$50 best bad idea I've had

Thanks guys! Final step is the State Patrol Inspection Thursday. Fingers crossed!

Budget Update

Old totals:

Total Real Budget: $373.87

Challenge Budget: $365.21

I forgot I put in a new set of spark plugs, they were just under $10 for the set. I also only used half of the fuel line, so half comes off the challenge budget.

New totals:

Total Real Budget: $383.87

Challenge Budget: $361.08

My build is almost double yours and you got done first.

But I do get to meet you at the Challenge, yes?

Ugh, state patrol? Last time that happened to me I had to go three different times and have my frame sanded...

Good luck, I'm sure yours will go much smoother.

Simply awesome that you've got it running! One of my favorite threads, hope all goes well Thursday.

Glad you got it running. When you are ready get some thin wall 3 inch PVC and open up the airbox, put in a MBC and smile big.

In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit:

What's a MBC? I'm still learning Saab lingo.

I drove it in to work today. There is a bit of a dead zone at the beginning of the throttle travel which combined with the near silent exhaust makes it hard to coordinate the clutch/throttle action to take off from a stop. It made me look like a manual transmission amateur. I need to fix both of those. There also seems to be a very mild vibration under hard acceleration. I'm not sure if something is up with the axes or transmission, or if the tires were just hunting for traction in the rain when the boost came up. This car feels way slower than my Miata, but it is actually way faster. When the boost comes up hold on! No really, hold on....you aren't quite sure which way it will go.

Another item that needs addressing is the reverse lock out collar. It doesn't work, which would't be a big deal, but it also is used to define the far "edge" of the shift pattern for 5th gear. Without it working the "edge" is farther over than 5th gear making finding 5th interesting.

Usually that is a little delrin slide in the box under the shifter. They wear out and bingo no reverse lockout. Got to love torque steer in the wet it's what makes things interesting. I still don't get how you managed to get and stay under a grande buying and fixing this car. Kudos to you for doing it and showing the rest of us how along the way. I've stumble across a couple of these up here at the Lynwood PicknPull that were in fairly nice shape over the last couple of years. Might be a little bit of a haul from Vancouver but might be worth a check if you get up this way. Good luck with the inspection.

MBC would be Manual Boost Controller, because you need more boost of course.

Don't these cars have factory electronic boost control? It seems like adding a manual boost controller would make the ecu angry. I think that a tuned ECU should do the same thing and keep the electrons happy.

My wishlist is as follows:

Tuned ECU: $165.79 from brew-city boost

22mm rear sway bar and steering rack brace package: $288 from Genuine Saab

DIY 6-point subframe brace with hardware from Genuine Saab $30 plus materials

That still leaves $162 for other stuff in the $1007.50 budget.

Make some sort of open element intake for it- they sound glorious.

The boost controller will allow you to push all the way up to the hard coded boost limit, 15 psi if I remember correctly. If your car had the T7 system you would be correct but yours will "benefit" from the MBC. Yes the ECU tune would be the best route but the MBC is just a trip to he hardware store and like $20. Hell, I have the one I will give you (I also have a headlight switch that I don't need if you want it).

For the intake here is what I did on mine. Buy a length of thin walled 3 inch PVC, take the airbox out of the car and remove the air snorkel. Cut a hole in the airbox big enough for the PVC to slid into, I used a length of rubber fuel line split in half around the edge of the hole to provide a good seal with the PVC. Painted the pipe black and put the whole mess back in the car. The day after I did this my wife took the car to work and called all worried. She thought something was wrong because of the whistling and extra umph the car had.

One work of caution with the above two mods. Not long after I did them I blew the diaphragm in the stock Bosch boost diverter valve so I ended up getting a Forge one.

If yours is not an SE then a trip to the JY to get the intercooler and turbo from a stick 99 SE or up to 2002 stick or auto 9-3 will get you better bits than what is on your car. A 99 9-3 SE with a stick will have the intercooler and turbo from the larger engined Viggen/9-5 Aero, stock that car had @210 hp vs 175 - 185 of the regular 9-3 or auto SE. I am not sure if the ECU was different though.

Edited for correction.

Good to know, thanks!

Just took it through emissions. It passed.

bgkast wrote: Just took it through emissions. It passed.

A MBC can also sometimes help improve torque on computer controlled waste gates.

Sometimes the wastegate solenoid signal will be conditioned by the computer to reduce the amount of boost at lower speeds to reduce torque steer or improve longevity of drivetrain components.

Here's a site of the Turbo-Dodge MBC valve guru (RIP): http://gusmahon.org/index_main.htm

Lots of tips and tricks to be found there on manually managing boost and wastegate signals with simple components and scientific testing.

The shudder didn't go away with the end of the rain, so it's not turbo power causing wheel hop. I think one of the CV joints is toast. Luckilly reman half-shafts are only about $65.

I just finished helping a friend replace the diverter valve on his Viggen. It's so easy to get to, that Saab clearly must have intended for you to monkey with all of this excellent boost-signalling mechanism.

In reply to bgkast:

In the spirit of keeping things cheap, rather than order new banjo bolt washers, you should just spray a regular washer with Flex Seal (as seen on TV!) until it no longer passes a multimeter continuity test. Boom, instant gasket-bonded washer.

Flex Seal is fuel safe, right?

Sitting in line waiting for judgement.

I crawled under the car last night, the CV boots are all intact and the joints didn't seem to have excess play in my limited CV experience.

I also tried to fix the reverse lockout / 5th gear issue. The white plastic piece is responsible for the functions and is slightly broken in my case.

I tried epoxy, but it broke right back off the first time I hit 5th.

Nice!

Dude!

Burrito wrote: Dude!

Sweet!

Judged and found awesome.

Congratulations.

Thanks guys! Here's a bit more complete report.

I guess I made the wrong type of apointment with the state patrol. The apointment I set up was for a "department of licensing requested inspection", chosen because the DOL told me I needed to get an inspection. I guess I should have chosen the "salvage vehicle inspection".

The officer spent most of the inspection time and comment space on the form telling me that I made the wrong apointment type. They told me I would have to get a 3 year registration only licence, to which I politely informed them that I didn't believe that was the case because I had a notarized release of interest from the last registered owner in addition to a notarized bill of sale. They said that it was up to the DOL, and gave me my inspection document.

I took the document to the most friendly licensing office around and turned in all of my paperwork. They seemed confused about the notes the officer had made, and called the state office to ask if they should issue me a title, or 3 year registration only. The state office said that since the officer didn't state 3 year registration only on the forms they could issue me a title. I paid my $173 for plates/registration, title transfer, inspection and tax (on the $50 purchase price) and went on my way.

There was a tap room in the same complex as the licensing office so I had a pint in celebration. I had the rest of the afternoon off, so I went to see mad max, and had another pint at the theater.

Overall a good afternoon.

Congratulations!

And who knew that Pints came in singles?