My other forum that I keep a log of things I've been doing to the car is shutting down soon...So I decided to bring it here, my first Fore-Arm.

Since I sold my 2000 Nissan Maxima in 2009. I had a 1991 S10 pickup, 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP Comp G, and 2001 Saab 9-5. There are the 2006 Ford Ranger and then 2007 Ford F150 5.4 that I ended up getting after I bought a house for hauling but that about sums up everything I've owned since 2009.

I picked up the 2004 Saab 9-5 Aero in September 2012 sight unseen, right after getting married.

It had 123k miles then and it now has 151k miles on it. If I could list all the things I have done to it...there would be no room left for pictures.

So lets start from the beginning.

First weekend after purchase:







First winter, it goes skiing


Swapped in a nice OG900 gearknob


Little to no rust


Spring 2013




My old Grand Prix


First Stereo Pioneer F700BT


Summer 2013


Vanity Plates and cat back exhaust


Fall 2013 Lowered the car I think around this time

 

Black roof wrap - 1st wrap in gloss



Winter 2013
Attachment 11558
Attachment 11559

Added a rear window spoiler
Attachment 11560

Spring 2014 I buy a house


Attachment 11565

Polishing in the new garage



I buy a **** ton of parts and put them in
Attachment 11570


I have some rust repair work done

 

I do some meets





Stereo #2 DDX372






I polish the car 2015




Custom wheel


I get some Enkei RPF1's and make a custom wood roof rack over winter 2015/16




I decide to rebuild the rear suspension from the ground up and rust proof some more






Saabs at Carlisle 2016

 

Summer 2016




I added a sub


Wrapped the A-pillars



Bought a parts car...I ended up having 3 at one point during the winter of 2016/2017


Bought a BRAND NEW F35 transmission with a 4.45 final drive (not in yet)


I keep it clean even in winter


My brake booster and master cylinder fail





Swap seat brackets because in 02, they cut costs and they fail...so I bought an 01 seat bracket and fix things


Random Engine


Stereo #3 Pioneer X3800bhs



Some more changes early spring 2017

 

My daughter was born in November 2016



I skipped over a lot of things, there are tons of little things I have done that I can't even remember but this a majority of it and there is a lot more to come.

That 4.45 brand new transmission is getting put inside a proper case that will fit my car and a Quiafe LSD added with a Spec 3 clutch

I just recently installed a short throw shifter, hand filing fun




I also got some very nice custom leather goods from Redline goods to go with it




Ultimate Pedals sent me some stuff to install too (I finished this, boy was that not fun)


And then I wrapped my headliner


But the most important bit that I am working on is this


This will receive some forged pistons, a nice cleanup, some mild headwork and a bigger turbo.

The car is also being vinyl wrapped in Arlon's Blue Pearl Gloss wrap and I have a Brembo BBK to install now as well as some custom made coilovers by CEIKA to put in sometime soon. But that brings this project up to speed.

 

Nice Saab

 

so whats the deal on saab parts.... are they becoming more rare over time ?

 

Damn it's come a looooong way.

 

 

Nah Orio AB bought out the Saab Parts division, so parts a plenty. But also there is a list of parts with part numbers cross referenced to the original manufacturer and you can get the parts from them too.

I also bought like 3 parts cars and have a stash of goodies now.

Hell I have another engine under a tarp in the driveway.

 

I'm thinking about selling the RPF1s and getting Varrsteon ES1s and going back to the original look. I think it will look good with the blue pearl.

 

Here is a better picture of the car, that does the wheel color choice a little more justice. The Atomic black color is a mix of gold/bronze/black.


I did the Leatherique treatment to my seats



Finished the Ultimate pedal install


Two Trannies


Towing parts cars with my truck



A random engine in the garage LOL It has ended up being free


The wife mobile that I modded anyways

 

what did u mod to the wife car??

nice man ! looks like ur garage and stable is sweet!

 

Thanks man, 20x24 with 7.5 foot ceilings (no lifts for me), but I'm growing my tool collection every week.

Lets see, I added the OEM accessories like the silver roof rails, hood deflector, door sill plates, rear bumper guard plate (top of the bumper) and then some little accent touches they did in certain years where they replace the nice aluminum with black piano plastic or regular plastic. I vinyl wrapped her roof in Avery's Milky Way Gloss (I'll be doing the Saab's roof in the same), I also vinyl wrapped her front bumper bar in Satin black. JNC bronze wheels, rally armor mudflaps and I tinted her windows. I wanted to lower it and I still may, it looks like a Lancer wagon then from the few people who have done it. I'm lowering the F150....

 

...currently rebuilding my garage, cant wait... props.
...Avery's Milky Way Gloss ... studying now... =)
...and i r u gonna do a realistic practical lowering i take it? i like lowered trucks but most lower beyond practicality. post pics !! love your projectors on that too.

 

Just the belltech 2/4 drop 2" front and 4" rear. I have a 4x4 so I have front axles to be aware of, the 3/5 drop is available but many guys complained of front axle issues with 3" drop. Nothing huge, I want to get the 6 spoke gunmetal 20" wheels for it.

 

Wait saablink is shutting down? Oh noes! *the only thing he got out of this*

 

Damn dude you barely drive that saab. None the less it looks great

 

Finally, some info on this thing! Now I want to know WTF you did to that Pontiac...

 

I haven't updated in a while because I've been working on landscaping around the house and I'll be headed out on vacation in July and August. When I get back in August, I'll get to fitting in the new headliner, wrapping the car in vinyl, steering wheel swap, and a couple of other things.

 

Way too much stuff, more than any normal person should do to a Grand Prix. And it was still wicked slow and stupid low. I honestly don't miss the thing. I miss the Maxima more than the Grand Prix, but none the less I still had a good time and learned alot.

 

Just a picture from this weekend.



Coming up in August and through the winter:
-Coilovers
-New steering wheel
-Adjustable Rear lateral arms
-Brembo BBK
-Vinyl wrap ice blue pearl
-Plaid headliner install
-Rear wheel bearings
-Projector retrofit headlights

I start the tear down and build of the new motor and trans this winter, so far the specs
-Stock block cleaned and powder coated
-Balance shaft delete
-Forged Pistons
-ACL racing bearings
-ARP main studs
-Balanced assembly
-Ported Intake Mani
-Lightly ported head, with new springs and seals
-Tubular Manifold
-TD04-20T
-660CC injectors
-Shaved and lightened flywheel (30lbs to 14lbs)
-Spec stage 3 clutch
-T5 Cams (2mm more lift and 2* more duration

Transmission:
-Brand new shot peen'd and cyro'd internals
-4.45 final drive (stock is 4.05)
-Quiafe LSD

This thing is gonna zip as the car weighs around 3400lbs now in full weight, I plan to shed a few pounds here and there. I have been removing things like headlight washers, xenon leveling system (that was ****ing 30lbs in sensors alone). Things I really don't need or want.

 

Damn, that thing should scoot when it's all said and done. Post lots of pics!

 

 

photobucket ruined this whole story, no pics to look at!! and i was thinking " sob story " when i saw this thread....

 

Yeah, Photobucket just made a lot of enemies. And very few are going to pay their bull**** ransom money. I'll take my money elsewhere, you heartless bastards. Sit and spin Photobucket!

 

its a lot of money for 3rd party hosting privalages ! its quite a hostage kinda price wow ! and annual at that !

for now Flickr has not jumped this wagon yet to anyone needing a home for hosting pics

 

I may fix it all when I get time.

In other news, I am steam cleaning cylinders 3 & 4 because my head gasket is leaking. No big deal, I'm going to do it this winter with a ton of little mods. When I have everything gathered I will post an update. I'm still building the new motor and transmission on the side.

 

That's a new one for me. Steam cleaning cylinders? Please elaborate!

 

The tops of cylinder 3 & 4 are clean of carbon LOL. Coolant is leaking in so slowly and such small amounts that its cleaning the carbon building off.

Its like how seafoam works.

My dad says I am nuts for even noticing the half gallon of coolant burned since October of 2016

 

My photos appear to be working......but only on this forum...strange.

 

Don't worry, y'all .. Dave will sell this car as soon as his engine rebuild is done. That is if my gauge of his past projects are correct.

He'll eventually get his hands on a Saab 900 Turbo and this will start all over again.

 

i dk... hes had this current one for... 4 plus years IIRC, and has been modding it to his fine tastes...

time will tell =) not a bad idea i guess, sell it whiles its hot.

 

Tore down the spare motor.

 

This happened too...it wasn't cold that morning.

 

So I sent the oil off for analysis.



Been limping it along since October when I noticed the coolant disappearing. It hasn't totally died, still pulls like a champ. I plan to pull this motor, put the new one in, then refresh this motor with new bearings, head gasket and timing chain and throw it in a 9-5 Wagon that I am hunting for now. Rally wagon.

 

Got to keep the cars clean

 

So anyways, shopping for motor parts has begun.

Coming in the mail now as we speak:
-ACL Bearings
-Wossner Forged pistons
-TD04-20T
Spec Stage 3 clutch
-Tubular exhaust Manifold
-ARP head studs
-New water pump
-New crank dampener


Still a bunch more to get

Head and block will be dropped off in the coming weeks for cleaning, deck, hone. I'll be doing the engine assembly. I will be dropping off the transmission for a rebuild with the new 4.45 final drive. Should be fun. I plan to start the engine swap come May 2018.

In the mean time I will be parking the car for the winter while I do some other upgrades. I have coilovers, adjustable sway bar end links, adjustable rear lateral arms, solid subframe bushings, big brake kit. I also have some goodies for the interior, I'm working on replacing all the speakers with a better option, I have a custom dash with gauge pods integrated, a custom headliner and probably going with the new Sony headunit with android auto.

Lots of work...going to be fun.

 

nice man !!

 

Updates

I've been parts gathering, so some goodies first:
Adjustable FSB endlinks


315mm rotors


Tubular Manifold and TD04-20T with billet wheel



Just a bunch of parts


Shiney bits



Clutch



I have parts everywhere. Storage shelves above my car are full of parts as well.




I'm working on cleaning up parts and polishing some; right now I'm polishing the coolant logs to a mirror finish




I detailed a friends car, 2009 9-3 Aero XWD. I didn't get to do a paint correction as I ran out of time.