480 bhp and 1360 kg Saab 9000 Aero

[HybridAero]

After acquiring my first Saab in 2015, a 2002 9-5 Aero, I quickly began tuning it and it became really addictive (and financially crippling!).

Detailed in a thread that some of you are familiar with, I took it from stock to stage 5, around 340 bhp and 388 lb ft, which was fantastic fun.

Here's the 9-5 build thread:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

The plan was to eventually take it to 500 bhp with supporting mods. Well that was the plan.

A friend from UKSaabs posted his 1995 480 bhp 9000 Aero for sale which had been used on track quite extensively, but had an insane amount of upgrades.

Luckily the owner had followed the build of my 9-5 and was looking for a rapid daily driver, so a deal was made!

Last wash of the 9-5 was pretty emotional but the excitement helped!



The 9000 feels so much more retro and is actually more practical being a hatchback rather than a saloon.

Going from a 19t turbo to a Garrett GT3071r has been really interesting. While the GT30 is very laggy in comparison, when it kicks in it goes hard, and I mean HARD. It's massively addictive so as you can tell I'm on



Bye bye 9-5, you will be sorely missed! The quest for more power beckons though..



Spec list and more pics as follows:

Engine rebored to just under 2.4L (Sutton Rebore)

3000 mile old rebuild - all new timing, oil pump, seals, shells, bearings etc.

Wossner pistons

Balanced B234 rods

Balanced crank/flywheel

ARP Studs

Maptun 268 Cams

Baffled deep sump

Custom large plenum intake Mani (perhaps this is what gives it a Ferrari-esque engine note? )video to follow)

Tubular Manifold

Garrett GT3071r turbo with braided lines

Tial 38mm External wastegate

Walbro 255 pump

Forge dump valve

Oversize ITG filter

Uprated alloy radiator (40% thicker)

60mm Allard intercooler

630cc siemens injectors

3 bar map sensor

Running approx. 444hp and 420ftlbs at the hubs (480 at the fly) at 1.6bar but will happily push over 500 if boost and ignition is pushed.

Poly bushed

3" V-banded downpipe and JT exhaust

Gearbox and transmission

Rebuilt box with shot peened and cryogenic treated 4.45 gearset and longer 9-5 5th.

Quaife LSD

Circlip and dowel strengthening mod

2004 crush sleeve

All new bearings

Millers CFS LS 75-140 NT oil

New driveshaft tripods

New SKF CV joints

New intermediate bearing

Lightweight flywheel 5.5kg

Poly bushed

Auber Temperature sensor / gauge

Sachs uprated clutch cover, Cg motorsport solid paddle friction plate, braided hose, uprated modified clutch master cylinder (ensures cleaner disengagement)

2k mile Bilstein B6/8 custom coilovers

SAS anti roll bars front rear

350lb front coilover conversions (adjustable height)

600lb rear coilovers (adjustable height)

New SKF wheel bearing

Poly bushed

AP Racing 330mm calipers

Reyland front discs

Abbott racing rear discs

Ferodo DS3000 pads all round



Braided lines all round

ABS removed

OZ Superleggera 17X7.5J

2 sets:
Road tyres - Nankang NS2R

Track tyres - Michelin slicks

Full Aero interior:



Alpine Ezi-Dab with amp, gain controller and front speakers only - can't seem to work this out, anyone got or used one of these?

330mm flocked Nardi steering wheel with Driftworks snap-off boss

Auber digital gauges / programmable: Oil pressure, Water Temp, Gearbox Temp.

Afr gauge

Knock led

All in custom made carbon panels

Abbott triangulated/bolted rear strut brace

Maptun lightweight alloy front strut brace

Car lightened throughout - Weighs 1360 kg with full interior

Where the magic happens:





Future plans are to take this to a Vmax event, race some supercars and also as the LSD in in a separate supplied gearbox, take that out and fit it in the current box. Also could do with some bodywork tidying up. Might apply rust protection treatment at some stage.

Other than that, possibly a trip to the Nürburgring, Santa Pod and Street Racers Rolling Road Tuning for a dyno sesh.

Edited by HybridAero on Sunday 1st October 13:34

[thiscocks]

Very cool. Imagine would be fun at Santa pod, perhaps with stock wheels for full sleeper effect

[Gallons Per Mile]

I like that! Right up my street Would standard wheels fit over the brakes? Also, I think you should remove the silly tow strap... You'll be annoying a lot of people with 'better' cars in the traffic light grand prix or slip road races!

[xjay1337]

Very retro indeed.

[HybridAero]

Thanks both, unfortunately stock wheels won't fit over these brakes.

Yes I will probably remove the towing eye at some point.

It's savage but actually quite a relaxing drive, turbo is basically fast asleep at sane speeds. Poke it with a stick though and it's like a big angry bear!

Like piloting an SR71 Blackbird

[HybridAero]

xjay1337 said:

Very retro indeed.

Yes lots of little quirks and features.

This is arguably the best:

[Scobblelotcher]

Awesome build! I followed the previous thread as well.

In what gear are you able to go full power? Also has it ever been timed? I’m curious of the numbers as I’d imagine it takes careful application if the throttle to get it launched well.

If you ever record it I’d love to hear how it sounds! 😎

[HybridAero]

Scobblelotcher said:

Awesome build! I followed the previous thread as well.

In what gear are you able to go full power? Also has it ever been timed? I’m curious of the numbers as I’d imagine it takes careful application if the throttle to get it launched well.

If you ever record it I’d love to hear how it sounds! ??

A lot done to it! The intake plenum is my favourite part.

You need to be in 3rd to go full power.

2nd is silly, just hops to the redline instantaneously.

Not timed yet no, I will make some acceleration vids but need to find a decent phone mount, can't find one anywhere as the speedometer is in an awkward place.

Would like to try a Vbox to time it from 0-100 mph, 100-200 km/h etc but couldn't justify buying one. Wonder if anyone on here has one they could lend me in exchange for a small fee?

Edited by HybridAero on Monday 2nd October 02:19

[akirk]

Is that still front-wheel drive?!
My standard 2.3 turbo 9000 of the same age would torque steer in virtually every gear - so I hate to think of the challenges with that much extra power!
but what an awesome car

[anonymous-user]

Interesting choice & not many nice ones about anymore. Watching with interest!

[HybridAero]

akirk said:

Is that still front-wheel drive?!
My standard 2.3 turbo 9000 of the same age would torque steer in virtually every gear - so I hate to think of the challenges with that much extra power!
but what an awesome car

Yes it is, I really need to fit the LSD to give it half a chance! The suspension is heavily reworked which I guess helps with the traction and there isn't any torque steer, just lots of wheelspin!

[madwrx]

if you were looking for better drivabillity and possible 570-580bhp (maybe more) top end, you could change the old 71 compressor wheel for a gtx3071r wheel
.these basically are a lighter amd much more efficient wheel.
the front housing will need machining for the taller compressor wheel which is pretty standard upgrade work for most turbo companies -
if your feeling flush the whole CHRA can be bought to up grade to a ball bearing centre as well and maybe the newest 9 blade turbine wheel.

compared to an old school 3071 the gtx core will pull into the boost threshhold quicker and make the same power with lower boost. the larger wheel flows more air per revolution- good upgrade imo -

my own turbo is having a 3076 gtx CHRA being fitted at the moment to replace the noisy chra in my bb turbo.i should be able to give some feedback after its fitted-

[madwrx]

if you were looking for better drivabillity and possible 570-580bhp (maybe more) top end, you could change the old 71 compressor wheel for a gtx3071r wheel
.these basically are a lighter amd much more efficient wheel.
the front housing will need machining for the taller compressor wheel which is pretty standard upgrade work for most turbo companies -
if your feeling flush the whole CHRA can be bought to up grade to a ball bearing centre as well and maybe the newest 9 blade turbine wheel.

compared to an old school 3071 the gtx core will pull into the boost threshhold quicker and make the same power with lower boost. the larger wheel flows more air per revolution- good upgrade imo -

my own turbo is having a 3076 gtx CHRA being fitted at the moment to replace the noisy chra in my bb turbo.i should be able to give some feedback after its fitted-

[madwrx]

we had a 03 95 aero for a couple of years- i absolutely loved that car ,fantastic long distance car -as standard there quite timid but would have loved to have your tuned version

[stewjohnst]

What an unnecessary and frivolous use of a 9000...

...I thoroughly endorse it

[Steve93]

Is this Faeros old car from UKS?

I'm sure I saw the for sale ad

[HybridAero]

madwrx said:

if you were looking for better drivabillity and possible 570-580bhp (maybe more) top end, you could change the old 71 compressor wheel for a gtx3071r wheel
.these basically are a lighter amd much more efficient wheel.
the front housing will need machining for the taller compressor wheel which is pretty standard upgrade work for most turbo companies -
if your feeling flush the whole CHRA can be bought to up grade to a ball bearing centre as well and maybe the newest 9 blade turbine wheel.

compared to an old school 3071 the gtx core will pull into the boost threshhold quicker and make the same power with lower boost. the larger wheel flows more air per revolution- good upgrade imo -

my own turbo is having a 3076 gtx CHRA being fitted at the moment to replace the noisy chra in my bb turbo.i should be able to give some feedback after its fitted-

I've been told this GT3071r is a ball bearing turbo, but the reason it doesn't spool up quickly is due to the 0.86 exhaust (plus point of this being better top end; 0.64 would be faster spool up but less top end).

Better low end driveability would be excellent though as you can't make fast progress using the bottom half of the rev counter like you could with the 19t.

[HybridAero]

Steve93 said:

Is this Faeros old car from UKS?

I'm sure I saw the for sale ad

That's correct, bought it off the guy who bought off him. Had a look at the build thread but all the old photos are gone thanks to Photobucket.

[akirk]

HybridAero said:

That's correct, bought it off the guy who bought off him. Had a look at the build thread but all the old photos are gone thanks to Photobucket.

google search on "firefox photobucket fix" there are plugins for firefox which will show you the photos... the photobucket issue is generally that the photos are still on photobucket, just not showing embedded on a 3rd party website - unless the owner has removed them they should still be in the original account...

[HybridAero]

akirk said:

google search on "firefox photobucket fix" there are plugins for firefox which will show you the photos... the photobucket issue is generally that the photos are still on photobucket, just not showing embedded on a 3rd party website - unless the owner has removed them they should still be in the original account...

You sir are a genius, that's my evening sorted thanks!