Ownership Verified: My Topless Swedish Model

With just a chip you can bring that thing up to 221hp. And a gain of 104 Nm.
 
Yeah the suspension comes AFTER the three main strengthening mods; steering rack brace, subframe brace and rear anti-roll bar doubling up. :p

Adrian...maybe later...
 
Check out the available improvement bushing kits from Abbott Racing.
 
Updated avatar is updated.

And awesome!
 
Public: Yeah the poly bushes are another thing but maybe later as that would add up. The 3 braces are almost a necessity (in my eyes) and come to around ?250 straight out, and I don't have masses of money lying around. :S

Once I start earning this project will really be able to take off. :p
 
Once you get the springs, I really recommend Vogtland. They're not as hard as Eibach, so you won't shatter your spine, but they're harder than most OEM ones.
 
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Speedtouch said:
I'm with HighVoltage on this one. Sure some of them may be tweaked for track use but that's not the Civic Si of the Saab world...
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Must be a regional thing. I was looking at Viggens for a while and so many of them around here are slammed, have high miles with deferred maintenance, 18" wheels, etc.
 
Listen to public. Do the bushings first.

A of times the chassis braces don't do a whole lot if you still have stock suspension and sways (anti-roll bars). Plus, if I am not mistaken, the car already has more chassis bracing than the hatchback version.

Do bushings and swaybars. Swaybars are expensive but they are worth it.
 
I'll look through and if any bushes are worn then I'll replace with poly ones, but I'll leave a complete overhaul until I'm earning. The braces are easy to mount and still need to be done. Not sure but are swaybars the same as anti-roll bars? I'll be doing the piggy back ARB mod since its cheap.

Also looked through the history and found a complete gearbox rebuild at a cost of ?1300 in 2009 :mrgreen:
I've got history from the previous owner back to about 2008, unfortunately, and nothing before that other than the service book which has been regularly filled out. One of the service 'notes' in the book in 2008 at 75k miles states 'New Turbo Fitted' so I think I might call round the garages and see if they'll tell me anything about what they've done to the car other than normal services.
Other receipts state new NS Track Rod ends and all new breather hoses in 2011, front OS anti-roll bar link (2010), two new front NS wheel bearings (both 2009 in Feb and Dec) and new front brake discs/pads in 2009.

The only other concern is the most recent receipt from 2011 is a checkup on a 'customer concern' - "Report excessive play/lift in both drive shafts indicatoring possible wear in differential side bearings". Only cost him ?35 to have it checked out so clearly no work was done, but I don't know how much that would cost to fix. Strangely its not an advisory on the most recent MOT (after that receipt).

Doing an MOT history check shows its all fine apart from 2011's MOT with advisories of small chips on windscreen, tyre wear, insecure gear nob (it spins round but doesn't lift off :p) and 'oil leak' (very helpful). But 2012's MOT only had one advisory; Front exhaust noisy. Go back to 2009 and a service receipt has 'Advise: Exhaust manifold gasket is blowing' written on it - so maybe that's been an 'issue' since 2009 but none of the other MOTs cared...? This confuses me :p
 
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Swaybars are the same as anti-rollbars.
 
Speedtouch said:
Would be awesome if I've inadvertently bought the high pressure turbo model.
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WTF? What a purchase strategy. :lol:

Anyways, congratulations, Sir! - Not sure what to say abouth that piece of cloth instead of the solid lump of steel most other cars have, but that aside this surely is a step up from the Kangoo.
 
^ :lol: Wasn't a purchase strategy, it just isn't the easiest of things to find out without checking the VIN (which I didn't know which bit meant the tune before). Considering I looked at a good few on the internet I put a load of different numberplates into insurance comparison sites to get an idea of costs. Ignoring the fact that mechanically identical cars provide different quotes the 'car details' tended to be different for each car as well (on the same website). Some would be listed as LPT, some wouldn't, some wouldn't even say Turbo at all... And despite the technically correct labeling of 2.0t and 2.0T to separate the LPT and HPT ones, that also varied from car to car even on the insurance website. This specific car is listed on the insurance site as "2000X Saab 9-3 Se Turbo Convertible, 1985CC Petrol, 2DR, Manual". Not exactly a help.

But anyway it isn't a HPT and I'm not bothered. Indeed the cloth instead of steel is an issue but its not something some bracing won't help. I just dislike that its only a major problem in the RHD cars... :(
 
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Here in Switzerland every car must have the current and precise Kw figure in the vehicle document. I'm so used to this, hence I'm always a bit perplexed when browsing trough the "Post your car" threads on FG in relation to BHP claims/guesses/shouldershrugs.
 
Can't remember if its the same here but I'm still waiting on the Saab's registration document in my name, and I can't find either of my parents' cars'. :)
 
So when will we get video of FG members throwing frisbees into a convertible saab?
 
Yeah I have used that method - and it is the 150hp model. I was saying I don't know if the hp is listed on the registration documents, and I didn't know that VIN method while I was looking at the car.
 
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