480 bhp and 1360 kg Saab 9000 Aero
Discussion
Took a lovely (yet torrential) drive out to Norwich this morning to meet Frank Cragg from Frank's Autos to get a load of parts off a friend's comparably immaculate 9000 CSE breaker, in the same Silver - blemish-free dashboard, vgc dent-free rear left door, rust-free front left fender, non-rattly indicator stalk, speaker cover, indicator relay, couple of other little bits and pieces.
Frank and his wing man Mark are top blokes and it was a pleasure to meet them. The amount of knowledge they have on Saabs is unparalleled and they went through the car with me with a 'fine toothcomb' to search for faults, with incredible attention to detail; very many of which were discovered. Not many mechanics let you spend the day at their workshop to have a proper chillout whilst working on your car, I'll be going back there's no doubt about that!
Arrival:
Breaker car, ready to be gutted:
Inspection begins:
Safe to say this fender was past its use-by date:
What lay beneath:
While it isn't stainless steel like the 9-5's system, the exhaust is pretty robust and has had some welding done recently:
New dent-free door and front fender on:
Much better!
Repair of indicator/hazard lights relay:
Didn't get chance to fit the uncracked dash and un-rattly indicator stalk this time; they can wait until my next visit:
Not much left on the breaker now:
Over the course of the day Frank diagnosed the following parts which need attention, starting with the most urgent:
- Brake lines need replacing
- Front jacking points need welding work
- Intermediary shaft tube is dented slightly
- New SKF wheel bearings
- Replace fuel filter
- Recondition and repair rear oversill (both sides)
- Lower engine mounts - replace
- Gearbox mount has sunk
- Helicoil sump thread and seal properly with Vauxhall fluid
- New front anti rollbar links including bolts
- Assister springs for front suspension; or correct shock absorbers, not inserts
- Check if springs and shocks are a matched pair
- Gripping washers for front strut brace
- New anti rollbar links
- Get slam panel off breaker
Car averaged a genuine 32 mpg over the entire journey (ever the optimist, the onboard digital display read 57 mpg
) , which was mostly mid-speed cruising with the occasional full throttle. Amazing really considering the age and performance. And when I say performance it's just silly, silly, silly fast.
Frank and his wing man Mark are top blokes and it was a pleasure to meet them. The amount of knowledge they have on Saabs is unparalleled and they went through the car with me with a 'fine toothcomb' to search for faults, with incredible attention to detail; very many of which were discovered. Not many mechanics let you spend the day at their workshop to have a proper chillout whilst working on your car, I'll be going back there's no doubt about that!
Arrival:
Breaker car, ready to be gutted:
Inspection begins:
Safe to say this fender was past its use-by date:
What lay beneath:
While it isn't stainless steel like the 9-5's system, the exhaust is pretty robust and has had some welding done recently:
New dent-free door and front fender on:
Much better!
Repair of indicator/hazard lights relay:
Didn't get chance to fit the uncracked dash and un-rattly indicator stalk this time; they can wait until my next visit:
Not much left on the breaker now:
Over the course of the day Frank diagnosed the following parts which need attention, starting with the most urgent:
- Brake lines need replacing
- Front jacking points need welding work
- Intermediary shaft tube is dented slightly
- New SKF wheel bearings
- Replace fuel filter
- Recondition and repair rear oversill (both sides)
- Lower engine mounts - replace
- Gearbox mount has sunk
- Helicoil sump thread and seal properly with Vauxhall fluid
- New front anti rollbar links including bolts
- Assister springs for front suspension; or correct shock absorbers, not inserts
- Check if springs and shocks are a matched pair
- Gripping washers for front strut brace
- New anti rollbar links
- Get slam panel off breaker
Car averaged a genuine 32 mpg over the entire journey (ever the optimist, the onboard digital display read 57 mpg
) , which was mostly mid-speed cruising with the occasional full throttle. Amazing really considering the age and performance. And when I say performance it's just silly, silly, silly fast.Edited by Nutty9000 on Saturday 4th November 23:33
From the looks of it ,,looks like verrry poor siting of the existing filter.
I always found foam filters to give very poor filtration from fine particles . You really need to keep on top of cleaning filters ,it,ll need cleaning/oiling every couple of months .
Personally stick to k&n filters, never see any fines in the inlet tract using them.
I always found foam filters to give very poor filtration from fine particles . You really need to keep on top of cleaning filters ,it,ll need cleaning/oiling every couple of months .
Personally stick to k&n filters, never see any fines in the inlet tract using them.
madwrx said:
From the looks of it ,,looks like verrry poor siting of the existing filter.
I always found foam filters to give very poor filtration from fine particles . You really need to keep on top of cleaning filters ,it,ll need cleaning/oiling every couple of months .
Personally stick to k&n filters, never see any fines in the inlet tract using them.
Yes it isn't an ideal position, I hope the carbon airbox and K&N style filter helps. Lots of little jobs but nothing too critical.I always found foam filters to give very poor filtration from fine particles . You really need to keep on top of cleaning filters ,it,ll need cleaning/oiling every couple of months .
Personally stick to k&n filters, never see any fines in the inlet tract using them.
madwrx said:
From the looks of it ,,looks like verrry poor siting of the existing filter.
I always found foam filters to give very poor filtration from fine particles . You really need to keep on top of cleaning filters ,it,ll need cleaning/oiling every couple of months .
Personally stick to k&n filters, never see any fines in the inlet tract using them.
I use a Revo filter (for their TFSI) . No particulates in my car. I always found foam filters to give very poor filtration from fine particles . You really need to keep on top of cleaning filters ,it,ll need cleaning/oiling every couple of months .
Personally stick to k&n filters, never see any fines in the inlet tract using them.
I wash it in the sink once a year and dry it in the airing cupboard overnight.
Don't re-oil it.
xjay1337 said:
I use a Revo filter (for their TFSI) . No particulates in my car.
I wash it in the sink once a year and dry it in the airing cupboard overnight.
Don't re-oil it.
i dont suppose for a minute that any "performance filter" filters worth a toss tbh.I wash it in the sink once a year and dry it in the airing cupboard overnight.
Don't re-oil it.
just beacause i cant see any dust it does,nt mean the k&N would even be close to oem paper filter standards -
trouble is theres a big 60mm boost pipe sited where my standard air box would be .so mahoosive k&n over the top of the abs module it is lol.
oiling is,nt a good idea if the maf is upstream of the filter(mafless on mine)
Edited by madwrx on Monday 6th November 16:40
bodywork looks good mate -rear quarter does,nt look too bad ,just from pics looks a pretty simple repair and quick blow in
just had both my front wings replaced ,rotted in same place -14 years of road mud and rainwater rotted them from inside out .
and i only dream of 32mpg lol
just had both my front wings replaced ,rotted in same place -14 years of road mud and rainwater rotted them from inside out .
and i only dream of 32mpg lol
Edited by madwrx on Monday 6th November 17:08
Robatr0n said:
This looks fantastic. Great buy!
Just out of interest, who did you used to take your hybrid engined 9-5 to? I seem to remember that they were fairly good at fault finding and not too expensive?
Hi Rob, hope you're well. How's your 9-5 running? Are you coming to the next dyno day on December 3rd?Just out of interest, who did you used to take your hybrid engined 9-5 to? I seem to remember that they were fairly good at fault finding and not too expensive?
I took the 9-5 to Tony Wallis at Saab Repairs Doncaster - He really knows his stuff - www.saabrepairsdoncaster.co.uk - And yes he's competitively priced.
Yeah I'm keeping well thank you. How about you?
I won't be around for the dyno day sadly. It's a long way to travel and I've not long had mine on the rolling road. It dumps all it's boost at 3000rpm and barely makes more power than a standard 9-5 so it's certainly not doing what it should. I really need to get it looked at as I truthfully don't know what's wrong with it and sadly I think that Doncaster is probably too far as I'd be looking at a minimum of a 3 hour drive.
I won't be around for the dyno day sadly. It's a long way to travel and I've not long had mine on the rolling road. It dumps all it's boost at 3000rpm and barely makes more power than a standard 9-5 so it's certainly not doing what it should. I really need to get it looked at as I truthfully don't know what's wrong with it and sadly I think that Doncaster is probably too far as I'd be looking at a minimum of a 3 hour drive.
Robatr0n said:
Yeah I'm keeping well thank you. How about you?
I won't be around for the dyno day sadly. It's a long way to travel and I've not long had mine on the rolling road. It dumps all it's boost at 3000rpm and barely makes more power than a standard 9-5 so it's certainly not doing what it should. I really need to get it looked at as I truthfully don't know what's wrong with it and sadly I think that Doncaster is probably too far as I'd be looking at a minimum of a 3 hour drive.
Have you spoken to Karl re the boost issue?I won't be around for the dyno day sadly. It's a long way to travel and I've not long had mine on the rolling road. It dumps all it's boost at 3000rpm and barely makes more power than a standard 9-5 so it's certainly not doing what it should. I really need to get it looked at as I truthfully don't know what's wrong with it and sadly I think that Doncaster is probably too far as I'd be looking at a minimum of a 3 hour drive.
I reckon it could be either a broken APC valve or your actuator spring is too strong allowing it to overboost then the ECU pegs back the torque to compensate hence the drop in boost.
Yeah I've taken the car to him and he's unsure too.
APC replaced, wastegate actuator replaced (with correct jade green spring too), MAF replaced, spark plugs replaced, diverter valve replaced, DI pack replaced, head gasket replaced (had a tiny leak but was enough to limit the power drastically. It's improved but still nowhere near where it should be) and I've checked and replaced all the vacuum hoses.
Just fed up with fiddling. I think I may have found a specialist who can help that's about 45mins away but I'm going to ring them back later today to confirm.
APC replaced, wastegate actuator replaced (with correct jade green spring too), MAF replaced, spark plugs replaced, diverter valve replaced, DI pack replaced, head gasket replaced (had a tiny leak but was enough to limit the power drastically. It's improved but still nowhere near where it should be) and I've checked and replaced all the vacuum hoses.
Just fed up with fiddling. I think I may have found a specialist who can help that's about 45mins away but I'm going to ring them back later today to confirm.
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