Oregon 99 GL coupe

[SalemSaab]

does not seem to be much rust .. certainly not penetrating. Just some spots in the trunk and occasional surface coloring.
Car is equipped with California emissions package/LAMBDA 02 (not all connected)

Recently installed new ball joints, CV boots, replacement wheel bearings/control arm bushing; now suspension seems well sorted out (except for upcoming alignment)

I was going to install the SAS Replica turbo front air dam but it seemed a bit extreme for my commuter

Installing new tires/wheels soon; will have Incas refinished & windows tinted, then finally I can enjoy Spring drives & figure out what's next
For the interior, would like to source better seats, carpet, and trim panels.
Probably should give my old 'B' some attention too, at least the clutch is easy to do.

[sjones]

Yes, unless you have an EMS or Turbo you'll need to punch holes in the lower portion of both wings and then two where closer to center of where the head lamps are. There may be one in the center as well that bolts in between but just below the nostrils.

The best thing to do would be to find an EMS or Turbo and measure to get the correct fit. Greenlee chassis punches are the way to go on those holes along with some sort of seal.

[SalemSaab]

I have heard it is relatively easy to swap in later-900 hubs for wheel/brake upgrades on 99s .. I am not happy with my current braking performance; just wondering what sort of 900 rotors swap directly (regular / turbo / SPG, if there's a difference) and still clear 15-inch diameter wheels?

Stock 99 rotors appear to be 11-inch (280mm) front + 10.6-inch (269.5mm) rear rotors, per online sales.
on my last car (GTI) I was going to upgrade rotors but just installed new OE rotors + HP pads to avoid having to upgrade my spindles.

I also should refresh the clutch soon; are there any upgrade kits worth the $$, or is an OE-replacement the best route to go?
I don't really plan on building this motor for more power (at the moment...) but I always like to use higher-quality replacement parts when possible.

[Crazyswede]

I also should refresh the clutch soon; are there any upgrade kits worth the $$, or is an OE-replacement the best route to go?
I don't really plan on building this motor for more power (at the moment...) but I always like to use higher-quality replacement parts when possible.

As long as the 99 is a 1975 or newer the 900 hubs swap in easily. the earlier cars had a different brake setup which requires some additional work...Jorday is pretty knowledgable on what has to happen on the pre 75 cars.

[DrewP]

You'll have to either change out all the brake lines, or change the fittings on the ends of the lines - the nuts that thread into the calipers are different for the early cars.

The front uprights (knuckles) are all inter-swappable.

For the rear axle, everything is the same except the panhard rod. It's the wrong length, and has to jog from the body to the axle at an angle, on the C900 it's straight - the pickups on the axle tubes and the body are in a completely different place. It's an easy piece to make or modify, it's 1" O.D. tubing, and 1" tubing for the ends where the bushings press in.




This is how Jordan did his:

Looking great Drew. I used the later rear springs in my car using the donut bushing and a one of the rubber isolators. I haven't had any problems with it, but the fit is not as good as you have with plates you made. They look great.

I use an adjustable panhard rod with 5/8" heim joints like luke uses for his rally car. Using high-misaligment spacers reduce the bolt size to 1/2", I think they had to be turned down a little as well. The aluminum rod length is 31" for a < '73 car and 900 axle. I find there is a little rubbing on the bar and on the mounts. I think the mounts could use some reinforcing, even for road use I'd think there would be a lot of weird forces on it with sticky tires.

edit: here is the only photo I seem to have.

This is how I did mine, don't know whether it will buckle under load though, I will probably have to make another one that's straight.

Panhard bar.

The 99 panhard rod is about 6" longer than the C900 bar, and is mounted to the axle tube rotated towards the rear of the car, and doesn't line up with the mount on the body with the C900 axle installed.

This is the C900 panhard bar, points about 2" ahead of the pickup on the body, and is about 2" too short.






Just a straight tube.






It's 1" O.D. tubing, I threw it into my bender and put a pair of kinks in it to get the bushings to line up with their respective mounts correctly:








Which gets us here, bushing lines up, but the it's still too short.








A simple sleeve should work nicely to extend this one for now.







Fits fine for now. Eventually I'm sure I'll make another one that's straight but didn't have the tubing on hand.

I think the 'S' bar will be fine for road use, on a rutted gravel stage it would probably just bend at the kinks the first time one of the rear tires grabbed something during a slide.

[Jordan]

Doesn't he have a '79?

What don't you like about the brake performance? Pedal feel? Stopping power? What pads are you running?

SAAB 99/900s always had pretty substantial brakes for their size plus discs all around. They seem to just be "under-assisted" compared to the feel of more modern cars or later 900s.

If you wanted , you could swap hubs fairly easily with the much talked about 86-87 vented turbo setup, but I don't think it's not really going to change much other than fade resistance. Changing to a more aggressive pad, or some stainless lines might change the feel for you.

The trick is usually finding aftermarket parts that come close to OE specifications, you generally can't get much better than what they put on originally.

[SwedeSport]

I have always felt that the only reason to swap to the later 9000 style hubs was because you like Aero wheels.

There are more wheel choices in the earlier bolt pattern.

IMHO the 86-87 vented is the way to go. I am of the belief that with a decent set of pads and properly functioning stock calipers, It should have sufficient braking.

My 86 900 still has Solid rotors on it. I had to find less aggressive pads out back because they were locking up under hard braking. I ended up going with a EBC red pad as they were still grippy, but did not have an instant bite, and were more progressive. I have Hawk HP+ in front. I did upgrade to Braided Stainless flex lines, and it does make a big difference in pedal feel.

[SalemSaab]

What don't you like about the brake performance? Pedal feel? Stopping power? What pads are you running?

SAAB 99/900s always had pretty substantial brakes for their size plus discs all around. They seem to just be "under-assisted" compared to the feel of more modern cars or later 900s.

If you wanted , you could swap hubs fairly easily with the much talked about 86-87 vented turbo setup, but I don't think it's not really going to change much other than fade resistance. Changing to a more aggressive pad, or some stainless lines might change the feel for you.

The trick is usually finding aftermarket parts that come close to OE specifications, you generally can't get much better than what they put on originally.

IMHO the 86-87 vented is the way to go. I am of the belief that with a decent set of pads and properly functioning stock calipers, It should have sufficient braking.

My 86 900 still has Solid rotors on it. I had to find less aggressive pads out back because they were locking up under hard braking. I ended up going with a EBC red pad as they were still grippy, but did not have an instant bite, and were more progressive. I have Hawk HP+ in front. I did upgrade to Braided Stainless flex lines, and it does make a big difference in pedal feel.

This is sort of what I was thinking .. initially I thought the vehicle didn't come with power brakes, but I just had to get used to the braking dynamics.
I did run EBC / Mintex pads (with fresh, stock rotors) on my last vehicle, after deciding not to upgrade to better rotors / SS Lines) and they did seem to improve braking slightly.
Finding S.S. lines may be a bit of a challenge, but I will keep my eyes open for some ..
luckily this is not (currently) a rally/track car, so the OE setup is adequate for now.

Thanks as always for droppin' knowledge on this n00b .. learning a lot from this site

Just for kicks, attached is a picture from my weekend trip in the mountains (new tires + temporary wheels) .. despite the visible asphalt, the roads have been a bit snowy .. got to throw a few Scandanavian flicks into my parking-lot travails today

[SwedeSport]

www.sasab.com for stainless flex lines.

[SalemSaab]

http://www.sasab.com for stainless flex lines.

900 only I'm afraid .. I've visited their site many times, they're local

[SwedeSport]

They have someone who makes em for them. Maybe you could send them your lines, and have them duplicate your existing lines. If not Im sure any qualified hydraulic shop could do it for you.

[V4_guy]

I've always bought mine here: Paragon Performance

[SwedeSport]

So long as they are still available, that's a good deal. I think I paid like 120 for a set to go on my 85.

[Geoff]

I'm pretty sure the SS lines on my '80 99 came off my '85 900...

I've had luck with Porterfield R4-S pads
http://porterfield-brakes.com/search.php They don't list 99s but you can search for a '79 to '87 900, same thing.

[Jordan]

A slightly cheaper option for SS lines may be just to buy universal AN lines with adapters to metric flare.

Another thing I was thinking was just to check to see if your brake booster is working. I've seen them leak and not provide much assistance.