Both the left front wing, left rear door and left rear quarter have been straightened as best they can. Now all the detail has been filled with a fiberglass compound and will be sanded and sanded smooth.
December 2, 2011
October 20, 2011
going a little more classic 99…
I visited a wrecking yard with a few late 60s, early 70s SAAB 99s .. back when the bumpers were chrome and lots of the trim was metal instead of plastic. The cool thing about 99s is a lot of parts are interchangeable throughout the years. I needed a new steering wheel and I ended up with a really nice EMS 3 spoke, but after I saw this steering wheel I sort of thought to go more in the classic direction than the sporty direction.
The wheel itself is hard plastic over a metal ring and in decent shape. There are some old style plastic wheel restoration kits, such as Eastwood’s, which allow you to repair cracks and pits. The horn piece is rubber over metal and the trim pieces are solid aluminum. I used Black Again on the rubber and 300 grit sand paper on the aluminum.
October 5, 2011
It was suggested that I spray the painted lamp clusters with a clear high gloss enamel to protect them. I also sealed the lamp lenses where they had cracked with an epoxy. I cleaned up the rubber with mineral spirits and then treated them with “Black Again” which made them look and feel good as new. I’ll replace the cage nuts with stainless steel ones and I’ve done that with the screws as well. Lets see how they hold up.
October 2, 2011
Rear seat is finished
I picked up the rear seat today. The driver and passenger seat are still getting finished up with new seat and back trampolines. I think they really turned out great. The trunk fabric on the back of the back seat is what is going to be used on the floor panels and side panels of the trunk. There are a few ‘manila brown’ pieces which I plan to paint with a good enamel and cure in a low temp drying oven. The two side panels that fit over the wheel arches in the back seat area are getting painted at the body shop with a very durable paint.
September 19, 2011
Experiment in refinishing turn signal reflectors
Before I found the old new stock turn signal, I got a pair of front turn signals that were complete, but were pretty weathered. I started searching on how to refurbish the reflective surface of the light cluster and found a couple of options. Unfortunately the only right way to do it is expensive and uses the same method of applying a thin metal film just as it was done during the manufacturing process. Some people suggest “chroming plastic” which is a little cheaper. Others suggest using two coats of Krylon high gloss black plastic paint as a base and then two coats of “brilliant” silver paint. So I tried that, and after letting the clusters air dry, I put them in a low temp drying oven for a few hours.
Before:
After Krylon High Gloss Black for plastic:
After Krylon Brilliant Metallic Silver paint:
I’m concerned at how well it will hold up, but we’ll see. It definitely is reflecting light better.
September 17, 2011
The SAAB 99 Holy Grail .. well, one of them
There is a definite list of Holy Grails for the SAAB 99. The front turn signals probably aren’t that rare for the 1977-1984 models since they’re newer and they were made for 7 years, but they seem impossible to find. I was piecing together a set when I came across a brand new one .. and just one. Both the left and right on the car were destroyed by the accident and weathering. What was left of them crumbled to the touch.
I probably will save the new one pictured above until I find another and for now make a pair out of these below. The clear lenses are from the earlier years, the later were European spec and later US models. One reason why these may be so rare is that they have issues with weatherproofing which causes moisture to get trapped. The build up of moisture, moss/mold can destroy the reflective mirroring enamel and ultimately make the plastic brittle. If you ever crack your lenses its important to take care of it as soon a possible. I’ve been researching how to restore them, its a common problem but its very expensive to get the mirroring restored.
It’s best not to obsess over this though.
September 15, 2011
Seats are nearly done
Here is a start at the interior. Once the painting is done, I’ll get it finished up, but I wanted to at least get the seats redone first.
You remember this one:
I wanted to the new seats to be similar to the old sporty Sonnett buckets which looked like this:
This is how they turned out:
August 11, 2011
freshly blasted
The blasting revealed the extent of the rust damage. Fortunately for the areas of concern it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We did find new areas from a previous repair job on the left rear quarter and left rear door along with evidence of bondo. All the bondo was removed and any rust damage to the bottom of the doors will be patched with fiberglas.
August 2, 2011
July 31, 2011
to the media blaster on Monday
This is about as stripped as she is going to get before the media blaster does the rest. I am not pulling the engine or getting the interior blasted except for the exposed wings and door jambs where there are rust issues.
Tow truck arrives @ 11am Monday
