MurderMitten's SAAB 9-3

[BonnieBoy08]

Holy man this thing has come a long way! Looks fantastic!

[MurderMitten]

Holy man this thing has come a long way! Looks fantastic!

Thank you sir! I suppose I should update this thread soon as I've been doing a lot of work to the car but I'll wait until the next purchase is installed. I'll shoot the hint out thay my suspension will be getting a little stiffer!

[nos4blood70]

I love it. Can't wait to see some pull videos after the tune.

But most importantly, lowered pictures!

[MurderMitten]

I love it. Can't wait to see some pull videos after the tune.

But most importantly, lowered pictures!

A tune was my next plan but I stumbled upon some cheap springs and I had some cooling system issues and general maintenance (valve cover gaskets, suspension parts) I had to do so I figure I'll get all that taken care of before I get a tune so I don't risk damaging any mechanical parts. But don't worry my pennies are being saved!

[MurderMitten]

And I also did some headlight modding. Blacked them out and added LED tubes which act as DRL's and functional blinkers (blue light turns off and orange LEDs flash.

[00Beast]

Looks good Mike! I enjoy seeing it on Instagram!

[MurderMitten]

Looks good Mike! I enjoy seeing it on Instagram!

Thanks Ed! I do whore her out quite a bit on IG

[MurderMitten]

Alrighty, since my last update I've done a little modding. I opened up the headlights and blacked them out inside and added LED strips that glow white and are functional turn signals, the blue turns off and an orange blinker appears. I also blacked out the chrome on the grille because the chrome was peeling off of it. I'm in the process of installing HID's as well. Sorry I don't have too many pictures.


A few bits of maintenance since my last update:
New spark plugs
New thermostat
New valve cover gasket
Painted valve cover
New struts
New strut bearings
Lowering springs

So here is how messed up my suspension was. When I had the car in the air and moved the tires left and right you could feel the strut bearings grinding, one of the struts was pouring out fluid. So on came new mounting plates, strut bearings and lowering springs. In the rear, one of my springs was broken, both of my mounting boots on my control arms were torn up, my camber bolts are michigan welded and at some point in time someone decided that the car would need to be aligned again so they welded the toe adjustment bolts in place...... So I have new camber and toe bolts on the way and I'll be doing some careful grinding to get the welded bolts out. So on to the lowering!

New Springs



This should probably be on the springs


Enjoy! The ride height is perfect for me and it rides so much better. My tires rub a little and I'm still getting used to scraping everywhere I go but I like it!

[nos4blood70]

Time to roll the fenders.

[BBamm]

That looks sick, man!!

[Ghosthawk]

I gotta admit, this car almost makes me regret buying my Magnum. I looked a few Saabs but since I had zero experience with them I felt I was getting into lots of unknowns. But I have to give them them big props on making a sportwagon with attractive style...something domestic automakers seem permanently unable to do. I find it interesting that in a country that deals with some of the heaviest winter conditions around the world, two automakers produce impressive wagon cars as opposed to endless SUVs. It really is too bad Saab eventually ran dry.

Great looking car!

[MurderMitten]

Funny you should say that. At the beginning of this year the last of the 2014 9-3's were sold out in Sweden and Saab, I believe got out of bankruptcy and gained ownership of their parts molds by signing a deal with NEVs (National Electric Vehicles Sweden). Within the next couple years they plan to produce electric cars eventually expanding to a global market. Weather or not this will be successful, we'll find out. There's a chance we'll never see SAAB again on a car but they could surprise us with the SAAB badging.

[MurderMitten]

Yesterday I did some work in the engine bay and got here all cleaned up, sort of.... It still looks dirty to me but better than it was before

[MurderMitten]

Had some down time at work so I made use of it! Night and day difference. Didn't spend a lot of time on them but the majority of the rest of the junk on the lenses is rock chips

Before


After


Headlights as well!

Cleaned up the wheel wells a little as well! Nice and purple in there!


Enjoy


HID kit came in today! Should tackle that tomorrow to make my headlights match my blue LED strips along with my projector fog light retrofit. Stay tuned!

[MurderMitten]

It's been a while! I've done a lot since my last post.

New brakes all around
New stabilizer links
New sway bar bushings
New valve cover gasket
New thermostat
New wheels....twice!
Fabbed a boost gauge into the driver side vent
Repainted the front bumper and shaved the headlight sprayers

Pics!


Did a full paint correction as well! Result was so good I couldn't even set anything on my car without it sliding off!




Now my new wheels! (I had the 7 spokes previously shown for a short period of time before I bent one...)
Proline 901 18x8's with 235/40R18's!

[BBamm]

Looks great man!! You've always got a smooth looking ride. Do you have pics of the boost gauge?

[98SSE]

Looks great.

[yonkerse]

Love the way this wagon looks! Awesome taste of appearance mods! Love the stance and wheel choice! Keep it up!

[nos4blood70]

My pants.

[MurderMitten]

Thanks guys! I've been loving the car for the most part, we have some battles tho. I've been getting this nasty nasty clunk from my front end. With almost everything being replaced or tested and being solid I cannot figure out what it is. Sounds like spring slap because my coil springs sit almost on top of each other but after wrapping them in foam to test the noise... it is still there. It went away for a day when I installed new stabilizer links.. I doubt the new ones are bad but I'm going to remove them to test to see if the noise goes away. Does no matter what kind of bump, small or large it is just a nasty metal to metal clunk. It drives perfect but that noise drives me insane!