'91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

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Saabina
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'91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby Saabina » Thu Mar 12, 2015 9:28 pm

Not that we needed another Saab project but madness has no reason.

YellowJacket has a long, storied history like any 25yo Saab. She was bought new in Manhattan as a gift from a loving husband who thought his wife needed something sporty to drive around in. At the time of purchase, the dealer offered them $1000 cash to have it painted another color if they didn't like Yellow. That didn't happen. But, we're not sure about the $1000 - hopefully they took it anyway. Her original and only owner (until now) eventually became an eclectic Sausalito houseboat-residing artist now 86 years old. We spotted YellowJacket sitting in a houseboat parking area several years ago while driving along 101N. Whenever we were in the area, we checked to see if she was still there and sure enough she was. We eventually left a note explaining we loved Saabs and if they ever needed any help or wanted to sell, please contact us. That didn't bring an answer, but we still checked once in a while to see if the car was still there.

Another year and another note did bring an answer and an adventuresome visit with what has to be one of the coolest, most interesting people we have ever met. After a long visit we found she did not want to sell the car she called 'YellowJacket' but did need some help opening the trunk. A return visit with a bunch of old keys collected from many years of Saab ownership did the trick and I gifted her with the magic one. Once open, we were greeted with a wide variety of things only a cool old hippie houseboat woman would store there. A hint was the numerous Burning Man stickers on both side windows and the rear window. If YellowJacket could only talk! We eventually struck up a friendship and visited every few months to fix small things which needed done but had long given up on buying the car which was destined for a granddaughter.

Around Christmas we noticed the car was gone but didn't think much of it since she was still driving it. Another two weeks and it was still gone and curiosity got the best of us. Maybe it had finally gone to the granddaughter? Our visit was sad. Her elderly owner had had an 'experience' and did not know where her car was. Could we help her find it? Some detective work found she had a small parking lot 'issue,' appeared not fully in charge of her mental facilities and the car was towed away at the approval of her family who, along with most of her neighbors, felt she should no longer be driving. They had agreed to let the car go to the tow company as a way of keeping her off the road. Since we had been helping her with Yellowjacket, we felt torn as to what to do. In the end, we respected her family and decided to wait and try to save it from the crusher. We did manage to save it and that is where this project begins.

YellowJacket needed pretty much everything inspected and refurbished. Her loving owner for 25years drove her but did little else. She had a regular mechanic who fixed her when she needed it and we managed to get copies of all that work. But, her condition was less than spectacular. There were wheel arch trim and bumper extensions missing. Bumpers scraped and abused. Parking lot dings and scrapes. Passenger door handle falling off. The power seats were frozen in place. The top was inoperable but decent for an aftermarket installation. The brakes were virtually gone. Dash horribly cracked. Electrical system in disarray. Exhaust sytem rusted and leaking. Windshield scraped from bladeless wipering, etc. Surprisingly enough, she ran like a top, shifted smooth as silk and had good turbo boost.

I immediately began stripping her down, cleaning her up and rounding up missing pieces. Once ready, she went to a local small body/paint shop specializing in classic Alfa restorations who found her worthy of their efforts. I sought them out because I wanted a small, skilled shop who would put the metal back right without a bunch of filler and BS. We got her back today. Following are the pics. Next up, I'm refinishing all the SPG moldings and bumpers. Hopefully, that will happen soon...

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RadioFlyer
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby RadioFlyer » Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:11 am

Holy cow, Bill, that turned out great! Wish we lived closer so our twin MCY basketcase resto's could share a stable.

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Saabina
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby Saabina » Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:21 am

Hey Thanks Sam! Never forget that top-down SLC airport ride in yours! Guess you know what's under that cover in the driveway...

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RadioFlyer
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby RadioFlyer » Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:38 pm

Ha. I was just pointing that out to Colette. Talle Reds and Monte Yellows get along great together.

Image

Cark
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby Cark » Sat Mar 14, 2015 9:06 pm

^like ketchup and mustard!!!
03 9-5 Aero Wagon 5 spd M/T
85 900 turbo 5 spd 105k miles - Trionic 5ed in a day

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Saabina
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby Saabina » Mon Apr 20, 2015 7:08 pm

Update: Bumpers, Extensions, Aero Panels
YellowJacket's tupperwear was not in the best condition and some items were missing. Thanks to Sam (RadioFlyer) and a few others in the Saab community, plus the timely arrival of an SPG at the local boneyard, I finally rounded up most of the parts needed. There was a variety of shim material found under the various mounting rails on both cars but none was in very good shape. Also, most of the weather strip edge trim was poor or missing. After measuring what seemed to be the proper items, I ordered 50' of 1"x.040" thick nylon strip from McMaster-Carr and 50' of the T4002 edge trim from Cowles. Once in hand, punching the relief holes for the body screw inserts in the rail shim material was accomplished by making a homemade punch from a pipe nipple with 5/8" ID. The shim strips were mounted on the car with double-sided tape. Then the rails were re-mounted with the original screws.

The front and rear bumpers, extensions and aero panels were all cleaned, filled, lightly wet sanded, primed and painted with SEM 39273 Metallic Charcoal Bumper Coat which closely matches the original. The results with that paint, though expensive, are pretty amazing. Highly recommended!

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One of the most pressing items was the driver's side rear bumper extension which is different on the SE than the SPG. I had read in several places that an SPG extension could be trimmed to fit but could not find any real info on how this was done. Luckily, I had the opposite side to compare and it became clear it is more than a simple trimming issue. The SPG extension is much wider along the top edge then the SE extension where it meets the bumper. To get a proper fit, there are three areas that need attention: 1) The upper side needs to be trimmed on an angle from the wheel arch end all the way to the bumper end. 2) The internal gusset which holds the spring clips which support the upper edge must also be trimmed the same amount. 3) The rail mount pedestals need to be trimmed as well which is a complication because they have a cap with a hole which needs to be retained. This was accomplished by carefully cutting the cap off, re-dimensioning the pedestal heights the proper amount and then gluing the caps back into place. All-in-all, it is true that an SPG extension can be made into an SE extension but it is a time consuming task which requires a fair amount of measuring and fiddling to get it right. Having done it now, I would allow 2-3 hours to do it again.

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Spg to SE Rear Bumper Extension.jpg

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RadioFlyer
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby RadioFlyer » Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:16 pm

Nice results! I agree that the SEM paint was a bit steep, but even after 3 years, mine looks minty fresh. Nice writeup on the SE rear bumper extension mod. Always hoped someone would write that up for that inevitable day when I need to do it too. Nice work, Bill!

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Saabina
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby Saabina » Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:07 pm

Way past time for an update.

Finally got YellowJacket back together, smogged and on the road.
Still need to do wheel arch trim, interior refurb, dash replacement, convertible top mechanicals, floorpans, new heat shield.
But, fun driving and an occasional thumbs up from other Saabs..

YellowJacket1.jpg

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YellowJacket3.jpg

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99Super
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby 99Super » Thu Jun 02, 2016 4:21 pm

Looks Great! :thumbsup:

John

hutch
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby hutch » Thu Jun 02, 2016 6:03 pm

Yeah that is fantastic looking!

Fitting the SPG rear panels on my vert is definitely on my to do list, so I may send you a message down the road with some questions once I start if you don't mind...

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Saabina
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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby Saabina » Thu Jun 02, 2016 11:18 pm

@99Super - Thanks!

@hutch - No prob. I read several places the rear extensions just need to be 'trimmed' before I got into it. More to it than that. Indeed, they do need to be trimmed. But, the rail mounting pedestals are also too high standing the extension too far away from the body panels. So, they need to be reconfigured lower while maintaining the mounting holes. That is where the real work comes in. I wound up carefully cutting the pedestel heads off with a hacksaw blade, sawing and filing them lower and then re-glueing the heads back on. The extensions are tapered so each pedestal is a different height. Just a bit 'fiddly' but rewarding once on the car...

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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby hutch » Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:40 am

I definitely appreciate the in depth explanation of what needs to be done, like you I had heard a lot of vague statements that it was possible to fit them but very little info on how. Your pictures will definitely save me a lot of headaches down the road, I'm sure.

I had convinced myself I would just pony up the $ to buy a real vert set but, outrageous price aside, they just don't come up for sale anymore so it seems I'll modify my hatchback set. I feel bad about hacking up rare Saab parts these days but I guess they're just pieces of plastic on a car from a bankrupt company :lol:

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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby Saabina » Mon Jun 06, 2016 11:24 am

Hutch:
Yeah, a Plantana SE showed up at the boneyard around here and it was immediately picked clean and the aero panels sold for big $$ within a couple days. I was sorta lucky cause I had the other side to compare with. Otherwise I would have been totally perplexed. If my pics above aren't good enough, I can pull the real one and take some measurements/pics of it side-by-side with a hatch version so you have an idea where to go.
Good Luck with it...

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Re: '91 Monte Carlo SE 'YellowJacket'

Postby hutch » Mon Jun 06, 2016 6:33 pm

That would be great if you could some time! Obviously no need to rush though...

I don't have a real vert SPG panel to compare to but I'll bet I could get close enough with the stock turbo ones and then keep trimming until it works.


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