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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » school me on saab 9000's

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Dec. 21, 2008 9:48 a.m. sachilles Reader

Long story short, a friend of a friend has a running, driving, inspect able 93 Saab 9000 turbo (auto). They don't need it, and want it gone. They've offered it to me for free. Owning an auto is less than an exciting prospect....but it is free. I'm toying with idea of making it a field racer/rallyx'er. As I remember them, they are big fat pigs. I think the auto's are made of glass. What are the typical problem areas and weak points?

While I would much rather rallyx my subie's, they are primary transportation, and I'd rather not subject them to the abuse more often that what I do now. Of course the mini will not see rallyx.

The key will be not to invest a ton of money or time into it. Aside from being a less than ideal platform...will it survive rallyx abuse. I don't tend to baby my cars.
Dec. 21, 2008 11:28 a.m. fornetti14 New Reader

My 9k was a 5-speed and I don't have any experience with the slush box.
I invested WAY too much time and money on my '93 CSE 9k. Go to www.saabnet.com and lurk around the 9000 section. Search under "TCE problem" and you'll know why you're getting it for free LOL. It was a nice fast car when it ran but after 3 years of ownership I had to sell it and swear off owning another Saab.
On the plus side I've seen a bunch of these arriving in the local salvage yards so second hand stuff should be available.
Dec. 21, 2008 12:56 p.m. Evan_R New Reader

sachilles,

not to make a dig at you in particular, but I often see questions such as this in this forum. I still don't get it.

Someone is offering you an operable car for free. Why is there any question at all? Even if you drive it for a month, hate it, and donate it to charity, you come out ahead.
Dec. 21, 2008 1:11 p.m. pigeon Reader

Yes, the autos are made of glass. TCE is only a problem if the car is so equipped. The motor's very rugged, the ignition cassette is not very reliable, to the point where the smart 9k owner keeps a good known used spare in the hatch area. Overall pretty reliable cars, I had my '92 CSE 5 speed non-turbo for 2 years, threw a bunch of money at it dealing with things like ball joints, wheel bearings and brakes. I hated the seats. Overall though, free, running and inspectable is all you need to know right now - if it falls apart or catches fire tomorrow you're still ahead, right?
Dec. 21, 2008 2:25 p.m. DILYSI Dave PowerDork

Well, they are born from jets, so it's got that going for it.

As an aside - where is the uterus on a jet?
Dec. 21, 2008 2:30 p.m. AngryCorvair Dork

DILYSI Dave wrote:

Well, they are born from jets, so it's got that going for it.

As an aside - where is the uterus on a jet?

it's on the inside, somewhere above the Bob Costas
Dec. 21, 2008 2:38 p.m. sachilles Reader

In reply to Evan_R:

The reason for asking, is that most of us are hopeless car addicts. Some people see a puppy in the pound and have to bring it home. If it has 4 wheels, we are likely to bring it home.

"it only needs a few things", is often an outright lie. So when you bring home a "free" car it often has things that need to be fixed. They may be minor and/or cheap fixes. However, they all take time. So instead of driving your good car, you are spending time fixing someones unwanted project.

That being said, in my case. I asked what are the typical weak points? I also asked if they will tolerate rallyx abuse. At no time did I mention "should I take it"? That was never up for debate. I want to learn about the car that I will be bringing home. Through that knowledge I will be better prepared thrash the car until it dies.

I don't mind trailering a car, I just like being able to drive it on the trailer rather than push it.
Dec. 21, 2008 2:51 p.m. sachilles Reader

In reply to fornetti14 and pigeon:

Thanks for the info. I have been looking at the saabnet and saablink since my original post. It looks like a manual transmission conversion isn't terribly difficult. I may look into that if the car doesn't seem to be a turd.

Locally, we have a group of folks that do head to head racing in a field. Sort of redneck euro rallyx. Minor jumps and bumps are part of the deal. Any particular weak parts of the suspension? Oil pan or tranny in a vulnerable spot?
Dec. 21, 2008 7:54 p.m. belteshazzar Dork

if the tranny fails just start a raffle. tell people you're going to put a brick on the accelerator and they can guess how long before it blows.
Dec. 21, 2008 8:10 p.m. Datsun1500 HalfDork

belteshazzar wrote:

if the tranny fails just start a raffle. tell people you're going to put a brick on the accelerator and they can guess how long before it blows.

We did that with a 1983 Escort. it went through a 1/2 tank and just ran out of gas, took a little more than a full day.
Dec. 21, 2008 8:32 p.m. Junkyard_Dog Reader

belteshazzar wrote:

if the tranny fails just start a raffle. tell people you're going to put a brick on the accelerator and they can guess how long before it blows.

BTDT

-A 4 cyl. 80s Mustang with no radiator will survive almost a full bottle of nitrous (hose with no nozzle straight into a vacuum port) for 3 hours before the center pistons melt. However it WILL spit the dipstick up 30 feet and bend the throttle plate backwards on itself multiple times when doing burnouts.

-A 90 Cutlass Ciera will turn the maniflods bright red before it seizes up.

-An 86 Cutlass V6 will spit a rod out the block after 2 shots of nitrous plumbed like the Mustang.

-An 87 Regal with no nose, doors, seats, or trunklid gets airborne waaaaaay too easy.
Dec. 21, 2008 10:42 p.m. fornetti14 New Reader

Add some Lucas to the trans. (don't overfill!) and hope for the best. Maybe you could get this running well and trade if for something different?

I thought my car was fairly solid suspension wise. They're heavy cars and the traction control sucked IMO. Ah, the traction control!!! I don't think you can shut it off either. I'm sure someone had a fix for this on-line somewhere. The traction control absolutely killed the power and wouldn't let the wheels spin at all. I know that's what it's supposed to do but when you want to burn some rubber or take off fast the car puts on the binders. That's a deal breaker for RallyX!
Dec. 22, 2008 8:21 a.m. HappyAndy Reader

every thing you need to know about saab 9K can be found here.

quasi motors

personaly I would run from a '93 or auto, but for free is always a different matter all together. acrding to quasi a 5 spd swap is possible.
Dec. 22, 2008 9:56 a.m. belteshazzar Dork

oh & btw, the first thing you want to do is unplug the wastegate vacuum line.
Dec. 25, 2008 10:37 a.m. sachilles Reader

I just took a brief look at it yesterday. Covered with snow. Interior looks in mint condition, what I could see of the outside looked in decent shape. It is a CS. If it is in real good shape I may just give it to an employee that needs transportation...but I don't want to give them a ticking timebomb.
Dec. 26, 2008 2:26 p.m. Varkwso Reader

We ran a Turbo 5 speed one in the 2008 CMP Lemons race - spare parts are non-existent in the Southeast - but since it is covered in snow I know you are north.......
Dec. 26, 2008 2:56 p.m. sachilles Reader

We are in saab central. They have dropped in popularity now since gm bought them, and awd has become more common place....but it use to be every third car was a saab.
April 3, 2009 9:19 a.m. sachilles Reader

I finally brought the thing home. Overall, it seems it decent shape. I put jumper cables on it and it started right up. Runs smooth and quiet. Loaded it on the trailer and brought it home. Went to offload it, depressed the brakes and put in reverse.....and the brakes didn't hold it....no where close Off the trailer I went, with the only stopping me from going into the woods is the plow from my truck. FORTUNATELY, the ebrake worked. So brakes are an issue. Blender flap in the climate control is stuck in the warm position. One window doesn't function correctly. Other than that everything electrical seems to work fine. Every light bulb works. Old battery wouldn't hold a charge for an hour, so I replaced it with something I had hanging around the house, alt seems to charge fine, and the used battery seems to work well enough. So brakes......pedal goes to the floor. Rotors look nasty, though I haven't pulled the wheels yet. Anti lock light is on. I'm thinking the master cylinder is toast, but I'm going to bleed everything to see where the problems lie, before I go to the trouble of buying any parts for the thing. I don't think it will be put on the road as the SRS light is on, and I assume that will fail it for inspection.
April 3, 2009 10:41 a.m. m4ff3w Dork

I wish I came across free cars. Even if they do need a bit of work.
April 3, 2009 11:32 a.m. G_Stock New Reader

Well my DD is a SAAB 9000 CSE, 1996 model with the 5 Speed. So far it's the best car I have owned. in the last 3 years I have had to replace the waterpump, DI cassette, fuel pump and recently the brake booster vacuum hose check valve. All were easy fixes.

The other things I have done to the car are purely wear items like the brakes, shocks, sparkplugs, ect. I run at at auto-x events in G Stock and placed 2nd in the Novice class .328 behind 1st in an SVT Focus last event.

I have a 1992 CDE (trunk model)turbo I am breaking down, it has an automatic that is still good, the motor is shot, brakes work fine though and the SRS system was fine. If your close to TN you can have the trans. After I get thru stripping the car of parts that I might need for my '96 model I'm just going to junk the body so if anyone wants it for doors or other body panels they can pick it up for free. lol
April 3, 2009 11:42 a.m. 914Driver Dork

Got ice?

http://images.icerace.com/gallery/AMEC-2004/ClaudeHutchings2004
April 3, 2009 12:13 p.m. sachilles Reader

G-stock, thanks for the offer, but I'm up in Vermont. If the tranny goes, I think I'll ditch the car. I might need some other parts down the road, that might make sense with shipping. I also have a nearly identical car local to me on craigslist for $250 with a slipping tranny that might be worth picking up...but wife might de-nut me. Some one pointed me towards rockauto...and they have a brake master on closeout for $100. New ones are $180. So that is far more reasonable. Guess I just need to take things apart and see what is usable and go from there.
April 3, 2009 12:59 p.m. 914Driver Dork

I don't know if it applies to 9000s, but on 900s the automatic tranny cars engine crossmember is lower than on manual cars.

If you're making a rallye car.....
April 3, 2009 1:05 p.m. G_Stock New Reader

Yeah just got through looking at prices for those parts for my car before I figured out it was just the check valve and not my booster going out. There sure aren't cheep, also in your cars system the ABS pump is used as a booster for the brakes too so if the pedal is real stiff with little braking force might be the ABS pump or accumulator (little canister of nitrogen at 2000psi) going out.
April 3, 2009 1:27 p.m. sachilles Reader

nope....pedal is not firm. Goes to the floor pretty easy. That is why I think the master is busted. Exhibits all the symptoms of a car with a blown brake line, without actually losing any fluid. How can I tell if I have the traction control system in this car(without driving it)?

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