SAAB 9 3 'Vert Shed
Discussion
Fat Albert said:
Hi Nik, go for it, they are a serious amount of car for the money, if you get yourself over to UKSAABs there is a lot of good advice and help on choosing a car and un-doing the GM 'improvements'!
Well,I took your advice, and paid the £750 asking price for the 9-3 2.2 TiD.
Seems a well looked after car, body is near mint, just a couple of scuffs on two corners of the bumpers, and the badges are worn. Mechanically the owner has spent about £2000 in the past 18 months, lots of new parts all over, and it has 10 months MOT.
Everything works as far as I can tell, it drives very smoothly, no noises or clunks from anywhere, it tracks 100% and brakes in a straight line.
It needs a good wash and a hoover inside, but I think for the money I have got a bargain !
Oh, and it has the comfiest tan leather seats I have ever sat in, I say in and not on, because it's comfier than our sofa
Thanks John, I will try that when the aerial converter turns up!
Nik, that is a ridiculous amount of car for the money!!
The seats are fantastic, on a par with the ones in my old Jag, I used to do 35k miles a year in my old 9000s and 9 5s and used to regularly spend over 6 hours a day in the car and never had any trouble with comfort
Come over and show it off over on www.uksaabs.co.uk
Nik, that is a ridiculous amount of car for the money!!
The seats are fantastic, on a par with the ones in my old Jag, I used to do 35k miles a year in my old 9000s and 9 5s and used to regularly spend over 6 hours a day in the car and never had any trouble with comfort
Come over and show it off over on www.uksaabs.co.uk
Edited by Fat Albert on Sunday 18th January 00:22
Edited by Fat Albert on Sunday 18th January 08:01
Looks a good colour combo, and she's scrubbed up well
It's a good, helpful forum that has saved me some dosh, I even had one of the guys from Neo Brothers message me to tell me that they had some good second hand parts when I was discussing doing my engine mounts on a thread, which saved me quite a wedge
It's a good, helpful forum that has saved me some dosh, I even had one of the guys from Neo Brothers message me to tell me that they had some good second hand parts when I was discussing doing my engine mounts on a thread, which saved me quite a wedge
Djw John said:
Just in case you've not sorted it yet you just need to swap the yellow and red wires over on the Alpine wiring to keep the memory. So red to yellow and yellow to red.
Spot-on John, thanks!Did this yesterday when my ISO-DIN Aerial Converter turned up and it holds its memory/config now.
the only issue is that it goes off when you turn the engine off, but if i am waiting in the car for the kids I will turn the engine off and then turn the ignition back on to listen to it
Not much to report other than I can't get the sump plug out to do an oil change, it is now round, so may have to resort to a sump-drop so that I can get it on the work-bench and apply some intellect and philosophy to it (or extreme violence)
The car has now crested 150k miles, and I have done 6k since I bought her, my total spend including purchase stands at just under £1100!!
I have managed to get my Sewede topless a couple of times recently (after I did a little top-up of hydraulic fluid for the hood) and the Hydraulic vertical Load extender feature came in real handy when I picked up my Son's new bike for his Birthday!!
The car has now crested 150k miles, and I have done 6k since I bought her, my total spend including purchase stands at just under £1100!!
I have managed to get my Sewede topless a couple of times recently (after I did a little top-up of hydraulic fluid for the hood) and the Hydraulic vertical Load extender feature came in real handy when I picked up my Son's new bike for his Birthday!!
My front brakes started making that nice metal-on-metal graunch and were feeling a little soft anyway, so thought it a good time to do something.
looking around on UKSAABs forum showed that reasonable disks and Ferodo pads were the favourite choice, so this arrived in the post last week for £73 delivered:
I got my 12 year old mechanic to get cracking and we soon had the calipers off
The pads were down to the metal on the inside on both sides, so a good call, although it was odd to see single pot calipers after the 4 pots I am used to my old Porsches!
Everything went smoothly apart from finding i needed an 18mm socket to get the caliper mounts off (all of the internet guides said I needed a 10mm alan key or a torx bit which I had), I have loads of 17 and 19mm bits but no 18, so a dash to Halfords and I bought a set of 12 professional sockets for £20 as a single 18mm one was £5, and I know that a number of my 13 and 17mm sockets had seen better days anyway.
After that it all went together nicely and I now have a very firm pedal, a smoother ride and hopefully some better braking when they bed in!
It is booked in for an oil change (the sump plug is round)and the power steering leak investigated the week after next, so we are slowly getting there, I am 8,000 miles into ownership and enjoying the improvement process
looking around on UKSAABs forum showed that reasonable disks and Ferodo pads were the favourite choice, so this arrived in the post last week for £73 delivered:
I got my 12 year old mechanic to get cracking and we soon had the calipers off
The pads were down to the metal on the inside on both sides, so a good call, although it was odd to see single pot calipers after the 4 pots I am used to my old Porsches!
Everything went smoothly apart from finding i needed an 18mm socket to get the caliper mounts off (all of the internet guides said I needed a 10mm alan key or a torx bit which I had), I have loads of 17 and 19mm bits but no 18, so a dash to Halfords and I bought a set of 12 professional sockets for £20 as a single 18mm one was £5, and I know that a number of my 13 and 17mm sockets had seen better days anyway.
After that it all went together nicely and I now have a very firm pedal, a smoother ride and hopefully some better braking when they bed in!
It is booked in for an oil change (the sump plug is round)and the power steering leak investigated the week after next, so we are slowly getting there, I am 8,000 miles into ownership and enjoying the improvement process
Put the 'Vert into Offord motor company yesterday for a few little jobs, first time I have been back there in 6 years (I bought 6 SAABs from them in the noughties), Phil is in charge now and the level of service is as good and friendly as it used to be.
My Courtesy car was perfect for the outbreak of sunshine yesterday:
They did an Oil Service and gave it the once-over, I also asked them to provide and code a new key as I only had one, and check into a Power steering leak.
I said to Phil that if the PAS leak was simple fix it, but if not it costs me £3/month in lost fluid so am not that bovvered.
When I went to pick the car up Phil suggested that I keep buying the fluid as the front PAS pipe that runs under the oil cooler had corroded and they were quite pricey to buy new (he quoted £300 all in to replace it), so I am either better off living with it or try sourcing a SH one.
He found that my headlamp relay had gone, it is a usual issue and he produced a big bag of relays from his desk! I had seen some strange issues over the winter and wondered what was going on, I had to replace a number of bulbs and occasionaly my main beam wouldn't work, now i know!
There were 4 other bulbs that had gone, so all replaced for £12
The total bill came to £314, the vast majority of which was for the new key & Coding, they only charged me 1.5hours labour (£46/hr + Vat) and the rest was parts/key coding.
the car now has its first service book stamp in 9 years and a shiny modern key! (The slug will now be put as spare)
The only other advisory was that the rear disks and pads would need changing in a few thousand miles, other than that a clean bill of health! Even the bulkhead seems OK.
They were very surprised how little I paid for the car, I know it has cost me a bit in time and parts, but I am still only around £1400 all in over 9 months and have covered over £8,000 miles, and of course the value of the car will not have gone down in that time, if anything it will have gone up a little so I am very happy!
My Courtesy car was perfect for the outbreak of sunshine yesterday:
They did an Oil Service and gave it the once-over, I also asked them to provide and code a new key as I only had one, and check into a Power steering leak.
I said to Phil that if the PAS leak was simple fix it, but if not it costs me £3/month in lost fluid so am not that bovvered.
When I went to pick the car up Phil suggested that I keep buying the fluid as the front PAS pipe that runs under the oil cooler had corroded and they were quite pricey to buy new (he quoted £300 all in to replace it), so I am either better off living with it or try sourcing a SH one.
He found that my headlamp relay had gone, it is a usual issue and he produced a big bag of relays from his desk! I had seen some strange issues over the winter and wondered what was going on, I had to replace a number of bulbs and occasionaly my main beam wouldn't work, now i know!
There were 4 other bulbs that had gone, so all replaced for £12
The total bill came to £314, the vast majority of which was for the new key & Coding, they only charged me 1.5hours labour (£46/hr + Vat) and the rest was parts/key coding.
the car now has its first service book stamp in 9 years and a shiny modern key! (The slug will now be put as spare)
The only other advisory was that the rear disks and pads would need changing in a few thousand miles, other than that a clean bill of health! Even the bulkhead seems OK.
They were very surprised how little I paid for the car, I know it has cost me a bit in time and parts, but I am still only around £1400 all in over 9 months and have covered over £8,000 miles, and of course the value of the car will not have gone down in that time, if anything it will have gone up a little so I am very happy!
On a positive note, I am not sure if it is the brake change (one of my calipers was a bit sticky) or the service, or a bit of both, but my car's economy has leapt up!
On my leisurely drive to Heathrow on Monday where I usually get 30-32mpg I averaged 37.5 (and saw 38 briefly) and driving slightly urgently(!) home from the airport last night it only dropped to 29.9 overall, whereas it would normally be down to 26-27, it feels smoother and perkier too!
On my leisurely drive to Heathrow on Monday where I usually get 30-32mpg I averaged 37.5 (and saw 38 briefly) and driving slightly urgently(!) home from the airport last night it only dropped to 29.9 overall, whereas it would normally be down to 26-27, it feels smoother and perkier too!
Taking a slightly different Tack, we have entered the Aldeburgh carnival decroated house competiton fo rthe past 5 years and have done well, but since my Dad's passing my Mum has sold her house on the High Street and moved further down. Part of the reason for buying the 'Vert was the possibility of using it as the basis of a carnival Float...the Carnival theme this year is Disney so we are going with a Peter Pan theme - The SAAB will be Captain Hook's ship! (The kids will be creating Neverland on the entrance to the courtyard where my Mum lives, so this will be parked tehre for the morning judging before joining the parade)
So, I have made a start on a frame, it will be held on with some small N50 magnets attached at various points (covered in material to prevent paint marking)
Rear first:
I need to modify the back so that it can be broken down and put on the roof-rack of my Wife's Lexus for teh journey down, so we will decorate it it in panels. I need to have a good think on how to do the front...and the masts!
Wish me luck....
So, I have made a start on a frame, it will be held on with some small N50 magnets attached at various points (covered in material to prevent paint marking)
Rear first:
I need to modify the back so that it can be broken down and put on the roof-rack of my Wife's Lexus for teh journey down, so we will decorate it it in panels. I need to have a good think on how to do the front...and the masts!
Wish me luck....
Thanks Simon, yes the handling is probably more marine than track anyway, although I have some plans to start sorting that out
Looks like the kids are having a change of plan on the overall theme, so the float will either be Steamboat Willie or Mater, most likely the latter, but working out the ideas....
Looks like the kids are having a change of plan on the overall theme, so the float will either be Steamboat Willie or Mater, most likely the latter, but working out the ideas....
We have had a slight change of plan, the Float will now be Steamboat Willie, the first Disney cartoon with Synchronised Sound:
I started work on the front section last week (with some help from Daughter)
Once I have this bit done I will start on the centre section with the Cabin and funnel....
I started work on the front section last week (with some help from Daughter)
Once I have this bit done I will start on the centre section with the Cabin and funnel....
Did some more work on it last week and over the weekend
Finished the front Saturday Morning (yes that is meccano holding it together!):
I then built the centre section with cabin that rests on the front and rear sections, clamping them together
And then on Sunday we got busy with the Hardboard sheeting to do the basic covering, I have now handed it over to the kids for filling in the gaps with cardboard, adding the funnels and painting, we then have some other stuff to add when I get it down to Aldeburgh at the weekend
Finished the front Saturday Morning (yes that is meccano holding it together!):
I then built the centre section with cabin that rests on the front and rear sections, clamping them together
And then on Sunday we got busy with the Hardboard sheeting to do the basic covering, I have now handed it over to the kids for filling in the gaps with cardboard, adding the funnels and painting, we then have some other stuff to add when I get it down to Aldeburgh at the weekend
Forgot to mention that I bought the hardboard in 2.4mx1.2m sheets...then tried to attach to the roofrack on my Wife's Lexus....
...it turns out that they started flying at 28mph causing much scaredness and mayhem amongst other drivers, so I had to break them down to fit them inside the car.
I have left the ragged edges at the bottom as they will be covered with cardboard, etc
...it turns out that they started flying at 28mph causing much scaredness and mayhem amongst other drivers, so I had to break them down to fit them inside the car.
I have left the ragged edges at the bottom as they will be covered with cardboard, etc
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff