Saab 900 DIY's

So I picked up an '88 Saab 900 Turbo to replace my '05 Jetta as my daily driver.  As you'd expect, this isn't quite as simple as it sounds.  Even with a very well-maintained car, when you get to this kind of age (this car is as old as I am!) there are a few things that need taking care of.  I've barely gotten my hands dirty with this car, but here's what I've been up to so far.

With any turbocharged 80's car, it's important to keep an eye on your boost pressure levels.  This is because all the systems and associated plumbing that keep boost in check age and fail over time, and it's important to keep an eye on things.  The car comes with a stock boost gauge, but it's nigh on useless - it's slow to react, and it only tells you whether you're in vacuum, boost, or too much boost.  Time for an upgrade.  I picked up a cheapo boost gauge at the local auto parts store and went to town.

Parts Required: Boost gauge, mount, vacuum lines, vacuum line goodies (T's, zip ties), electrical tape, coathanger, T20 torx driverInstall Time: 1.5 hours Difficulty: 2/5

So, step one here is to decide what source you're going to use for the vacuum to the gauge.  A boost gauge is simply a vacuum gauge that goes both ways, so there's only one input to the gauge- fairly simple.  I decided to T into the vacuum line that goes to the stock gauge behind the dashboard for my source.  First, you have to remove the speaker/vent grille on top of the dashboard to get to all this stuff...

That's a two-way ratchet that you can flip to go in or out.  Very useful tool and great for working in tight spaces (the ball is resting against the windshield...)  Next, remove the speaker vent, like so...

Then, you cut the stock vacuum gauge, leaving enough room for the line to still go back to the stock gauge fitting.  MAKE SURE ALL LINES ARE SECURELY ATTACHED.  I had to do this twice because boost was leaking out through one of the connections the first time I tried this.  Install t he "T" fitting and tighten up and position everything right.  The line on the left is vacuum in, the line on the right is vacuum out to the stock gauge, and the line on the bottom goes to the aftermarket gauge.

Next, route the vacuum line (hard white line) through the dash and out the steering column.  Sounds easier than it is.

Now, you need to supply power to the gauge so the light works - so you can see it when it's dark.  Makes sense.  For this, I passed the power and ground lines through the side of the dash, down behind the ash tray and DIN pocket, and spliced into the power supply for the "cylinder head temperature" gauge in the auxiliary pod, which didn't do anything in the first place.  This is the hardest part of the whole shebang, as sometimes wires just don't want to go where you want them to go.

So, with everything hooked up, wrap your loose wires with electrical tape, tuck what you can back into the body panels, and you're good to go!

I just wedged the boost gauge mount in between the steering column and the dashboard, and it stays in place fine.  It looks sorta like this:

Or, at least, that's what it looked like before having the wires wrapped in electrical tape and tucked further back into the steering column, but you get the picture.

The upside?  Well, for one thing, let's be honest- having a boost gauge is amusing.  Also, it can come in quite handy at not blowing your car up.  Shortly after installing the gauge, I noticed that  in 4th and 5th gear the car was "boost spiking" fairly heavily, meaning it was overshooting the set boost threshold then cutting back very hard - spikes of almost 17psi over the stock 12.3psi.  This will be taken care of this week, but having the gauge makes it easier to know when to let off to avoid excess boost.  A must-have for old turbo cars, I think.

If you have an old turbo car, there are other auxiliary gauges you should consider  installing to keep an eye on things, as well.  An air-to-fuel ratio gauge is useful for making sure your motor isn't leaning out under boost, which can be fatal.  An EGT gauge (Exhaust Gas Temperature) is good for making sure things don't melt.  You get the picture.

Auxiliary Line Out Parts needed: flat screwdriver, auxiliary cable of some sort, electrical tapeInstall Time: 30 minutesDifficulty: 1/5

This one's fairly simple.  I wanted to be able to listen to my iPod in the car, and the 900 came with an aftermarket radio standard.  I removed the face plate trim ring with the flat screwdriver, and pulled the head unit out - it's just wedged in there.  Then, I connected the aux out line to it and made sure it worked.

Then I passed the line along the side of the head unit and out the front, ghetto style - there's an air vent between the head unit and the glovebox, so that prevented any trickery as far as having the line exit there went.  Quite simple, and now I have the tunes I want (currently a mix of the Hollywood Undead and Kings of Leon at present.)

DIN Pocket Parts needed: single DIN pocketInstall Time: 15 secondsDifficulty: 1/5

So, my car had a gaping hole in the dashboard where the graphic equalizer used to go - bummer.

This one's an easy fix.  I stopped by my local audio supply store and picked up a single-DIN (the standard small head unit size) pocket.  Then I put it in...

and then you're done.

Other things: first off, view the picture above.  That's a Torx bit set, also known as a "Saab tool kit."  Pretty much every fastener on this car is a blasted Torx, lord knows why.  It's good to have one of these.

I've also been up to a few  other small things.  Loosening the throttle cable about a quarter-inch actually allowed application of full throttle, which made the car a bit faster (go figure!).  I also moved an interior grab handle from the left rear passenger seat to the driver's seat, as it's nice to hold onto on the highway.

A note: old cars are a delight to work on.  They're so much simpler.  For instance, compare having a problem with a dead bulb in the taillights of my previous VW to this Saab.  In the VW, everything in the taillight is controlled by one proprietary plug.  They're fancy-pants LED taillights, so if they die you need to buy a new one (at great expense.)  on the Saab, if a lightbulb goes out, you unscrew the taillight lense.  Then you replace the bulb.  Then, uhh, you screw the lense back on and you're done.

Stay tuned as more gets tweaked on the 900!

-James