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Mike900 is a Viggen owner living in Melbourne, Australia, and he’s been kind enough to let us sit in on a few of his recent DIY adventures. This fix actually happened around a month ago, but preparations for the Frankfurt show got in the way of me posting it straight away.
Previous installments included acquiring all his bits, and installing the steering rack clamp and brace.
My thanks to Mike for the photos and writeup. I’m going to have to get me one of these for the Monte pretty soon
And it should be noted that whilst Mike owns a Viggen, the mods that he’s doing are standard fare for all Saab 900/9-3 models, from 1994-2002.
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It’s been about a week since I’ve installed (and been delighted with) the new steering rack clamp and brace. Having had enough time to get used to the new feel of the car, I figured it was about time to get cracking on the next step in the process…… the new 22mm Rear Anti-Roll Bar, or ARB for short. This part was bought from Taliaferro Saab in the USA – www.genuinesaab.com
A little about the product:
22mm refers to the diameter thickness of the bar, and is the default size aftermarket ARB sold by Taliaferro. It is also the most popular size for the NG900 and 9-3 models. Taliaferro are also able to produce other sizes ranging from 19mm up to 25mm to suit your specific needs where applicable. There is a very helpful and informative description on their product page here – as well as a great article written by Nick Taliaferro about the trial & testing phase when designing their ARB here.
This bar is thicker than the standard piece that comes with your Saab, and while the ARBs purpose is mainly to reduce the amount of body roll present while driving, it also improves other handling aspects too. The part comes in a silver powder coat (a form of painting), cost $90 USD, and would have also come with free shipping if I had lived in the USA. It comes with a very clear set of instructions which are easy to follow too….. it even had a few colour pictures.
You could easily do this installation using only the instructions supplied, so I’ll breeze through the installation and focus on a few of the easily solvable problems I had. As previously with the steering clamp & brace I’ve uploaded a bunch of extra pictures, in higher quality and each with descriptions on Flickr to save Swade some bandwidth – http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike900/sets/72157622218582355/ (but you can click any of the images below to enlarge and see normal res versions – SW)
Here are the parts as delivered, the bar itself with four nuts and bolts:

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My Installation experience:
This was FAR easier than installing the steering rack clamp and brace, and took 45 minutes from beginning to end including photos. If I had to compare the level of difficulty to something, I’d say this was no more involving than changing a wheel after a flat tyre. Really, really easy from beginning to end. In fact the only problem I had was nothing to do with the product at all…… it was the Viggen body kit that was the main obstacle. Let me explain.

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Mike900 – an Australian Viggen owner – is currently doing some upgrades to this Saab 9-3 Viggen and he’s invited us to join him on the ride.

Part 1 involved him getting all the bits together and fitting the new center armrest and billet aluminium oil cap.
Part 2 is a much more complex job – fitting a new steering rack clamp and brace. This magic bit of kit will eliminate most of the average 9-3 owner’s torque steer problems. If you’re curious, read on.
You can also see bigger and clearer photos at Mike’s Flickr account
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DIY Part 2 – Steering rack clamp & brace
You can find a tonne of comments about the steering rack clamp and brace on the web. I’m willing to bet you that every one of those comments is positive, and I’ll tell you now that all the praise is justified. It is just the prettiest, simplest, most rewarding, most effective, most brilliant and wonderful piece of automotive engineering I think I’ll ever know…..EVER!
I am thrilled with the difference it has made, and I doubt the feeling will die down any time soon. I was a little worried going into this installation that I was going to be disappointed with the end results……. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I’ll share some thoughts on the effect of this great part later on, but for now, let’s get to the installation.
Let me start off by stating anybody is capable of doing this installation, it was not without a few minor difficulties though. It will require some effort and patience, it can be fiddly and frustrating at times, but it is absolutely within the average non-mechanical persons’ capabilities. I am not a trained mechanic, it’s entirely possible that a Saab technician will point out my mistakes, but everything I have done was either from the printed instructions I received with the parts, or from the wonderful technical forums at www.saabscene.com and www.saabcentral.com.
The entire job took 2.5 hours from beginning to end, from the time I walked into the garage to when I took it out for a victory test drive. That time also included my stuffing up several times on a few steps, before working out how to make it work on the 3rd or 4th attempt. If you learn from my mistakes you could do this in half the time or less.
This is the location of the torque steer inducing monster deep within every Saab NG900 & 9-3 engine bay. Sadly, the loose grip of that little metal band with rubber lining allows the steering rack to slide horizontally left and right, while the squashy rubber lining permits flexing backward and forward, as well as upward and downward. This permits slight movements in the wheel angle causing sloppiness and torque steer:

Here’s what I’m installing in its place, blue bit is the clamp, long silver bit is the brace. The clamp will hold the steering rack firmly to there’s no sliding or flexing, while the brace adds further support by connecting the unit to the nearby wheel arch:

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