I never thought I’d see the words Saab and monster and truck in the same sentence, let alone all running together. But here we are. Maybe it’s not a true monster truck, but it certainly looks capable of traversing some rugged terrain.

The things people do with their Saabs, eh? Better than the Saab Junkyard, I guess.

I hope someone gets some video of this in action. I’d love to see it.

Hmmmm. V4 or two stroke?

Thanks Per H!

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OK, it’s not my subframe brace, exactly. It’s Lars’ own subframe brace. But shortly after making this one, he made one up for me, too. It arrived in the mail yesterday and will go on to the Monte soon.

So, introductions first.

The man in question is a Swede now living in Oz. He goes by the geographically descriptive name of AussieLars. This is his Viggen:

And this link will take you to his Flickr account, where there’s more shots of his Viggen as well as photos of Lars fabricating this subframe brace.

These braces are sold by various tuning companies. They’re designed to reduce flex at the front end by stiffening up the chassis. Abbott Racing sell a similar 2-point brace as part of the Viggen Rescue Kit, whereas Nick Taliaferro at Genuine Saab went all-out and designed a six point brace. Lars studied these, and seeing as he’s pretty handy with a welder, he decided to make his own.

Here it is, in the raw. The scoop in the middle is to allow for the exhaust system to pass by without incident.

This is the finished product, painted black…..

And a photo from underneath Lars’ Viggen with the brace in place. There’s no drilling as the holes are already there. Just pop the car up on ramps and bolt it in. Lars made his own ramps, too, by the way. They’re extra long ones, custom made to cope with the Viggen’s low front end.

Click here to see all the photos in-between those ones. Lars photographed all the major points of the manufacturing process and they’re right there at his Flickr account.

He’s had his brace installed in his Viggen for a few weeks now and has noticed a marked improvement in the handling of the car. I’m hoing to get a chance to instal mine over the weekend, though we have family visiting at the moment so time’s kinda hard to come by this week (hence the rarity of posts in the last few days, and me writing about subframe braces at 12.45am).

Lars is based here in Australia and if any Aussies are interested in getting one of these made up, just shoot me an email and I’ll pass on Lars’ contact details.

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I featured a heavily customised Saab convertible a few days ago and I think it’s fair to say that it drew it’s fair share of negativity in comments. Somewhat unwarranted, I think.

But just to prove that that’s not the only heavily customised Saab doing the rounds, I’d like to draw your attention to Golfhunter’s Flickr account, which has recently been updated with a bevy of heavily customised Saabs, the images all coming from a Swedish Saab club website.

Here’s a couple of samples:

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Like them or loathe them, people love to play with their Saabs!

The following article was translated and provided by my good T-shirt designing mate from Hungary – Ivan.

The article was originally written by Ákos Égő, the chairman of the Hungarian Saab 900 Club, and it was orginally published in an online magazine called Vezess.

You can find more photos of this unique Saab convertible here. I can highly recommend looking through this absolutely fascinating gallery.

My thanks to Ivan for the translation, and to Rickard for producing such a unique vehicle. Such vehicles are not for everyone, but like the article says; even if it’s not your cup of tea, you’ve got to admire the work that’s gone into it. Rickard’s definitely one hardcore Saab enthusiast. I tip my hat to you, sir!

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Sweden is known for its famous export products like Roxette, ABBA, IKEA, Absolut Vodka, Zlatan Ibrahimovics, Volvo and of course, SAAB. Here we have an extreme rebuild of a cabrio from the last one on that list.

Asele is a small, quite northern town, 1300 km from the ports arriving by ferry. It is located at the same latitude as Alaska so don’t be surprised that the locals build some unusal cars in their garage during those long winter nights. Swedish car and bike manufacturing is famous worldwide, moreover there is even a special “swedish chopper” style among motorbikes.

Rickard lives in the abovementioned town and created a very special car. When I first saw the pictures I could not decide whether I liked it or not. After getting familiar with the details my appreciation has risen.

I’m mad about the old 900 Convertible but was suspicious about this car. I quickly realized that it’s not a 900 – it’s a 99 going by the photos! There was no factory convertible 99 model, however. Its base is the same as the C900 but the front is shorter, the suspension and steering is quite different. The body is more solid but it has less options than 900. As Rickard said: “I sacrificed a 1969 Saab 99 for a more enjoyable life.” He did radical changes on the body by the intense usage of a grinder on steel.

[Read the rest of this entry →]

In earlier instalments we covered the following:

Part 1 – the 9-3 and some of it’s deficiencies, and the Viggen Rescue Kit
Part 2 – suspension mods so you can control the power
Part 3 – intake and exhaust

Now, in this final instalment, I’ll look at getting the big power boost via ECU.

I’ve also included a number of links to the various tuning and parts companies that have been mentioned throughout this series.

Software = grunt!

And so we end up at the place where a lot of people start – the engine control unit, or ECU.

Saab 9-3 Viggens and Aeros use Saab’s own engine management software – Trionic7. Like all manufacturers, they set their engine software to the lowest common demoninator. They have to assume that the owner is going to follow the recommended oil change schedule rather than more frequent changes. They have to assume that the owner is going to buy a cheaper grade of fuel.

In short, the car is set up for Joe Average, but is capable of a lot more – and this is where tuning software comes in.

[Read the rest of this entry →]

In part 1 of this series, we looked at the Viggen’s problems and one of the initial solutions in the Viggen rescue kit.

In part 2, we looked at other suspension components that can be upgraded and give you much better control over the power your car can unleash.

The components in those first to parts comprise a pretty fair list and it’s not a cheap one to fulfil.

But if you do the engine upgrades before you do this stuff – or the essential bits, at least – then you’ll end up with a car that goes like crazy, but rarely in a straight line and many of the changes in direction won’t be intentional.

So with that done, it’s on to the fun bits under the hood….

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Again, it’s worthwhile getting your engine ready to make the most of the performance modifications you want to make. You can get a software upgrade straight away, but you’ll get a heap more out of it if you upgrade some of your hardware first.

Let’s start with some better breathing…..

Inhale – getting the air in

The key to getting more power out of you engine is getting more air into your engine. It’s not just the rate you can push the air in, either. The temperature matters, too. The colder the air, the denser it is, and therefore greater in volume.

The first step is to get a free flowing (but good) air intake. These have the advantage of allowing a lot of air in and if it’s a good unit, it’ll still perform its finltration duties properly as well. Because a Saab’s turbocharger generates so much heat, your air intake should come equipped with a heat shield to keep the air as cool as possible. You should also try and provide a cold air feed.

I fitted a big intake pipe to my Viggen the day before my crash and for a day, at least, I enjoyed some really free breathing and some slightly increased output. The pipe is quite a bit wider than Saab’s standard pipe and therefore, is capable of delivering a lot more air. The intake pipe fits between your air mass meter and your turbo inlet and took Matt the Fudgepacker about an hour to fit.

[Read the rest of this entry →]

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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Two hours and 2,500 words later, I’ve decided to break this up into a few parts.

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I got an email from John K last week asking what might be the best path to take to upgrade his MY2000 Saab 9-3. Not just any Saab, 9-3, either. John was the guy who ended up buying the black 9-3 Viggen 5-door that I was looking at in Sydney, just before Christmas.

John writes:

I understand you owned a Viggen at some stage and I was hoping you could provide some guidance on some minor upgrades I was looking for the car. It’s starting to get a little confusing with all the sites, parts and part no’s available and seeing as most items would need to come from overseas I really don’t want to muck up an orders with incorrect parts etc.

Initially I was looking at installing the following and hope you can provide further details on the best option, where to buy from and relevant part no’s (if possible):

[Read the rest of this entry →]