HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN!!!

I promise I haven't fogotten about this blog, and I will be updating again soon, with the other half of the trip north, and my new ignition coil, and probably some more stuff.

Things have been hectic, but I'll be back soon!!

Road Trip!!! (part 1)

Formerly known as the "Iron-Man" of college/fraternity road trips,
you can imagine how I felt not having an entirely reliable car and being stuck in my small town in Southwest Michigan...it was nothing for me to put 1,000 miles on my old car during a weekend road trip (Saturday/Sunday...no 3 day weekends for me), and at my most awesome (read: brain-dead from too much time in the car), 1,000 miles in 12 hours, and 2,000 in 29 hours.


That's been part of the motivation for fixing up Ulla...I wouldn't be able to survive until I could flat out afford a newer car again.

So, with all of the work that's been done, including the recently acquired tires, it was time to head out for Ulla's inaugural (reborn) road trip, and who better to do it with than my girlfriend, Ally. And when better to do it, than when neither of us has anything to do (right before she gets too busy to do ANYTHING), and where better to go than Northern Michigan?! Well...I can think of other places to go of course, but I was certainly excited nonetheless.

Saturday morning, Ally and I finished loading up Ulla for the weekend, got breakfast, and were on our way, making a brief stop a few miles down the highway to pick up bagels from Panera for Ally's family. The drive up was fairly uneventful, especially south of Clare (the lower Michigan definition of "Up North"). We stopped for gas an Jimmy John's around lunch time, check fluids and tires, and headed back onto the freeway. After some more driving, we hit our first unplanned scenic stop, a rest stop on I-75, just south of Mackinac City. First off, when we pulled into the rest stop to stretch and use the bathroom, a man in a late model Volvo stopped me to say soemthing.

"That's a nice looking car you've got there. I used to have one just like it. I gave it to my son with 140,000 miles on it, and he put another 30,000 on it before selling it. Best car I ever had."

So of course, I took this chance to tell him about restoring her and this being the first major trip, and the new tires the day before and such and such, and I felt proud to be there at that moment. Here I was, next to this 22 year old car that I bought for $500, taking compliments on it. It was certainly a highlight of the weekend.

After Using the restroom, we notice a drive up scenic overlook in the rest area, so we pulled up there, parked Ulla, and get out to look around and take pictures. It was a beautiful sight, and it was only the first of many in the beautiful northern section of the state.

Back on the freeway, we stopped next in Mackinac City for my first true tourist moment. Ally had mentioned a shopping center called Mackinac Crossings, which consisted of the main outdoors outfitter store (like a Cabela's or Gander Mountain), and several smaller shops, including the Made in Michigan store, which had products from around the state, like maple syrup and cherries, and even Oberon, a summer ale from Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI (My area of the state).

As much as this weekend was for Ally to see her mom and get some stuff for school, it was a weekend for us to get away and do pretty much whatever we wanted, and for her to show me around Northern Michigan. So, like I said, I was doing my best to be as much of a tourist as possible, or a "fudgie" as it were (people from lower Michigan that head "North" for fudge-and tourist-y things-, which the northern part of the state is oddly well known for).

My next awesome event (and last for this half of the weekend) was coming up shortly after leaving Mackinac City; crossing the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula. I had crossed the bridge before, New Year's Eve and New Years Day, when bringing Ally to a party, and taking her home to next day, but that hardly counted...I picked her up at night, and took her back in a snow storm. Even if I hadn't been scared to death and wanted to, I couldn't have seen anything.

Heading onto the bridge was an experience, let me tell you. Watching it rise in front of me, and driving onto the roadway...seeing the clean waters and clear skies, beautiful landscape infront of me, the island to the right, the ferry chugging along...I even drove on the metal grated lane, just because I could. I didn't do that for long though, cause it freaked me out.

After crossing the bridge and paying the toll, I did something that was probably not the best idea, but I stopped on the other side to take a picture (first, at top of post). There I was, in the middle of what was still a freeway, around 5pm, stopped to take a picture.

The next hour was vast trees and nearly empty highway, cruising along with the cruise on. We got off at Ally's home town, made our way to her house, and pulled up out front, and Ulla had made it roughly 400 miles straight north, without a single issue.

*note* additional pictures from the trip can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leersobie1986/sets/72157606701337943/

Detour: Car Show

Heading back home from getting new tires, I decided to stop in and see my mother for a few minutes. Too bad for her, My girlfriend (Ally) and I were detained by a Detour sign in the middle of downtown Battle Creek. The detour was around a 2 block section of the street that had a cruise in car show, so, of course, we had to stop. I will have you know though, this was Ally's idea...I just simply had no objections whatsoever.

We parked Ulla in a nearby parking lot and headed down to the street, camera in hand. These are just a couple of pictures we took, but damn was there a lot to see in such a small area.

It was nice to see so many beautiful cars and to share this with my girlfriend, and it was even better to watch her get excited about some of the cars...be it the Dodge Dart Stinger with the bee on the grill that grabbed her attention, the VW Beetle that was "just so cute", or the Jaguar E-Type that she would have fought the owner for in a cage match, she had just as good of a time as I did.

I decided that by next summer, I want to have Ulla to the point where I'm not embarrassed to show her off and drive her up tot he St. Ignace car show. I don't plan on her being a show car, or having her judged, but something that looks and drives nice, and has one hell of a story.

We also decided officially that Ally wants a little eurocar, too...maybe a Saab, maybe a Beamer or a Benz, or even a Volvo, but what she really wants is a VW, maybe a Golf, or a GTI, or a Jetta, or something that strikes her. I'm so proud.

Who knew so many things can be fixed at once?

This morning, I finally was able to get new tires for Ulla. The old ones (first picture) were as bald as a naked mole rat, and were just as worrisome to have around.

Only two of them matched (in make, but not tread), nothing was balanced, and one of the rims had a bend in it. She shook over 55mph, squealed around corners at 10mph, hated stopping, and one of them had to be pumped up every other day to avoid going flat. I'd make jokes about having racing slicks, but i think those would have been safer to drive on.

I've had several estimates over the last month, and no matter what I did, I couldn't find anything that could be my old tire shop back home, run by a friend of the family. Boland Tire of Sturgis, MI was where my last tires came from (paid for by my parents, years ago), so when they gave me a price of $275 (out the door, lifetime rotations, etc) for a Bridgestone made tire, and none of the "discount" places could come close, I went there without hesitation. The money I spent on gas driving an hour to Sturgis still put me under the other estimates, and I felt more comfortable going there.

An hour after I dropped it off, I came back from visiting people I hadn't seen in a while, and my car was already done. After paying the bill and going outside, I found a shiny new set of rubber (second picture), and to my surprise...they fixed my bent rim. It wasn't anything serious, jsut a bent outside lip a couple of inches long, probably from where someone hit a curb, but...they fixed it, and I couldn't even figure out which rim it had been on (until i did...third picture).

Needless to say, when I finish her up and decide to put a set of proper touring tires on Ulla, I'll go back to them, no question.

On my way back home that evening (with my girlfriend riding next to me), we realized something that I knew would happen to an extent, but we never could have imagined the impact these new tires would have. Ulla handled like a new roadster! smooth ride, less road noise, straighter tracking, and most importantly, no more shaking at higher speeds! I drove part way home on a freeway, just to try her out, and the ease of acceleration and top speed was astounding! Never again will I neglect tires. Never.

Finally, Front Speaks

After putting the Pioneer 6x9's in the back, I basically had everything faded to the back to avoid the popping from the front speakers. Last weekend, after a wedding, I headed to Wal*Mart for a late night "dammit, I forgot to pack THAT?" run. While wandering around the automotive section, I decided to look at speakers, and found a badly damaged box of a pair of 5-1/4" Pioneer speakers...box was beaten, but the speakers looked ok, so I tried something out.

I found an employee and asked for a discount for the damaged box.

15% later, I had a new set of speakers to put in the dash.

Practically as soon as I got back the next day from the wedding, I had the speaker grilles out and the old speakers removed...I was in awe of the fact that these speakers were, literally, made of paper...britle, cracked, paper.

After measuring and finagling, I took out my trusty rotary tool and started hacking away at the plastic on the back of the grilles until it was all gone and I had an essentially flat piece of plastic, lined up and rilled a couple of holes, and attached the rather large Pioneer speakers to the grille...it was all I could do to avoid hitting things in the dash with the speakers, but I made them fit. I did have to add a couple of screws that can be seen once they're in teh dash, but they're black screws, so they blend, and i plan to recess them in sometime, just not right now...I'm not terribly worried about it.

After fitting the speakers and reinstalling the grilles, I tested the new and improved stereo, adjsuted the fade, and cranked her up, blaring the local classic rock station for all to hear.

My stereo is now complete (until I decide to run new wiring, and maybe add an amp and sub box), consisting of a Blaupunkt head unit, 2 Pioneer 6x9's, and 2 Pioneer 5-1/4's, and all of the speakers fit the original designs, leaving it visually untouched.

My First Performance Upgrade!

That pile of plastic under the hood where a something less restrictive should be was starting to bother me, especially after reading about the cool custom intakes others have done, the K&N Intakes not made for Ulla, and the Swedish Dynamics intakes that I couldn't justify spending money on at this point when so many other things need work...like the tires...and a lot of other areas.

That said, I went down to the local Auto Zone to spend a few bucks. If I couldn't justify the Swedish Dynamics kit right now (both for lack of money and lack of certainty that it would be worth it), I couldn't see spending the money on a K&N filter for my little experiment. So, I went over to the isle with intake parts for the rice burners, and picked up a black rubber connector/clamp, and a Spectre Cotton Fiber cone filter.

After paying for my elaborate list of parts, I headed back home, pulled Ulla up into the yard under the tree (giving me shade for the next 20 minutes), and started pulling the plastic tub, air horn, and gigantic cylinder air filter from under the bonnet. I still can't believe that the 2 inch wide opening on that pipe went into an air box twice the size of my first fish tank.

Now came the hard part...the black rubber clamp was used to strap the cone filter to the MAF.

Ok, install done.

All in all, i think I still had 5 minutes of shade by time I started Ulla back up.

I'm not going to lie, more than anything, I feel cool for doing this. It's neat to look at when you open her up and I got rid of a fair deal of plastic under the bonnet. That said, I have noticed some improvement in performance. The new intake (loose term for "filter on throttle") is significantly less restrictive, and allows itself to be considered a "cold air" type. From what I understand, More Air = Better. Also, even though I don't have the added benefit of hearing neat sounds from a turbo through the filter, there is a decidedly different sound from the engine now. Not better, not worse, just different, and I like different.

Even after a couple of weeks now (remember, I don't always type these when I do the work), I haven't noticed any problems with the intake, and nothing has shifted since I installed it. One day, I may go for the Swedish Dynamics kit, but for now, my $20 Spectre "kit" is all I need, and still looks jsut as impressive when I open the hood as the day I put it in.

WD-40 is a fantastic product

I've known this for years from my father, but WD-40 is awesome.

A healthy dose over pretty much everything makes things move/work better.

Switches, keys, connectors, anything.

On a cold winter in August.

The most frustrating part of fixing up the engine was when I changed the AIC valve and replaced the bolt on the throttle, she developed a new problem. When I would turn her over after the engine cooling, she would hunt and stall idle extremely rough for a honest 15 minutes, or a good 5 rough minutes of low stress driving, before finally warming up and being friendly. It's like having another me without my morning coffee.

Since, I had decided to replace a number of parts anyway, I found a MAF sensor on eBay and purchased it (also came with a Jetronic box from an '86 SPG) for $20, figuring that if nothing else, I'd have a newer one on the engine. Turns out, it seems that's exactly what I needed for my little warm up issue. I kept an eye on it for the next day, seeing how Ulla responded to cold starts, warm starts, starting up after going into the store...no problems. Now, after sitting overnight, she takes a mere minute to warm up and be ready to go, and I couldn't be happier.

On a personal note, the eBay user I bought the MAf from has been an wealthspring of knowledge and parts for me, and I'm working on purchasing a shipment of parts from him for my baby. I cannot recommend eBay user 1redaero enough.

My girlfriend, the gearhead (hurr)

I took my girlfriend out in a dirt lot today with Ulla to teach her to drive stick with the worst of expectations. Yelling, crying, grinding (and that's just from me!)...

But, I was pleasantly surprised. She can drive almost (ALMOST) as well as I could when I brought Ulla home.

Yay, Ally.

Saggypants McHeadliner

Shortly after picking up Ulla, I tired of the sagging headliner fabric blocking parts of the rear view mirror and the passengers complaining for lack of headroom...they had plenty of other things to complain/worry about at that time anyway...so I took down some of the loose fabric, behind the sunroof area. No orange dust on my head!

Replacing the headliner has not been a priority, but I'm planning on the near future now.

But, that's not the point of this post.

The headliner fabric on the sunroof was really starting to bother me. If the sunroof is closed, it sits on my head, and I don't like that, so I removed that, too. Thankfully it came down easily, and with minimal orange dust. What I found under it though was pretty much awesome (see pic).

The condition that the sunroof is in underneath of the fabric was pristine, and has this odd, utilitarian look to it. I kinda like it, and so do other people. It reminds me of a number of early 1980's BMW's that I've seen over the years. I don't know if an un-upholstered sunroof was an option, or just a popular thing to do among the community, but I'm taking it for my own and leaving the fabric off. I'm taking the sunroof out to clean it up some and re-seal it so it stops rattling, but other than that, that's it, no fabric. My first customization instead of just restoaration.

The first thing that says she's "my car."

Cheapest, and best, repair EVER!

Never have I been happier for the corner hardware store than I was today.

I've been having trouble with a creepy/climbing idle since I replaced the AIC valve, and been getting very frustrated. I've flushed and cleaned the AIC valve with carb cleaner and WD-40, the throttle plate, throttle sensor, dashpot, and any number of other thing sI thought it could have been.

After adjusting the idle manualy every time I run the car, it finally dawned on me...I'm a freakin genius.

The screw that controls the base idle on the throttle was missing the two nuts that lock it in place. Every time I drive Ulla, the screw works it's way in from the vibrations of the car.

Trip to the hardware stor and 33 cents later, I have a new bolt and 2 nuts holding it in place, and she's been idling jsut fine since.

She's got a couple of months on me

I finally got around to looking at the door tag...

We've joked since I bought her that Ulla and I are the same age.

It's finally official, Ulla is older than I am by a few months...she was built in February '86, and I wasn't born until August, so I guess that means she's the older woman.

It's the simple things that show your pride.

I almost forgot to mention this, but the day before the gas door came in, I got my new keychain in the mail, another eBay purchase.

Back when I was little, my father always had one of those leather keychains with the metal hanging part, and the enameled logo on them, for every car we had owned. He kept them to remember where he came from, and how much work it took to move up from 30 year old rusted pickups, to the rebuilt Monte Carlo, the couple model years back work truck, and finally, the first new car my parents ever owned.

So, when I saw this little gem on eBay, with vintage Saab airplane logo, I knew that this was something to pick up.

I'll never forget the time I spend every day working on Ulla, and I'll never forget how much work and sacrifice my parents went through over the years to get to where they are today.

Finally, better fuel economy than my old 350 V8

Another eBay purchased showed up in the mail today, just before I left for the day, and I couldn't have been happier.

My new to me used AIC valve arrived, and I didn't even bother to go home to put it under the bonnet. I did it in the post office parking lot.

What can I say, this was important and I was excited...also, it's a pretty easy install.

First, let me tell you about the last owner. Aside from obviously buying the car as a cheap beater, he didn't care for it and had no concern with doing things right. He had bought a new AIC valve from a salvage yard, but never bothered to check the numbers, and as it turns, out, they did not match. So now, I have an extra valve that I don't need...expect to see it on eBay soon.

After bolting down the hose clamps and hooking up the connector, and hooking the MAF sensor back up, I turned her over and had my first "AHHHHhhhhhhhh" moment (sorry, that was supposed to be a *sigh*).

For the first time since driving her home, she was purring like a kitten, running at the proper air/fuel mix, and the check engine light was off.

This was amazing. The check engine light was off. Ulla was no longer broken.

Finally, she was a really car. Idling softly, not popping and whining. I had throttle response, I could feather it, I could shift between gears smoothly, and I couldn't watch the damn fuel gauge go down while I was driving.

Even without a working odometer, I was able to keep a general idea of miles driven and MPG being churned out. My best figure was about 18 in town and low 20's highway. That's not good...I've driven full sized pickups with that kind of mileage.

We'll see what kind of mileage I get now that she isn't struggling to stay running anymore as it is.

Cost of AIC Valve: $25

Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey

Never before have I been more thankful to be working on my car in the privacy of my own driveway.

My latest eBay miracle was finding a mint condition fuel door from a black "classic" 900. So, when my new gas door showed up in the mail, I couldn't have been happier for something so simple that would make Ulla look so nice.

Apparently, the fuel door is one of the worst offending section of the classic 900 for rust, but I have a feeling mine was pretty bad, even for rusted gas doors in general.

With the spring and hinge intact and in great shape, this would be nothing more than removing 2 screws, and putting them back in with the new door.

If only I could remember the old adage recalling the direction to turn the damn handle.

After nearly 20 minutes of turning and gripping and swearing, I finally smartened up and got the screws out and put the new door on, easy as I thought it should be.

After the door, this was the worst looking aspect of the car, even worse than the cracked and taped lenses on the tail light.

Cost of gas door: $18

I bought this gas door on eBay from Matthews Foreign Car Parts of Birmingham, AL.

Junk in the Trunk

I honestly can't remember a time when my car/SUV/truck wasn't full of stuff.

Back in high school, i kept a collection of instruments in my truck for helping with beginning orchestra at the elementary and middle schools, often buried under the tower of Mtn. Dew bottles in the back seat. When I got the SUV early in college, that became my new storage unit and trash bin. I knew I could move an entire jazz band's worth of people and instruments in my little Dodge Dakota, but the SUV could hold 13 people at 3AM going out for food without unpacking the back end...

I feel like I was kinda stupid back then, but then I realize that was only a couple of years ago.

I've been trying to keep the back seats/interior clean on this little 900 so she always looks half way decent. Unfortunately, that means the trunk is always packed, but the things I can fit in there are amazing! I wish I had a picture to prove it right now, but a couple of months ago I was playing in several ensembles at once, and had stored in the trunk:

A bass guitar, in oversived case
An Alto sax
A clarinet
A flute
A bassoon
A bass amplifier
Assorted spare parts for Ulla.

Now that I'm not playing in everything, you'd think the trunk would be empty, but no. Now, It's full of more spare parts, and just extra crap I don't bother to move.

I love the storage in this car.

My poor Haynes manual

When I first tried to work on the brakes myself, thinking it was just pads, I bought a Haynes repair manual (no where near as complete as the Bentley from what I hear, but useful for the inclined) from the shop downtown.

Since that day, my poor manual has gone through hell.

I've forgotten it sitting in the driveway and backed over it.

I've wiped my oily hands on it, on more than one occasion, and more than one page.

It's been blown off the car roof by wind. Right after that, it was caught by a few pages in the middle, almost tearing out the section on manual transmissions.

And, on a particularly abusive evening while performing Ulla's first oil change in my driveway, my manual was covered in mud as the rain poured off of the bonnet onto the ground/manual/dirt.

This manual has so far served me well and deserves to be recognized.

Cost of manual: $15

Putting the spark back into life

Back when I bought the battery, I decided to pick up a new set of spark plugs, and then promptly forgot about them for a week. The cables looked good, so I didn't bother with those, but as bad as the oil was when I changed it, I figured the plugs had to be in need of a change.

Keeping with my attitude of going original, I went for Bosch Platinum spark plugs, because so far, Bosch=Saab Original Equipment, and even on the off chance that it isn't, Bosch still=quality parts, so no worries there.

Thankfully, I found a plug spanner in with the rachet set, so I didn't need to buy one of those, but I removed the valve cover on the engine and removed and replaced the plugs one by one.

Something I found out in this process was that:

a)the old plugs were Bosch Platinum, which gives me hope that previous owners cared for Ulla and,
b)the old plugs weren't that old, which added to the hope that previous owners gave a damn for regular maintenance.

It wasn't a huge improvement, but after swapping out the plugs, she purred a bit more, and fired right up.

Cost of Plugs: about $10

First Post!!

This is my first post, but I will be back dating posts to give the general timeline of this project.

Backdated posts will be written as if I'm looking back, but posts after this one will be me writing about what I'm DOING, not what I DID.

I bought Ulla, my 1986 Saab 900S in April 2008 for $500. I found an ad on Craigslist just minutes after it was posted, drove an hour up to look at it, talked the owner down from $800, got the title, and drove home at 11pm.

Aside from a 15-minute lesson in a dirt lot, this was the first time I had ever driven a manual transmission.

Since that night, I've learned a lot about Saab, the 900, eBay, and the mechanic down the road.

I couldn't be happier.

Keeping a Binder and funding the restoration

I've decided to keep a binder of everything that I have done to, or do on Ulla.

Right now, all of the receipts are in a folder, but I think I'm going to put them in a 3-ring binder to keep track of everything.

It'll be nice to know where my money has gone.

Also, I use the term "restoration" lightly, as I'm not doing anything to make her a show car, just an awesome daily driver. This is my only car, so I can't treat her with kid gloves, but I can take care of her, and put life back into this sedan.

I started selling some of my stuff on eBay that I don't need, which is where the money for this has been coming from, while I look for a career.

The things you can do with extra paint - Touch-Up Special!

This is the "Ulla Dance Again" Touch-Up Special!

Something I didn't mention way back when on the posts about replacing the door was what I did when I got bored literally watching paint dry.

I actually had to buy a second can of black paint because of this, and had to paint the door again the second day, because I ran out the first night. I went around the car with the can of paint and touched up places on the body that were rusting or had been chipped, etc. Partly to make everything look a little nicer until I get around to covering my car in Bondo (I know, not the right way, but an ok way), and also to keep the rust from getting worse, at least as quickly.

The rust on the Bonnet, undersides of the doors, and the gas door all got painted, as well as inside the bonnet, along edges that were chipped, and any other black spot on the car that looked less than it's best.

This is also when I borke out the chrome paint on my first non-window trim application.

My poor grille was cracked on one side, beaten by weather, bugs, rocks, sticks, etc, and generally looked like hell, which you can see in the first picture.

So, I put some cardboard behind it, taped off the headlights, and painted the grille with the chrome paint. (see second picture)

This is arguably the most drastic change to the appearance of the car with relation to the relative simplicity of it. It looks SO much better...a friend of mine said "It looks factory now. Like, you bought a well kept 1986, not a $500 something or other." Even though it still has the crack on the left and is clearly damaged, it looks better, and makes the entire front of the car look better, and now that the door has been fixed, the entire car looks better.

Canned Chrome (Door part 2)

I finished installing the door after it had started getting dark, and I was able to put my burgundy door panel back ob the new door...aside from the black window trim and door handle, it looks like it came with the car...

...now to make it look like it came with the car.

When I was out to buy my paint for the door, I saw another can on the shelf that I thought I could do some good with. I bought a can of chrome spray paint.

As night was falling, I was racing the sunset to tape off the door before I couldn't see to do it. I started with the handle, taped it off, and painted it to test the chrome paint. It's no mirror finish of course, but it looks pretty good, and it can be wax and shined. At least it matches the rest of the car now. And with that test out of the way, I taped off the window.

I finished just as the sun was leaving completely, but I had enough orange street lamp light to pain the window. It looked wonderful in the darkness, and looked ok in the morning. Now that it's cured though, it looks just fine, and matches the rest of the windows.

I think I'm going to use the rest of the chrome paint around the windshield and back window trims, too. They've gotten worn and grungy looking over the years, and I think they were chrome originally, so it'll look better than nothing.

I do plan on doing this or having it done right later on (all of the window trims I'm painting), but for now, it looks decent and protects it, too.

Cost of Chrome paint: $5

"Hey, there's a semi outside. I think it's for you." (Door part 1)

Probably the most excitement my street has seen in quite awhile was the semi truck that pulled up out front of my house to unload a shipping crate onto my front porch.

Inside was a passenger rear door from a 1993 Saab 900 sedan, blue.

It was gorgeous. Except for the Digimon sticker on the window.

The door was purchased on eBay from A & C Auto Parts and Wrecking Co, Cleveland, OH for $50, plus $160 freight shipped. They were parting out the whole car, and I had hoped to buy some other parts from them, but I didn't have the extra cash at the time. To be funny, I almost had the door shipped to my girlfriend at her campus post office. If it didn't have to be signed for, I would have, but...no such luck. This is the first of many eBay purchases for Ulla.

I went out right after it showed up and bought high gloss black spray paint and taped off the door with painter's tape and newspapers, took it outside, put it over a couple of saw horses and painted it, and left it to dry over night.

The next morning, I painted it again and then moved it into the sun to "bake."

After the door dried, I went for it...I cut the wires leading into the badly smashed up door on Ulla, unbolted the hinges, and yanked it off...my poor car, so sad. The two doors next to each other was bitter-sweet since the old door was smashed and rusted out, but the paint was still glossy and the trims were chrome. The new door was mostly rust free and had not a single dent, but the paint obviously didn't have the shine to it that the rest of the car had, and the trims were black. Oh well...that can all be fixed.

With the old door out of the way, I held the door off the ground with a floor jack, and used that to help get the door in place, but of course it can't be that easy. I hit the lower hinge and closed it.

Do you know how hard it is to open a strong hinge with no weight on it? It's hard. And it hurts when your hand gets snapped back in it...twice.

After getting the hinge back open, I moved the door into place and with the luck to end all luck, I was able to line everything up to get the bolts started into the hinges. Then it was just a matter of adjusting the hinges so the latch plate would catch without bashing into anything.

As soon as the door would open and close, I remembered there was no wiring hooked up, so I hooked up the old wires to the new simply by matching colors. As it turns out, this didn't work as I had hoped...but mostly. Everything worked just fine except for one thing.

The window switch was backwards.

Aside from the fact that it's different from every other window, it's really only a minor annoyance, not something that's actually a problem. I have yet to fix it.

Cost of Paint: $5

Cost of door: $50 (plus$160 shipping...)

Battery

The previous owner of Ulla only had her for a couple of months (which should have been my clue that there was more than a little work to be done on her), and never had anything done, except for reattaching a hanging exhaust (more on that whenever I get to doing exhaust work). One thing I noticed was the battery, which was corroded and old and looked kinda sickly, it had markings on it from a salvage yard.

My battery was put into the car USED.

Honestly, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that an essential part of the car, you know, a good battery? They aren't that expensive. $50 for a cheap one from Meijer. I know, I put one of those in my grandmother's car. Worked just fine.

While I was out one day, I stopped at the local Autozone for a new one. I brought it in and set it on the counter, told them the year/make/model/engine of my car, received the usual odd look for owning a Saab, and then received another odd look.

The battery wasn't even the right one for the car. It's not like it's makes a huge difference really about the terminals being inset or sticking off the top, or what have you, but the one in Ulla was a significantly lower cranking amp than was recommended.

Whatever.

I bought a new Duralast battery (not what I really wanted, but not bad I suppose), and put her in in the parking lot before I left.

Looks nice and shiny under the bonnet, and she starts right up every time.

Cost of Battery: $85

Headunit

A couple of years ago I bought a nice Blaupunkt head unit for my last car.

I'd been thinking about putting it in Ulla since the day I brought her home, and I finally got around to doing it...because I finally got the Clarion unit OUT of the dash using a butter knife.

There was no removal tool, and I wasn't going to wait for one to come in the mail.

I cut the wiring harness from my old car from the Blaupunkt harness, cut out the Claion from the dash, and hoped to God I could gook the wires up to the Saab wiring. Thankfully, my car came with all of the original manuals, including the audio manual, with a wiring diagram.

After hooking everything up, i found out that the metal sleeve from the Clarion was about 1mm too small (go figure) for mine new stereo to fit, so i just took out the sleeve and fit it in the dash, and thankfully it set in there just fine, flush with the dash.

When I started her up to test the radio, everything worked great, and sounded fantastic. One of my favorite features of this radio though is the ability to run without the car being keyed on, meaning I can use it without having any other accessory systems on.

And a wrench that doesn't fit.

Since I have no idea how long the fluids have been in this car, it's probably a good idea to drain them all and replace them. the transmission was drained and refilled when the clutch was done, and the brake fluid was flushed when the front brakes were replaced.

Obviously, the most important thing now is an oil change.

I picked up one of the oil change kits (5 quarts oil and a filter) from Autozone for $15, and I got a Bosch oil filter (I'm finding that I like putting Bosch into Ulla, both because that's what came originally, and it's high quality) and Valvoline Max Life Synthetic Blend motor oil. It's recommended for high mileage engines, and I've been a fan of symthetic blend for a while anyway.

I also picked up one of those oil collection trays to drain my oil into, but that ended up doing more harm than anything.

I crawled under the engine compartment and drained the oil. My Haynes manual was down there with me to make sure I pulled the right drain plug, and not the transmission oil basin. I let it drain into the tray while I went topside to fit the filter wrench so that I could remove the old filter (blue, printed SAAB on the side...any ideas how old this filter was, or where it came from? Dealer?). The wrench was for a much larger filter, and therefore, did not fit.

It took double sided tape and a strip of roofing shingle to make it fit to remove the old filter.

After I knew the wrench would fit, I crawled back under to check on how it was draining, and oil was running out of the cap on the side of the tray, that I checked 3 times. All in all, about a quart and a half of oil spilled right into my lawn and driveway. I sprayed the drive down afterwards to disperse the oil, but I'm still not happy about dumping that much into the soil.

By this point, the dark clouds overhead have gotten darker, and have started to rain on me. Since I'd already drained the oil, there was no way I was stopping now. So, with the hood propped at a 45 degree angle, and 2 umbrellas over the rest of the engine compartment, and a beach towel over my head, I trudged on.

Next, removed the old filter, wiped everything down, oiled the filter seal, and installed the new filter. Crawled under, replaced the drain plug. Filled her with oil, let everything drain in, then started her up.

All in all, a job mostly well done, and the first time for me ever changing my oil entirely by myself...I know, I'm 21, this shouldn't be anything special, but it is. But I was wet.

Cost of Filter and Oil: $15

Give me a brake...

When I bought her, I knew Ulla needed brake pads, because they were worn and giving out. I bought a set of Duralast pads from Autozone and attempted to replace them myself.

Normally, pads would be an easy, quick thing to do, but I couldn't figure out how to get the calipers to release, so as I take after my parents, I did what they do when they buy a new car: I ordered a Haynes repair manual.

Manual came in the next morning, but try as I mgith, I still couldn't get them to release, so down the street I go to the mechanic who did my clutch.

First estimate for pads and rotors (special order, of course): $300.

Dropped her off, got a resounding "that's a neat little car" from the guys at the shop, got a call the next day saying I needed calipers (that's what I get for not knowing more aobut the car when I bought it).

Second Estimate for pads, rotors, calipers (rebuilt, special order, etc): $875.

Fine. Expensive and it took me some time to get the money around, but I decided that this would be a decent car after all of this, so I had it done.

Finally, after the 4th of July weekend, they tell me that it'll be done later that day, and it isn't. Call from them the next morning goes something like this:

"You need a master cylinder"

"How much?"

"Another $260 (or something like that)"

"Go ahead"

I finally got Ulla back, working, running, driving, for about $1200, but entirely worth it. By this point, I had decided to keep her around for a good long time and fix her up. As my mother put it, soon enough I'll have a brand new 1986 Saab 900.

Front Brakes: $1200

Total to date: $2425

Rear Speaks

I remember growing up with the cars and trucks my parents had...the one thing that was NEVER lacking was the sound system. The floor boards may have been rusted through in our '78 Ford pickup, but that just meant we had more room underneath of the seats to attach the speakers.
Needless to say, the two factory speakers in the back window and the broken speakers in the dash were not cutting it. I found a couple of Pioneer 6x9 speakers at a pawn shop for $15 to replace the two in the back window.
Fitting them under the grilles for the factory speakers was a chore. I ended up removing to of the four posts that the speakers bolted to to hold them up under the back window ledge. After that, the Pioneers set nicely under the grilles, and aren't moving.

Run into the Clarion tape deck (not the factory unit), they sounded better....almost...good.

I think I bork it...

Please forgive the Swedish Chef jokes that may occur from time to time.

It took me a couple of days to get plates and insurance purchased, but then she was on the road!

For a day.

I drove her over to pick up my girlfriend, with the engine struggling the whole time. At the time, I thought the engine was just idling high. The AIC valve was bad when I got it, and the engine was revving high and such...

Turns out I was burning through what little was left of the clutch. The weak clutch (that I couldn't recognize when I bought it, knowing nothing of them) coupled with my inexperience with driving a manual transmission, burnt the clutch right down to nothing.

After having a friend help me get it back home (gotta love trucks and tow chains), I spent the next day calling every shop in town asking if anyone could work on a Saab...
I found ONE shop out of 10, including "European" mechanics, who could only work on BMW's and Mercedes'.

After raising the money for the new clutch (bye bye, piccolo), I was back on the road. Keep n mind, at this point, I was still just trying to drive something, not restore it. A hefty bill was a tough one to swallow, since it cost more than the car itself.

New Clutch: $725

Total to date: $1225.

Special note: Shops and suppliers that I do business that do right by me will be mentioned here. They deserve the boost for the fine work they do.

Albion Muffler and Brake did my clutch in Albion, MI and can be reached at 517-269-9170

Ulla

I suppose I should explain the name "Ulla"

The novelty of owning a Swedish car could not go without being named, and of course a Swedish name had to be chosen. Having watched "The Producers" with some friends that week, my girlfriend suggested Ulla, after the lead female role of the show.

There's a line from a song in the show that says "Remember when Ulla dance? Ulla dance again!"

I may not have been around for her heyday, but I can give Ulla a chance to dance for another generation!

I need a car...

I just got rid of one loan I couldn't afford...

...I couldn't afford to plate, insure, or keep gas in the '95 Mercury I bought from my grandmother. I'm going to be out of college, broke, and no income.

So, Monday morning, I sold the Mercury to a stripper (yup) and set out to buy a new car by the end of the day with 3 things in place:

1)Cheap
2)Fuel Economy
3)Cheap (also something cool would be nice)

Craigslist, here I come!

After spending the day emailing aobut several cars and hitting a lot of dead ends (or dead cars), I finally spoke to someone with a cheap car that "ran and drove." Two catches...it was a manual (never driven one), and I'd basically never heard of it. It was a Saab.

Wikipedia, Google Images, Youtube: Jackpot! I think watching the Saab stunt driving team commercials from the 80's was what did it for me.

Not only was it a unique car that no one I know has ever heard of, it was (supposedly) in good shape! For an '86 anything to be in decent shape in Michigan was something special itself.

Long story short though, I drove an hour to see it, at night. Liked it, despite the smashed in passenger rear door. Talked the guy down from $800. Bought it and drove home.

This is what she looked like after the first wash in my driveway.

Total spent to date: $500.