It is time to make room in the driveway, so the Saab needs to go! Best way to contact me is email: abbottcd at gmail dot com.
Here it is!
I was planning on daily driving the Saab this winter, but as I just bought this I need room:
Sooooo, back to the Saab. It was a $2010 challenge car, and you can find the build thread
Here it is in its BABE rally livery:
Now it has lost the stripes on the sides and hood (they are vinyl), but still has them on the roof.
Here is some history, here is tb's site from when he built it for the $2010 Challenge: http://www.codenamesmith.com/
I bought it from him here on the board. In it's challenger state it needed a lot of work to be ready for BABE with four people. I had to put the entire rear of the car back together, such as putting in the window motors, door handles, seats, carpet, etc. The headliner and cargo area trim are MIA.
In the time I have owned it I have made the following repairs: -Axles, thermostat, all heater hoses, heater core, blower motor, shifter linkage, gas tank straps, fuel tank O ring, rear brake calipers and pads (front pads are like new), fluids, one brake hard line, front brake soft lines, battery.
Mods: 3" cat back exhaust (sounds awesome), trionic T5 suite chipped ECU, Bilstein front struts, lowering springs.
Pros: I've driven this all over the eastern US and it is a hell of a highway car. It gets 30+ MPG on the highway, yet has gobs of turbo torque. Cold A/C! It is a great long distance ride. It burns NO oil at all between 5000 mile changes (it has synthetic in it now). Starts right up, engine runs great, corners flat, comfy seats, good stereo. The interior is in nice shape, no tears in the seats. Basically no rust to speak of, amazingly. There is an extra set of wheels with Toyo RA1s that could be included, along with the half treat yokohamas on the current wheels.
Cons: Brakes need a power bleed as it is very slightly soft at the top 1/2" of the pedal, but the brakes hold firm and stop straight and true. The is a slight shudder under acceleration in 2nd gear, but you get used to it. There is no headliner or cargo area plastic stuff. Needs a RF wheel ABS sensor. LF seat does not recline, heated seats do not heat. I painted it in my driveway with a harbor freight HVLP gun, so it is a good 20 foot car, but not perfect.
VItals: 1996 Saab CSE Turbo (full pressure), 226k miles, 5 spd.
Before paint:
I can take more pics, but it is dark and raining now, but you get the idea. It really is a good car for short $. I've fixed all of the important things, so it is ready to go.
For GRM, $1000. Needs to be sold...
