Wow great thread .. think I just doubled my 900 knowledge & answered most of my brake-upgrade ?s :)

Adrian Thompson wrote:If/when I get a car (probably early next year) the intention would be first to fix anything wrong and make it safe and reliable. Then tackle wheels/tires, then suspension and finally power. Ideally I’d like to find a car that doesn’t need everything replaced, which leads me back to the later cars. Looking around some of the projects on here, you guys appear to be able to pick up some amazing bargains for only a few hundred $$’s. I assume that comes from you being in the SAAB community and being know to pick up anything. I’m not seeing cars like this on Craig’s list or e-bay, but now isn’t the time to buy anyway.

I’m not sure I should admit it around here, but my DD is a Volvo C30 that I picked up on European delivery and drover round the Nurburg ring 4 days after delivery 

Good plan .. that's been my path so far (so good).
900s can be had pretty cheap on Craigslist (I find); from $500-800 for 4-doors/problem cars to $1200-1800 for the average turbo 3-door
I paid a bit of a premium for my partially-restored 99, and have already spent as much in upgrades, but they're so rare, I didn't know what a fair price was

Other than looks is there any real difference between 3 and 5 door cars? Are the 3 doors lighter and or stiffer than the 5 doors?

I know Beechdale over here ran the 2 door with a boot (not hatch) for Ola Stromberg later on. They are not easy to find though, but are probably stronger, a bit like the 99T 2 door over the 3 door.
Strangly Steve's old rally gun has cracked at the top of the screen pilars, so if you fit a cage tag it to the pilars.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=ola+st ... =117&ty=68

The 3-door is almost certainly stiffer than the 5-door. I just don't like how short the doors on the 4- or 5- door cars are, or the interior styling. They got that funky quilted sort of look on the door panels.

2-door stiffer than the 3-door because the back of the car doesn't have the big gaping hole for the hatch all the way from the tops of the C-pillars down to the floor.

For competition purposes all of the shell stiffness becomes rather moot when you put a cage in. For road use I think the 4 door may be stiffer that the 2 door....at least my last 4 door felt stiffer than the 2 doors I have owned.

I think it's worth defining some common c900-related body style terms here. Most people use the following terms to describe the various bodies:

2-door, a.k.a. notchback = two doors, one trunk (not a hatchback, and only a couple thousand in the States, 85-86):



3-door, a.k.a. hatchback = two doors, one hatch:



4-door, a.k.a run-of-the-mill sedan = 4 doors, 1 trunk:



5-door, a.k.a. 4-door hatchback = four doors, one hatch (only available in the states in 79-80, maybe 81, too??):

Dragging up from the past. I’m very interested in an 88 turbo and I have some Q’s for the peanut gallery based on e-mails I’ve swapped with the seller:

Needs front motor mount replaced? Who is the normal supplier of these and should I fill them with epoxy/urethane to stiffen it up and increase the durability.

The shifter has always been a little wonky and the whole shift mechanism should be gone through IS this normally just shifter bushings? Where do I get them from?

This is the big one the turbo has never fully boosted since I’ve owned it. It boosts about halfway into the yellow. I have never checked the base boost and clamping off the apc line makes it boost into the red so the turbo appears to be fine. What is this likely to be and is it a big deal?

Engine has a top end noise that goes away after it warms up. Most likely a lifter or the timing chain guides are worn. Does this sound correct? Is this an issue and does it need taking care of ASAP?

Thanks Adrian

The motor mounts should improve your shift feel.

I did the epoxy trick, but the car is not done and running yet. I can't give a driving impression. Others on the forum have done similar mods,... maybe they will chime in.

Adrian Thompson wrote:Dragging up from the past. I’m very interested in an 88 turbo and I have some Q’s for the peanut gallery based on e-mails I’ve swapped with the seller:

Needs front motor mount replaced? Who is the normal supplier of these and should I fill them with epoxy/urethane to stiffen it up and increase the durability.

The front mount on those turbos are hydraulic (filled with goo) you can't really re-fill them, you just need to replace them. There is a limiter bracket that you can stuff some muffler hangers or whatever in to tighten it up and keep it from busting loose again.

Adrian Thompson wrote:The shifter has always been a little wonky and the whole shift mechanism should be gone through IS this normally just shifter bushings? Where do I get them from?

Could be a small thing, or a big thing. The early style linkage bushings rarely fail like the later (dogbone-style), but worth checking out. It is a cylindrical bushing right before the transmission. Other than that, it is probably something internal, but it doesn't mean it wouldn't work for a while :)Fix the motor mount first and see if it gets better.

Adrian Thompson wrote:This is the big one the turbo has never fully boosted since I’ve owned it. It boosts about halfway into the yellow. I have never checked the base boost and clamping off the apc line makes it boost into the red so the turbo appears to be fine. What is this likely to be and is it a big deal?

Probably not a big issue. The APC system is sensing a fault and is resorting to base boost (mid-yellow). Usually it's the pressure transducer under the dash or some crummy wiring at the APC solenoid (or a fuse).

Adrian Thompson wrote:Engine has a top end noise that goes away after it warms up. Most likely a lifter or the timing chain guides are worn. Does this sound correct? Is this an issue and does it need taking care of ASAP?

Also not really a big deal. as long as it has oil, it's probably OK. I know some '87s had external oiling tubes in the heads which leak down a lot and take a little longer to re-prime. I'm not sure if some '88s had this as well. Since the lifters are hydraulic, they need to pump up if the car has been sitting for a while. It's actually worse if the noise doesn't go away, because then it means you have a sticky lifter OR not enough oil pressure....but in reality none of those are deal breakers.

Good Luck

Thanks Adrian[/quote]

Adrian Thompson wrote:Dragging up from the past. I’m very interested in an 88 turbo and I have some Q’s for the peanut gallery based on e-mails I’ve swapped with the seller:

Needs front motor mount replaced? Who is the normal supplier of these and should I fill them with epoxy/urethane to stiffen it up and increase the durability.

An '88 Turbo would have hydraulic motor mounts that you can't fill with anything to stiffen them. You can probably get new ones from eeuroparts or rock auto. Someone used to make solid aluminum motor mounts which were nice because they kept the motor steady and helped with a better shifter feel. The bad front mount is likely part of the problem with the shifter feel.

Adrian Thompson wrote:The shifter has always been a little wonky and the whole shift mechanism should be gone through IS this normally just shifter bushings? Where do I get them from?

They can wear if they're not lubricated properly but typically motor mounts are the main culprit. A junkyard might be your best bet for stock bushings. The joint between the shift rod and the transmission can go bad (more common on later C900s) and give a bad shift feel. I think eeuroparts still has those.

Adrian Thompson wrote:This is the big one the turbo has never fully boosted since I’ve owned it. It boosts about halfway into the yellow. I have never checked the base boost and clamping off the apc line makes it boost into the red so the turbo appears to be fine. What is this likely to be and is it a big deal?

That could be a number of things but most of the causes are cheap fixes. The APC system is probably retarding the boost because it's picking up knock. This could be due to low quality gas, incorrect spark plugs, incorrect spark plug wires, ignition timing, etc. It could also be due to a vacuum leak.

Adrian Thompson wrote:Engine has a top end noise that goes away after it warms up. Most likely a lifter or the timing chain guides are worn. Does this sound correct? Is this an issue and does it need taking care of ASAP?

Thanks Adrian

That's probably a sticking hydraulic valve lifter. If it goes away after it warms up you probably don't have to fix it right away. Running some oil with a lighter cold pour viscosity (5w-30 or 0w-30) may help clear this up. It's not a very hard repair to do either if you're handy with shop tools.

Thanks guys, great info. I don’t' mind stiffer than or slightly worse NVH, this will predominantly be a track / TSD /rally cross toy not a DD street car.

One more. poor 2nd gear Syncro, I assume that's something I can live with for a long time and not indicative of anything imminent?

For that kind of use you'd want to upgrade to a solid motor mount. NVH is only increased slightly above idle. No real difference while driving.

It depends on how bad the synchro is. You may have to shift pretty gingerly. I dated a girl once and her father had an '86 900S that he had bought new and the 2nd gear synchro went bad and he ended up messing up 2nd gear so it was useless. He drove it for years without 2nd gear. But, 2nd is a pretty important gear in rallycross and handy for TSD.

Geoff wrote:For that kind of use you'd want to upgrade to a solid motor mount. NVH is only increased slightly above idle. No real difference while driving.

Solid front motor mount will work very well with stock rear mounts.

It depends on how bad the synchro is. You may have to shift pretty gingerly. I dated a girl once and her father had an '86 900S that he had bought new and the 2nd gear synchro went bad and he ended up messing up 2nd gear so it was useless. He drove it for years without 2nd gear. But, 2nd is a pretty important gear in rallycross and handy for TSD.

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