85 900 Notchback arrives in Vermont

[DeLorean]

Yep, an easy way to fix the pre 88 Saabs wiring is to T5 the car. Seems like 85 8 valve and 16V both have some darn shady wiring where as soon as you move it in any way, it likes to just crumble and fall apart. Anything that is exposed to air or heat goes to shit.

[SwedeSport]

T5 is most certainly the best route for an 85 project car.

My 85 900T project had the disintegrating harness, But Jordan's kickass harness solved that problem.

[Crazyswede]

[Geoff]

Needs more ground clearance

[Crazyswede]

First good cold day we have had here in Vermont for the approaching winter and of course the cold weather problems reveal themselves...this time in the form of a non working blower motor...it worked yesterday but not even a smidge this morning...could be a blown fuse...but if blown likely because of a going bad motor. The proper fix for this is just a bigger fuse right Also my suspicions about my alternator bearings are coming to light as there has been a bunch of belt squeal when cold and now it sounds like the bearings are screaming pretty well when cold. Car has new belts, water pump, and a new harmonic balancer so suspect the alternator bearings.


On a plus note I did install one of my OMP seats onto the stock slider rails last weekend. The seat has the forward/backward and height adjustment still. Its amazing how putting a fixed seat with good support in the car really improves feel and overall driving enjoyment.

[SwedeSport]

I have the Corbeau Forza seats in my 86. I agree about the support, but have to say that on long trips they get a bit uncomfortable. It really is nice to be able to make adjustments to the seat back angle.

While the blower motor is a pain in the ass to change, the alternator should be a quickie to swap out.

[Crazyswede]

I have the Corbeau Forza seats in my 86. I agree about the support, but have to say that on long trips they get a bit uncomfortable. It really is nice to be able to make adjustments to the seat back angle.

While the blower motor is a pain in the ass to change, the alternator should be a quickie to swap out.

I agree..not sure I want to drive across country in a racing bucket seat...but to be honest its a lot more comfortable than my old 900 seat...which as it turns out was mounted on passenger seat sliders and had no vertical adjustment.

changing the blower isnt too bad...I was just in there doing the heater control valve...would have been nice to know then as it would have been easy to pull the dash. I think the blower in my 86 notch is good. The alternator is not a big deal but a bit of a bummer that its going south.

[Geoff]

The cold squealing isn't the crank pulley center spinning independently (separated by rubber layer) from the outer pulley?

I seem to remember having a problem with the resistor packs on 900s that did something to the blower function. I think the failure of the resistor pack probably resulted in only full speed on the motor. It's worth checking to make sure you've got power to the motor before you pull it since I think you can check that by removing the right side speaker grille.

[Crazyswede]

The cold squealing isn't the crank pulley center spinning independently (separated by rubber layer) from the outer pulley?

I seem to remember having a problem with the resistor packs on 900s that did something to the blower function. I think the failure of the resistor pack probably resulted in only full speed on the motor. It's worth checking to make sure you've got power to the motor before you pull it since I think you can check that by removing the right side speaker grille.

It is common for the resistor packs to fail and leave you only with high speed because the high speed setting is a direct wire and does not go through the resistor pack. This morning I didn't have any fan at all and I suspect the motor is either dead or the fuse has blown. I will have to check the fuse after work...but the motor was starting to make some noises.


The belt noise could be the harmonic balancer but it was a new reman unit that seemed to be working pretty well. I will have to start the car up cold and listen to the alternator housing to see if its coming from there.

[Scott]

I put in a LOT of effort to change out my 92 convertible fan, to find the issue was one of the contact switches at the top of the air control dial. I swapped out one from an 85 after the obligatory jumping up and down and screaming, and back in business.

[Crazyswede]

Before I did anything extreme I checked the fuse and found it was blown. So I moved the AC fuse over to the blower motor and am back in business. Not sure why the fuse popped but for the moment the blower seems to be working fine. I will be keeping an eye on it of course.