Life With An Old Car, Part 1

If you've been following my writing on CarThrottle, you know I obtained an old Saab 900 Turbo a few months ago. You haven't heard all that much about it since then, and here's the reason: this car has kept me very busy.  I know, I know: insert "Saab story" jokes here.  Well deserved.  I've gathered up a few observations on owning and daily-driving an old car, and I figured I'd share them with you, dear reader, so that you may come away feeling wiser.  Here's hoping I've succeeded.

Observation 1: Old Stuff Breaks.

I know this falls under the category of "no, duh?" but you'd be surprised exactly how much old stuff breaks.  To date, here's the list of broken stuff I've replaced on my 900 Turbo.

-Thermostat -Right side motor mount -Front motor mount/transmission mount -A/C Overheat cutoff switch -APC Pressure Transducer -APC Boost Control Solenoid -Cruise Control relay

And here's the laundry list of other things I've had to do/deal with...

-Distributor rebuilt with new rotor, cap, wiring -Timing reset -New tail light lenses -A/C refrigerant recharged (system was empty but thankfully compressor wasn't seized up)

And on top of that, there's the list of things that aren't working.

-Driver's seat heater -Passenger's seat heater -Passenger door lock solenoid -Cruise control intermittent fault -Headlight relay intermittent fault -APC fault: 3-way solenoid constant firing condition -Passenger door handle works about half the time, sometimes gets stuck and has to be opened inside.  This is great for dates, let me tell you.

I do have a list of how much this has all cost me, but to be honest: it's too depressing to add it all up.  So the hot tip here is: if you're buying an old car, even one in good shape, you need to budget some additional cash to keep it running right.  Eventually, you're going to need it.

Observation 2: It's more amazing what DOESN'T break after 21 years.

I'm more suprised by some of the stuff that still works just fine on this car, despite it being as old as I am.  Like the power windows (passenger side's kinda slow), the electric sunroof(!), the hatch lock solenoid, the turn signal relays, the cruise control, the air conditioning, the original APC box despite the hacks I've done to it (see below), the original-equipment VDO auxiliary gauges, the horn... you get the point.  Knock on wood.

Observation 3: What was efficient engineering in 1985 still is in 2009.

I recently took a road trip out to the coast with some friends to spend 2 days at Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, NC.  With the cruise set at 95mph most of the way out, a bunch of heavy crap in the trunk, and the A/C blasting to keep up with the 92° ambient temperatures, I still managed 26mpg on the way up and 28mpg on the way back.  Good design is still good design, even if it's in a 21 year old car with distributor ignition.

Ditto for cargo capacity.  This car can haul SO MUCH STUFF.  I took a set of 17" wheels (with tires) over to a friend's place to sell them a while ago.  I folded the rear seats down on my 3-door coupe, and laid all four wheels flat on the floor.  Huge space.  It's still an efficient shape, and I love that.

Observation 4: Old Cars are MUCH easier to work on.

No, seriously.  Even though this is a Saab, it's orders of magnitude easier for a shade-tree mechanic like myself to deal with than my previous car, a 2005 VW Jetta.  For instance, that front motor mount.  It took about three hours, and I did it with some assistance from a friend in my garage.  What was involved?  Well...

-remove turbo charge pipe (turbo --> intercooler) -remove upper radiator hose and A/C overheat kill switch -remove electric fans -unbolt bracket and mount bolt -remove underbody sump skid plate -jack engine up about 4" from crankcase -wiggle out old motor mount -wiggle in new motor mount -put in a piece of rubber A/C split down the middle to limit mount movement -tighten everything down -reassemble -done.

Oil changes are a 20 minute job, and most of that is spent safely jacking the car up.  The plug's easy to get to, as is the filter - it sits just under the intake manifold, and it's easy to reach with a strap wrench.  Ditto changing the transmission fluid.

Spark plugs?  5 minute job.  Plug wires?  10 minutes.  Heck, from all I've heard it isn't even that hard to swap out a clutch - since it's at the front of the engine!

The other cool thing about the Saab is the APC system.  APC stands for "Automatic Performance Control," and it was Saab's acronym for the magic box and components that controlled boost levels according to conditions like ambient temperature, fuel quality (determined via a block-mounted auditory knock sensor) and other things.  Now, to get more power out of a turbo car these days, you've got to fork over a few hundred bucks to a company that's developed a re-map for your ECU.  They install this by hooking a laptop up to your OBD-II diagnostic port, and loading the new file.  Then they charge your credit card, and you make more horsepower.  Remember that A4 2.0TQ I mentioned earlier?  A chip from APR, a leading VW/Audi performance company, retails for $599 before you add options.

What if you want more power out of your old Saab APC Turbo?  Well, rather than dumping two week's worth of paychecks on a chip, you bust out the solder gun.

That's the computer that runs the APC system.  To get some more power, all you need to do is:

-Remove resistor R40 (which tapers boost as RPM's rise) -Replace the F potentiometer (500 Ohm) with a 1kOhm potentiometer.  This potentiometer is what sets the maximum boost threshold.

boom!  15 psi!

Then again, modifications are like Doritos - one's never enough.  Or rather, one leads to another.  The stock fuel injection starts to run dangerously lean around 17psi, which means the next step for the SPG will be Saab 9000 2.3L Turbo injectors, rated at 27lbs/hour, as well as a 3.0 bar Fuel Pressure Regulator, from a 2.1L naturally-aspirated C900.  With these hard components in place, the fueling will be adequate for 20+ psi... at which point, the stock T3 turbo is starting to get out of it's efficiency range.  And you're also in danger of exploding your 900's transmission.  See what I mean?

The other thing that helps, is that when you have a car that originally debuted in 1979, people have got it figured out. I don't know HOW over my head I'd be without resources like the SaabLink forums, the SaabCentral Classic 900 Forums, and specialists like Townsend Imports in Greensboro, NC. If you have a problem, chances are 100 people have had the same one, and the solution is easy to find.

Observation 5: An interesting old car attracts far more attention than a boring new one.

I can count the number of running classic 900's I've seen around Raleigh on two hands.  And somehow, while seeing a movie at the  charming North Hills theater, another one managed to park right near me in the underground parking deck.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Old cars remind people of better times.  I've had so many people in their 40's and 50's come up to me and say "Is that your Saab?"  This NEVER happened with my Jetta.  Maybe they had one back in the day, maybe they remember it fondly.  The same thing happened to me today at my local coffee shop - a mid-30's guy approached me and said "Is that your 900?"  Turns out he parked his black 9-3 Viggen 5-door next to mine, and proceeded to tell me about the three 900's he'd had before he acquired his Viggen.  I guess he's a few steps ahead of me.

Observation 6: Man, it's rewarding.

Every time I turn the key in my Saab and fire up the motor, a smile comes to my face.  It takes effort and dedication, but the joy I derive from owning a rare, quirky old car that runs well is hard to match.  Plus, the Hondas never see it coming.