1983 Turbo rebuild - Ireland calling

[birddog]

Well, I've wanted one of these for ages, but me being me, I wanted something special. Saabs were only really sold from 1982 up, here in Ireland. So, when an '83 Turbo came up on Done Deal (like ebay, but so much better), it had to be mine. After speaking to the seller, the gods were truly good to me, as the beast lay only 5 miles from home. I viewed the car and made an offer, purely from the heart, head nowhere to be seen. Whilst we were himing and hawing over the money, several nut jobs rang the seller offering full price RIGHT NOW!!! My man and me struck a deal and the car was mine. Collection arranged for the next evening, lest any of the crazies showed up with the promised fists full of money.

As I found the wicked woman

Another view, from her better side

In all her glory

Got her home (No photo's due to excitement) and without further delays, started to strip here down to bare bones, just to see what's like

Found somethings home under the centre dash, glad to see it had good colour sense and picked appropiately coloured food.

Got the old girl on the lift, well pushed her anyway, cause her gearbox was shagged and no gears workin' Engine runs though. Up she went and after spraying everything with release fluid (AP-90 is the best), here's the rust I found.

Usual place to find rust, so I believe.

Lovely solid brakes

Bit of work needed here

Good God, time, time, time I don't have right now

Also took out the complete wiring, as the engine had to come out.

At this stage I sourced a 1990 8V engine, in way better condition. I could have gone for a much more common 16v, but who wants to be common? Original, but a later engine and re-positioned APC was the only road to take. Not many of these 8valvers left, so my Swedish lassie would stay as found.

More later.....

[Crazyswede]

Be sure to get underneath and inspect the areas under the driver and passenger floors where the vertical reinforcement tabs into the floor.

[DeLorean]

Looks like a project! You have a few non typical rust spots, but some of the typical rust spots are not rusty. Generally, the lower A-arm, and the rear shock mount points get rusty. On yours, that area looks solid enough. I have never seen that front part that the skid rails attach to get rusty like that. Mouse piss maybe?

[birddog]

Thanks crazyswede, I've checked where you pointed out and all firm metal here.

DeLorean - The drivers side (this is a Right Hand Drive vehicle) was rock solid, but the passenger side (your Drivers side) was swiss cheese. On first exam, all looked good, but after power washing and ice-pick inspection, area was completely rotten. Photos to follow. I will be welding in a repair panel this weekend, panel was sourced in Long Island from Safe-T-Cap rust repair.

Mouse piss is probably right, as right above this area, I found a chewed out section of the kind of rubbery material under the hood, a type of sound insulation I suppose. Anyway, something lived here and relieved themselves across the front of the car.

[birddog]

Well, this may look good and solid, but underneath was completely gone, no idea how the wishbone stayed in place. I ground it all away, but photo's were taken with a different camera, which I can't find.

With all my cars, "Tag as you go" and take plenty of photos. These tags cost nothing and with a bit of cellotape over them, they won@t smug or fall apart.

More stripping to get at the rust

Had to stop at this stage, the world was ending. Heaviest rain I have ever seen, deafening sound banging on my old 1940's shed, poor old gutters couldn't cope and the water flowed in.

While Ireland was slowly sinking, I took the lights apart, washed and primed them, then sprayed the chrome. Bulbs will be thrown out and replaced. This saves masking off the bulb sockets.

Also repainted some of the black parts from the car, many more to do.

That's all for now, hopefully get back into it shortly, work calling for a couple of weeks.

[Crazyswede]

Heaviest rain ever.JPG

Series IIA rover?

[Crazyswede]

Be forewarned....Saabs are incredibly good at hiding rust and corrosion. If you are going to revive the car you might just as well get full into it and strip it to a shell as you are likely to find issues hidden in the floors and other seems in the body.

[birddog]

Yes indeed, this is a 1970's Land Rover Series II
this was turned into a child friendly exhibit for Dublin Zoo. It will be set into a new education centre/outdoor classroom and kids can climb all over it. It is now army green (RAL6014 - the best colour) all over with Hindi script on the sides. To lighten it up, I painted the outer rim of the wheels white, defo the best part of the whole thing.

[birddog]

As always, PO bodges removed... Here we have some alarm wiring

Up she goes on the lift to tackle the undercarraige

Nice original APC, under the rear seat, My future plans sadly mean this will soon be moving.....

Nearly there, all out except the dash

Just look at these, fantastic. Completely stripped and powder coated. Delicious.

[Crazyswede]

First person in history to describe manhole cover wheels as delicious.

[Geoff]

First person in history to describe manhole cover wheels as delicious.

The set that Jason painted white look pretty good, sort of like Compomotives but not as practical...
Did you straighten them first? Be careful, they'll bend if you look at them the wrong way!

Rust is annoying but it looks like a lot is under the car and not too much in cosmetic areas. Here's some inspiration for you:
Right rear inner fender on my '80 99

[SwedeSport]

Yeah... I have bent those white manhole cover wheels a number of times... Fortunately they are soft enough to bend them back with a dead blow hammer.

I doubt he is going to abuse them in the dirt like I do, but there are still road hazards that could tweak them.

[birddog]

So Crazyswede and Swedesport (must change my name to SwedePaddy...) I gather that these wheels are junk? I must say that I like them, although they are very light. As I don't know anything about Saab wheels, have I just wasted a load of time getting these back to this condition? What wheels are better?

Anyway, had no time to sort out the undercarraige of the car, as my welder had a free slot. So, engine out to lighten the push effort, then remove the glass and twisted wire wheel on everything that looked dodgy.

Out she comes!

Raise her back up a bit and try out the new wheels... have to say, these have the look. Shame about the rest though...

Off she goes to the welder...

Alan from Classic Vehicle Company did trojan work on the wheel arches and the passengers side (US driver's side) frame rail.
I got the repair panel from Safe-T-Cap in Lomg Island - fitted perfectly and saved eons of time.
Photos will follow, just as soon as I get 'em.
Also fixed the front cross-member, which was rotted out by possibly mouse piss. This gave me the perfect oppurtunity to try
out my American spec lights. These are rare here and cost a lot, but they will change the front just enough. The sealed beam 6" x 4"
will be changed for RHD light housings with H4 bulbs, or HID, not decided yet.

Anyway, workload has slowed me down to 10 minute stints on the car and other beasts are calling for attention - jeep YJ needs LED lights sorted and my BMW 535 needs a brake master installed. So, progress may slow for a while, but the dreaming and scheming never end. Sanity for me.

[Geoff]

I think a lot of us grew up around 900s with those wheels and they just sort of seem like drab stock wheels to us. But they've started to grow on me over the past few years, probably because there aren't as many around. They look nice and so long as they're straight I'd leave them.

I like the US spec lights. I never thought people would want them until supply of the standard headlight lenses and reflectors dried up...

[DrewP]

It is funny what you get used to. The guys in Sweden like to swap to US amber marker lamps, and we like their clear ones!