My new (to me!) Saab 9-3 SE Convertible Project
Discussion
Little update before I fit all the kit this week.
Collected the Amps...this DLS A7 is enormous
DLS A2
:lol:
Compared with my old Alpine MRV-1000 V12 amp
Difficult to show the size of this thing so here's my old Alpine set up in the 9k...one on the right is the MRV-1000
God knows how this A7's gonna fit....
Collected the Amps...this DLS A7 is enormous
DLS A2
:lol:
Compared with my old Alpine MRV-1000 V12 amp
Difficult to show the size of this thing so here's my old Alpine set up in the 9k...one on the right is the MRV-1000
God knows how this A7's gonna fit....
Also bought a 0AWG dual amp wiring kit, which goes from 0 gauge down to 4 gauge to fit 2 amps. This ones from Autoloeads:
Pretty chunky packaging.
From the left, blue 0AWG power cable, blue 4AWG power cable, 2 way fused power block, clear 0AWG earth cable, clear 4AWG earth cable, +ve battery terminal, 0AWG fuse holder (it's huge!!!) earth drstribution block, blue remote cable, various terminals. Also some plastic ties not pictured.
Top cable is the old 4 gauge, bottom is the new 0 gauge.
0 gauge on right, overall cable is much thicker...need to snip the end off the 4 gauge and see how it looks.
New 0 gauge on top, old 2 gauge earth below.
John Holmes sized fuse holder compared to the little tiddler below!! Top ones a 0 gauge ANL fuse holder, bottoms a AGU. No idea which is better??
Went for some Van Damme RCA leads in the end, got blue for the fronts, green for rear and yellow for subs. Just need some decent plugs that won't bankrupt me then that's covered...
Tons of hearshrink!! Got a load more black & multicoloured stuff here somewhere so that sides sorted at least! Also have enough polyester braided covers to run all the cables throughout the car.
My first vice...it's a whopper
Rewiring starts tomorrow
Pretty chunky packaging.
From the left, blue 0AWG power cable, blue 4AWG power cable, 2 way fused power block, clear 0AWG earth cable, clear 4AWG earth cable, +ve battery terminal, 0AWG fuse holder (it's huge!!!) earth drstribution block, blue remote cable, various terminals. Also some plastic ties not pictured.
Top cable is the old 4 gauge, bottom is the new 0 gauge.
0 gauge on right, overall cable is much thicker...need to snip the end off the 4 gauge and see how it looks.
New 0 gauge on top, old 2 gauge earth below.
John Holmes sized fuse holder compared to the little tiddler below!! Top ones a 0 gauge ANL fuse holder, bottoms a AGU. No idea which is better??
Went for some Van Damme RCA leads in the end, got blue for the fronts, green for rear and yellow for subs. Just need some decent plugs that won't bankrupt me then that's covered...
Tons of hearshrink!! Got a load more black & multicoloured stuff here somewhere so that sides sorted at least! Also have enough polyester braided covers to run all the cables throughout the car.
My first vice...it's a whopper
Rewiring starts tomorrow
Made a start on the rewiring today. 9am - 5pm non stop and it feels like I've only scratched the surface 
First up was the tweeters, in the rear I've got some old Focal components which are 136kx 5.25" woofers and TN45 tweeters. Woofers were fitted last week but I wanted to solder them properly again and cover with heat shrink (all been done this way)
Tweeters I wasnt that sure about but the rear just sounds a bit dead without them.
Focal TN46
Had no idea what was +ve here but massive thanks to Kei (again!!) for helping me out here.
Fitted them in place of the rear quarter lights, also put both pairs of wire in some braided covering and fed that to the boot:
Teeters fitted:
Wires going to boot
Front tweeters next! These are different to the rears (TN52) and are meant to sound a little less harsh. Same as the others, no idea what's +ve but there's a faint line on them so have gone with +ve
Took the old Clarion xover out, marked up the cables for future ref
Tweeters were just off with the fit so added some deadening to the mounting plate, then stuck it down the other end...it's secure!!!
Long run of cable to the new xovers in the boot (will have 4x xovers in the boot)
Just snipped the door speakers for now until I get the cables sorted.
Power cable!!!!!!!!!!
0awg is a right sod to fit through the bulkhead...took over an hour just to do this bit! Had to move the fusebox to one side then struggle to cut the rubber gromit...which was too small, then LOADS of swearing, army head on and started hacking away at it to make it bigger.
Just plastic tied it to the strut brace for now and put a bit of heat shrink over the end.
Big *** cable!!
I've bought some thick black braided sleeving for this but after trying it out it's too big and doesn't grip the cable....so will use this for the RCA's instead
So I used the same grey stuff as I'm using for the speaker cables and just secured it with some leccy insulsting tape....taking it all out again & heat shrinking it would have sent
me loopy :wall: Much better fit with this one.
Seat out then ran the power cable down the middle of the car and straight into the boot
Wasn't too happy with the cables going through the ski hatch so routed them under the boot same as the power cable but they're tucked out the way.
Cables just left in the boot for now.
Tomorrows job is finish the right door speaker, then do the left fronts and if I've got time make up the RCA's....
First up was the tweeters, in the rear I've got some old Focal components which are 136kx 5.25" woofers and TN45 tweeters. Woofers were fitted last week but I wanted to solder them properly again and cover with heat shrink (all been done this way)
Tweeters I wasnt that sure about but the rear just sounds a bit dead without them.
Focal TN46
Had no idea what was +ve here but massive thanks to Kei (again!!) for helping me out here.
Fitted them in place of the rear quarter lights, also put both pairs of wire in some braided covering and fed that to the boot:
Teeters fitted:
Wires going to boot
Front tweeters next! These are different to the rears (TN52) and are meant to sound a little less harsh. Same as the others, no idea what's +ve but there's a faint line on them so have gone with +ve
Took the old Clarion xover out, marked up the cables for future ref
Tweeters were just off with the fit so added some deadening to the mounting plate, then stuck it down the other end...it's secure!!!
Long run of cable to the new xovers in the boot (will have 4x xovers in the boot)
Just snipped the door speakers for now until I get the cables sorted.
Power cable!!!!!!!!!!
0awg is a right sod to fit through the bulkhead...took over an hour just to do this bit! Had to move the fusebox to one side then struggle to cut the rubber gromit...which was too small, then LOADS of swearing, army head on and started hacking away at it to make it bigger.
Just plastic tied it to the strut brace for now and put a bit of heat shrink over the end.
Big *** cable!!
I've bought some thick black braided sleeving for this but after trying it out it's too big and doesn't grip the cable....so will use this for the RCA's instead
So I used the same grey stuff as I'm using for the speaker cables and just secured it with some leccy insulsting tape....taking it all out again & heat shrinking it would have sent
me loopy :wall: Much better fit with this one.
Seat out then ran the power cable down the middle of the car and straight into the boot
Wasn't too happy with the cables going through the ski hatch so routed them under the boot same as the power cable but they're tucked out the way.
Cables just left in the boot for now.
Tomorrows job is finish the right door speaker, then do the left fronts and if I've got time make up the RCA's....
maxdb said:
Nice project - I think I will keep this bookmarked 
On a side note I have seen a few 9-3 convertibles selling at a good price. How much boot space do you get in them? It's a shame I can't get one as my next car but I certainly wouldn't mind owning one at one point.
Thanks! I've got to update this thread again later...still a good 4 months to catch up on!On a side note I have seen a few 9-3 convertibles selling at a good price. How much boot space do you get in them? It's a shame I can't get one as my next car but I certainly wouldn't mind owning one at one point.
Yeah theyve come down a fair bit in the last year or so (might have something to do with Saab going bust)
Nice enough cars but they need a fair bit of suspension work to get anywhere near half decent, even now with a load of uprated parts added its still not brilliant tbh.Boot space isn't huge but you can still get a fair bit in there, mines now pretty useless as the amps taken up over half the boot, and ive still got the sub to fit. One gripe I have though is although the rear seat can be dropped theres still another part behind there that's fixed to the car so you've only got a tiny ski hatch to access the cabin... but then again the roof bag takes up a lot of space so getting anything major in isnt going to be easy!
If you do decide to get one make sure the bulkheads not cracked (just sit in the car, look at the pedals and turn the wheel from full lock to full lock...any movement and it's likely to be a cracked bulkhead) not the end of the world as they can be welded & fixed but factor that in with the price as its an mot fail. Also have a think on how far you'd want to take it power wise. The older T5 engined cars (up to 2000 with red DI & oil cap on the centre) are good for up to 500bhp but the newer T7 (2000-2002/3 with black DI & oil cap set off to the right) can only get to 300-320 (320 max iirc) before you need to change the pistons. Thats the main reason I went for this instead of a 2002 Aero....just miles cheaper to get big power
C.A.R. said:
Nice colour.
Are the wheels on the 'hitlist' of things for the skip? Just seems that you've spent a lot of money on a nice looking car which still has Halfords wheels on!
Are the wheels on the 'hitlist' of things for the skip? Just seems that you've spent a lot of money on a nice looking car which still has Halfords wheels on!
EVERYONE hates these wheels! I was after a set of 9-3 or 9-5 Aero alloys as I didnt like the polished finish but these have strangely grown on me....they dont look too bad polished up....I'm not even 100% on what they are...TSW black ice look similar as do sepang? They'll be staying put for now until the engine mods are finished then I'll probably swap them same time as fitting some decent tyres.
Cont"d
Today's job was finish off the front components. Did the right tweeter same as the other but the xover was hidden deep in the dash so half that needed to come out :roll:
Then got on with rewiring the door speakers.
Plan was to just use the original wiring and snip the end off next to the door harness then solder the new stuff to that, had a look and the wire was in a state with a few cuts in there showing some exposed cable, plus it looks like cheap stuff and very thin.
So I sacked that idea and tried to rewire with the new stuff but use the harness...then sacked that idea!!!!
New stuff on right...much thicker
Decided to do it the easy way and snipped a small hole each end of the rubber gromits then feed the wire through....not as easy as it sounds trust me :roll:
Took ages but finally got it through
Then fed this through the small hole in the door
And from there through the speaker hole ready for soldering
Speakers getting soldered....my soldering skills are pants :bag:
All done (for now)
Not ideal I know but will do me! I'll sort this properly when I get time and some decent weather!
Inside I did the same as the rears with the braided covers. Taped up one end to get a snug fit!
Then fed under the carpet & into boot
She'll never know!!
Today's job was finish off the front components. Did the right tweeter same as the other but the xover was hidden deep in the dash so half that needed to come out :roll:
Then got on with rewiring the door speakers.
Plan was to just use the original wiring and snip the end off next to the door harness then solder the new stuff to that, had a look and the wire was in a state with a few cuts in there showing some exposed cable, plus it looks like cheap stuff and very thin.
So I sacked that idea and tried to rewire with the new stuff but use the harness...then sacked that idea!!!!
New stuff on right...much thicker
Decided to do it the easy way and snipped a small hole each end of the rubber gromits then feed the wire through....not as easy as it sounds trust me :roll:
Took ages but finally got it through
Then fed this through the small hole in the door
And from there through the speaker hole ready for soldering
Speakers getting soldered....my soldering skills are pants :bag:
All done (for now)
Not ideal I know but will do me! I'll sort this properly when I get time and some decent weather!
Inside I did the same as the rears with the braided covers. Taped up one end to get a snug fit!
Then fed under the carpet & into boot
She'll never know!!
Same on the other side, need to finish the speaker off tomorrow then all the speakers are sorted! Took forever to feed the cable through this side due to no space after idiot here refitted the front too soon :wall: So had to feed it the other way round...
RCA plugs turned up as I was packing everything away, no idea if these are any good but really can't afford £40/50 just on plugs! Quick teaser on how they'll look.
Best open up my old ones to see how they get soldered :bag:
LOADS more to do!!!
First Job was finishing off the drivers door speaker. Got that soldered up and refitted, door card on...hopefully next time it's off is when I sell up!
Then decided to test out the amps with the existing wiring the previous owner left in here, wasn't really sure why the power & earth leads were going to the boot along with the remote & RCA leads
...still don't know but after getting it confirmed the blue/white was indeed the remote (my last install was black cable..so threw me for a few mins!) I snipped the end off and soldered on a longer blue lead into the boot.
Head unit put up a massive fight and would not come out! After a load of poking around with a thin screwdriver pushing the bent cage tabs in it came out. With no 'front' 'rear' RCA labels on here I had to just guess and stuck the others in (also these DLS amps have no red/white RCA inputs so after a 2min google...red is right...white is left!)
Just wanted to test both amps out so fitted my old RCA's and temporarily fed them through the switch blank and into the boot. Will probably keep them like this untill I make up my own leads.
Then went hunting for a decent earthing point. Tried the rear seatbelt but the hole on the earth lead is way too small so looked elsewhere and found one in the boot.
Fits fine but it's crap and you can hear it throug the speakers...out with the file tomorrow and make that hole bigger!!
Then started sorting the wires out in the boot. Cut a few slits in the rear carpet where it folds up then fed them through
Bit tidier!!
Next job was trial fitting these amps. Got a better idea now of how they're going to go and where the sub will live...but more on that next month. Just cut up some of my old mdf for now and fed that under the carpet to screw the amps, xovers and block down for now.
Will end up something like this but raised around 8-10" on a platform
All wired up...bit of a mess at the mo ;oops:
Power cable connected...fuse holder is HUGE!!!
IT LIVES!!!!!!!!
Not all is well though, the passenger door woofer sounded a bit echoey on the HU amp but you can really notice it with the DLS amp, had a mess around with the amps xover and it sounds a little better...only really noticeable on lower frequency..
Also the earth needs changing. Appart from that...all good.
Tomorrows job is move the earth then test the smaller amp as i didnt have time today, then start making up the RCA's. Will leave the speaker & power cables this length for now until I've built the amp rack then cut everything to size.
One little bug on these DLS amps is they have Allen key fixings for all the speaker & power cables...right PITA as a few have rounded off and are useless so had to swap them off the smaller amp (anyone know where I can get spares?)
RCA plugs turned up as I was packing everything away, no idea if these are any good but really can't afford £40/50 just on plugs! Quick teaser on how they'll look.
Best open up my old ones to see how they get soldered :bag:
LOADS more to do!!!
First Job was finishing off the drivers door speaker. Got that soldered up and refitted, door card on...hopefully next time it's off is when I sell up!
Then decided to test out the amps with the existing wiring the previous owner left in here, wasn't really sure why the power & earth leads were going to the boot along with the remote & RCA leads
...still don't know but after getting it confirmed the blue/white was indeed the remote (my last install was black cable..so threw me for a few mins!) I snipped the end off and soldered on a longer blue lead into the boot.Head unit put up a massive fight and would not come out! After a load of poking around with a thin screwdriver pushing the bent cage tabs in it came out. With no 'front' 'rear' RCA labels on here I had to just guess and stuck the others in (also these DLS amps have no red/white RCA inputs so after a 2min google...red is right...white is left!)
Just wanted to test both amps out so fitted my old RCA's and temporarily fed them through the switch blank and into the boot. Will probably keep them like this untill I make up my own leads.
Then went hunting for a decent earthing point. Tried the rear seatbelt but the hole on the earth lead is way too small so looked elsewhere and found one in the boot.
Fits fine but it's crap and you can hear it throug the speakers...out with the file tomorrow and make that hole bigger!!
Then started sorting the wires out in the boot. Cut a few slits in the rear carpet where it folds up then fed them through
Bit tidier!!
Next job was trial fitting these amps. Got a better idea now of how they're going to go and where the sub will live...but more on that next month. Just cut up some of my old mdf for now and fed that under the carpet to screw the amps, xovers and block down for now.
Will end up something like this but raised around 8-10" on a platform
All wired up...bit of a mess at the mo ;oops:
Power cable connected...fuse holder is HUGE!!!
IT LIVES!!!!!!!!
Not all is well though, the passenger door woofer sounded a bit echoey on the HU amp but you can really notice it with the DLS amp, had a mess around with the amps xover and it sounds a little better...only really noticeable on lower frequency..
Also the earth needs changing. Appart from that...all good.
Tomorrows job is move the earth then test the smaller amp as i didnt have time today, then start making up the RCA's. Will leave the speaker & power cables this length for now until I've built the amp rack then cut everything to size.
One little bug on these DLS amps is they have Allen key fixings for all the speaker & power cables...right PITA as a few have rounded off and are useless so had to swap them off the smaller amp
(anyone know where I can get spares?)After a bit of searching for a t28 size turbo this one came up on eBay. No way is it a t28 but that's what it's listed as!!! Looks to be some sort of gt30 type turbo but will have a better idea when it turns up.
The largest I wanted to go was a 0.64 gt3071r but trying to find one used for a good price is pretty impossible!! Can fetch around £500 2nd hand!! This cost £117;ol; worth a punt anyway!!
Looking at the pics I think this is another gt3076 but with a 0.70 compressor housing and 0.64 turbine side, last one was 0.50 comp & 0.86 turbine and got dynod 450bhp & 425ft/lbs @1.6 bar but was too laggy for me...so I'm hoping this'll spool up a fair bit earlier and still get close to 500 with tubular, cams and 1.9 bar:lol: I'll check the p/n when it arrives.
Still on the lookout for a 28, very interested in the Big t28 which uses a few parts from the gt28rs and is meant to flow within 5% of it.....this will be boxed up for now just incase I fancy going 450+bhp next year! (never say never!!)
The largest I wanted to go was a 0.64 gt3071r but trying to find one used for a good price is pretty impossible!! Can fetch around £500 2nd hand!! This cost £117;ol; worth a punt anyway!!
Looking at the pics I think this is another gt3076 but with a 0.70 compressor housing and 0.64 turbine side, last one was 0.50 comp & 0.86 turbine and got dynod 450bhp & 425ft/lbs @1.6 bar but was too laggy for me...so I'm hoping this'll spool up a fair bit earlier and still get close to 500 with tubular, cams and 1.9 bar:lol: I'll check the p/n when it arrives.
Still on the lookout for a 28, very interested in the Big t28 which uses a few parts from the gt28rs and is meant to flow within 5% of it.....this will be boxed up for now just incase I fancy going 450+bhp next year! (never say never!!)
Car went into SWSS to get the suspension uprated. I went for Bilstein B8's in the end but decided to keep the Abbott Springs instead of getting Maptun ones.
Got the following going on there:
Bilstein B8 Dampers all round
6 Point Subframe Brace
Abbott Racing Spherical Bearing Kit
PFS Steering Rack Clamp
Powerflex Inner & Outer TCA's
Powerflex Rear Axle mounts
Powerflex Front Drop link bushes
A few days later the turbo turned up....0.70ar compressor housing looks huge compared to the last one!!!
Not 100% sure what this is tbh, externally looks like both the gt2876r & gt3076r with 0.64 turbine. Quick google of the p/n confused things even more as some think it's a 2871 but I'm sure it's another version of the 3076. Quick check and it seems fine, wheels spin freely, very slight play in the shaft and the bb makes a nice noise! 500bhp turbo for £115!!! Bargain!
Only markings I can find.
Got a busy few days this week with it. Ordered some new vaccum hoses and a new hose & blanking plug to fit my old Forge DV. Also should have the T7 modded stage 1 ECU this week to take it from a very slow 154bhp to around 220...can't wait for that!
Got the following going on there:
Bilstein B8 Dampers all round
6 Point Subframe Brace
Abbott Racing Spherical Bearing Kit
PFS Steering Rack Clamp
Powerflex Inner & Outer TCA's
Powerflex Rear Axle mounts
Powerflex Front Drop link bushes
A few days later the turbo turned up....0.70ar compressor housing looks huge compared to the last one!!!
Not 100% sure what this is tbh, externally looks like both the gt2876r & gt3076r with 0.64 turbine. Quick google of the p/n confused things even more as some think it's a 2871 but I'm sure it's another version of the 3076. Quick check and it seems fine, wheels spin freely, very slight play in the shaft and the bb makes a nice noise! 500bhp turbo for £115!!! Bargain!
Only markings I can find.
Got a busy few days this week with it. Ordered some new vaccum hoses and a new hose & blanking plug to fit my old Forge DV. Also should have the T7 modded stage 1 ECU this week to take it from a very slow 154bhp to around 220...can't wait for that!
Pete102 said:
Looks good but, one question, are the front door cables ok running through the door check hole like that? - looks like a recipe for a severed cable...
No they're getting cut & soldered into the connectors when I get a chance, weathers been crap plus with extra shifts in work I've just not got round to it...they do need sorting though One speakers shagged though so I'll be replacing that when I find some more.
Ordinary_Chap said:
Great thread! The detail, work and the pictures make it interesting to read.
And that turbo!
Cheers!! Wasn't sure if I should stick it up here with the more expensive cars posted...some awesome machines on here And that turbo!
I'm still 50/50 on fitting this turbo, it'll still be pretty laggy on this engine even with the smaller exhaust housing so might wait for another gt28rs or similar to pop up at the right time. Been really fancying a china TD04-19t for a simple bolt on fit and keep things around 330-350bhp.
Cont'd
Cars came back 2 weeks later after getting the suspension mods. I haven't really had a chance to rag it yet (as best I can with 154bhp anyway.....S L O W!!!!) but initial impressions are positive! The rides no where near as crashy as I expected with these B8's. I had Abbott springs & Koni shocks on my 9k and that was a right bone shaker! But they were years old and probably shot to hell & back!
Corners much flatter and the scuttle shake has gone, cant really say if its a HUGE improvement as I've not driven it much but it feels a lot more planted and chuckable compared to before. Tbh I didn't find it as terrible as everyone says these verts are anyway!
So pics of a few of the uprated bits!
Ebay 6 point subframe brace, apparently this was a right pig to fit with bolts rounding off etc so I'm glad the garage did it instead of me! Have been over sleeping policemen/low kerbs and no scrapping so far.
PFS Steering Rack Clamp. Really wanted to fit this myself but had no time with work and crappy UK weather so the garage did it.
The car failed its MOT on rear brakes so I (read garage) fitted some EBC Yellow Stuff 'R' pads all round. I had normal Yellow Stuff on my 9000 but was never that happy with them, these R compound pads feel miles better though. Then again this has a good 300bhp less than my 9000 did so we'll see how they are with 450-500bhp!!
Next mod which I've got coming this week is a GS 22mm Rear ARB. I was going to just piggy back the arb with another standard one again like I did with the last car but thought sod it and get the thicker one while I can (getting hard to find)
Also fitted (me this time!) my old Forge DV. Surprising how quieter this is on a stock engine compared to the 9k!! Might have to swap the spring again for a weaker one or take out a couple shims.
One thing that did happen last week though was the roof wouldn't marry back up to the windshield when I tried to close it!!! Major panic there as the heavens were about to open again, so floored it back to the garage with the roof down (felt a tit as it was freezing and got some looks!!) and they adjusted the roof so its working fine again! No idea what happened there but maybe fitting the 6 point brace did it? ....that is one seriously bendy chassis!!!
Forgot to add about the audio side. Not had much of a chance to get a lot done but my biggest concern was trying to sort this alternator whine through the speakers....driving me nuts...
First job was to grind the ground terminal down to fit the seat belt bolt as it just would not go on!
Got there in the end...need to get some decent tools as this took ages!!
0AWG earth cable covered in braid again & taped off
Fitted to the LH rear seat belt location....MAJOR alternator whine so needs sorted asap!
And here's why!!
With limited tools (screw driver and crappy file!!) This is how far I got before sacking it and sheling out on a rotary multitool!
Multitool turned up next day (well worth it!!) got down to bare metal but the whine's still there...no where near as bad but still not sorted.
After a bit of head scratching I decided to bin the RCA's that came with the car and fit my old ones...made it a little better...but its still there! So moved the power cable to one side and as far away from the RCA & speaker cables as possible which made a difference....but nope still there. Out of ideas now so I'll look at re routing the power cable under the carpet and have minimal contact with the RH side speaker cables....they'll have to cross at one point but will try and get them at a 90º angle and see if that helps.
Cars came back 2 weeks later after getting the suspension mods. I haven't really had a chance to rag it yet (as best I can with 154bhp anyway.....S L O W!!!!) but initial impressions are positive! The rides no where near as crashy as I expected with these B8's. I had Abbott springs & Koni shocks on my 9k and that was a right bone shaker! But they were years old and probably shot to hell & back!
Corners much flatter and the scuttle shake has gone, cant really say if its a HUGE improvement as I've not driven it much but it feels a lot more planted and chuckable compared to before. Tbh I didn't find it as terrible as everyone says these verts are anyway!
So pics of a few of the uprated bits!
Ebay 6 point subframe brace, apparently this was a right pig to fit with bolts rounding off etc so I'm glad the garage did it instead of me! Have been over sleeping policemen/low kerbs and no scrapping so far.
PFS Steering Rack Clamp. Really wanted to fit this myself but had no time with work and crappy UK weather so the garage did it.
The car failed its MOT on rear brakes so I (read garage) fitted some EBC Yellow Stuff 'R' pads all round. I had normal Yellow Stuff on my 9000 but was never that happy with them, these R compound pads feel miles better though. Then again this has a good 300bhp less than my 9000 did so we'll see how they are with 450-500bhp!!
Next mod which I've got coming this week is a GS 22mm Rear ARB. I was going to just piggy back the arb with another standard one again like I did with the last car but thought sod it and get the thicker one while I can (getting hard to find)
Also fitted (me this time!) my old Forge DV. Surprising how quieter this is on a stock engine compared to the 9k!! Might have to swap the spring again for a weaker one or take out a couple shims.
One thing that did happen last week though was the roof wouldn't marry back up to the windshield when I tried to close it!!! Major panic there as the heavens were about to open again, so floored it back to the garage with the roof down (felt a tit as it was freezing and got some looks!!) and they adjusted the roof so its working fine again! No idea what happened there but maybe fitting the 6 point brace did it? ....that is one seriously bendy chassis!!!
Forgot to add about the audio side. Not had much of a chance to get a lot done but my biggest concern was trying to sort this alternator whine through the speakers....driving me nuts...
First job was to grind the ground terminal down to fit the seat belt bolt as it just would not go on!
Got there in the end...need to get some decent tools as this took ages!!
0AWG earth cable covered in braid again & taped off
Fitted to the LH rear seat belt location....MAJOR alternator whine so needs sorted asap!
And here's why!!
With limited tools (screw driver and crappy file!!) This is how far I got before sacking it and sheling out on a rotary multitool!
Multitool turned up next day (well worth it!!) got down to bare metal but the whine's still there...no where near as bad but still not sorted.
After a bit of head scratching I decided to bin the RCA's that came with the car and fit my old ones...made it a little better...but its still there! So moved the power cable to one side and as far away from the RCA & speaker cables as possible which made a difference....but nope still there. Out of ideas now so I'll look at re routing the power cable under the carpet and have minimal contact with the RH side speaker cables....they'll have to cross at one point but will try and get them at a 90º angle and see if that helps.
Also made a start on the big three upgrade! Only managed to get the battery (-ve) to chassis cable done, will do the engine ground to chassis next week but don't think I need to do the alternator (+ve) to battery (+ve) as its a standard alterator...will see how it goes.
2AWG cable cut to length then crimped & heat shrinked each end
(-ve) bolted to chassis from (-ve) battery
Next job is fit the new uprated rear ARB, get the amp back out, mark up the speaker cables and re route the power....the get the jigsaw out and start cutting MDF to make a simple amp rack.....onwards!!!
2AWG cable cut to length then crimped & heat shrinked each end
(-ve) bolted to chassis from (-ve) battery
Next job is fit the new uprated rear ARB, get the amp back out, mark up the speaker cables and re route the power....the get the jigsaw out and start cutting MDF to make a simple amp rack.....onwards!!!
Sound deadening the boot........ball ache 
Genuine Saab 22mm rear ARB turned the other week, hoping to fit it some day this week. After around 100 miles on the new set up its definitely a lot better, cornering is much improved, no more scuttle shake over rumble strips, feels a lot more planted and not sure if it's a placebo thing but feels much better than my 9k ever did.
B8's- no worries here. Was expecting a mega harsh ride but it's very nice.
Yellow stuff 'R' pads- get them if you've not done so! Awesome brake pad.
6 pint brace & rack clamp- both fitted same time but what a difference..now goes where I point!
Cracked on with a bit more sound deadening yesterday...just the rear speakers to do now then I'm set to instal the amps properly
Got the amps out and basically everything in the boot bar the cables. Was pretty grubby in there so gave it a good clean with the missis lavender APC!!
But before that marked up the wires & covered with some posh clear heat shrink, forgot to do this last time & spent ages trying to figure out whats what!
Dirty/dusty boot
All clean
Back out with the silent coat, just used the normal 2mm deadening matt here
Voila!!! (almost, need to cover a few inches under the carpet)
Then onto the boot lid, cover comes off pretty easy.
Did the same as the front doors here, 2mm on outer skin then thicker (much heavier!) multilayer matt on the inner skin then covered again with the 2mm. Might be a tad overkill this though...
Heavier 4mm stuff in centre and sides to cover largest holes
Then covered again with 2mm sheet
All done...boot weighs a ton!
Spare back in place...need to have a think on keeping this or swap for a can of tyre weld. Boot space will be tiny with 2 amps and 1 or 2 subs so need to think on this one.
Genuine Saab 22mm rear ARB turned the other week, hoping to fit it some day this week. After around 100 miles on the new set up its definitely a lot better, cornering is much improved, no more scuttle shake over rumble strips, feels a lot more planted and not sure if it's a placebo thing but feels much better than my 9k ever did.
B8's- no worries here. Was expecting a mega harsh ride but it's very nice.
Yellow stuff 'R' pads- get them if you've not done so! Awesome brake pad.
6 pint brace & rack clamp- both fitted same time but what a difference..now goes where I point!
Cracked on with a bit more sound deadening yesterday...just the rear speakers to do now then I'm set to instal the amps properly
Got the amps out and basically everything in the boot bar the cables. Was pretty grubby in there so gave it a good clean with the missis lavender APC!!
But before that marked up the wires & covered with some posh clear heat shrink, forgot to do this last time & spent ages trying to figure out whats what!
Dirty/dusty boot
All clean
Back out with the silent coat, just used the normal 2mm deadening matt here
Voila!!! (almost, need to cover a few inches under the carpet)
Then onto the boot lid, cover comes off pretty easy.
Did the same as the front doors here, 2mm on outer skin then thicker (much heavier!) multilayer matt on the inner skin then covered again with the 2mm. Might be a tad overkill this though...
Heavier 4mm stuff in centre and sides to cover largest holes
Then covered again with 2mm sheet
All done...boot weighs a ton!
Spare back in place...need to have a think on keeping this or swap for a can of tyre weld. Boot space will be tiny with 2 amps and 1 or 2 subs so need to think on this one.
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