Green '79 900 EMS

[99Super]

Wow! That is an early 900! It even has the crazy early VIR(?) A/C!

John

[RadioFlyer]

Love it. I picked up a 1980 900 turbo almost a year ago now and it's become my favorite project. It's all good to go now, just waiting while I save up for new paint. I love the little things that were different in '79 and '80 - the Swedish fuse box cover like yours, the AWESOME seats (my favorite part is the GIANT rear seat head rests), the dash fascia missing rheostats, the rear vents with the silver stripe through them, the front corner lights with a white stripe in the center, the headlight bezels without the running lights, the retro turbo glove box door and boost gauge, the lighter, spongier spoiler, the green glass, the bumpers with the really thin chrome strip (found some really nice replacement chrome in the right size at Autozone a few weeks back), the BEST years for Saab colors, and of course the B-engine!

[Geoff]

A few years back I had the identical car to your blue '80. I bought it from RallyHo for a few hundred bones as a parts car because it was completely rusted out. The interior was really nice but then some mice decided to turn it into their bed/latrine.

[SwedeSport]

My buddy had an 80 5 door turbo that he got for real cheap many years ago. It was almost totally rust free, and had like 60k on it. He had intentions of putting it back on the road, but ended up sending it to scrap a few years later.

Looking back, and knowing what I know now, it could have become a 16vt really easily. IIRC, the paint wasn't bad either and could have probably buffed out.

[RadioFlyer]

Bummer - i hear so many stories about these things getting sent to the crusher. Glad I saved this one. It had sat for a really long time before the PO rescued it from the desert and rebuilt the engine. He did a great job. Then he let it sit for a year or so before I found it. I do have a spare 16vt sitting in my basement with about 55k miles, but I'm loving the rebuilt turbo B-engine right now. The paint definitely won't buff out though. It's beyond shot. Just saving up for a decent respray. I'll start a build thread pretty soon - I've been documenting it pretty well.

[DrewP]

I did a little work on the green car tonight.

Got the snapped hood cable repaired and lubricated. That was holding up re-assembling the nose, so once that was done I got to pretty it up a bit.

Swedesport sold me an awesome early grille that will probably go on my '85, and I bought the '79 only grille from Marty Adams (Moonracer) in Meyer, IA to get the car looking like it should. I have had a nice set of flatnose E-codes sitting in a box in my closet for probably 5 years waiting for a car to put them on (they don't fit in my '85 because of the front mounted intercooler plumbing). I think they look great on the '79 with the proper grille.

I'll get some more photos in the daylight next time I'm working on a weekend.














Long lost older brother!

[RadioFlyer]

That looks awesome, Drew. I would love a set of those E-codes.

[SalemSaab]

Wow that is a unique grille.

I have been driving European cars for 10 years and I still do not know what "e-codes" are other than some sort of fancy lights
Eurospec?
They do seem to look better than the car on the right, with those plastic housing.

[SwedeSport]

E codes are simply European spec headlights.

I definitely like the correct grille on that car, and I'm glad you can use the one I sold you.

[Crazyswede]

Eurospec headlights were mostly H4 bulbs with a European lens pattern. The European patterns have very defined cutoffs for light patterns on high and low beams. The pattern is opposite for left/right hand drive cars so its important to be aware of the location that lights were intended for...ie buying headlights from someone in the UK would be ill advised as your new lights would blind oncoming drivers. The USA DOT lights were rarely well defined and even though the bulbs have the same wattage the DOT patterns were very blobby and inefficient.

here is an example of 2 different bulbs with each in a different housing. The left is a brighter bulb but an H4 housing. The right is a DOT pattern. The H4's have a much sharper cutoff and for the USA the beams angle upwards to the right.

[DrewP]

Me too, I've been looking for one for a while anyway.

I think the '79 grille looks odd too, but I really like that it's 'correct' now.

The E-code lamp housings take replaceable H4 bulbs, and have a european beam pattern that puts out more light.


See:
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Beams.aspx

[RadioFlyer]

I find myself wondering what a '79 grille would look like meshed. I have one in the basement I've been pondering over. I just think it could look really cool in an SPG if done just right:

[Luke]

Stock '79 Grille:


Mesh Grilles:


Just my opinion

[Geoff]

Mesh Grilles:

ditto

[RadioFlyer]

Fair enough. I'll keep it stock!