Low budget build -- on a 1989 Saab 900i 5D coupé

[inrock]

What's up guys! I'm a new member and this is my very first post, though I've been lurking on this site for years, drooling those kick ass rides you guys got out there! First of all, I want to apologize for my bad english

I got into the carscene when I bought my first car in the spring of 2014. It was an 1993 4-door Honda Accord with carbed engine. It was a fun car to own, even though I had some major problems with every now and then. It had 513k kilometers on it and the rear end of the car was so badly rusted that I decided to retire her, and bought my second car...

My second ride was my first Saab. It was an 1991 900i 4D sedan. It wasn't the beauty queen of all times, but it moved forth and back like it should. I needed quite alot of small things here and there, so I bought another Saab 900i 1989 as a donor car. The donor car turned out to be in better shape than the one I was driving as a daily, so I decided to sell the first Saab and buy another daily and keep the 1989 900i as a project. I bought an 1990 Honda Accord with PGM-FI engine for a daily, and that's what I'm riding in currently.

And now to the project...

This is the 1989 900i that I bought as a donor car. I haven't driven it since I'm not getting any spark so it's not running. I'm going to figure out what's wrong with it. I might consider myself being lucky to get my hands on this thing for 80€, cause it has the original Saab A/C, wich is rare as f*** here in Finland. I've seen those A/C-systems go for more than 350€. It doesn't have much rust on it either, so I think I don't have to do welding very much.

My plans for this ride:

- lower it
- maybe boost it
- drive it someday

Enough of the words... We want some pics!!!










To be continued...

[inrock]

Five minutes ago I bought wheels for the Saab. It's a big car and the wheels are 14'' and not very wide, so I can assure that this thing will be low. Will post some pics when they arrive...

[SouthCarolinaGuy]

That is one car I never enjoyed working on, luckily in the USA we don't see a lot of those

[reiernumans]

Sweet ride man! But 14" wheels? Are you sure those aren't 15's? Even the Saab 96's came with 15's from the factory, so I can't imagine a 900 coming with 14" wheels lol. Or they could be aftermarket..

Curious to see what you'll end up doing with this, nice clean slate!

[inrock]

Sweet ride man! But 14" wheels? Are you sure those aren't 15's? Even the Saab 96's came with 15's from the factory, so I can't imagine a 900 coming with 14" wheels lol. Or they could be aftermarket..

Curious to see what you'll end up doing with this, nice clean slate!

Haha the wheels in the pics are original 15'' steelies. I just ordered a set of 14'' alloys I think that all the Saab's original wheels are 15''.

I'm also excited to see where this is going! This will be very slow build tho!

[inrock]

That is one car I never enjoyed working on, luckily in the USA we don't see a lot of those

I feel you man These can sometimes be a major P.I.T.A!

[inrock]

Not much have happened lately... I'm still waiting for my wheels to show up, and I've been wondering a decent way to lower this car.. I read lot's of people are riding cut springs on their Saab's, but I'm not a fan of those because I had cut springs in my old Accord and the driveability was beyond terrible. I need to find shorter shocks and stiffer springs to get this car sitting like I want it to.

Today I though that why not to give the cut springs a change and see how it would look when lowered. I cut the passenger side front spring and the result looks like this:



Needs a ton of more low. I think I will make a trip to a local junkyard and find out wich springs and shocks can be used in the Saab and buy new ones.

Sorry for my bad English again, I'm a bit drunk and very tired

EDIT: Now that I look at the pic, I think the 14's will be too tiny for this car.. I will propably sell them and buy some kick-ass 15/16's...

[inrock]

http://www.nettivaraosa.com/vanteet/1955188

These are the wheels I bought. I'll get my hands on them tomorrow... I will make them look good and sell them or trade for another set of bigger ones.

[inrock]

I'll just leave this here...

[inrock]

So I test fitted the wheels today and though that what in the world I've been thinking... I'm propably going to soda blast and paint them and then sell them.

I'll start my military service in three days so not a lot will happen to the Saab during the coming six months. Right now I'm pulling the engine out. I'm going to rebuild it and then I'll have to do some serious welding, cause yesterday my jack went straight through the rocker panel... I should at least get the engine out before I start the military service...

[inrock]

Not a lot have happened during my military service in the Finnish Defence Forces, but about a week ago we got some shit done with my brother. The Saab sits on a good height at the front but we still have to drop the rear end of it. The wheels I'm planning to get are Saab's stock steelies widened to 9'' with a decent lip.