1995 Saab 9000 CSE - The Family Barge

[oli8925]

Well, I've finally taken over my dad's old Saab. The girlfriend and I (more her) are spawning in December, and we need a more family orientated car. My Viva is big enough, but has no rear seat belts and is a little too bouncy and loud for transporting a sensitive noise machine around. Her Corsa is unreliable, awful and too small to fit a pushchair etc in, and her Mini...let's say no more.

The Saab has been on offer to me for a while but is now perfect for what we need: big, safe, quiet, comfortable, a little nippy, FREE, and amazingly cheaper to insure for the two of us than a standard 1256 Viva I won't complain!

It's a CSE, so usefully for us is the hatchback and has a 150bhp 2.0 Low Pressure Turbo . Currently running a stage 2/3 chip and 230bhp but that will be removed for us until modifications are a little cheaper (I didn't just say that). It's been sitting in the same spot for 3, if not 4 years as my dad bought a CSE FPT Auto, but he didn't want to get rid of it. 139k miles and lots of toys that are currently getting my girlfriend and I quite excited.

We started work on it yesterday, giving it a good initial clean and making sure it still runs. Even on 3 year old fuel it fired up straight away and idled beautifully! Managed to give it an oil change as well and checked all the gators for splits. All looking good so far.

This is as it was, the pictures don't show the amount of green that had covered the whole car. As an indication take note of the trees growing underneath.








And this is after a clean, still needs a lot more work to do, there's years worth of decaying leaves stuck in all the panel gaps.



So, work to do:
More cleaning
Clean up brake discs and check mechanisms (3 of 4 done)
Top engine steady
Flush brake fluid
De-mould interior
New battery
MOT, tax and insure
Re-black plastic trim
Tidy engine bay
Investigate pushed in Drivers headlight
Fix drivers heated seat
Fix rear leccy window on/off switch
New radio, maybe speakers too
Try not to modify....

[griffindai]

I had a feeling you would have it!!

If you do decide to mod it I'll give you the guys details who tunes mine with T5 Suite as he's very good at it. You can in theory do it for 'free' but by the time you've bought all the necessary bits you may as well just get it done for you, there's a stage 1-3 tuning wizard on T5 Suite but I still cant get my head around it for the custom tunes so best left to the experts!! I've just had the T7 APC mod done to mine which is meant to give better boost control, plus the T5 APC valves tend to go wrong which can be expensive to replace where T7 one is a lot cheaper. (Also worth getting a spare ECU off the bay for around 30 quid)
I haven't had a chance to properly boot mine in 3rd & 4th yet but 2nd feels a bit smoother and a tad faster.

Will be following this one...you know you want to tune it ;D

[oli8925]

I want to, but I really am trying desperately not to, so much so I've been looking at the Map Tun and Abbott Racing sites

If anything I want to lower it a bit, but only very little so that the wheels sit evenly in the arches. But all the springs I've seen are 30mm which is possibly more than I want and together with Koni adjustables that's £600. Struts brace £200 front and £250 back. Then some brake upgrades and power, and I know somewhere in the middle I'd do something silly like strip it out. It's a long slippery slope ;D

I might put my dads chip back in at some point and uprate the clutch as it's currently slipping with the power. I think he's thinking of getting something newer so I may buy his FPT and take the nice bits and leather.

I also have the problem of it being more my girlfriends car as I plan to use the Viva for my daily duties still, meaning any money I spend will be noticed/crashed.

If I do end up scratching the tuning itch, I may just buy myself a Manual Aero in black, as that's what I would prefer and the increased performance would already be cheaper than parts and insurance increase on this one.

What Saab forum do you use by the way?

[griffindai]

Yeah it's tempting to get loads for these but some stuff isn't really worth it, Maptun & Abbott have some great kit but it's £££...£!!! Much cheaper to get on the forums, loads of ebaying and you might get lucky. Most of my bits have fallen off other cars!!

I wouldn't bother with that rear strut brace mate, not for what Abbott charge anyway £250 odd I think!!! I might get a single bar welded on there in time but have loads more to get done first. Mine came with the front strut brace already fitted so I can't say if that's made any difference. Also came with the Koni/Abbott suspension but needs replacing. Try some Bilstein B4's instead of Koni. Much cheaper and the guys seem to like them. I got lucky with mine a couple months back and had some B6 off eBay for cheap...otherwise I'd have gone for B4. Seem like great value.

Springs- you've just missed out on an Eibach group buy I sorted out for the Saab forums, but there may still be a set floating about as not everyones fitted them (me included :

For a cheap upgrade I'd just double up the rear arb, take a look at the Abbott one as it's the same idea....and just get another ARB off a broken 9000 and bolt that to yours. I've got the Abbott one fitted but the other method is miles cheaper!! Or if your feeling flush get the SAS arb kit instead...meant to transform the handling. (got that to fit too!!)

Swapping the front butterfly bushes for Polly sharpens it up a little so well worth it. I saw a set on the bay for around 40/50 quid the other day but they're around 80/90 new.

Brakes youll be fine with something like EBC yellow stuff 'R' or DS2500/3000 pads & brembo discs. I've got the yellows on front & Pagids on the rear. Bought these from Neo Brothers and they came in well under anyone else & highly recommended.

Clutch id just keep standard tbh as mine was fine up to stage 4 ...but then was useless! I wouldn't bother with the Abbott fly wheel either, Ive got it fitted but a much cheaper option would have been to just get my old one lightened for 50-100 quid (Abbotts cost a good £350 all in) If the box has to come out anyway may aswel kill 2 birds & lighten the fly wheel!!

Gearbox- I think yours comes with a 4.05 which is considered the best all rounder, but it might be the 4.45?? Should say on the ID plate on the box. The Aero comes with a 3.61 but most (if not all) of the guys swap that for a 4.05 for a bit more extra performance. (My old stage 4 tune with 4.45 box was manic!! Loved it!!) These go through gearboxes like crazy as you up the power! But I found it was more at stage 3/4 I had problems. Stage 5 was on & 6 is a lot more gearbox friendly as you don't get any line below 3.5 k!! Just don't drag it off the line in 1st & 2nd and it'll be ok

Forums- defo register with Uksaabs.co.uk as it's got loads of info/help on there. Others are:
Saabcentral.com
Saablink.net
Uksaabscentral.co.uk
Saabscene
Saabnet

HTH Dave.

[oli8925]

Thanks for the tips I've only done a vague ebay search and so much stuff came up I got bored. Will have to have a more focused search for some tuning bits. I'm out of a job at the moment but as soon as I'm earning I'll keep some money aside for car stuff.

I'll be searching for the Bilsteins and researching the double ARB. I need to ask my dad what upgrades he's done, I have a feeling some bushes are poly already, I know he did a few things other than the ECU and intercooler.

Brakes are almost brand new, Brembo discs but don't know that pads. Plenty of meat left though. I'll have to see how the clutch behaves with standard power, but it was slipping when putting 230bhp down, could just be getting worn. Will sneak in a flywheel diet if I have to change it. I'll check the gearbox when I get the car up to clean the underside and change the brake fluid too.

I signed up for Saabscene last night as my dad uses that one (AlanG), I wasn't hugely impressed with it though, seems to be only for solving problems rather than general 9K stuff. Will sign up to UKSaabs. I saw your post for the Eibach springs too, just my luck but never mind. I think I may be tempted to spend a little more for progressive springs anyway, to keep the girlfriend comfortable and happy.

[oli8925]

I feel I should perhaps update this seeing as I'll be taking it to my first Retro Rides Gathering this year - even though it's not the most exciting nor retro car around. Sometimes difficult to remember it's 20 years old in a few months.

First off a quick picture dump showing 'progression'.
First back on the road

Picked up some tatty Super Aeros


Cloth to leather


Tyres were rubbish and one got destroyed by a puncture, so time to get the Super Aeros refurbished and shod in new Goodyears


Repainted rubstrips and bumper plastic


One of a few orders of expensive goodies

New front and rear speakers with a neatly concealed underseat subwoofer


Bilstein B4s and Eibach springs finally fitted



Which brings us to today, I'll get a pic of how the car sits with the new suspension soon but it won't be a big drop. The plan before the gathering is:
To get the suspension sorted (rear shock bolts always seize, a mate and I attempted one. Car's now booked with a garage)
Take out the dents in the bodywork
Sort a bit of bubbling on one arch
Paint the Aero bodykit, CS Carlsson bridge spoiler and two new doors
Correct marks, scratches and lacquer peel and fully correct paint.
Fully refurbish Aero seats and install
Wire in 4 channel amp
Install alarm and immobiliser
Make brackets to fit piggy back rear ARB
9000/E36 Hella hybrid headlights

This is a vague photoshop of how it will look. Nothing extraordinary or OTT, just clean.


Other bits I plan/would like to do before then:
Repair/replace exhaust manifold studs
Fit new waterpump
Uprated Aero clutch with lightened and balance flywheel
Refurbished callipers with new discs, pads, braided flexis and lines
Body colour deep gloss dash panel and other little touches
Engine bay tidy and repainted rocker cover, silicone hoses etc
Slightly more tasty/3" exhaust

At that point it would be rude not to give it some more power - perhaps a GT28. I'd like to hit 300bhp when the rest of the car is done. But plenty to get on with until then.