900, think it'd be rude not to..
Ferkle, that sounds nuts. Mine is silly enough on the Aero gearbox. Worked out it'd do over 170 on that box at the rev limit. The way it pulls at speeds in that direction I don't think it'd be too far off.
I'm a big fan of anything remotely sleeper-ish. During last winter I had a sidelight out one side, headlight out the other, layers of salt/grime and I had some fantastic tussles with a few cars. Quite a few surprised faces..
NCoT - Nope, 17" mate, amazing how it swallows them up. I've already toyed with the idea of testing them out on the 900, think it'd be rude not to..
Ferkle, that sounds nuts. Mine is silly enough on the Aero gearbox. Worked out it'd do over 170 on that box at the rev limit. The way it pulls at speeds in that direction I don't think it'd be too far off.
MrMoonyMan said:
NCoT - Nope, 17" mate, amazing how it swallows them up. I've already toyed with the idea of testing them out on the 900, think it'd be rude not to..
Did you find a home for that chargecooler in the end? Sorry I never got back to you, had a cash flow crisis and just couldn't justify it
Very Nice, I ran 3 9000s, the final one was a last of the line '98 R, that was badged as a 2.3 turbo, but had the Aero engine and LSD, had it tweaked by Offord Motors near St Neots (TVR dealer also!) and ran it up from 80k miles to 160k with only a lunched gearbox being the major issue.
The 9 5s that followed felt rather flimsy afterwards and i am considering another one to run alongside the Porsche
The 9 5s that followed felt rather flimsy afterwards and i am considering another one to run alongside the Porsche
Such a good car the 9000's my mate has had 2 of these last one was a CD saloon shell (in beige
) but after some modifications(including a 2.3Aero lump conv bigger Turbo and Remap made 278hp and 360lb/ft
) was a serious sleeper
only weak points are the gearboxes
he bought his for less than £400
) but after some modifications(including a 2.3Aero lump conv bigger Turbo and Remap made 278hp and 360lb/ft) was a serious sleeperonly weak points are the gearboxes
he bought his for less than £400Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff