The Morbidmobile Blog

[360beast]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Fiat Croma, Lancia Thema (which may also have a B280E or a Ferrari V8, 32 valve under the bonnet), Saab 9000 and i believe, Vauxhall Vectra Luke. The Vectra was a bit late coming to the party so may have been the Mk3 Cavalier instead, a good platform and a nice looking car. Still not convinced that makes it a proper Saab as it was an "alien" platform. It definitely did go downhill with the next generation though.

I think it's one of those things where opinions are divided, much like many believe the last proper Volvo was the 700 as it was fully designed by Volvo, Ford had some influence over the 940 (which was essentially an updated 700) from 1996 which seemed to take things downhill a bit and i'm not impressed by any of the 1999 on Volvos. Depends on your viewpoint, to some the 700 is the last proper Volvo, to others it will be the 900, there's arguments for and against on both counts, difficult to say definitively which is right but both have their merits. Likewise on the Saab 900 Vs 9000 argument. Either way, what Tom has is still towards the end (irrelevant of where you make it) of the proper Saabs. Good cars then but sadly not for me, the offset pedals gave me backache in the 900i that i had.

If your dad is a Saab man and from everything you've said, i'm sure he is, he should be champing at the bit to get a 900T to restore, especially a 2-door. Is that the 2-door saloon or the 3-door "Combi-Coupe" hatchback variety?

Just looked online and it says it was called the type four platform which is Saab 9000, Alfa 164 which my dad and my eldest brother have had a few of and are fantastic cars, Lancia Thema (My other brother had one with an upgraded turbo and a dyno printout of 240whp and being in New Zealand no rot!) and Fiat Croma. The only thing they shared was the chassis everything else was Saabs own creation as far as I can tell. The 9000 was designed in 1985 and sold from 1986, GM didn't get involved until 1989 so definitely nothing to do with Vauxhall. Even the later 9000s I believe the GM influence was a GM bellhousing pattern which is different to the earlier Saab pattern and maybe the gearbox was actually a GM item.

In my mind the 9000 is definitely the last proper Saab and the 940 is definitely the last proper Volvo. As you know I've stripped many 940s for parts and the last two were 1995 and 1998, absolutely no discernable difference between the two except the 1995 car was more rotten than the 1998 Scottish one! The 95 had very wrinkled door cards and the 98 had one wrinkle in the drivers door card. The 940 as you know is basically a facelift of the 740 but with a better injection system, stronger engines and after 1992 a more reliable speedometer and odometer!

The updated interior is nicer and the rear end in the saloon I read somewhere was changed not only for styling purposes but also as it was stronger in a crash (C pillar is thicker and a different shape). I've worked on about 15 different 940s now of varying ages and I have found no quality difference between early and late 940s apart from the engines and gearboxes are better.

Completely agree about the 1999 onwards Volvos, I would never own one myself but each to their own.

Unfortunately personal circumstances means he can't buy the 900 as they've just sold their house but I have offered to store it for him. It is a "Kombi" so it is a 3 door really.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 360beast

The 9000 was designed in 1985 and sold from 1986, GM didn't get involved until 1989 so definitely nothing to do with Vauxhall. Even the later 9000s I believe the GM influence was a GM bellhousing pattern which is different to the earlier Saab pattern and maybe the gearbox was actually a GM item.


Completely agree about the 1999 onwards Volvos, I would never own one myself but each to their own.

Unfortunately personal circumstances means he can't buy the 900 as they've just sold their house but I have offered to store it for him. It is a "Kombi" so it is a 3 door really.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxha...8%E2%80%931995)

"This version of the Cavalier shared its chassis with the Saab 900 that was produced from 1993 until 1998, and continued until 2002 as the Saab 9-3, due to Saab also being within the General Motors combine at the time. "

That quote is from the last line of the paragraph on the Mk3 Cavalier so although nothing to do with the 9000, it was from 1993 onwards in the 900. I knew there was a shared platform somewhere between Saab and GM, obviously mixed up the J car and Type 4 platforms over the past 30 years!

As i said earlier and something we both agree on, the rot set in after the 9000 and that pretty much says it.

Something i have noticed on the 940 bits compared to the 760 bits, the 940 stuff seems to be made of cheaper materials, maybe i'm more aware because i've noticed the same thing with the Rover.

For example, the carpet i have in mine is from a Mk1 (86-91) and is thicker with better quality pile than what came out. Additionally, the Mk2b (96 on, under BMW ownership) is once again thinner and poorer quality carpet. Likewise the leather on the seats, thickest and best quality on the Mk1, not quite so good on the Mk2a and very thin on the Mk2b. Seat motors went downhill on the Mk2b as well and the thickness of the seat frames was also reduced.

It's not just Volvo and Rover though, it seems almost every manufacurer dropped their quality in the mid 90s, making things cheaper or to be more exact, as cheaply as they could get away with.

[360beast]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxha...8%E2%80%931995)

"This version of the Cavalier shared its chassis with the Saab 900 that was produced from 1993 until 1998, and continued until 2002 as the Saab 9-3, due to Saab also being within the General Motors combine at the time. "

That quote is from the last line of the paragraph on the Mk3 Cavalier so although nothing to do with the 9000, it was from 1993 onwards in the 900. I knew there was a shared platform somewhere between Saab and GM, obviously mixed up the J car and Type 4 platforms over the past 30 years!

As i said earlier and something we both agree on, the rot set in after the 9000 and that pretty much says it.

Something i have noticed on the 940 bits compared to the 760 bits, the 940 stuff seems to be made of cheaper materials, maybe i'm more aware because i've noticed the same thing with the Rover.

For example, the carpet i have in mine is from a Mk1 (86-91) and is thicker with better quality pile than what came out. Additionally, the Mk2b (96 on, under BMW ownership) is once again thinner and poorer quality carpet. Likewise the leather on the seats, thickest and best quality on the Mk1, not quite so good on the Mk2a and very thin on the Mk2b. Seat motors went downhill on the Mk2b as well and the thickness of the seat frames was also reduced.

It's not just Volvo and Rover though, it seems almost every manufacurer dropped their quality in the mid 90s, making things cheaper or to be more exact, as cheaply as they could get away with.

I noticed the same with the Volvo 300 series, the wax they sprayed inside the inner arches behind the wings on my 1986 mk2 had a healthy coating virtually all over (didn't really stop the rot though) yet the 1988 360 I took a pair of wings off had three little dribbles of wax which is why the later 300 series rust more than mid 80s and earlier.

[360beast]

Back on topic a bit, I and Andy have seen Tom's Saab and must say it is surprisingly rot free! We both said how tidy it is for the age and mileage, although not particularly high mileage (circa 120k I think) but at 30 years old it is standing the test of time well.

The starter motor even sounds the exact same as my 940 so I wonder if that's the same as the Volvo one.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 360beast

Back on topic a bit, I and Andy have seen Tom's Saab and must say it is surprisingly rot free! We both said how tidy it is for the age and mileage, although not particularly high mileage (circa 120k I think) but at 30 years old it is standing the test of time well.

The starter motor even sounds the exact same as my 940 so I wonder if that's the same as the Volvo one.

It's similar Luke but the Volvo one seems to be more powerful, both Bosch and both very similar.
It certainly looks a nice car.

[TomSaintJames]

I had a spare hour yesterday when we got home from camping, Steve and the girls were asleep after a tiring few days away so I took full advantage and had a go at the drivers front brake and wheel area. I left it on axle stands since the weekend which makes me slightly uncomfortable, so I was keen to get it back on the wheels.

Job 1 was to remove the cut short wheel studs and pop the new ones in. The ABS tone ring came off of the hub at this point which was convenient, so once the new studs were in I tapped this back onto the rear of the hub - I thought of cutting it off, but was worried about nicking the all of the adjacent metal parts.



New studs, rusty discs!



Remove old threadlock on the frotn caliper mount bolts and apply new ( to the bolt thread ) I was expecting these bolts to be hex headed, but they are female hex headed bolts.



The front calipers don't look too bad, pads have plenty of meat and the piston gaitors are intact, the sliders may well need looking at bu thtat is a job for another day! Today I just wanted to get the new wheel studs in and the drivers wheel on.





Looking smart







The passengers side wheel is nipped on using the shortened studs, but it isn't going anywhere Next, i'll look into sorting the passenger side wheel bolts and get the sliders greased.

[Laird Scooby]

That looks so much better on proper Volvo wheels Tom! Vast improvement on the wheel studs too!

[360beast]

Nice work Tom, it could be the photos but it looks like there is a small tear on one of those caliper seals.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 360beast

Nice work Tom, it could be the photos but it looks like there is a small tear on one of those caliper seals.

Dalmatian Luke! Well spotted!

Enlarging the image, they both look like they have a split/tear/scuff on, difficult to tell as it might just be dirt/grease causing an optical illusion. On the upside it's only a dust seal so for now won't compromise the braking but needs investigating and repairing at some ppoint in the not too distant future!

[TomSaintJames]

A hearse update! Hurrah! It has been quite some time, so much so that I forgot about the potentially torn rubber dust covers and slider greasing... Not that it matters terribly much, the passenger side disc had a small wear lip on on that I don't remember on the drivers side - the discs may need replacing soonish and the calipers all need bleeding before we go for MOT - so that will be a good opportunity to look at the sliders and gaitors, and have the ABS ring off the drivers side. The pads all have lots of meat.

Today I popped the new wheel studs on the passenger side, I went full tilt with the angle grinder and had the ABS ring off of the hub, it needed some persuasion with a big screwdriver as I couldn't make a cut all the way through the ring without damaging the hub or strut tower base stuff. Of course 10 minutes into the work it started raining...



Looks naked without anything on here! Getting the caliper bolts off was a struggle, I remember the other side being the same - quite rightly so the bolts were on ****** tight!



All back on with one of the cut studs as a little perspective piece, they don't sit that far back of course.





I torqued all the bolts up to 130NM as the internet suggests, this didn't feel very tight so I gave each an extra 1/2 a turn with my long breaker bar, I did it both sides as I can't remember what I did on the drivers side waaaay back.

I'm off tomorrow aswell and I hope to take the penta head to the machine shop for welding and skimming/cleaning etc, they said just to drop it in when I rang ages ago but it is a little way to go, so I think it prudent to check.

Whilst I still have a target of attending the Swedish Day at our local Haselbury Mill on 3rd October there is an added time pressure, we have been looking into quotes to get the driveway sorted. The current favourite is exposed aggregate concrete, so I do need to get diddling at get the Hearse at least driveable so it can be moved!