Luca
is meh.
Looks very clean for the km it has done 
My 1999 Saab 93 2.0t
- Thread starter Kip_6666
- Start date
Kip_6666
I Bought This Title :o
Stage 1 turbo kit upgrade saab 9-3 tronic 5 BPC
Stage 1 turbo kit upgrade saab 9-3 tronic 5 BPC
As I've mentioned previously I've bought a stage 1 turbo upgrade kit.
This consists of a special valve to control the boost pressure. The faster "turbo" (as in model name) version of my car has this stock. Fun detail to know, the Turbo version of this car has the exact same engine and other components except for this valve and different ECU software settings.
The valve (boost control valve, APC solenoid) :
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/t5apc.jpg
The other part of the upgrade is a new ECU, to drive the valve and tweaked boost/fuel injection and other performance settings.
It's a do-it-yourself kit, only two components..
But, it was very difficult to do. In particular the hoses. Without the valve (my model) there is one hose going from the turbo housing to the waste-gate. This give the turbo base boost. You have to remove the old hose... sounds easy enough right?
Well it wasn't, they had these metal clips around them. They were so stiff that you can't open them with your fingers, so you have to use some pliers. But, there isn't that much space, so you have to use small pliers. Which I didn't have, joy!
The one on the waste-gate was ok, you can access this from the top. Still very fiddly finger killing work + not much space.
Ok, the compressor housing one next, you can't even see where it goes looking from the top. The tube just vanishes into the depths of the engine bay. First I just tried pulling on the hose from the top, and it broke
So I decide to go under the car to try and reach it. But the car is too low. I can't get under it. I tried doing it blindly by feeling around.. but it's pretty hard to reach under the car too. I didn't get further than this after two days (a few hours after work each day, and had to stop when it was raining).
Next day, I called my brother over, to ask if he had any ideas, or if he could fit under the car. He couldn't, but he had the bright idea of driving on the sidewalk with one wheel to lift the car. And that gave us enough space to get under it.
This is the view under a 9-3, not my pic. The yellow arrow to the right is where the hose has to be removed and a new one added;
Not my pics.
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/20051010i.Turbo_hoses.jpg
red arrow here
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/evilthing.jpg
It's pretty small, and there is just enough space to just get one hand to it. And a very difficult angle to apply force with.
But after another 30 minutes we got it off.
New hoses were a lot easier. One for the waste-gate, one for the compressor housing and the last one to from the air-in-take pipe. These all then go to the new boost control valve. I'd don't like the colour of the hoses, flashy blue. And also I ran short, so i had to buy a fuel hose which you see on the waste-gate.
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/BPC_hoses.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/APC_solenoid_BPC.jpg
So that part was finished.
Next.. the ecu.
This in under the dash in the passenger foot-well. Just remove a screw and some carpet and you're there. A few minutes work. It's fastened by one torx screw which one of my flat screwdrivers could undo
At the bottom you see a big plug, undo this and put in the new ECU.
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/ecu.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/ecu2.jpg
Ok, and that is it!
Then i started the car.. I heard the alternator turn, but the engine wouldn't start. What? Did i break something? Had i forgotten something?
I rechecked all the hoses and the BPC but I still had the same problem.
Then I put in my stock ECU again.. it started in one go. Strange.
I called the guy who supplied my the ECU.
I explained the situation and he said the codes didn't match the old ECU. Apparently the ECU is matched to the board computer which then checks to see if it has been messed with. I sent in my old ECU codes before receiving the new ECU, but somewhere a mistake was made. Or the codes inside the old ECU were different to the ones on the sticker.
Oh well, I wanted it fixed quickly so I plugged in the old ECU and drove to the guy. He was very friendly and all, he reprogrammed the board computer and it then worked in one go.
The drive home was awesome. The car just doesn't stop pulling.
The supplier said it was going to be pushing 220-230-ish Hp now, not bad for 435 euros. Quite an improvement from the 154 HP.
I'm very happy.
Well i was, until since a few days ago i was starting to hear a weird buzzing sound coming from the right side of my car. The tone or frequency wasn't changing depending on how fast i was going. I had my brother help me out to try and locate it.. and it's the new ECU
Very irritating, i seem to be having a bit of bad luck with ECU's. I'll probably have to trade it again.
tl;dr version
Lots of work (with bad tools), + 425 euros = +70-ish HP = woo.
Stage 1 turbo kit upgrade saab 9-3 tronic 5 BPC
As I've mentioned previously I've bought a stage 1 turbo upgrade kit.
This consists of a special valve to control the boost pressure. The faster "turbo" (as in model name) version of my car has this stock. Fun detail to know, the Turbo version of this car has the exact same engine and other components except for this valve and different ECU software settings.
The valve (boost control valve, APC solenoid) :
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/t5apc.jpg
The other part of the upgrade is a new ECU, to drive the valve and tweaked boost/fuel injection and other performance settings.
It's a do-it-yourself kit, only two components..
But, it was very difficult to do. In particular the hoses. Without the valve (my model) there is one hose going from the turbo housing to the waste-gate. This give the turbo base boost. You have to remove the old hose... sounds easy enough right?
Well it wasn't, they had these metal clips around them. They were so stiff that you can't open them with your fingers, so you have to use some pliers. But, there isn't that much space, so you have to use small pliers. Which I didn't have, joy!
The one on the waste-gate was ok, you can access this from the top. Still very fiddly finger killing work + not much space.
Ok, the compressor housing one next, you can't even see where it goes looking from the top. The tube just vanishes into the depths of the engine bay. First I just tried pulling on the hose from the top, and it broke
So I decide to go under the car to try and reach it. But the car is too low. I can't get under it. I tried doing it blindly by feeling around.. but it's pretty hard to reach under the car too. I didn't get further than this after two days (a few hours after work each day, and had to stop when it was raining).
Next day, I called my brother over, to ask if he had any ideas, or if he could fit under the car. He couldn't, but he had the bright idea of driving on the sidewalk with one wheel to lift the car. And that gave us enough space to get under it.
This is the view under a 9-3, not my pic. The yellow arrow to the right is where the hose has to be removed and a new one added;
Not my pics.
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/20051010i.Turbo_hoses.jpg
red arrow here
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/evilthing.jpg
It's pretty small, and there is just enough space to just get one hand to it. And a very difficult angle to apply force with.
But after another 30 minutes we got it off.
New hoses were a lot easier. One for the waste-gate, one for the compressor housing and the last one to from the air-in-take pipe. These all then go to the new boost control valve. I'd don't like the colour of the hoses, flashy blue. And also I ran short, so i had to buy a fuel hose which you see on the waste-gate.
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/BPC_hoses.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/APC_solenoid_BPC.jpg
So that part was finished.
Next.. the ecu.
This in under the dash in the passenger foot-well. Just remove a screw and some carpet and you're there. A few minutes work. It's fastened by one torx screw which one of my flat screwdrivers could undo
At the bottom you see a big plug, undo this and put in the new ECU.
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/ecu.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/05/01/ecu2.jpg
Ok, and that is it!
Then i started the car.. I heard the alternator turn, but the engine wouldn't start. What? Did i break something? Had i forgotten something?
I rechecked all the hoses and the BPC but I still had the same problem.
Then I put in my stock ECU again.. it started in one go. Strange.
I called the guy who supplied my the ECU.
I explained the situation and he said the codes didn't match the old ECU. Apparently the ECU is matched to the board computer which then checks to see if it has been messed with. I sent in my old ECU codes before receiving the new ECU, but somewhere a mistake was made. Or the codes inside the old ECU were different to the ones on the sticker.
Oh well, I wanted it fixed quickly so I plugged in the old ECU and drove to the guy. He was very friendly and all, he reprogrammed the board computer and it then worked in one go.
The drive home was awesome. The car just doesn't stop pulling.
The supplier said it was going to be pushing 220-230-ish Hp now, not bad for 435 euros. Quite an improvement from the 154 HP.
I'm very happy.
Well i was, until since a few days ago i was starting to hear a weird buzzing sound coming from the right side of my car. The tone or frequency wasn't changing depending on how fast i was going. I had my brother help me out to try and locate it.. and it's the new ECU
Very irritating, i seem to be having a bit of bad luck with ECU's. I'll probably have to trade it again.
tl;dr version
Lots of work (with bad tools), + 425 euros = +70-ish HP = woo.
Last edited:
IceBone
Blue Wheel Hipster
Damn it, i need a turbo for my car...
Jay
the fool on the hill
IceBone
Blue Wheel Hipster
With my financing, i'd rather get an 8th gen Galant VR4. There's one for sale in Germany for 7700 euro, but it's an estate.
Ianspeed
Well-Known Member
Sweeeeeeet. Turbo power!
Does the boost gage hit the stop peg yet?
Does the boost gage hit the stop peg yet?
Kip_6666
I Bought This Title :o
The lpt version doesn't have a boost gage
I don't like the look of the separate after market versions, so I guess I won't be getting one.
I don't like the look of the separate after market versions, so I guess I won't be getting one.
watto
Unloved and lacking a title
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2005
- Messages
- 6,003
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
- Car(s)
- 2013 Holden Cruze SRi Series 2
With my financing, i'd rather get an 8th gen Galant VR4. There's one for sale in Germany for 7700 euro, but it's an estate.
Fast estates are awesome. I'd hit it.
IceBone
Blue Wheel Hipster
Fast saloon > fast estate. I neither want nor need a practical rocket.
Kip_6666
I Bought This Title :o
That weird buzzing sound was the boost control unit, which I also installed. It resonates quite a bit. I had attached it straight to the metal, and it then resulted in that weird sound running though the body to be heard in the cabin. I added loads of rubber rings and now it's almost gone... need to add more.
Ok, new stuff. This is tricky for me, for I don't really like stickers on cars. But a friend who's really good at these sent me some for free. And to be honest i like them.
So... yes or no? I want to use the bumper sticker and the moose with the saab text.
Ok, new stuff. This is tricky for me, for I don't really like stickers on cars. But a friend who's really good at these sent me some for free. And to be honest i like them.
So... yes or no? I want to use the bumper sticker and the moose with the saab text.
IceBone
Blue Wheel Hipster
Stickers or vinyls?
Kip_6666
I Bought This Title :o
IceBone
Blue Wheel Hipster
Pepsi, since the aspartam version doesn't taste as sweet as proper sugar version and quite a lot like the sugar coke.
Ben or Dover?
Ben or Dover?
Dsemaj
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 3, 2006
- Messages
- 2,955
- Location
- Adelaide, Australia.
- Car(s)
- 2003 Urabus Impreza WRX, 1997 Fraud Falcs EL Wagon
Me too. Even ignoring the practical side, they look awesome!
Kip_6666
I Bought This Title :o
Meh I'm doing it, the one with the Saab text just next to the SE badge on my left door. And the saab turbo one on the back left side of my bumper.
And a nice addition to this wagon thread:
Coolest wagon ever, the Audi RS4
And a nice addition to this wagon thread:
Coolest wagon ever, the Audi RS4
Last edited:
IceBone
Blue Wheel Hipster
Meh I'm doing it, the one with the Saab text just next to the SE badge on my left door. And the saab turbo one on the back left side of my bumper.
And a nice addition to this wagon thread:
Coolest wagon ever, the Audi RS6
That's an RS4...
Kip_6666
I Bought This Title :o
Kip_6666
I Bought This Title :o
Decided on a different spot.
public
Captain Slow Charging
Is your clutch pedal heavy to depress? I drove a 1997 900S 2.3 Talladega the other day, and the clutch felt really funny, as if there were something wrong with it; it was a lot heavier than in any car that age that I've driven. I was assured it's a Saab characteristic, but I wasn't very convinced. I've driven similar Saabs before, but they've been automatic...
The Talladega had 157,000 kms on the clock, very good spec and service history but it felt very tired, for some reason. I didn't find the engine very willing, either.
The bubbling paint on the doors finalised the feeling the car would need money spent everywhere in the near future.
I think the most telling thing about the Saab was that I preferred the 2000 Renault M?gane Classic I drove immediately after, and it was a 1.4-litre.
The Talladega had 157,000 kms on the clock, very good spec and service history but it felt very tired, for some reason. I didn't find the engine very willing, either.
The bubbling paint on the doors finalised the feeling the car would need money spent everywhere in the near future.
I think the most telling thing about the Saab was that I preferred the 2000 Renault M?gane Classic I drove immediately after, and it was a 1.4-litre.