Possibly 800 cars of all sorts there and maybe 2500+ visitors. Thanks to the Volvo club for letting me park my SAAB with them.
June 30, 2013
June 5, 2013
Ready for June 8th at the Swedish Club?
Just about everything has been finished up. I’ve got the dash finished up, hood latch working and the original style grille temporarily installed. The short list of what is left:
1. bumper stainless steel strips – need to make custom brackets to accommodate them on the later 1970s bumpers
2. adjust the doors and hood so they hang more properly
3. install side molding
4. paint and install badges
April 26, 2013
finishing up – air dam, visors, EGR removal
Wow .. really finishing up? Yes! It is very close. The next few things I have to do are:
– install heater controls (I’m building a control from two broken units)
– install reverse lock out
– paint and install grille
– install wood for switch controls
– install all the dash bits.
On the air dam I used rubber well nuts for all the fittings except for the lower bracket. I also used well nuts to attach the head light bezels. Rubber well nuts are suggested by the shop manual. On the air dam it really makes sense, because you want it to be shock mounted rather than rigidly. The sun visors were cleaned and the arms/mounts were painted. For the EGR removal I had to replace the compression fittings with a cap. The threads are fairly standard for compression fittings. I used high temp RTV on the threads and it seems to be holding. If you want to do this, I highly recommend you use AEROKROIL on the outer thread only. You want to remove the compression fitting for the tubes, but do not remove the fitting to the manifold. It most cases those fittings will have threads that are fused to the manifold. The size of the caps are 5/16″. My friend Erik in Sverige sent me very early 1970s mud flaps. I like them quite a bit.
Here is what went on today..
April 22, 2013
Swedish Car Show / Jazz Fest / Pancakes and lingonberries
At the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard there is a Jazz Festival every year and the Volvo club does a Swedish Car show. I had been talking with Dick Libby about showing the car here and then at the bigger event in June at the Swedish Cultural Centre for two years. No other SAABs were at the event, though Ingvar Carlson typically shows his cool 1960 93a. Lots of P1800, but I liked the 1953 444 best. Showing my support for bob hund with a örngott in the rear window.
April 17, 2013
seat headrest inserts and front bumper
The fabric headrests have been covered in the the faux leather vinyl. The front and rear bumpers were scrubbed and I discovered that they had been painted. I cleaned them with SuperClean and scrubbed them with a soft brush. That removed the paint and the rubber underneath was in very good shape. I’ll use a rubber conditioner and then I plan to install the steel bands after I clean those.
April 16, 2013
interior hatch, rear seats and door panels in
They’ve been fitted a few times, but now they’re in for good.
February 13, 2013
the inaugural test flight …..
Drove the car around North Seattle for about 1 hour or so today. Great handling and feel with the new shocks, springs and tires – A real improvement over the stock setup. The engine sounded great, shifting was good, brakes were better than ever. I did have a bit white smoke early on in the drive, but that cleared up in about 15 minutes. I was also burning 2 year old gas. I filled the tank with high test and that seemed to improve things quite a bit. It was a blast driving the car again after a 1.5 year rest. I took it easy, but it sure felt like she had not missed a beat since the valve job Troll Motors performed April before last.
I am hoping to be at the Swedish Car Show at the Triple X drive in in Issaquah on Sunday, February 17th.
December 4, 2012
little by little
yes .. its still coming together. Maybe Christmas?
September 8, 2012
upp och gå!
I finished up the basic wiring, replacing a few of the crimp on connectors and started up the motor. There was still water in the block, but I needed to add coolant for the radiator and heater. There is a bleed nipple near the heater valve which I ran a hose from to the coolant jug. I ran the car for about 30 minutes to let the thermostat open to cycle the water and force the air out. It took just over one jug of new coolant. The system was flushed April before last when the water pump was rebuilt. The new fan switch and the serviced fan worked great. I had installed a switch that operates at 92C and thermostat which operates at 88C. There are ones that operate at cooler temps, but after I had the header core rebuilt and removed the intake bellows ‘anti-freeze’ collar (which was 100% blocked anyway!) along with the flushed radiator, things should be running cooler. At idle temperature the fan would kick in for 25-30 seconds every couple of minutes, which seems very good.
I still need to get the EGR Proportional completely hooked up, but after that I can finish up with the engine and put the lights in place.
August 12, 2012
gifts from Sweden and progress
I’ve made a trade deal with another SAAB friend in Sweden and was able to get a few Old New Stock items. Today we installed the wheel arch trim which was tricky due to 3 of the wheel arches needing significant reshaping. The wheel arch splash area have all been sprayed with undercoating. The rear and hide-a-way trunk have also been sprayed.
The new locking gas cap / filler is hooked up, the blower box and wiper are in place, the EMS steering wheel is installed, the emergency brake housing is painted and the 1976 shifter knob is installed. For the blower box, I used two layers of 1/4″ foam rubber insulation on either side of the upper firewall. I recommend that anyone that goes this far with a tear down go ahead and replace all the foam rubber where needed. It was basically musty and dusty in this car.
