Anyone know much about them?
How strong are the engines? What sort of power do they make without opening the engine up?
Is mileage an issue?

Any info is appreciated

 

2.0 turbo circa 180hp standard

can give them a boost tweek and that will take it past 200hp, rumour has it the standard internals can take 500hp+

do go pretty fucking well, and the engines can take ALOT of abuse, my mate had one with said boost tweek and even he struggled to kill his one. Cained the fuck out of it for over a year and it didnt even smoke or rattle Was running about 220hp and he managed a 15sec 1/4 mile on shit tires

expect alot of wheelspin lol

 

Chip seems to know his stuff on these motor's

 

i had a k reg on yrs ago 16v think it was about 170 standard handled like shite braked like shite ignitions near the gear stick turn with anything so imobiliser is a must
loads of faults but i liked it dont know why

 

yeah they dont handle very well

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T0wD...etailpage#t=0s

^^will make you grin if nothing else^^

Ive Always wanted the aero model..not coz it got spoilaz innit


Have a look at the sign on the green building, seem a 900 specialist maybe?
they always selling these badboys on ebay.

Go on buy one its a BEAST

 

there horrible looking things

 

older shape is better looking than the slightl newer one, but i think the newer one is ment to have more poke

most saab's are hideous (spelling) to alot of people, but id love a 9-3 viggen just for the mid range power

 

That's perfect!
Are they RWD?

 

nope, fwd

could convert it........

 

Fookin' hell, that's a lot of weight to drag around via the front wheels

Ugly as fuck, but a proper sleeper!

 

theyre not that heavy! 1285kg on carfolio!

 

That's a lot lighter than I first thought, I guess they roll a lot standard.

 

yeah not the best for handling but with a few little engine tweeks theyre good in a straight line,

180hp and 200ft/ib on carfolio
can easily be taken well above that

 

Had a friend years ago that loved them but it kept breaking down all the time , i love the look of them and dont know why tbh . They sound awsome too .

 

i'm going to have a look at one on saturday for a giggle

any easy ways to tell the difference between a high pressure turbo and low pressure turbo?

 

Really? I thought Saab's were generally very reliable.
Yeah I strangely like the look of them, still an ugly car though.

 

didnt think there was any difference

a test drive would confirm it id imagine, chip would know of any differences

 

the guy who owns the garage i work at has one, it's a 900 aero on a F plate, white with 60k on the clock, he used it for a while, then brought a merc and started to do things to it and it has sat now for 10+ years, i think its fucked now, would be worth very good money if it was done

 

some of the 9-3's are listed on ebay as being low pressure turbo's and some are listed as high pressure/ HOT turbos

wonder if there was any obvious tell tale signs

 

oohhhh if your onw about new ones then yeah there could be badges on the engine if you look under the bonnet etc

and of course, a low pressure one would be alright to drive, a HOT or a viggen one (even better) would torquesteer and spin up all over the road

 

i had one a 900 turbo
liked it alot not that fast though

 

vauxhall boys love using the newer 900 engines, i know there capable of 280 with a remap, older ones are good also, try speaking to abbott racing, there saab specialists and done loads with saab theselves including the carlson 9000s iirc

 

Had a couple classic shape 900's back in the day.
Yep handleing and brakes were crap but something about them, still miss owning one.
The old 9000 with 2.3 turbo is a real sleeper, awesome engine.

 

saabs = dull

good on paper, reliable but totally uninspiring to drive, brakes are crap, handling is awful and they are more boring to look at than a dishwasher, and fwd

dont bother

 

On the old 900 the big turbo version had a boost gauge built into the dash, small turbo/later/facelift cars did not have.
Not shure if they carried that on to later models?
Hope that helps =)

 

I know someone who had the older shape one as pictured above. It was a bloody awful thing. Not quick at all really, no quicker than an ST24 or anything. Just shite to look at, horrible inside, and the handling was fucking awful. I'm sure the box in those ones is shit too, it dies at about 200bhp I was told. Oh, and they rust like mad. Not on the outside particularly, but the inner wings and sills and stuff on his were made of air.

The 90s one was better, with a decent engine by the sounds of it, but still didn't handle.

 

Interesting, I'll have to see what I can find out about the box.

I know they're dog ugly, but that just adds to the sleeper theme doesn't it?

 

If you had a mint standard one (ie not a 20 year old half rotten head gasket) it would be perfectly reasonable to expect it to be reliable with 500bhp on an unopened engine.
But they are getting old now, so a bit like a YB really they wont take the power they used to before something lets go if they are an engine with 20 years and 150K on the clock.

I bolted a GT35R to one and it went really well (felt roughly as quick in the same car as my old vauxhall engine on low boost, which made 457bhp) so definately in the 400-500 sort of ballpark.
But the head gasket was rotten so it didnt last very long, then the pressurised gasses from the head gasket going appear to have contributed towards the oil pressure relief valve seizing, and when I fixed that not many miles later it ended up with not compression so I guess the lack of oil pressure has killed the tensioner but not had a chance to pull it apart yet as got a couple of other projects which are more urgent.

Did quite well for what it was though considering its age and the size of the turbo I strapped to it!


I'm going to just give one a quick freshen up with new gasket and check the chain and tesnioners over etc and give it another go at some point.

 

i was so disappointed to learn the 900 wasnt rwd the engine is mounted longitudinal so it was half way there

 

really

 

Well maybe he was unlucky with it but i recall lots of garage work plus a box failure , he loved them and in all due respect stuck with them for a while. 2 9000 Carlsons and 900s inbetween. The 900 carlson is the one to have IMO they look hard as nails with 200+ standard iirc. Awsome looking things .