85 900T Street Project

[SwedeSport]

The biggest concern I have with painting the fx, is that the panels are kind of warped and wavy. Putting a high gloss finish on it might just make it really noticeable. I have a stock of the factory gray paint , and high gloss clear if I decide to go that route. I can also get a low gloss clear too.

Had I gone with gray leather, the factory gray fx would have been a given. Trying to stay monochrome for the most part.

[Luke]

Hot dayum!
Great progress.

On the panels, something to be said for contrast? I mean you aren't painting the wheels blue too right? I think the grey may look good.

[SwedeSport]

I am planning some yellow and light blue graphics on the side of the car. And the wheels are 17x7 Drag Specialties units that are yellow. It was a popular color scheme on some 1960s race cars and I kinda fell in love with it. Of course the light blue was a touch I added to the mix.

Weren't most airflow cars done in a monochrome look? Besides, if I don't like it I can always respray them gray.

[SwedeSport]

Managed to get the wheel wells re-coated as well as the belly of the front end freshened up. I had scrubbed the bottom clean a while ago so I just had to wire brush the belly before using Eastwood rubberized undercoat. Under the pan I used a their heavy duty Anti Rust. It's a bit more waxy like the original goo Saab used.

I have begun the assembly of the lower chassis stuff. Control arms are on, the rack is in. The sway bar goes in Monday night, and I should have the wheel bearings installed and the spindles on next weekend. There are a lot of things that I have to dig up in the garage. Some of it needs to be reconditioned yet. It should be rolling on its own wheels with the motor in it within a few weeks.

[Crazyswede]

You should paint the fender wells white or light gray..or dark gray even..helps when you have to work in there....good for showing signs of corrosion etc.

[SwedeSport]

Just don't think that would look right on this car. I am going for a reasonable semblance to original, but with a little more attention to detail. The factory would have assembled it first then undercoated though.
I have some colorful springs, shocks, sway bars, and brakes to give it some contrast.

[SwedeSport]

Making a little progress still. This thing has been apart so long and moved to 3 different garages in the process. Spending alot of time digging thru boxes and storage totes looking for bits of the car. In spite of all of the pieces that were cleaned up, painted and ready to install, there were scads of parts left to do. Digging for this stuff made a mess of the shop, so I had to spend time re-organizing the place.

Ordered a bunch of stuff from eEuroparts. Motor mounts, wheel bearings, hoses, belts and a bunch of seals and gaskets came from there. Picked a few good used parts from various parts cars that friends have. Still alot of bits that I need to source. Scored an intact seal for the heater box thru the firewall. Mine was in pieces. Also took some pics of complete cars and the parts cars in an effort to refresh my memory.

Managed to get most of the suspension and steering back together. Clutch and brake masters and clutch line are in. I am going to make some brake lines using Cunifer. I hear it polishes up nicely and has a coppery finish. I'll be ordering brake pads this week, (possibly EBC red), and the stainless braided lines are on the way.

I need to order a set of shocks, but don't think I want to put Bilsteins on it. The rear still has the factory (BOGE???) units. I was thinking of looking for a good used set of the original units for the front. Faced with needing 2 sets of Bilsteins for other projects, I doubt I'll splurge too much on this one. What do you guys think?

Still somewhat on track to have the engine back in soon. The motor was a low mile unit that I cleaned up, resealed and freshened up about a year before I stopped driving the car. I had blown the trans, but the rebuilt replacement is attached to the engine and ready to drop in the car. Hopefully it works as flawlessly as it did when it was parked.

[Geoff]

Looks pretty nice!
What are you using for springs? That may help you decide what you want/need for shocks.

The Cunifer brake lines sound nice to work with and should look nice too. Though their marketing takes some liberties....

Cunifer™ is seamless, copper nickel alloy ... brake line that is as strong as steel

[Luke]

Looks pretty nice!
What are you using for springs? That may help you decide what you want/need for shocks.

The Cunifer brake lines sound nice to work with and should look nice too. Though their marketing takes some liberties....

Cunifer™ is seamless, copper nickel alloy ... brake line that is as strong as steel

Wow looking excellent, maybe you'll have this thing ready for Carlisle this year? That would be awesome....

The stock blue boge are little too soft for a stiffer than stock spring imho... but the SPG valved boge (also blue but with small white band around them to signify the up-rated valving) , are really nice for a street setup, but usually hard to remove intact at a junkyard.

[SwedeSport]

I am actually going to make use of the lowered Jamex springs that I was using in the tan 86. I just cleaned them up and freshened up the paint on them. The rears were trimmed to adjust the ride height. It sat a bit high in the back.

Ideally I would love to have Bilsteins in the Notch, the 86, and the 85T projects. I just think I should put them in my race car first. Buying 3 sets of HD's would be too expensive at this point. I had replaced the original front shocks with white KYB Gas shocks. They were still good when I took them out. I could always just put them back in. Of course I would rattle can them to look like the stock Boge units.


I doubt this one will see alot of abuse. I have no plans to race this car. At most it will see spirited drives on the back roads, or the occasional rice boy giving me a stop light challenge. Really just trying to make a car that can be driven daily in the summer, and would make a nice impression at the show and shine.

[SwedeSport]

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do about the unobtanium seal under the fuel level sender?

[jdwertz]

I have an extra that's in good shape pm me

[SwedeSport]

I have an extra that's in good shape pm me

Thanks, but not necessary. I grabbed a couple good used ones from the U-pull it today. Was just hoping someone would chime in with a source for something new.

Ordered some EBC Redstuff low dust brake pads. And settled on Bilstein Touring shocks. Waiting for more stuff to show up. Now that the supply lines are flowing again, I don't have to settle for the sketchy used stuff.

Still figuring out how everything went together, cleaning and restoring brackets, components, and mounting hardware. Doing a loose assembly to make sure everything is complete. Sourcing the bits to finish whats not complete.

Used a product called Standartplast, a sound and vibration damping pad to replicate the stuff behind the water bottle. The factory stuff just didn't have foil. It has a nice quilt pattern, and the printed logos clean off with acetone. It's likely I'll use their other stuff inside the car. They make it for all sorts of applications. The acoustic stuff will really help with the system. It does however add weight.

I did my first set of Cunifer lines. I was able to tackle the short ones that go between the MC and the distribution block on the firewall. I am pleased with the results overall. The next set I make should be even better. I borrowed a buddy's bubble flare tool and was able to make nice flares. His really expensive tool made the difference. First I cut them to length, put the ends on them, and finally I then bent them. I shoved a piece of welding wire into the original line to determine the length. I polished it up with some Mother's and it's all nice and shiny. I guess round 2 starts as I proceed to make the other 2 lines in the engine compartment.

Someone is tempting me to put T5 in it. The only thing that would push me over the top is if I could keep my AC.

Maybe I went a bit overboard, but I polished up the skidplate a bit.

[Jordan]

You can keep your A/C.

I wish I had your patience for that sort of stuff!

[SwedeSport]

How so? I had the impression that you have to give up the AC pulley to make room for a trigger wheel? Is there another way to reference crank position?