Saab GB goes into administration

Paco

Paco

New Member
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490
Parts are easy, the biggest shame about the old 9-5 is the lack of refinement, it's a 2.3 ltre four pot that can trace its history back to the seventies, and the noise suppression from the road also is pretty poor by modern standards, but the driving experience is great fun, and that's what it'all about isn't it? My S4 Audi was better built, but less fun.

Mine is an 05 but has 136,000 miles on it, so I think fresh dampers and bushes would help the ride refinement a bit, the roads around here are so bad though I'm not so sure!

I got addicted to laggy turbos with early Mitsubishi's, Saabs and the like, probably why the 3200 GT floated my boat so much!!!
 
M

Mr.Cambio

Member
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7,096
Paco, i have semi-automatic gearbox, resulting huge difference in turbo lag.Mine is 2003 with 341000 kms. Be careful with Powerflex biushes, they aren't all good performing!If you wish, pm me to give you instructions. Abbott Racing from Essex has made all the tuning to my baby, bringing it to 320hp and 420 Mn of torque. Boxters are for breakfast!
 
Paco

Paco

New Member
Messages
490
Well Abbott racing know a thing or two about making Saabs row along a bit better! But I supect Nikos' bills for the work add up to more than I paid for my car - Good man!!

I need mine rolling roaded before investing much in it, I have an intermittent problem with boost which is puzzling me and my Saab tech's because it is always fine when they drive it! Think it needs putting on the rollers to see a) how much power it has and b) if we can replicate the problem.
 
conaero

conaero

Forum Owner
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34,692
Paco, I have a mate who used Abbott's on his 900T he had, speaks very highly of them, sound like a quality outfit.
 
M

Mr.Cambio

Member
Messages
7,096
What Abbott does, as long as some serious tuners, is that ALL their products are plug and play.This means, you buy them from the UK, and they are installed EXACTLY in the same position as the OEM stuff:I have hybrid turbo, intercooler, downpipe and more seriously, sport camshafts. All are plug and play, and even the cams did not make the engine tremble, as other cams on the market would do. They're very experienced, and in practice, mine was 185 hp, now it's 320, and as i opened the engine last year for a rebuilt, anything was clear, with the minimum wear inside, for a 285000km engine.
They're expensive, but quality products.
And yes, Paco, i've paid very much for tuning, but i know, my car is a mean i spend 14hrs per day, due to my business. If this "mean" was not so fun to drive, i wouldn't go to work!!
Dem, as any turbo, if you bring the 1st gear at red, or if you don't let it calm down before switching off, then you have trouble. I had my 1st turbo until the rebuild of the engine(285000km), with no damage or smoke. If you take care, they last. About feeling, the middle range of any saab, in third gear, is just killing.
Paco, check the DI cassette first. Many problems begin from this! For any help, you can contact me!
 
Paco

Paco

New Member
Messages
490
I tweaked my own C900 up to 225 bhp, it isnt difficult on those - it had 195k on the clock when I sold it the second time!! Decent springs and shocks and they handled remarkably well, I used to annoy a 205 Gti 1.9 with it quite a lot, which suprised all concerned!!

The 9-5 handles ok for an estate car with 250+ bhp going through the front wheels, could do with an LSD at times. I've never driven one with much less than 100k on the clock though, so fresh suspension probably makes a good difference. The estate is quite a long car so nice and stable at speed, but liable to be a bit pitchy in the twisty bits. It was never going to be an Impreza so I just enjoying boosting out of the bends!
 
Paco

Paco

New Member
Messages
490
Oh yes as Nikos says, any tweaked Saab can chew up a gearbox if you abuse 1st and 2nd!!

Nikos - I spent the summer driving around with a spare new DI swapping it in and out, we've been through all the vacuum hoses too, I have a very knowledgable specialist nearby, I wondered if it was cheap supermarket petrol but I've been on the good Shell stuff since getting back from Spain and still get some hesitation. Going to swap the DI again this weekend and see how it goes!
 
M

Mr.Cambio

Member
Messages
7,096
If you use 100 octane racing from shell, and give the car the chance to work above 4000 rpm for one trip, maybe the turbo loss disappears...Turbos are like humans:if you don't train them, you get nothing out of them!
 
Paco

Paco

New Member
Messages
490
Had a good run out today and no problems at all, fresh tank of Shell hi octane and lots of boost use, many cheeky tailgaters dispatched on the motorway home ;o)
Dem I bought a 99 9-5 SE estate for that very purpose, £1500 so a bit on the pricey side ;o), ran it a year and 12000 miles, sold it friends for the same and they think it's the best thing since sliced bread, it often has five dogs, four kids and one driver in it, and still outdrags most things around here!!
 
Paco

Paco

New Member
Messages
490
Ha ha!!, I can tell you have the paddle shift, you managed to take a picture while changing up in to 5th!!!!
 
M

Mr.Cambio

Member
Messages
7,096
As far as i remember, the 5th was engaged at 210kms...Paddleshift is nice, it's slow, but i got used to it! On Sunday i'm going on a day-trip with my friends.I'll take the Saab,not the Maser and cann't wait.It will be a big change for me to push it hard and enjoy driving, cause the saab is used to bring me to work...
 
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