Another XR Build Thead. This time with 1000% more Saab

The bolts I have are 45mm long, and I only have about 20 left on the shelf.

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john vanlandingham
Rear:




Gonna re-invet the wheel?

What rotors go with a setup like this? Remind me to ask you about these next time I call.

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MattWatson
I needed a pick me up, since all i've been doing is filling holes and starting some bondo work as well as building a rotisserie, so I decideded to test something before it got too far in.

I was able to finally order a 41mm socket (I refused to pay 40$ for a socket locally, so I ordered one from princess auto, which is almost the same as harbor freight, since they didn't have any in stock) I then whipped out my pilfered copy of the xr4ti manual to find out the spec for the front hub nuts.... 240ft\lbs!! I was worried because after confirming online, most people's torque wrenches dont go that high. Luckily mine did.

Getting 240 ft\lbs on something is not easy. I ended up wedging an 4ft 2x4 between two wheel studs, knelt on the board and then was able to put all my remaining body weight (and I'm not light...) on the torque wrench and JUST get enough.

I guess a couple bearings wern't 100% seated, because it did close up the gap between the hub and upright a bit, but meh, other than being stiff due to new grease, seems fine. I was then able to throw on a disc after going to buy a 9/16 drill bit (I didn't have one for some reason...) and opening up the holes a wee touch.

Then, the moment of truth, will the disc go over the studs? Yep! perfect fit, a tap with a rubber mallet and it seated perfectly! wanting to test my luck, I went and grabbed a caliper, some left over m12 bolts and a set of pads to see if everything was all good.... aaaaaannnndddd it was 100% perfect!







I bow to John, the master machiner! everthing looks great, it is almost exactly centered in the pads (the caliper could move out a half to quarter mm to make it exact, but who cares! Saab guys have run em a 1/4" out without issue)

Now I just need to get the car painted so that I can put everything back on and start plumbing the brakes with all the pretty fittings and stuff I got for christmas...

Are those early 900 rotors? ~19,5mm thick?

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Thomas Kimsey

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MattWatson
I needed a pick me up, since all i've been doing is filling holes and starting some bondo work as well as building a rotisserie, so I decideded to test something before it got too far in.

I was able to finally order a 41mm socket (I refused to pay 40$ for a socket locally, so I ordered one from princess auto, which is almost the same as harbor freight, since they didn't have any in stock) I then whipped out my pilfered copy of the xr4ti manual to find out the spec for the front hub nuts.... 240ft\lbs!! I was worried because after confirming online, most people's torque wrenches dont go that high. Luckily mine did.

Getting 240 ft\lbs on something is not easy. I ended up wedging an 4ft 2x4 between two wheel studs, knelt on the board and then was able to put all my remaining body weight (and I'm not light...) on the torque wrench and JUST get enough.

I guess a couple bearings wern't 100% seated, because it did close up the gap between the hub and upright a bit, but meh, other than being stiff due to new grease, seems fine. I was then able to throw on a disc after going to buy a 9/16 drill bit (I didn't have one for some reason...) and opening up the holes a wee touch.

Then, the moment of truth, will the disc go over the studs? Yep! perfect fit, a tap with a rubber mallet and it seated perfectly! wanting to test my luck, I went and grabbed a caliper, some left over m12 bolts and a set of pads to see if everything was all good.... aaaaaannnndddd it was 100% perfect!







I bow to John, the master machiner! everthing looks great, it is almost exactly centered in the pads (the caliper could move out a half to quarter mm to make it exact, but who cares! Saab guys have run em a 1/4" out without issue)

Now I just need to get the car painted so that I can put everything back on and start plumbing the brakes with all the pretty fittings and stuff I got for christmas...

Are those early 900 rotors? ~19,5mm thick?

No those are 85-86 900 rotors...The ones with 4.5" BC. I made a deal that over hangs the Xratty hub cause there was just not enough meat outboard of the studs.... So then it was assemble and drill as 1 piece and press fit those soooooper bitchin home-made M14 studs thru the both.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

No those are 85-86 900 rotors...The ones with 4.5" BC. I made a deal that over hangs the Xratty hub cause there was just not enough meat outboard of the studs.... So then it was assemble and drill as 1 piece and press fit those soooooper bitchin home-made M14 studs thru the both.

Really 4x4.5" not 4x4.25" like on the 88-92 900? Just making sure...

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

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fiasco

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john vanlandingham

No those are 85-86 900 rotors...The ones with 4.5" BC. I made a deal that over hangs the Xratty hub cause there was just not enough meat outboard of the studs.... So then it was assemble and drill as 1 piece and press fit those soooooper bitchin home-made M14 studs thru the both.

Really 4x4.5" not 4x4.25" like on the 88-92 900? Just making sure...

Yeah Matt had a pile of SLAAB wheels, I sold 'im 16 or 20 more so made sense to go 4 on 4.5"
That depth of the hat makes Willwoods clear any wheel.
The later 4.25 stuff like 9000--great herking heavy rotor, what you expect a Saab to have..But the hat is like Cossie 4x4 stuff: maybe 15-16mm depth.. Nice if you have a pile of Compomotive or Sparco OZ..Hell otherwise.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

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fiasco

Quote
john vanlandingham

No those are 85-86 900 rotors...The ones with 4.5" BC. I made a deal that over hangs the Xratty hub cause there was just not enough meat outboard of the studs.... So then it was assemble and drill as 1 piece and press fit those soooooper bitchin home-made M14 studs thru the both.

Really 4x4.5" not 4x4.25" like on the 88-92 900? Just making sure...

Yeah Matt had a pile of SLAAB wheels, I sold 'im 16 or 20 more so made sense to go 4 on 4.5"
That depth of the hat makes Willwoods clear any wheel.
The later 4.25 stuff like 9000--great herking heavy rotor, what you expect a Saab to have..But the hat is like Cossie 4x4 stuff: maybe 15-16mm depth.. Nice if you have a pile of Compomotive or Sparco OZ..Hell otherwise.

Yah, I had some milities, John had some soccerballs and shelby's (minilite clones) so it made sense to go that way with the rotor option.

Everyone else goes the compmotive route, but I had some rally contacts in Ireland and they couldn't promise me that they could get a decent quantitiy of them inexpensive enough, so I (foolishly or otherwise) went this route.

Everyone claims to have piles of em, but either won't sell them or (I suspect) don't really have them. There are also a bunch out now with really low offset (I believe for the foci?) floating around so they wouldn't work anyway.

Keeping going with the tedius process of sanding and doing some misc rust repair. I hope to paint late next weekend, so I have quite a bit of work to do.

I started this process with a DA (dual action) Dynabride air sander (these really kick ass... I've used several air sanders and numerous electric DA's and these Dynabrides are fantastic.) and with 120 grit, it works great. Filler to even out (a bit) the sunroof filler as well as the rear window modifications. I havn't spent enough time to get it perfect, but it is a race car really and doesn't need to be perfect. It needs to pass the 10 foot test haha.



I keep getting distortion with the rear half of the roof. The combination of removing the framework for the sunroof and the filler panel itself causes a fairly large low spot. I've re-done it a couple times, and I still can't get it all out. I am hoping when I cut the two openings for air feed, it will pop back out again.


I've also started the very time consuming process of sanding the roll cage... given that it has sat so long in a non-heated garage, it picked up quite a bit of rust. I'm hoping it doesn't rain this week until I can get at least primer on it. did all of this with a knotted wire cup on a angle grider as well as maroon 3m scotchbrite


Next up, getting the last of the sound deadening out of the interior. This back was packed with car parts during the build, so it didn't get done when the rest of the car did.

Gotta love under fender-flare rust... a cheap and cheasy fix. The flares (or some alternative) are going back on once it is painted, so I really don't care about the look, just that it doesn't spread too far.


All in all - I'm spending the extra couple thousand it would have cost to get a clean shell next time... it would have saved hundreds of hours in time, and around $700 in consumables and paint.

Some more work on the interior. everything has now been cleaned out of the interior, holes patchd up and waiting for paint. same with the engine bay, but for some reason I didn't take any pics.



I was going to do the underfloor after paint, but since it's going to be a huge mess, I thought I would do it now. I had a few things I wanted to do: remove some of the undercoating, add the weldnuts for mounting HDPE underbody protecton, fixing some sill rust that I missed and then painting the whole thing in white.

First time on the rotisserie, it was a bit scary getting up there.







Some sill rust...








Now for the weld nuts. The outside sill mounts are M6 proper weldnuts, the inner and front ones are 3/8 woodworking style (all I could get at the time) T-nuts. drill a hole, center it in the hole and then zap em in.




m6 sill nuts:


All the rust repair on thie underside is just basic: grind out the rust, put something over it, weld it and cut it back a bit. everything will be covered with sheeting, so I don't really care about appearance.

Time to paint. YAY! Well at least the underbody, then I can get it off the rotisserrie and back onto the dollies so that I can get cars in the garage again.

I spent the morning fitting the new diff. I have pictures, but they are on my phone right now, so I'll get them afterwards since my camera died.

I finished the cleanup on everything scrubbed with a maroon scotch brite pad and then sprayed and wiped down with wax and grease remover. There is no way I ended up getting all the crud off, so this will likely get touched up down the road when parts start to peel. I am fairly happy with the result considering that it is just a underbody... which will be covered by plastic pannels.




I left some of the undercoating on since it will paint, and without something like liquid nitrogen (like most of you guys do) there is no way I am getting it all off the car.

one last patch:



Let there be white!! YAY! I don't even car if people like this (lots to critisize really...) I think this is brilliant and feels so good to at last have a clean slate to work with.




I did 1 more coat of epoxy for those bare metal areas because a couple are pretty thin, but the underside is now done. Now I can flip it over today and start the prep (again) for painting the areas that matter

So... I'm officially an idiot.

My Dad came over to supervise taking the car off the rotisserie since my wife is away right now and I thought it a good idea to have someone there if I got crushed.

Anywoo, I went to grab the floor jack and a 6x6 (for a bit of extra height) and he was like "why arn't you using the engine hoist for this?" *slap* 2 straps and about 15 mins later, the car is on the dollies again and I am good to go.

Yep officially an idiot. None of the scary stuff of ballance, it practically lifted itself lol.

Matt didya hack off the fuel pump mounting crap? Do it. Pump in the tire well and that crap will be in the way some day.
Also I have some quotes at $235 for windshields.. Want to confirm and push for a "carry out" price..
Let's start sniffing if'n anybody from round here is going to the any event up there...nudge nudge knowwhatImean, eh?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham
Matt didya hack off the fuel pump mounting crap? Do it. Pump in the tire well and that crap will be in the way some day.
Also I have some quotes at $235 for windshields.. Want to confirm and push for a "carry out" price..
Let's start sniffing if'n anybody from round here is going to the any event up there...nudge nudge knowwhatImean, eh?

Yes please. I'd be looking for 2 if that makes any difference, and if no one is coming up, I wouldn't be opposed to paying freight if needed.

I didn't hack off the pump bracket (Do I actually need to?, doesn't seem to interfere in anyway at least with teh stock beam) but I am moving the pumps (will have 2) into the spare tire well. I guess if I do hack it off even now, its just 2 minutes with a touchup gun to paint the small section, or really the same later.

Man I suck at painting wierd surfaces. Doing the engine bay now, and runs, runs everywhere! White is also really hard to see how much I have on the surface.

I really hope that the outside of the car goes better than this... otherwise... grrr.

15 more minutes then back to the fumes for another (and final) coat.

I hope this is not all in vain however. This TCP global 'epoxy' (and I use that in quotes for a reason) sands too damn easily for my liking. I really hope it is waterproof and solvent 'proof' like regular epoxy and I am not doing a ton of work for nothing. Neither the engine bay nor the underfloor is getting a topcoat, which I have done just fine with other epoxies. But all the other epoxies I have used sand like utter crap and are tough as nails. This stuff I am not so sure about...

Oh huh. I never did post the pictures. Must be the fumes.




Soooo who thinks I can get this done for Rocky? (2 months) Is that a smart idea or should I get it done and actually have som time for testing/finding a co-driver?

humm....