This one will take a while as I have limited free time.

As a Kid I always thought this was the car Darth Vader would drive.
"Luke, I am your father, and this is my ride"

Bought it for $600 a while ago. Has 298K and is in surprisingly good shape.

I have a pile of receipts that show the engine was rebuild @ 266K and bored 1 over with all new internal parts. The transmission and Turbo were also rebuilt and the car ran and pulled like crazy when I got it.

The Catch - Serious blow by! Very oil coated on the drivers side of the engine bay. Peva assisted in the diagnosis
Pulled the motor and sent it to the motor shop. He pulled the head which looks fine, the head gasket looks fine leaving the rings as the prime suspect. Also determined that the APC valve was in operative as the wires were shorted out as are many of the wires on the harness, it's and 85! Waiting on further dis assembly as the dude is seriously busy and the chassis is not ready yet anyway.

While the motor is out I stripped the suspension and the entire engine bay. Cleaned it and have started to repair the rust around the lower control arm joints which is not a bad as many I have seen. once that is complete I'll start to re install the various components and motor.

I also plan on a T5 upgrade as part of the project since the EFI harness is almost totally shot. I can't believe it ran at all.

Figured the first pic should be the car stripped down. The tear down is pretty boring.

I also got side tracked with getting a 900 on the road for my son.

"I have a pile of receipts that show the engine was rebuild @ 266K and bored 1 over with all new internal parts."

How many miles since this rebuild JS. Keep us posted on what you find with bores and pistons with pics if poss. My money is on the compression rings. Good luck. Paul

Motor has about 30k miles since rebuild. The head and bores look to be in really good condition.
The motor ran great, but spewed about a quart of oil per 1000 miles into the engine bay.
My short to do list includes:
Completing the welding around the suspension area, and re-bushing/building control arms

Nice project. Love cars that you can remove the rad. support.

You may already be doing this, but I would replace every gasket/o-ring you can while the motor is out. On my wifes '89, basically every single one was bad. I was trying to track down where an oil leak was coming from, only to find out it was leaking from just about everywhere.

Originally Posted by jskrebs

Motor has about 30k miles since rebuild. The head and bores look to be in really good condition.
The motor ran great, but spewed about a quart of oil per 1000 miles into the engine bay.
My short to do list includes:
Completing the welding around the suspension area, and re-bushing/building control arms

You say the bores look good. If my hunch is correct you may get away with just new rings. It's too late now 'cause the engine's out, but you can often identify the offending cylinder by pulling an injector connector so it doesn't squirt on that cylinder then driving it. Yes it will drive and doesn't spew oil nearly as much. Let's hope you never have to try this in the future. Another giveaway for a failed ring is bite marks out of the piston head edge where it's squashed the pieces.

Looks/Sounds like a great project - I too am a sucker for the 85/86 900 Turbo's and SPG's

Don't forget the POR-15! Put it on everything before you paint anything - it will seal that metal up really well against corrosion!

Take lots of pictures and keep us posted. Good luck!

If my hunch is correct you may get away with just new ring

Hoping so. May hone the cylinders and clean the block a little since it will be apart.

Take lots of pictures and keep us posted. Good luck!

Will do, would love to have this to Carlisle this May, but that's kind of optimistic. Will bring the other 900 or the 9000

Got the passenger side suspension area welding done today. Welded both sides of all the pieces, welding inside the tower is a PITA.
Now to clean it all up and hit it with POR 15 then Paint.

Thinking I may get the Skandix patch panels for the drivers side.

Also have a sort of a arm bushing refurbishment line set up.

Attempting to pick up the pace a bit. Want to measure this project in months rather than the earth revolving around the sun.

Got both suspension tunnels welded up. On one side i used sheet steel, on the other the rust was worse and I bought the SKANDIX patch panels as they have the contours of the bottom pressed in saving a lot of hammering and swearing.

I have come to the conclusion as I approach age 50 that laying on the ground welding a car on jack stands sucks. This will be my last go round with a car in this rough a shape. To bad they did not make them out of Stainless.

Next steps include:

• POR and Chassis Black all welded and rusted areas in and around the engine bay.
• Re-installation of the steering rack - Considering a manual rack if I can find one want to drop the PS pump
• Re-bushing and POR treatment for the control arms
• Re-install suspension
• Reboot the halfshafts

Nice work. I know what you mean about taking more time than you'd like. I'm afraid I have to put off my floor pans in my 96 another summer. But that means I can make all the floor parts I need (I bought a great drawing set from Jack Ashcraft) in the mean time, coat them in some 7-11 so they won't rust and then install next summer.

So the parts from SKANDIX saved you quite a bit of work? Great! I'm guessing the second photo is their parts (looks like more welding). It's great that someone is making progress somewhere!

Despondent and in need of a pep talk

Picked up my not completed motor from the shop yesterday. He left in in a high humidity area and it is really kind of gross. Thinking of scrapping the whole thing. I'll post some carnage pictures later.

I did get the rust all repaired and POR'd and have all the new suspension bushings and boots for the front end.

Anybody got a good 85 motor?

On the positive side I have been driving the heck out of Threepwood!

Ruined an engine? What kind of hack would do such a thing?

Hey... for $800 you can get a complete parts car!
1986 saab 900

Or for $600 you can get a 'vert parts car that needs a new head gasket.
1987 saab 900 turbo convertible

There are some options for ya!

Originally Posted by jskrebs

Anybody got a good 85 motor?

Why use a stock '85 engine? This is the opportunity to build a screamer! Get a later block (or, I bet your original block and bottom end are fine), replace head with a 2.1 head (2.1 intake manifold too), use your '85 exhaust cam (better pickup, from what I hear), regular turbo intake cam, and get your local machinist to grind the flywheel out for a trionic 5 trigger wheel pattern.

Ruined an engine? What kind of hack would do such a thing?

Hey... for $800 you can get a complete parts car!
1986 saab 900

Or for $600 you can get a 'vert parts car that needs a new head gasket.
1987 saab 900 turbo convertible

There are some options for ya!

Stopped and checked them out, neither run...

Why use a stock '85 engine? This is the opportunity to build a screamer! Get a later block (or, I bet your original block and bottom end are fine), replace head with a 2.1 head (2.1 intake manifold too), use your '85 exhaust cam (better pickup, from what I hear), regular turbo intake cam, and get your local machinist to grind the flywheel out for a trionic 5 trigger wheel pattern.

Not a bad idea, I have most of the trionic stuff, even a can BDM/USB unit and a cad file for the back of flywheel trigger wheel.

Attached some pictures showing some completed rust repairs, and some of the motor once I got it back to my garage. I left it at the shop a year ago with instructions to put in new rings and check the rest of it our. He laft it head off in a very humid environment. Think the head and motor are still usable?

Jeff

I haven't got a clue about the engine... looks like it would be quite a bit of work to get rid of that rust. But I did come across this on Saabnet
Saabnet.com Saab Parts Classifieds

• SAAB 900 1980 & 1984 Parts Cars (Posted 11/7/11)
  
  
  1980 900 2 door hatch non turbo. Has running " B " motor. These were used in 1980 and prior 900 and 99 chassis. Motor has ~ 70,000 miles on a freshen up rebuild ( ~ 170,000 total ) , head gasket a few years ago, water pump last year. The B motor has a steel valve cover and the distributor in the block. Currently coupled to a good working TB37 automatic from a 1986 900. Alternator is a few years old as is the steering rack. Body pretty rusty, could go again but needs exhaust, brake and the typical SAAB fix of the day. I've owned this car since the mid 80's and know it's history. 1984 900 4 door trunk turbo 8 valve motor. (Aluminum valve cover with the distributor at the end of head) Motor ran when parked but had zero oil pressure ( no bearing noise ) likely a stuck relief valve. Has Renault Fuego exhaust housing and small factory intercooler ( last I checked it was a APC car or at least had APC added ) Car was parked because the trans has a broken pinion bearing holder. Was a parts car for the 80 above so some stuff is gone, body rusty. Would rather sell complete cars but will consider pulling motor / trans or major parts. $ 300 per car or $ 300 each for a engine / trans pull. Cars are located near Pittsburgh PAContact: Harold Hunt, Hunker PA
  Email: Click Here
  Phone: NA
  

Ehhhh, the B engine is not a good choice. Leave that car for someone who actually needs a B engine. These had gear-driven water pumps, which often sheared teeth, crippling the vehicle, but they fit in the 99 and the turbo manifolds are SUPER RARE. Compression in a B turbo engine will be (IIRC) around 7.1:1, as they did not ever come with APC.

Looking at the pictures you posted: if I were you, I would not bother with that engine unless you cannot find another. It's at least as much work to get an engine from one of those parts cars Shazam suggested running as it will be to get yours together and going. A later parts car with a bad head gasket actually sounds ideal (stronger gearbox, bigger flywheel/clutch). You can take the head off, take the block and gearbox out of the parts car, rebuild the gearbox while it's still attached, cut the flywheel trigger, find a 2.1 head, and put it all together. Is the gearbox below your '85 engine any good? It looks a bit cruddy, but that could be hiding good internals. I do wonder...

Trans is good, just dirty. Motor ran well also, just had wicked blow by. Both motor and trans rebuilt about 36k ago.

A gearbox rebuilt that recently shouldn't have trouble, for sure! I still don't know about rebuilding the engine itself, though.

Also, you say you have the CAD file for the trigger wheel. Would you consider sharing it with me? I, too, am considering getting this done next time I change my clutch, so I'd really love to have it for that occasion!

fwiw Sam, I believe the NA intake cam is part of the hot setup. ( I have that one, now on the hunt for 85 exhaust cam )

Perhaps do some light cleaning on that engine block and ask yourself, again, if it's worth putting new rings in?

That head looks pretty similar to the 2.1L head I have kicking around. I wouldn't be afraid to use it, but that's me...

Got the motor removed from the transmission today and cleaned it up a bit. The block does not look to bad at all.

Can't get the crank bolt off for anything, hoping that the motor shop has a killer impact gun.

Going to look for a more reputable motor shop to hot tank the block and inspect/replace the rings etc.. Will also have them look at the head to see if it is usable with a bit of cleanup.

Also attached a pic of the trigger wheel file I drew up. My laptop crashed so I will need to redraw it. I have a customer with a laser cuter that can cut them out.