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The Tale of The Knocker, the Stocker and the rusty Shocker...Thought I would introduce myself and my cars to all of you lovely people. I seem to have developed the habit of being given Saab 99s for free. The first 99 I got given was donated by a mate I went to uni with. We were sharing the rent on a garage, but he graduated before I did and was stuck for something to do with his 99 which lay unfinished. When he mentioned he was going to break it, I said "nah don't do that, leave it with me and I'll see if I can finish it off" I've now had the car for 5 years, and it’s undergone some fairly hefty modifications since then, including a replacement engine, conversion to fuel injection, etc etc. The full build to date is over at www.saabcentral.comwww.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67864Its currently off the road, and waiting for me to find a garage to rent to keep it in so I can strip it for painting. Its shabby demeanour and outright refusal to depress the cam followers quietly has earned it the nickname of “the knocker”  In 2008 I helped my mate Chris restore a 1967 Wolseley 18/85, which required a lot of welding and a full respray. When I mentioned that I wanted another car to run around in while I tackled the paint on the blue 99, Chris promptly donated me his cherry red 99 GL. Unfortunately Chris’s car had been sat unused since the Wolseley made its return to the road, and father time had not been kind to it. It is currently sat with holes in the sills, boot and floorpans, and due to the fact that Saab 99s seem to be worth the square root of naff all even when in fine fettle, its return to the road looks unlikely. The sad tale of the Red 99 - now known as "the shocker" www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55968 By this stage I had earned myself a reputation as “the guy who likes weird old Saabs”, which led to my friendly local Saab specialist - Tom hagstrom - phoning me to tell me of yet another Saab 99 I could have for free. All I had to do was collect it from a chap in North Yorkshire. The fellow had unfortunately fallen ill and was unable to drive, and his 99 was sat on land that people rather selfishly wanted to build stuff on. He was therefore offering the Saab on the easy terms of No money down and zero monthly payments on the grounds that it went to someone who would treat her right. With the help of a work colleague we “towed” the car back to Chris’s and a few replacement bulbs and a handbrake adjustment later the car was MOT’d and ready to roll. The escapade and recomission is recounted in full over on www.uksaabs.co.ukwww.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=63453Mint condition and only 56,000 miles on the clock, “The Stocker” completes the trio 
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stefan
Posted a lot
If it isn't broken fix it till it is
Posts: 1,598
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Couple of nice car you have, I do love a saab 99 myself and may have one one day, especially if its free
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POWER IS EVERYTHING WITHOUT CONTROL
1985 Honda jazz
1997 Saab 93 convertible
2010 transit 280
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Welcome, good story telling and cool user name.
Oh, and I do like your cars.
These 99's seem to have a nice blend of old, weird and new. Perfect Retro Motoring.
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Nice trio.
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194? Willys Jeep MB 1965 Volvo 544 Special 1968 Opel Rekord 1975 Opel Kadett Estate 1985 Mercedes-Benz 230E 1985 Datsun 720 King Cab 4x4 diesel 1997 Volvo S70 2.5SE (ex. "Volvo544special65" - changed to more reader friendly username.  ) |
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Great cars the 99's. Unfortunately they are worthless in anything but perfect and totally restored condition. I have given some away...  |
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Jul 28, 2011 17:09:29 GMT
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Wow, Its been a while!....  ...and the trio is now down to an uno! Sadly the "Shocker" proved much too rusty to be sensibly worth saving - however rest assured we did recycle it thoroughly! The interior has gone to a mate with a mustard yellow 99 GL, and the shell, engine and box went to another mate who wanted to use the remaining bits of sound metal to restore his 99 Turbo. The "Stocker" too has moved on, but the tale there is far happier. Staying true to my word I offered first refusal to the chap who gave the car to me. He politely declined saying that he had already replaced it with a "modern". So I walloped it on Pistonheads and UKSaabs and got a cool £1150 for it. That's 9 months motoring for £1150 profit (okay a bit less if you factor in the new clutch and other bits and pieces, but still pretty cool right!?) The "Knocker" meanwhile has finally been sourced with some proper living quarters in the shape of a rented garage. At this point I must confess though that work on the Knocker has slowed to a trickle as I got seduced by a 20-year-old topless swedish model  ...  She's a 16v 900i fixer-upper which gave £700 for, and have already been customising with the early style 70s grille and bumpers, cross spoke alloys and red leather interior. There is some rust - I've already replaced both wheelarches on the Driver's side, and after only 2 months of ownership some nugget smashed into the back of her while parked in a layby, then p*ssed off before I could get his number plate  The police couldn't trace the offending W-Anchor, so I had to shell out the money to have her pulled from my own pocket. Luckily I know a guy who knows a guy who pulled it straight with maximum talent for minimum cash. Cheers Mark, you're a top bloke!  |
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Jul 14, 2012 20:21:58 GMT
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Well, as my attempts to sell the swedish Land Yacht generated no interest, and the insurance renewal cost was only £152 this year, I have decided to hang onto the old truck and actually work towards getting it back on the road. It hasn't been driven in anger since my work posted me away to Canada back in Novemer last year, and there are (or were) a few things needing attention for the ticket. Rust hole near the rear suspension Headlamps not putting out enough light (chrome flaked off) Exhaust rotten Front seats not properly secured Passenger front seat belt broken first 3 are now sorted Bit of hasty welding  DSCF5897 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr remove headlamps  DSCF5878 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr paint bowls with VHT plate finish chrome paint  DSCF6035 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr reweld and paint tailpipe  DSCF6040 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr then send folding to Jetex in exhange for tasty new through-flow silencer  DSCF6041 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr Vroom, ready to enamour the 900 with a millionty horsepowers!  DSCF6037 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr |
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Jul 14, 2012 20:30:08 GMT
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I've been attempting a bit of remedial work in other non-MOT-able areas also... floor of the cabin is liberally smeared with smooth black hammerite  DSCF5875 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr and using sandable petrol tank sealer / filler to try and sort the windshield leaks. The original surround trim is long since gone, and the budget it far too tight (and the car far too crashed into) to warrant forking out for a replacement (which seems to be made of unobtainium anyway)  DSCF5903 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr Dolloping Bilt-Hamber Hydrate 80 in the gap to stop the onset of tinworm  DSCF5901 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr I've also been using brushable seam sealer as bumper filler in an attempt to repair the dented rubber bumper skin. So far it seems to be working quite well, it can be wet sanded smooth when cured, and can be painted over with Hycote vinyl and bumper black trim paint.  DSCF5891 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr As you can see, with a new rear light in place, the effects of the rear-end shunt are now almost unnoticeable. There is still a slight ripple over the rear wheel arch (as you can see in the reflection) but its shallow enough now that a skim of filler and a repaint should see it good. As there are currently church mice demostrating more personal wealth than I am, the plan for this car at the moment is to sort it using lateral thinking and ingenuity rather than cash wherever possible.... edit: oh and yes, that is a section cut from an old air matress filling the hole where the knackered and bodged (silicon sealered) rear window once sat. It is temporary I promise! |
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Jul 22, 2012 16:53:44 GMT
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Well its non-MOT-able, but I thought I would spend a bit of time starting to put the interior back together, just to give me a bit of mojo-boost so I feel like I am making progress. The smooth black hammerite on the floor has finally cured off (takes a suprsingly long time parked in an underground garage). So the next stage was to fit my take on some new undercarpet backing / sound deadening.  DSCF6050 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr Its the grass matt stuff sold in B&Q, which is supposed to stop well trodden grassy areas turning into muddy quagmires, whilst still allowing the grass to grow through the holes. My thinking was that, leaks in old Saab convertibles are kind of inevitable, and that this stuff would basically help stop moisture getting trapped under the carpet and allow it to run out of the drain holes or simply evaporate easier. Certainly better than the rubber backed sponge that Saab fitted from the factory at any rate - its like they wanted to the floors to rust out... So with that stuff cut to shape and laid down, I put my newly "reconditioned" carpets over the top and starting to reinstall the centre console etc. The "reconditioning" was achieved by taking the carpet to the Jet wash and hosing all the curse word out of it, vacuuming it once dry and then simply spraying it with a few cans of matt black paint. I did use some Autoglym Black Dye on it as well, but truth be told the regular matt black car paint gives better coverage.  DSCF6055 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr  DSCF6052 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr  DSCF6058 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr The photos haven't come out brilliantly as the car is parked underground where its not particularly bright, and my camera doesn't really like low light conditions  The carpet is a little more crispy that it was before, but its still fairly soft and pliable, and it looks a million times better than when it was a muddy soiled grey. The carpet itself was pretty well worn (it still didn't look brilliant after the jet wash and vac), so I don't feel the least bit bad about painting it, it will more than do until I can justify splashing out on a new carpet set. front seats will go back in once I manage to source a replacement one of these little blighters, which helps keep the chair anchored to the chassis rail  DSCF6045 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr In the meantime the plan was to try and fit my freshly repainted exhaust, but I made the hedonistic decision to have two beers with my sunday lunch and now I'm all slow and comfortable... |
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zap
Part of things
Great Western Saabs
Posts: 43
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Jul 22, 2012 18:08:37 GMT
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 Well played.
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Saab 9-3SS 2003 - indulgence
Saab 96 1972 Thirteen thousand miles - pleasure.
Great Western Saabs
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Jul 22, 2012 20:44:39 GMT
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just had a complete "blonde" moment... finally mustered the energy after sunday lunch to have a crack at fitting the exhaust. Think to myself, I know I'll bolt the silencer to the mid-pipe first as it'll be easier than trying to do it whilst under the car. Got all good and covered in exhaust paste and clamped up and... curse word, guess who forgot to slide the ring collar on to bolt it to the downpipe before bolting it all together? Numptey!!! Oh well, really can't be bothered to heft it all apart again now, job for one evening in the week methinks |
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steve900
Part of things
Idle & Shiftless
Posts: 85
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Jul 23, 2012 18:33:33 GMT
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Liking the under carpet / sound deadening solution! Just been pondering how I was going to replace mine!
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Saab 900
Saab 9000
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Jul 23, 2012 23:14:26 GMT
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Cheers Steve900, it was quite an inexpesive solution, about £30 for the matting from B&Q and just trim it to fit with normal scissors! Further updates, was knackered when I came in from work today, so decided to pick an "armchair speed" job to tackle so dug out this:  DSCF6061 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr to repair this:  DSCF6060 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr First step was to carefully trim off the "flaps" and loose bits for a reasonably circular repair, then use this...  DSCF6062 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr ...to fill the repair, gaffer tape was to used to keep the repair areas taught and flat while it dried  DSCF6063 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr The vinyl glue takes 24 hours to dry, so I've cheated a bit here with the photo sequence! Next step was to mix up the vinyl filler colour and spatula it onto the repair:  DSCF6075 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr Now the fun / tricky bit. Heat this little tool up on the hob (sorry for all the curry and bolognese stains!)...  DSCF6071 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr ... then lay the grain paper over the top and use the mini iron to cure the filler...  DSCF6072 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr Once its done, give it a quick wipe over with liquid leather scuffmaster colorado red leather dye (bought from Steve Lewis Saab spares)  DSCF6074 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr and complete. Chuffed with that I am!  DSCF6064 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr |
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Jul 29, 2012 23:15:26 GMT
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A bit more progress this weekend. Turned out that the seatbelt John very kindly sent was not quite the same one, the clip housing was identical but the metal bracket was different so it couldn't be bolted straight on. so my "fix" was to use a paint scraper to pry apart the plastic cover on the original housing, and then carefully do the same on the new one. I was then able to unclip the button and springs and fit them to the original it get it working again. Wet sanded and painted the faces of the "press" buttons on both seats with humbrol satin red number 174 to get them looking proper again. The Parent's are visiting next week (which is part of the reason not much progress has been made this weekend) so I've loosely hefted the seats back into the car to get them out of the way while I give the flat a tidy up so my parents don't think their son is an ape took a few photos of how the interior is coming together with the seats back in. As a recommendation for the "scuffmaster" leather dye stuff, look how much nicer the Driver's seat is having been cleaned and treated versus the passenger seat which is still to do.  DSCF6082 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr  DSCF6079 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr  DSCF6087 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr also, the repair to the driver's seat is pretty much invisible with the seat now reinstalled in the car  DSCF6084 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr I'm definitely finding its more encouraging working on the car now the interior is starting to look nice as it makes me want to get driving it again. Must have spent a good ten minutes just sat in the car this evening daydreaming about getting it on the road again, then remembered that I've got an oven and a fridge that need cleaning Need to turn my attention to the exterior next, I went over the car with a tyre pen and circled all the dings and dents that need addressing when the time comes, but it does mean the car currently looks a bit sorry for itself, especially with the rear bumper full of seam sealer...  DSCF6091 by VikingSpirit84, on Flickr |
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