RE: Shed Of The Week: Saab 9000

[saaby93]

VolvoT5 said:

There is something rather appealing about the hatchback that is just totally lacking in the saloon version.

Why is that?
Lost a good few hours yesterday on ebay and Autotrader

[GJR68]

just a shed, not a shed of the week. Piston heads...............must do better.

[pSyCoSiS]

Safe and comfortable, but utterly dull and boring!

I'm sure there must be some 'hotter' SAABs out there for this sort of money?!

[griffin dai]

pSyCoSiS said:

Safe and comfortable, but utterly dull and boring!

I'm sure there must be some 'hotter' SAABs out there for this sort of money?!

Doubt you'd pick a 9000 Aero up for less than a grand but it doesn't take much money to get them to aero spec and way beyond.

Downpipe & remap should see around 270hp on the t25 and closer to 300 with a td04.

DP £250
Remap > £100
2nd hand TD04 plus pipes (from the manual Aero....autos had the t25) £150

Internals are good for 500bhp but found mine best around 350.

[otolith]

I took one of those for a test drive in the 90's - I didn't get on with the combination of autobox and turbo, unless it was in kickdown it changed up as soon as it started to boost. I expect the more performance orientated versions were more willing to dish up the goods and less concerned with fuel economy.

[Turbobanana]

Can't get excited about this, and I'm a big SAAB fan.

My 9000 was a 2.0 LPT which was great: comfy, swift if not fast, roomy, economical (35mpg) and really good in the snow even on worn tyres. It was a hatch though - the only shape I'd buy. And a manual. Won a walnut dash and rear spoiler for £10 on Ebay which transformed the car, visually.

When the exhaust went I had to order one in from Germany and the speedo drive in the gearbox failed, necessitating a rebuild which I declined to do thus causing its demise. The ECU takes its reading from the speedo drive, so the car doesn't run properly without it.

[PHMatt]

That's not a shed, it's hardly even a dustbin.

[Darsettian]

PHMatt said:

That's not a shed, it's hardly even a dustbin.

It's a skjul. Just add moonshine.

[Riknos]

9-3s are in shed budget and are surely a better buy? You can even get 210 bhp Aeros for that? I know which I'd rather have!

[pSyCoSiS]

griffin dai said:

Doubt you'd pick a 9000 Aero up for less than a grand but it doesn't take much money to get them to aero spec and way beyond.

Downpipe & remap should see around 270hp on the t25 and closer to 300 with a td04.

DP £250
Remap > £100
2nd hand TD04 plus pipes (from the manual Aero....autos had the t25) £150

Internals are good for 500bhp but found mine best around 350.

Wow, I had no idea the internals can handle circa 500bhp! How is it at 350bhp?

[Chocky Chockster]

said:

Time out: we call them Saabs, but as the vendor rightly points out in his ad, we should be saying SAAB, what with it being an acronym.

It's entirely up to you (or your style guide's editor) how you represent acronyms, as all caps or normal case. Some publications choose to lowercase them when they're pronounced as words, but leave them as caps when they're spelled out. In this way, (to Farage's irritation) the UK Independence Party ends up as Ukip, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is written Nato, and the really focused light that cats go mental chasing is laser, but the Crown Prosecution Service gets shortened to CPS and the broadcasting organisation that some would say is funded largely by a savagely regressive tax is the BBC.

[griffin dai]

pSyCoSiS said:

Wow, I had no idea the internals can handle circa 500bhp! How is it at 350bhp?

Quick at 350 and just insane at 450

Cheapest way to 350 would be a hybrid TD04 or TD04-19t but I went for a Garrett GT28RS instead, never dyno'd this here but it was probably 350-360hp, very responsive and mid range clout was excellent. 0-60 in 5.2 & 60-100 in 4.9 so plenty quick enough for me. You'll need an Uprated clutch here though plus bigger injectors, fuel pump, Intercooler. It's a stage 5 tune.

I then swapped turbos for a GT3076R (stage 6 tune) but turned it more into a 80+mph car so slower really day to day with the extra lag but acceleration was just brutal above 70.

Last dyno was 450bhp & 425ft/lbs @ 1.6bar but probably closer to 480 when I broke it, we turned the boost up again and another remap. Would have been over 500 with the tubular manifold but never got round to fitting it

0-60 around the same in 5, 0-100 in 10.1 and 60-100 down a second to 3.9 with 70-100 in 2.7secs, so for a old rusty boring looking Saab with a dented wing and exhaust hanging off....it surprised a lot of exotic kit out there

All these were bolt on mods btw, but I did swap the cams for some Abbott Racing ones.

I'd have another tomorrow if we had the space

[hookedonboost]

Lots of fun in mine, this isn't a good representation being the spec/trim etc but the engine is wonderful. Always mean to take what I built and put it into something rear wheel drive with a stronger gearbox. There was an E30 with a B204 running lots of boost, kind of appealed as an ex E30 and ex 9000 Aero owner!