92 Saab 900i Convertible - Gone

[75nut]

New trhead for a motor I picked up this week to distract me from my Alfa 75 resto. I part ex's the 9000 in a it needed some work and the cost to fix was the same as cost to swap so why not!

Got a half day start on the Saab today before I took my little girl out to give the wife a break!

I was going to hit the hood first but then realised when I machine polished the body I would wreck it again so started on paintwork first.

Quick run down of issues now I have had a good chance to look around -

Hood


Rims - outer edge needs sanding and polishing


Arch trim need replacing



Need to get in here and see how deep the rust is and repair


Interior good just needs proper clean



Bumper corners need scratches sanding out


Small area on the drivers corner of bonnet needs attention


Phew! Crack free dash!


Bonnet has worst pain, seems the laquer has crazed in places and bird poo been left to sit for ever and acid has stained the laquer



Dent in driver wig, going to try the heat and compressed air trick here to get a paintless repair done


So decided to start on bonnet first as I just want it looking as clean and tidy as possible while I ge tsome use out of it at the moment before I tackle more indepth repairs.

First I tested some compound by hand to see if there was any chance of improvement.

Before

Compound

Result


Encouraged by this I got out some 2000 grit paper and a bucket of water and wet sanded whole bonnet

Then machine polished with the coarser compound

Which improved it no end

Then the finer compound followed by 2 coats of polish, here first part complete


And here is that original area again, now complete



Then used my plastic cleaners to go over bumpers and spoilers etc





Roof down ready for taxing on Monday


And as I turned to put my stuff away
:roll:

So hood up next, will try and get that in early next week.

Then I need to get my hands really dirty and track down this squeek on the driver side!

[ianfearn]

Looks great, I always wanted one of these, they were the classiest of all the convertibles back in the late 80's early 90's.

[doctorblack]

Damn pigeons!

[redders]

had a hard top version i got in a pub off of someone for free.. 300,000 on the clock and the engine was still going strong... eveything else however was falling off.

nice work on the bonnet!

[75nut]

Came home early yesterday, new tax disc in hand (dated for today), to give the hood a clean with the Autoglym Fabric Hood cleaning kit I got.
Did no want the hood o let he now gleaming bodywork down on her first trip out.

As predicted by many, even though I followed the instructions by the letter the stuff did not really touch the mildew etc.

Before


After



I looks better than it did but thats mainly as its wet in the after pictures! Now its dried it looks pretty much the same. Disapointing, especially for nearly £20.

So my review would be, that its about effective as using car shampoo to get scratches out of body work, it will clean it but not rectify any issues.

Time to buy some Revo colour restorer now as recommended by many.

The MX5 wants to know how come this new comer is getting all the attention when I have not cleaned it for about 2 months!

[75nut]

Not got round to the hood again as the squeak is now driving me made and spoiling an otherwise good drive!

So I first set about jacking her up and checking out the suspension and bushes as the squeak comes from the front.

The shocks look fairly new and the bushes ok. The track rod ends are bast their best but after some rocking etc I found the squeak is cvoming from the engine bay. But it seems to be from roughly the centre and the back.

Pics of the suspension, rods and bushes etc -





So took some vids and hopefully someone has an idea of wha I should be looking a first before I take too much off!

[75nut]

Not got round to sorting the squeak ye, but today she threw more toys out of pram!!

On the way back from work the problem with the intermitent drivers window switch became permanent! I had been having to push it hard to make it close the window, but now it only goes down not up so presume its a faulty switch. But how does one seperate the unit to get to seperate switches without breaking the housing, whats the correct way?

And also the passenger door lock decied to stick on locked, but AFTER the door had been opened so the door cannot be shut! It had been difficult to open but now the latch is locke dint he down postion! I had to hold the handle while driving to keep it shut, luckly only had a mile to travel!

So lots to do this weekend!!

[zap]

Good work there, 75nut.

[griffindai]

You want to hear some squeaking....come for a spin in mine
Driving me round the bend, got the music blasting just to drown the cowing squeaks out!!!

Looks nice mate, how do you find it vs the 9k? Bird poo's annoying as hell though after cleaning it, I think a Teradactyl took a dump on mine this week

[cesarbarbosa]

Grab a bottle of windows cleaner and start to spray one bush at a time until you find the culprite...
Unless it's the shocks or it's bushes..

[75nut]

Compared to the 9000 Grif, well the 900 is lower, but then its not turbo and no where near as comfortable!

Not got round to the squeak but it threw its toy out on Friday and the door lock went on passenger side and then the drivers window would not go down!

So I got the door card off the passenger side and lucky I just need to use a screwdriver to flick a lever back and its fine now.

Decided to have a go at the window switch panel (if I broke it I could get another eh?!) as I was sure it was simply down to this not the window itself.

So popped the panel out and using 6 or 7 very thin headed flat head screw drivers prised of the lower section -



The pins here looked ok so prised the next section off using the same manner -



It was the front drivers window not working as well as sporadic failure of rears, spotted the issue right away, look at the contacts!



BTW as predicted the rocker springs for the switches did jump out all over the floor so make sur eif you are doing this is somewhere you can catch the bits!

So WD40 small wire brush and 600 grit sandpaper and 5 mins later -



But the rocker strips for the switches where also manky as hell so again wire brush and WD40 and sandpaper





All back together ready to plug in for the moment of truth!



And it worked!!!! All windows up and down with no hesitation and not hard pressing of the switches!

Well happy with that, a totally free fix and massively satisfying!

So with that under my belt I thought I would have a second go at the hood. If you remember I tried Autoglym hood cleaner and it really did nothing at all! So I was suggested Mildew and Mold remover spray.

So before -



I rinsed with really hot water with the idea it would like the mildew better then sprayed the Detox Mildew cleaner on and left for 5 mins.
Then used a scrubbing brush in multiple directions and rinsed with a hose unitl the was not more foam coming out.

Results






Not completely gone but 100 times better and way more effective than the Autoglym that costs 3 times as much!



I have the Revo (whatever it is called) recolour pack to do now and I reckon it will be mint, but the Detox also as you can see made th ehood alot blacker anyway and the improvement is incredible!

Not I just need to sort that squeak....... third times a charm???

[75nut]

Well I added the Renovo yesterday and it certainly did the job -





Happy with that!

[75nut]

So as I said Alfa progress was held back by my Saab failing MOT, but only on a handbrake cable and one brake flexi.

So ordered the bits and set to, so as to get done within 10 days and save a fee again. Next actually done MOT work myself and got a car through so it was something I was keen to do myself with my new found mechanical confidence lol!

That was until I read my Haynes manual and found out the handbrake cables run under the rear seat and the interior needs to be removed!!! Only bolts eh lol!

Brake flexi first as its nice and simple, this one failed as when under pressure it bulged.

Luckily no seized threads and a little fluid came out bleeding only took a few seconds, job done in 20 mins




So handbrake cables!

Seat out



£1.70 and a Toy car up straight away lol!

Consol out



Other seat up and carpet up



Disconnect from handbrake




Disconnect from wheel end and pull through grommet in floor from inside the cockpit

Slide new ones back through under seats and out through grommet (did both as seem stupid not too) and reattach to handbrake




I only lightly adjusted at this point as it was getting dark and I had the cables in and out 3 times as I though I had put the longe rone on the wrong side , as one is longer than other. Then I realised that the handbrake arm on the passenger claiper was not fully returning on the spring, it was only moving quater of an inch compared to the drivers side.

So after a douse in WD40a dn a few hits from a soft mallet it was fully returning.

So I don't think the handbrake cables where at fault in first place, just the caliper!!

Oh well.

Took the oportunity to give it a good clean while everything was out. It all got a good wash and the sill panels got a coat of gloss paint as they where tattly







She has gone back in for retest today which the garage asked to adjust the handbrake for me.

So fingers crossed!

[75nut]

Sold to a lovely guy in Sweden (we must be cheaper than the rest of europe as all my cars have gone abroad recently) so I'm Saab -less but I'm sur eis another 900 turns up locally cheap in need of love the itch will strike again