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In part 1 we got John K’s request about upgrading his Viggen and covered some of the deficiencies of the vehicle as well as one of the essential upgrades to condier – the Viggen Rescue Kit.
In part 2 we look at a few other handling improvements so you can put all that power down in a more controlled manner.
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Springs and Dampers
I had the Koni yellow adjustable dampers in my Viggen and I can highly recommend them.
If you call your local suspension specialist here in Australia, they’ll tell you that Koni don’t sell dampers for the Viggen or Aero. Garbage. They just don’t sell them in Australia. Koni have had some trouble with them here so they’ve withdrawn them from the lineup and you have to get them from one of the previously listed parts sellers.
I never had any trouble with mine and the adjustability is great if you like driving in different conditions and having the car being set up for those conditions. The dampers adjust via a little handle that Koni supply and it only takes a few minutes to adjust all four of them.
I’ve never changed my springs but I’ve heard good things about Eibach springs and I’m considering lowering my Monte 30mm with a set of Eibachs from Elkparts. These will work fine on the Monte Carlo, though they may not lower the Viggen.
A Viggen can be lowered, however, but with the already low front bumper you’re asking for scuffing trouble. That didn’t put Jeff B in Melbourne off the idea, though, as he’s lowered his Viggen down onto its guts. It can be done.
Polyurethane Bushes
I never got around to fitting these to my own Viggen so I don’t know which bushes take priority or how well they work. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them, though.
I’ll have to defer to more experienced heads than mine on this one.
Rear Anti-roll Bar
Again, My time with the Viggen was cut short before I could install a rear anti-roll bar. It’s high on my list of priorities for the Monte Carlo, though. I drove Richo’s Viggen with an ARB installed and it really did flatten out the corners nicely.
The rear ARB gives the back end a lot of stability and the driver a lot of confidence coming out of corners (just don’t get too confident, eh?). They’re inexpensive, apparently easy to install and very, very effective.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Bernard
// Jan 12, 2009 at 12:57 am
Swade,
The rear ARB increases the torsional stiffness in the rear which, oddly enough, decreases rear grip. This has the knock-on effect of increasing front grip, both proportionally (relative to the rear), and absolutely. The plus side is that it makes the car more neutral. The down side is that the rear is more likely to step-out if you lift in the middle of a corner.
It’s very important that you have good tyres and dampers if you go for the rear ARB. Thankfully, the stock Saab dampers are of very high quality and last basically forever (300K+). Japanese dampers tend to be clapped-out within the first 100K.
I wouldn’t combine a bigger rear ARB along with a stiffer/lower suspension on a road car. That’s just asking for trouble. Any mid-corner bump will turn your car into a frisbee (unless you live in California where the roads are perfect and the traffic jams endless).
Ultra-stiff cars look good in photographs, but on real roads (where any bump is immediately followed by a small oil slick) you want a car with decent suspension travel that it can keep its tyres on the road.
2 Swade
// Jan 12, 2009 at 5:28 am
I wish those Saab dampers lasted forever. I replaced the ones in my Viggen after a catastrophic failure of the LHF damper at around 75K. The dampers in my Monte are on their way out now at 136K. They’re OK when you start driving but after around 20 kilometers they tire and start making noises when you go over bumps.
As mentioned in a later instalment it’s all about getting the balance right.
3 ColorCode252
// Jan 12, 2009 at 9:16 am
Bernard,
“unless you live in California where the roads are perfect and the traffic jams endless”
In my neck of the woods, the freeway system, at rush hour, is like a long queue to gas a station for a fill-up! Although the traffic and the quality of the road gets better after you drive pass Disneyland, one of the blessings of the Magic Kingdom.
4 Joe Lobo
// Jan 12, 2009 at 9:38 am
Swade, I would consider going as far as 25mm only as with time the springs and shocks do settle. You have my grey Aero as example that looked awesome, not as low and probably hard as Jeff’s but had a very reasonable solid ride without ending up with your back in pain. I got a complete out of the box Eibach set from PFS as one item. My understanding is that this is no longer available as one part but you can still source it as separate components ie shocks and springs. You can ask Hawkeye, Brendon, PT and even you had a ride in it and it was very reasonable. You don’t want to have a car that looks awesome and handles very well but that is as hard a kitchen bench top that hurts every time you hop in it !!!
5 Aussielars
// Jan 13, 2009 at 10:18 pm
This posting inspired me to finally get a sub-frame brace for my Viggen…actually, this and a cracked bulkhead which led to cracked spot welds on the stiffener plate between the floor pan and the bulkhead. By the way, I would recommend every one who owns a NG900 or 9-3 to get the bulkhead checked by a dealer. Here in Australia, it’s free and the bulkhead repair is covered by the warranty.
Anyway, I just fabricated a two-point sub-frame brace (out of 25×25x3mm RHS) in spite of my initial skepticism about the effectiveness of a two-point braced as opposed to a six-point one. I bolted the brace on this afternoon and took the car out for a severe spin. I was able to floor it going around corners without having to hang on to the steering wheel with white knuckles on the exit. The car now comes out of corners in a much straighter line during acceleration. The improvement in its handling was absolutely mind-boggling!!! And all it cost me was AU$48.48 for 6.5m of RHS and two high tensile M12 bolts and nuts. I even had 5.8 meters of RHS left over.
6 sailpeter
// Mar 13, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Inspired by this site I have at last done something about the handling on my 1999 Monte Carlo Yellow Viggen Coupe. I have owned her since 2000 so it could be about time.
Car is std apart from Abbott Racing engine upgrade to 265 BHP. Over time the handling has deteriorated – or I have got less tolerant of the wandering about esp when under heavy braking. I went for a six point front sub frame brace. Avail here in UK in S/S — looks very smart if you get down low enough. This despite being sceptical it could work. I am an engineer and the frame looks like it is pretty solid and I could not see the suspension pick up points moving about much. I was wrong. The effect is remarkable even at slow speeds in st line the car feels better. Under heavy braking or acceleration she is far better controlled than before. V Highly recommended and fitting reasonably easy. Now have pair of poly bushes (’Powerflex’) for the rear beam sitting on my desk awaiting fitting. Shows how impressed I was with the brace since these look like a serious bit of work to install ! Any comment on these and tips on fitting welcome.