Other ( non Renault ) Saab 2.8T V6 Cab

[Sparkysparks]

My newest 'family friendly' car.
A 340hp (claimed) Saab

Bought it dirty, with just enough clutch to get me home and a bonnet that couldn't open.


Got it back to my second location and got the bonnet open. Cable has fallen apart, common on these.
Air box lasted about 45 seconds then left the bay for good. I wanted the noises.
Turned to the turbo to remove all recirc functions.
Very nice clamp holding the mechanical recirc on. I wonder why...

Snapped stud. Lovely.


Aerial looks like crap.

It stayed there untill I was ready for it, sold the Volvo, mini, fixed my brother's Audi, then got it transported to mine.

And had to push it into the garage as clutch had completely gone.

 

[Sparkysparks]

Whilst it needed a clutch. It also needed alot of simplifying in the bay. It's modern enough though to throw up codes if I touch anything. So committing and just thinking, I'll sort that out later I got to work.

Battery out, heatshields off, intake off, turbo front off.

Turbo is standard I believe but has a mamba actuator. There's a receipt for a remap in the car but that should put it about 300/320 with all the standard parts.
Drilled out the snapped stud and put a recirc blank on ready for refitting.

All back together.
I have also run lines from both cam covers to a catch can in the future, to then go back into the turbo top.
I have to leave the recirc plugged in otherwise it'll go into limp mode.
Behind the intake has been simplified.
Car has a brake pump which complicates the pipework alot, so I've talked that out of the equation. Again. Left plugged in for now.
There's a system on it called an sai, secondary air injection. Helps the cat apparently by injecting air into the exhaust manifold on startup.
Boost leak as far as I'm concerned.
Removed.
Didn't leave anything plugged in as I was told it wouldn't put in limp mode. But will throw an eml.
Made sure it still runs.
It did with no codes. Result. Sai must have already been disabled with the map.

Before I got to the really dirty stuff I had to make it mine.

Also picked up form Volvo medusa wheels, hoping I'll get them to fit.

Centre bore is too small. Shame. I've always wanted these wheels. They can go on the ford though.

This is the sai system. Well. The stuff that survived the removal.


Also gave the rear a quick polish to see how it's going to look. I think you'll agree thats surprisingly smooth looking.

 

[Sparkysparks]

Clutch job on these seems like a nightmare. But tbh. Even though I've taken a few days to do it. I wouldn't say it was that bad tbh.

Subframe out (but not entirely as I didn't want to disturb the extremely rusty downpipe bolts)
Both shafts out. Started stays on. Battery out. Clutch line off. Selector cables off. Mounts off. Bolts out. Crowbar the thing out onto the floor and see the damage.


Finished.
Clutch and slave ordered.
Flywheel was stable. But a bit burnt. So the grinder cleaned that up.

New slave

New clutch

 

[Sparkysparks]

All back together

Lowering springs also added.
Washer jets and screen was pump added.







And a wash

Turns out it's awesome after all.

Ive also accidentally bought a purple flake black car. So it's made me massively happy.

Needs tyres as it's on winter tyres for some reason.
I have a few wheel ideas. But tbh when clean, I quite like the ones that are on there. But they need about 30mm spacers as the offset is something like +50.

And for speed. It's not as nippy as the Clio. But it's not far off for the size. Plenty of tuning left on the table.
I can get a hybrid turbo, injectors, and a big front mount. Straight through exhaust is coming soon. Then a map. Can see about 450 before I need to mess with internals.

Next. Try to get it through and mot.
Cheers

 

[Duncan Grier]

No messing about nice weather for it also atm

Same engine as vectra vxr v6t?

 

[andybond]

Fact ; your mid level brake light is the one used on the lotus Exige s2 !

 

[Sparkysparks]

No messing about nice weather for it also atm

Same engine as vectra vxr v6t?

Yeah thats the one. B284/z28net. I think the only difference is the badge on the engine cover.

 

[Sparkysparks]

Fact ; your mid level brake light is the one used on the lotus Exige s2 !

Awesome. I didn't know that.
I have lambo lights on the zed and now lotus lights on the Saab

 

[Renaldo]

Enjoying this thread,
We have a Saab in the family with this engine
I know the standard turbo recir valves are notorious for creating boost issues although ours doesn’t seem to suffer from that at the moment.
Interested to know where you connected the pipe into for the turbo recirc blank?
The kits I’ve seen involve drilling and tapping a fixing into the inlet manifold.

 

[Sparkysparks]

Enjoying this thread,
We have a Saab in the family with this engine
I know the standard turbo recir valves are notorious for creating boost issues although ours doesn’t seem to suffer from that at the moment.
Interested to know where you connected the pipe into for the turbo recirc blank?
The kits I’ve seen involve drilling and tapping a fixing into the inlet manifold.

Will have some more updates when I take it for the MOT soon.
As for the pipe for the recirc. On this engine it doesn't have one. It's all electronic. This is why they have issues past a certain power level. Disconnected it comes up with performance affected on the dash or something. But mechanically it's still fine.
When it's on the road I'll start unplugging stuff I don't want and see what affects they have.

 

[Renaldo]

I was curious as in the picture it looks as if you have a black vacuum pipe attached to the front of the turbo recirc valve you have fitted?-it made me wonder where/how you connected the other end of the vacuum pipe if that is one?

 

[Sparkysparks]

There's the boost valve. One to turbo front, one to actuator and one to vent in the intake.
The pipe on top of the turbo was from the breather off the front valve cover. But I've got that venting to atmosphere at the minute, ready for a catch can. And the can will vent into the top there.

 

[Renaldo]

Okay, so the recirc blank is literally just that and has no mechanical function to recirc excess boost like it would have when electronically controlled?
Just curious as this will be part of the next steps for ours.

 

[Sparkysparks]

Exactly that yeah.
(Insert warning about it damaging turbos having no vent for the boost)
I've been running no valves or recircs for years. The turbo is normally not a worry for me. It's the rest of the cars that break.

 

[Renaldo]

That explains it thanks, I hadn’t considered this up to now, thanks for clarifying