My fake Talladega

[southsaab]

I'm starting a garage thread about my new project car, a 1997 ng900 SE vert. Always stayed away from the ng900s, just didn't like the looks. To me they aren't as pretty as the c900s, and I didn't consider them Saabish enough, but now I own one. Friends of mine had it for 15 years or so, and while many systems stopped working, the basic engine stuff is still good. Has 148k on a B204L with a 4spd auto. The reason for the fake Talladega tag is that's what GEICO said it was, but... it ain't really.

To get it from Georgia to Virginia, I was warned to bring a trailer, but I've never towed a project car home yet. Brought my tools, bought a battery, added oil and coolant, new gas cap, and with expert skill, got it running well enough for the 500+mile trip home.

As I work on various parts of the car, I'll document the work.

Here are a few pics of the interior, though camera loves it. It was quite trashy.

Dirty back seats.



Torn leather, drivers side very cracked. Neither seat moves, they are frozen in position.



Steering wheel cover torn, upper part missing, lower part unraveling.



SID3 sorta works, still has pixels but can't access the left column functions. ACC display out, but it still works. AC blows very cold, BTW. Little ACC temp sensor fan very noisy. And radio won't work at all. Have a code card, but not for this radio. Has a 6 cd changer in the back.



And this thing just won't quite open enough to let the top operate without nicking the front bow.

I forgot to mention I have no garage, only the parking lot in front of my townhouse. And I am a DIY guy. Should be interesting. At least it's saved from the crusher.


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[Digger]

Looks like a little TLC will give you a fun summer car.

If you can't find a good used steering wheel, new leather cut to fit is available and sew it on yourself is the next best option. Check the AACA forum Buick Reatta section about 4 - 6 months back, a Reatta owner found the best price source and posted a link to the supplier.

Serial number on the radio can be referenced for locking code, if the factory label hasn't dried up and fallen off. Ford radio removal tool gets it free from the dash and best price for tool is from harborfreight.com

Re use the holes already poked in the skin and split seam on leather seat can be fixed with needle and thread. If the seat skin is held tight to the frame by plastic clip, muscle it loose, pulls the skin back far enough to sew from the bottom side, if it's held by rings you can use a curved needle and sew from the top. Either way it will save several hundred in upholstery shop cost.

Don't think your new 900 is old enough to use one of these, but if it is, the Saab 4002267 ABS accumulator can be replaced with a Wabco STC2784 and best price this week is $111.00 from lrdirect.com

Looking forward to your 900 project postings.

[swisssaabist]

If you're patient enough you can rebuild/change the leather around the steering wheel, Chrisfix on tube have been made a DIY.

[southsaab]

Thx Digger and Swiss for the input. I'm making a priority repair list, but first I need to get my info up to date.

Virginia has state vehicle inspections, and it failed on its first try. It needed exhaust work and a new left side light due to a hole.

This is the replacement.

For the exhaust it turned out to need a resonator (middle muffler). My local indy noticed many new parts, and it was in reasonably good shape. But it was leaking oil from front seal/oil pump o-ring, so I had that replaced. He also mentioned it might be a good idea to drop the oil pan and de-sludge it. Now it's my understanding that B204 engines aren't prone to sludge, but considering the car's murky past, I said okay. It was pricey, but it passed inspection and holds oil except for this one place.


I'm told that this is common, and I'll seal it later.

When I got it road ready and legal, I installed a new T5 DIC and plugs, BCPR7ES.

This is what I replaced.


It had a T7 DIC and BCPR7ES-11s. Yes T5s will run with a T7 cassette, but I've read that the knock sensing doesn't work. I don't know, as this is my first T5 car. Anyway, the black one is my spare. As for the plugs, I prefer the 7ES gapped at .9mm rather than the 7ES-11 gapped at 1.1mm. The DIC doesn't have to work as hard to jump a smaller gap, and I've had good performance with them in my 9-5.

Speaking of my 9-5, it's for sale. Check it out on the marketplace on Saabworld. I only work on one car at a time, due to space and money considerations. Hopefully it will sell soon to help fund this project. I'm not a good salesman, though, can never word an ad properly. Maybe I'll auction it on bringatrailer.com[emoji16].

I found a reason why my seats won't work.


Those ragged wires from the lower seat to the upper are a mess. No wonder it blew a fuse. I'm looking at solutions that are simple but elegant. Maybe some wire to wire connectors, 4-pin, that will look pro and protect it from getting chewed by the latch. I'll look at it more closely. Since the seats won't move it makes it more difficult to remove them. Wishing for a manual bypass like the top.

More later...


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[Digger]

Oil seals are cheap and they change easy, sure you can seal it up for a bit with a finger full of silicone and it could last for years, but when the seal decides to go, they can go so fast that by the time you know you're loosing oil, you've probably lost the engine.

Grew up on a car lot and been fixing power seats for 50 years give or take. For moving seats with bad power feed I use a battery charger on 2amp feed and before I built a special cable that makes this job easy, I had 2 nails pounded in a board to hold the charger clamps and went direct to the motor plugs with wire stripped on one end with clips or pins for grabbing male or pushing into female connectors.

When you get the seat up you should find the plug connect for the seatback and repair from there. Don't splice at the flex point, give yourself some extra slack and push the extra into the seatback. Spiral wire loom looks good and does a good job of protecting the wires.

[southsaab]

Lol, the alternative power supply a great idea.

It may be tricky to repair the wires as they are broken near the flex point. The upper seat wires have no give, but I can steal some space from the lower. Dropped idea of a connector, now going to marry in new wire segments. Looks like too much of a stress point.

Never encountered this particular seal. Seems straightforward enough, pull out old, drive in new like a freeze plug. However, research on BBs say valve cover must come off and some special tool used. Sounds overly complicated. The seal costs less than the silicone sealant it would take to stop leak(!). Go figure.

So far, the ng900 is an odd mix of c900 and GM. Seems a bit schizo, not as blended as later GM Saabs. Makes me curious about og9-3s, which I was about to pursue before this one came up.

An interesting car indeed.


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[Digger]

. Never encountered this particular seal. Seems straightforward enough, pull out old, drive in new like a freeze plug. However, research on BBs say valve cover must come off and some special tool used. Sounds overly complicated. The seal costs less than the silicone sealant it would take to stop leak(!). Go figure.

This is a pretty common head and some engines have a shaft extension to run a pump, others have a plug where the bearing would be and security torx bit screws to keep you from causing a leak by accidently pulling the plug. If other BBs say pull the valve cover, best to pull the cover. These things come out easy, but there is no stop on the back side and the frost plug method of pushing it back in and getting it sealed is a one time shot.

[southsaab]

Rain is coming, and my top is old. Does it still repel water?

No money for new top at the moment, so to the stop gap plan. Sent off for this


Previous owner swears by its use every six months. A good soaking.

I'll find out soon if I'm sitting in the wet spot [emoji6]


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[Digger]

The top on my TC Maserati is 27 years old and I use the same stuff every couple of years. If you're thinking about re-dying the top you will want to do that first, this stuff works really good and it's not easy to get off.

[lowrider_rt2000]

Rain is coming, and my top is old. Does it still repel water?

No money for new top at the moment, so to the stop gap plan. Sent off for this

Previous owner swears by its use every six months. A good soaking.

I'll find out soon if I'm sitting in the wet spot [emoji6]

That stuff is amazing! I use it on everything that is rubber! I've had the same wiper blades on my Jeep Wj for 9 harsh off roading years now. I also use it on the belts for the motor. They dont crack or dry out.

Sent from my 9-3