1985 900 Notchback

[hutch]

So its about time I started my own thread instead of just reading other peoples work and asking questions even if this is nowhere near as wild as many of the other cars on this forum. What we have here is a Cherry Red 1985 900 2 door that used to belong to my cousin who used it for daily transport but wanted something newer and bigger so she moved on to a Honda Element. When I picked it up it was bone stock, what I'd consider stage -1 because of its 26 year old CIS system and awful rotted brakes, after driving my Viggen for a while I knew not to expect much from it but I was still shocked how slow it is. Something is definitely off about it and I noticed when I got home the o2 sensor had been unplugged for god knows how long but I can't imagine CIS is too picky about those sorts of things so my guess is its just old. Either way I'm not going to be too picky about it because I just want to get the suspension and brakes sorted before I swap in the turbo 16v motor I have sitting around. But thats probably a few months away anyway. So here are some pictures of it as it stood after this weekend, they're not the most creative as they are just what I took to appease PennDOT to get its classic registration so it has to look stock.





So far I've ripped out the grey leather interior I gave her a while ago and replaced it with the black carpets and rear leather seat I had, along with a set of WRX seats that have been modified to fit in a 900. They are certainly not up to race-spec but they are really supportive and bolt in so its hard to complain. I can try to get some close up pics of whats been done if anyone is interested in seeing how it works. And then in addition to that I wrapped the ripped up and cracked dash in some fake suede after watching too much West Coast Customs one day




So the plans for it over the coming weeks after the classic registration:
-Install SPG kit and probably swap to an 87+ front end, I know its sacrilege to most but I already have a flat front and sort of miss my old '90 900. Plus I've only seen a handfull of 87+ Notchbacks in America.
-Install Shelby's, just got the tires mounted today and am just waiting for the right lug nuts to arrive.
-Wilwood brakes ASAP, they seem to be backordered from Summit Racing so I just have to find somewhere else to order
-Complete suspension install, I have intrax springs all around and front Bilstein shocks on, I was waiting to do the rear shocks when I do the brakes and drop the axle and wirebrush/paint it because its got a lot of surface rust. Also like to put in new ball joints while I'm at it so the car is totally refreshed.
-Finish putting together the interior, I need to redo the headliner and get the knee board in and it should be good to go
-Get rid of the 8-valve motor, this will be a little longer term but I have a T16 motor with a t3-super60 turbo and 3" exhaust blah blah waiting to go on. Also have all the pieces to install trionic5 on it, I'm not going to go for all out power but want a nice usable powerband.
-Do some rust repair, its nothing terminal at the moment but I'd like to get a few spots addressed before they get out of hand.

So yeah, I guess thats about it, hopefully I'll get some better pictures as the process evolves and I can keep this updated pretty regularly.

[Jordan]

So are you looking to make like a nice street driver or something a little more hairy?

I'd keep the old bumpers and get some e-codes. There were two sets on ebay a day or two ago. Also , mount some driving lights. :-D

Looks like a good solid body. I'm not sure I could ever get used to that seat, but you got to do what you got to do.

[hutch]

Fun good weather driver for the most part, would love to get into some autocrossing when its ready mostly to increase my driving skills.

I really am torn on the pre or post facelift front end, I have both sets of SPG kits ready to go on and since I gave my friend my old headlights from my '90 I scrapped as it stands it will probably stay as it is for the time being. I've just been intrigued by the newer front end lately, however I do not miss those alignment buckets that seem to break with a slight breeze.

And yeah the seat is ugly as sin (hopefully dying the blue center to black so it doesn't clash will help) but it holds you in incredibly well, better than the seats in my Viggen. However, like every subaru seat I've ever sat in, they are brutal on your back if you sit in them for any sort of long highway trip. I always have the stock grey seats to put back in but they are not great for any sort of spirited driving. Maybe I'll rock the stockers when I'm driving around town and switch in the subaru's when I'm feeling limber.

[airsweden]

I like the look of those cars without the spg bits... or just the air dam and no side pieces. Any 79-86 headlight/grill and a turbo airdam looks great I think. Lowering it as much as is reasonable helps the look too. Hmm, I think maybe I'm bummed that I sold my '86?

[DeLorean]

Looks nice, very similar to my 86 900-S when I got it.

Keep in mind though, penndot is picky about these things. In order to get classic tags the car must be in "excellent factory condition" - I can see you may potentially have probems because you are missing those 2 center caps, and have missing chrome strips & have mismatched window trim (black & chrome) - Paul H was initially rejected simply because he had fog lights on the car in the photos. You may get through, but if they reject it, you will have a several week delay as well as have to send new pictures.

[Hans]

Nice car!

+1 on the flatnose and no SPG stuff...

[hutch]

+1 on the flatnose and no SPG stuff...

I don't know what it is, I love how clean 99's look without any stuff going down the side but I've never liked 900's with just the strips as much. Something about the lines on the 900 always seemed to look more symmetrical with the SPG kit in my eyes.

Looks nice, very similar to my 86 900-S when I got it.

Keep in mind though, penndot is picky about these things. In order to get classic tags the car must be in "excellent factory condition" - I can see you may potentially have probems because you are missing those 2 center caps, and have missing chrome strips & have mismatched window trim (black & chrome) - Paul H was initially rejected simply because he had fog lights on the car in the photos. You may get through, but if they reject it, you will have a several week delay as well as have to send new pictures.

Yeah I thought I remembered him having strange problems with PennDOT, who would have thought since PennDOT's such a helpful organization

As you noticed I am in the midst of switching from chrome to black window trim, I guess I should put that last window in and retake the pictures. I also noticed the drivers side parking light lens drooped down a bit in that picture. I do have those wheel caps I had just been messing around with the suspension so I didn't throw them back on. Luckily I haven't sent the paperwork in so I'll fix those things and take some new ones. Thanks for reminding me how picky they can be, I'd hate to delay this if possible.

[hutch]

I took Deloreans advice and switched bumpers with ones that had chrome strips so PennDOT would have one less thing to worry about. I prefer the blacked out look but I'll certainly keep these on until I need to switch back. I also switched out the last chrome window so its all black now so *knock on wood* there shouldn't be anything to reject it getting an antique registration. Oh and I put the center caps back on the manhole wheels and took the pictures before putting the shelby's on to please PennDOT but figured no one was really interested in essentially the same pics as before.



Shelby's are also on, the tires are 205/60/15 Bridgestone Potenza's and are definitely oversized because they were originally intended for a 900 that wasn't going to be lowered and wanted comfort. But aside the bloated ride they're nice tires and should be good for a while until I can trash them and afford new ones. I was a little afraid they would rub with the intrax springs in the back but so far so good. Its a strange feeling to have the car be extremely flat through turns but the steering wheel feedback is pretty loose from the bulgy tires.

I do have a question for anyone with Bilstein shocks, what did you torque them to? The instructions that came with them said something like 50ft/lbs but as I was tightening them down the rubber bushing was getting seriously squished by the time I was at about 30ft/lbs. Anyone else have that problem or did you just keep torquing them down to spec?

Next up is to finish putting the interior in this weekend and maybe a good polish and wax as its been at least a year since its gotten a thorough cleaning.

[Jordan]

Looks good man!

Definately keep the early bumpers :)

Just get some e-codes , early turbo grill and maybe an early SPG kit ...

You're totally making Snakes Malone jealous.

Oh about the shocks... I just tighten them until i get a good bulge from the bushings, but not too tight. Nothing really more scientific than that .

[Luke]

Yeah that looks really great as is, I say don't clutter it up with a bunch of plastic!!

[Jordan]

Yeah that looks really great as is, I say don't clutter it up with a bunch of plastic!!

I'd say take off the black upper bumper strip too, but depending on your paint you may have a bright red stripe underneath! Yours looks decent enough to match though.

[DeLorean]

I'd vote for cluttering it up with a bunch of plastic, I think they look pretty good like that.

[hutch]

Looks good man!

Definately keep the early bumpers :)

Just get some e-codes , early turbo grill and maybe an early SPG kit ...

You're totally making Snakes Malone jealous.

Oh about the shocks... I just tighten them until i get a good bulge from the bushings, but not too tight. Nothing really more scientific than that .

Well you all have at least convinced me to keep the early front, for the time being, I'd love a set of the sealed units but have trouble justifying what they end up going for. I bought a set of 'e-code' drop in H4 units from rallylights.com for my 86 SPG for under $100 and they are probably as good as the OEM e-codes since they are brand new. Maybe one day though, they certainly do look better than the US lights.

Sounds good on the whole bushing situation, I wrenched them down pretty tight so I'm sure they not going anywhere but I might even loosen them up a bit because the busing was bulging a decent amount.

Oh and that upper bumper thing is definitely coming off, just waiting until I can give it a good polish and wax to do so.

Yeah that looks really great as is, I say don't clutter it up with a bunch of plastic!!

Thanks, I'm already thrilled with how much better it looks without different wheels on. If I didn't already have the hunks of plastic laying around I would probably leave it as is but I want to see what it looks like with them on, I can always switch back if I want.

I'd vote for cluttering it up with a bunch of plastic, I think they look pretty good like that.

Yeah I hate to be completely stealing your style but I'd like mine to end up looking pretty much just like that, I was looking through some of those pics after people were saying keep the old front end. I will probably swap the clear corners that are on my grey SPG but then again the stockers don't clash as much with the red as they did the grey. I do want to find a red vert in a junkyard to steal the trunk lid (and hood) as mine has some scrapes on it and I could get one of those spoilers in one move.

[Jordan]

There are at least two sets up there now...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Saab-900 ... ccessories

Only problem with putting an SPG on a notch back is the rear doesn't quite work wirthout modification. Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying if you ever wanted to put it on something else.

[hutch]

There are at least two sets up there now...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Saab-900 ... ccessories

Only problem with putting an SPG on a notch back is the rear doesn't quite work wirthout modification. Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying if you ever wanted to put it on something else.

Must resist spending money to replace "functioning" headlights.....

Really though thats a pretty good price, I'll keep an eye on that. Do the e-codes really put out that much more light or is it mostly cosmetic. I noticed a nice improvement when I replaced the ones in my SPG but don't really want to spend $150 on used lights if the output is pretty much the same.

Have to lol at the description though, wacky canadians;

Please be aware we are facing a potential mail strike in Canada

Do you know what needs to be moded to the panels? I thought I remembered reading about it a while ago but can't really remember what's involved. I'm sure I can bug Delorean about it when the time comes.