SAABSUNITED

900 Classic 1987 Convertible, restoration

January 25, 2018 by Tore Kvaale

I started to post my project 2 years ago, but it is still ongoing. The more I am “drilling” into the depth, the more is revealed. The 2017 summer I drove to Aalborg to replace the soft top including a new heated rear window. On the return trip to Sweden there was a terrible rain storm. We really tested the new soft top! Back in the garage I found water in the trunk so I realized that there was leakage somewhere. The rear quarter windows lift did not work + suddenly the soft top hydraulics stopped working. The decision to make a winter project to get the car in a better condition was taken.

What I have done so far this winter:

1. Repaired both lift motors – driving cog wheels stuck with hardened old grease. Cleaned and greased. In the same run I removed the lifting mechanism so I could clean the drainage outlets and make a proper rust protection. Greased the mechanism before installation.

2. Repaired defective hydraulic cylinder – O-ring was leaking, probably due to age and lack of usage. Dismantled the cylinder and change the ring. Cleaned the hydraulic system and reservoir. Full instruction found on You-Tube.

3. Electric window heater did not work – The time-relay was missing. Purchased a used one on eBay.

4. Water leakage was localized to be caused by many rusted spots in the rear inner wings, lower part on both sides. I have cut out all rusted areas and have to make by hand replacement plates and weld them. The process is ongoing. There is also heavy rusted areas in the trunk floor along the side to side joint. I have not yet decided what to do.

5. The rear axle is heavily rusted. I plan to remove it to get it sand blasted and painted. I will replace the shock’s. They are probably 30 years old – as the car.

I guess this is about all I can manage to do this winter. I hope to get the car on the road by end of May. Time will show.

Have you ever had a hard time locking your Saab?

January 15, 2018 by JoPlSe

Sometimes I cannot lock my Saab properly with the key remote. If I am in a hurry this may get quite frustrating. After a while, I started to see a pattern. There was always a lorry nearby, a lorry with a remotely operated crane.

In Sweden, we recycle things like glass, paper, plastics and cupboard. The recycling stations are emptied regularly. This happens quite often when I drop my oldest son off at school. My conclusion is that the crane remote is operating on a similar radio frequency as my car key remote. It seems that the weaker car key signal gets drenched by the crane remote. When the lorry is gone, my car lock works perfectly.

Have anyone else had this problem?

A lorry emptying the recycling station outside my son’s school.

Saab Insurance – Swedish Market, Update

January 15, 2018 by JoPlSe

I did a post on Saab insurance for the Swedish market a while ago. I have recently renewed my insurance and have happily found out that the insurance company Folksam has stretched their limits for Saabs even further. If you buy the large car insurance, you will have machine and electronics insurance up to 10 years or 15´000 Swedish miles (1 Swedish mile = 10km).

Auto-dimming rearview side mirrors, update

January 15, 2018 by JoPlSe

A long time ago, Tim wrote a post about the difficulties of getting new auto-dimming rearview side mirrors. I wrote a short add about the mirrors getting back in stock.

The brownish color was not the biggest issue, it was the failure of the dimming function on all mirrors. In November 2015 I fixed my left mirror it has worked fine ever since.

Before: You can see a brownish tone in the left part of the mirror.

The auto dimming area does not cover the entire glass. However, that is nothing which you will notice driving the car. The auto dimming function works fine on all mirrors after I replaced the bad one.

Saab Heritage Museum in United States

January 8, 2018 by gotsaab

You may have read this elsewhere, but Tom Donney Motors is creating a museum dedicated to Saab cars in South Dakota, USA. His web site (http://www.tomdonneymotors.com/personal-stock/) says these are from his personal collection, which is quite impressive. It includes the oldest Saab in USA as well as NG 9-5. Personally, I do not mind not seeing 9-7x there, but it should include 9-4x.

It opens in two year. Definitely something to consider if you are going to see Mt. Rushmore.

Saab by Gray Design

November 6, 2017November 5, 2017 by gotsaab

Gray Design apparently is looking for Saab to make a come back and completed this design work.

The video and photos show a wonderful interpretation of what the future of Saab might have been, have they remained solvent. How the wings extend and even the Swedish air force logos on the side are just few examples how to tie the brand together.

Unfortunately, it appears that this is nothing more than a study. But you can still dream for a few minutes. Enjoy the video.

Replacement Air Bags are Finally Available

November 2, 2017October 30, 2017 by PaulF

After about 18 months of waiting, I was finally able to get replacements for the defective Takata air bags in my 2008 9-3 convertible and my wife’s 2010 9-3x sportcombi in the past week. GM handled the air bag replacement in my wife’s car, even though it is a SWAN model. Apparently, safety recalls remained with GM even after the sale to SWAN.

If you have been waiting, it’s probably time to find the nearest authorized SAAB service center and see if you can schedule an appointment. They needed about one week’s notice to get the parts in.

SAABS have always been fun and safe, and its nice to know that the safety is back!

Editor’s note: During the management transition period no posts were approved. We apologize for the delay. PaulF’s post dates back to May.

Cracked Leather Seats

October 29, 2017 by JoPlSe

I remember a discussion here at SU about the contrasting leather in the OG 9-5 seats was not real leather, but vinyl. This is something that got very real to me 2015. I generally take good care of my car, but I have not done much to the seats. I like to think that leather seats get a nice patina over time, if it is real leather, that is.

Summer 2015 the light colored fake leather in my driver seat cracked. I thought it was a shame, since my car is in good condition. I decided to mend it. I looked around the internet and found a solution called “Color Glo”. Color Glo is specialized in fixing damages in both real leather and vinyl. They can also imprint different leather patterns to mimic the original look.

It turned out that cracked fake leather on Saabs was quite common and that the rip could not be too large in order to fix it. Mine was ok to mend. Unfortunately, the leather pattern could not be imprinted because the cushion beneath the rip was too compressed (gap between the cushion and the vinyl). It seems that the cushions gets worn quite fast.

My driver seat before mending the cracked vinyl.

The mending looked ok, but not by any means perfect. Still, the seat was in once piece again. The mending got lightly tainted by my blue jeans quite fast.

Just before this summer, a piece came off the mending and I am back to square one again. It seems that it is not possible to get a permanent solution for this issue. At least not with the method I chose.

I think Tim mentioned that if you chose the all black version of the seat, you got all real leather. That was probably the correct choice to make. I also discussed this matter with my previous boss who used to be employed at Saab. He said that Saab had pure leather all over the seats for a long time. In competition, Saab was the only one to keep leather all over and scaled down to specific parts of the seat to keep price on par with competition.

Has anyone tried any other method? Please write a post and share your experience!