Saab 900

GClark

GClark

New member
Has anyone had any experience with the Saab 900 turbo 1984-1994? I'm considering one of these instead of a Subaru for rally-x because they can be found for cheap and their power can be upped pretty easily(simple chip = 50hp).

Their front wheel drive, parts are readily available, and not bad looking:

0sphillips900.jpg


Thaaaaaaanks for any insight.

 
I have years of experience with them.

Upped? Chipped? not really following you there. There aren't really any "chips" for the OG 900's.

What are you looking to do to it specifically?

 
900s are cool cars for rally or rallyx, really the last Saabs to have any motorsports/rally heritage.

getting hard to find good solid shells tho. if the wheel wells are rusty, run away.

a buddy here in Camden just finished building a gorgeous rally 900, an 84 I think. Maine will be its first event. google rallyho maybe you'll find some build pics etc

link to onboard vids of this car , shakedown at Team O day

http://vholdr.com/node/84978

 
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well first off the car comes from the factory with a skid plate that rivals anything available for subarus.

That APC unit is a complete ripoff. There are potentiometers inside the APC box that you adjust (I have the printout somewhere).

Suspension is going to be a rough one, there really isn't much around for them other than ordering custom springs.

and they are HEAVY. but other than that, awesome.

 
well first off the car comes from the factory with a skid plate that rivals anything available for subarus.
That APC unit is a complete ripoff. There are potentiometers inside the APC box that you adjust (I have the printout somewhere).

Suspension is going to be a rough one, there really isn't much around for them other than ordering custom springs.

and they are HEAVY. but other than that, awesome.
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Thanks Pedro! Are you talking about something like this for apc... http://www.900aero.com/ go to the DIY section, it's on the left side.

They look like really fun cars, I just called about this car, hopefully he'll get back soon. http://nh.craigslist.org/cto/1736750795.html

900s are cool cars for rally or rallyx, really the last Saabs to have any motorsports/rally heritage.
getting hard to find good solid shells tho. if the wheel wells are rusty, run away.

a buddy here in Camden just finished building a gorgeous rally 900, an 84 I think. Maine will be its first event. google rallyho maybe you'll find some build pics etc

link to onboard vids of this car , shakedown at Team O day

http://vholdr.com/node/84978
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Good to know about the wheel wells, and thanks for the video! Gives me some inspiration.

 
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:)
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:rules:but you know...it's kinda early to abandon Subies for rally/rallyx

Lots more up to date suby parts available vs saab, lots more know-how out there easily available, much easier to find decent starter cars. so yeh maybe a good GC ain't THAT cheap, but it's waaaay better straight out of the box than a beat up old Saab.
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my cousins ex had one of them, that same color. i thought it was pretty sexy. it had some good yank and handled well. and no offense to anybody, but i'd take the turbo saab for a grand before a 2.2 impreza for the same price

 
my cousins ex had one of them, that same color. i thought it was pretty sexy. it had some good yank and handled well. and no offense to anybody, but i'd take the turbo saab for a grand before a 2.2 impreza for the same price
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yes the Saab Turbo is a schweet car. However, even the most lowly 2.2 Impreza would eat it for lunch as a rallyX car....which, after all is what we're talking about here.

In the dirt, heavy 1 wheel drive car w/150 turbo hp gets eatened every time by light and agile 135 hp AWD. plus the Impreza is MUCH easier to drive fast in the dirt. Admittedly, on tarmac it'd be just the opposite.

 
I had a 88 C900T, Loved that car. took the apc box apart and turned the boost up, that was fun for about a month. Then i bought a borg warner turbo off a 6.5l chevy diesel pickup that had a T3 flange and bolted that on, made some bigger IC pipes, and made a 3" exhaust with a straight thru muffler....That woke it up a lot to say the least, lag untill about 3k then burnouts 1-2-3 gears lol Got it up to about 15psi before the clutch started to slip, then dialed it back to 14psi and ran it.... It sounded incredibly nasty, and would walk wrx's and beat STi's on the highway from a roll hahaha

I truely miss it, it was an awesome sleeper, but the rust killed it
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my friend has 2 of these for sa;e, one with a rusted subframe but excellent engine (1990) and another with a mint body and a blown engine(1986), both for 700!!

 
The blaab 900...

I worked at a quik lube when I was 19-20... they were new and racking up miles back then in early 90s...one of my favorite machines was the saab. (the 1980s subaru is by far the champ)

anyhow...

It was also one to rack up some miles sincerely as a bigger car... no mini mobile thrashing on the highway, they did something just right...acted much like the subes of course, the engine mountings were similar.

had a few regulars. I'd rally one...for an inline, they did conquer some really stupid things still happening today to the fairy evo types.. such as leaning the engine to spill the crud, non transverse ...boosted lasts longer this way.

via the internet, I did spot some that went all out with the turbo hack jobs.. they do indeed get quite powerful.As oem, they could just stay boosted seemingly forever...and that key ignition... it did stump me.
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OK guys who am I to intrude on anybody's car craziness. I owned a 1980 900 Turbo, his name was Ingemar and he was charcoal grey and ran 14 lbs of boost instead of the stock 7. Saab Motorsport springs, Konis, Pirelli 205/55-16s on Minilites. Water injection and dial a boost. If the water ran out, you could hear heinous detonation when the turbo spooled up....

guy who built it was a tech at Stetson Saab, the car had been his baby. However, for some reason the 14 lbs boost blew the head gasket. Repairs were $1700 (in 1984 $$ ) so I freaked out, parked the car for a while and eventually saved up the $$ and fisked it.

this car was so stupid fast. only got one ticket with it, but deserved several more, it was Max Hoonage on SO many occasions. {{{angel smiley goes heere}}}

 
I had two SPG's while I was in high school. These were fast and easy to work on, the same things I love about a Subaru. They were a tank in the snow too. Once GM bought them, it went downhill.

 
You got HOSED on that repair bill.

The last one I did in ~2000 was about $600. and it is a very simple HG to replace compared with the subarus.

 
My AIM s/n is still 91saab900, as my parents - in their search for the heaviest, slowest, non-hoonable rig out there - put one under my arse as my first car. N/A, auto trans, and it was the four-door sedan version (as in no hatchback.) It was white, and I adored it.

I would hate to rally-x one, though.

 
You got HOSED on that repair bill.
The last one I did in ~2000 was about $600. and it is a very simple HG to replace compared with the subarus.
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well, it was (ahem) more than just the HG work, it was also cleaning up some overheating issues. new radiator, machine work on a very warped head, etc etc.

plus I was paying retail+ for the work in South Carolina where hot Saab Turbos were seen as weird rich guys' cars, so they priced the job accordingly.

 
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