Saab Performance - Gallery

In the fall of 2001 I picked up this 1993 black 900 turbo convertible. This would be my third Saab, having owned a 1987 900 turbo convertible (a great car, we shipped it to Europe and drove it for three years in Italy. Had the transmission replaced with a Euro spec one, the different gearing was great - sold it over there - pictures are available in the Gallery), and a 1994 900s 5 door that was bought new (also a great car, still running I think). Having had so much fun with the 1987, I really wanted an identical car, just newer, as the ABS, airbag, and a water cooled turbo were features that I was interested in.

She's been a good car, but has been on a wrecker more than I like. Still, maintenance hasn't been that bad, most repairs are simply age related. Currently she has 144k miles, and I expect to replace the transmission within the next 10k.

As life finally started to settle down in 2003, I began the process of revamping her into the machine that I wanted. First, and most importantly, we put a new roof on it as the old one was in very poor shape.

That having been done, we started with the performance parts we've always wanted! Here's the wish list. Note that we can't do it all this year, but hope to as the next few years go by.

• Modified APC (Installed July 2003)
• Larger Fuel Injectors (Installed September 2003)
• Performance Ignition Wires (Installed July 2003)
• Lightweight Flywheel
• Racing Clutch
• Performance Exhaust (Installed September 2003)
• Sway Bars
• Free Flow Air intake (installed April 2004)
• Larger capacity fuel regulator (installed September 2003
• Performance Turbo bypass valve (hooter valve)
• Stainless steel brake lines (cancelled - see below)
• Cross-drilled rotors (installed March 2005)
• Cermaic brake pads (installed March 2005)
• New springs/shocks (installed April 2004)

Performance Status

The free flow intake really makes a power difference, basically because it removes three of the 90 degree bends that the stock intake has! The power is smooth, there was a real kick when the turbo hit before, now it is a much smoother power band. If anything, the overboost valve is cutting off power on the very end of the red.

As of early convertible season 2004, and had the ride checked out - as a result, I have ordered new shocks for all four corners, but decided against putting polyurothane bushings on it right now. I sort of want to judge the changes to handling a little at a time. The shocks are now installed, greatly improving stance (the car rides a bit higher - which in Vermont and New Hampshire, is not a bad thing), body roll has been lessoned, and the ride is just firm and nice. The shocks on the car previously were origional equipment, so if your Saab is an older one like me, they are a good investment.

The next big thing I discovered was the magnacor plug wires - I had used the wrong coil wire. The kit comes with two coil wires - one long, and one short. I had used the short one as it fit (length wise) much better - but the diameter sat a little loose on the coil, resulting in an electrical disruption in wet weather/car wash. The car would stutter when wet, which I had put down to a bad oxygen sensor, but it turned out to be the short coil wire. Word to the wise!

Now that I've begun the transformation, here's a recent update on the results. The modified APC is awesome, it really kicks it up. With the APC kit we got a modified EPROM for the LH fuel injection control unit, and for the first month or so we had a lot of boost problems in the car was unable to sustain full boost. Part of the problem were improperly gapped spark plugs; the other was a couple of tanks of 94 octane gasoline.

More frighteningly, after one afternoon of very hard driving, she dumped a 1/2 of oil out the filler. Turns out this was due to a loose cap, and a missing check valve on a vacuum hose off of the valve cover - we were boosting inside the cover itself. Now that's resolved, and the car is running very smooth. I am unsure of the need for the higher fuel injectors, but we'll know better once we get the 3 bar regulator in place. Regardless of whatever extra power they might provide, the car has a nice smooth feel to it.

Lastly, I'm estimating that we're producing about 15 bar pressure from the turbo now. This is based on the fact that the turbo guage goes all the way to the right side of the red; that and a vacuum plug on the intake manifold keeps "popping" up - which supposedly only happens at 15 bar (per a saab mechanic). We'll see.

The sport exhaust and larger fuel regulator have helped. It is sort of hard as they were both installed together, but myimpression is that the larger regulator is exactly what the injectors needed, the car ran smooth before but now there does seem to be extra power. Combined with the performance exhaust, she's sitting really pretty right now, and has an amazing amount of power. Surprises a lot of drivers. Note that the top end hasn't been affected as much as the intermediate ranges - the power you need. Between 20 and 85 she has a ton of zoom.

Here's my estimate (rough) on her new horse power rating. This is based solely upon the "estimated" hp increases by product, rounded down, I hope to get it on a dyno at some time in the future. Note that if the feel of the performance increases is any indcator, this is not far off (even my excellent mechanic Bob McDonald at the Autobarn, Woodstock Vermont, has become interested in how much better the car feels with these upgrade)

Stock [185] + APC & LH unit EPROM [25] + fuel injectors and regulator [10] + sport exhaust [10] + free flow air intake [5] = 235 hp.

In the Spring of 2005 I replaced all four disks with cross-drilled ones, had the calipers bead blasted, and installed ceramic pads. The brake response is immediate, and fade is almost none-existent. I had originally planned on adding stainless steel brake lines to the car, but after some discussion there isn't a point to this upgrade on anti-lock equipped cars.

I know when I started this, I spent some time looking things up on the web and couldn't find a lot of information on real world results, so if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at scarpia @ garbo.org. Note the spaces between around the @; this is to keep spam raking webcrawlers from picking up the address.