The Morbidmobile Blog

[griston64]

I've got Turanza T005 all round on the 940 and they are also excellent. Wet grip is superb ! I did find them to be pretty useless in the snow but they are a summer tyre after all. It was quite good fun though

[TomSaintJames]

Goodness me, it's been over a month since I last did any Hearse work!

It has been a busy old time, the Citroen AX that I bought last year for £200 failed it's MOT just as I needed to do a 50 mile round commute for a couple of weeks. It leaked oil from the head gasket at the front drivers corner (they all do that apparently) which had dribbled down the block and somehow splashed onto the inner front brake disc that side - big fail! My MOT man wouldn't pass it with the leak even though i'd cleaned everything in the vacinity, so it was spotless. So I did the right thing and sold it, I didn't really like it much anyway even though it was exceptionally cheap to run.

This is it's replacement, I had planned on getting a convertible when i'd progressed to the next level at work, which should take me around 18 months. But this came up, was reasonably cheap and is bloody gorgeous! It needs work doing of course, a suspenion overhaul and an all over thorough service. It started off running quite badly at idle and low throttle, but just 50 miles each day of using it for the last two weeks has improved the running hugely.



I got it on 31st May, drove it the 4 hours home from Brighton in the scorching sunshine, roof down the whole way! Until yesterday I have been enjoying having the roof down at every opportunity, but it is a bit wet and chilly here now. Thankfully i'm working at Yeovil where I walk to work for the next few weeks, rather than 25 miles each in Taunton.

In more Hearsey news I have been at the front brakes, they look pretty decent apart from rusted discs, the pads are almost evenly worn each side of the disc on both corners, but i think I will grease the slider bolts while i'm in here anyway - I still have some of the expensive (from Lexus) lithium pink greasy stuff I bought for the Lexus' rear sliders, which commonly become sticky, the regenerative braking on the hybrid system means the rear brakes are hardly ever used so seize up.







The flexis look good with a very slight scuff near the solid pipe ends, brake lines look good and I had a look for rust or other suspect stuff in the vacinity and all looked well to me. The bushes all looked ok too, some perishing perhaps in one or two places but no movement, and when it was in use there weren't any knocks.

The next challenge of course is those bloody wheel adaptor/spacers! But after figuring out how to stop the disc rotating (5ft iron digging bar braced on the ground) it took me all of 10 minutes to do both sides! What a difference from the rears where Luke ended up grinding some of them off...





The next hurdle was the wheel bolts, these were cut on the front for the spacers and big steel wheels to fit by the previous owner, so I thought i'd have a go at removing them thinking that the wheel spacer/adaptor bolts would be a direct replacement. However, two issues became apparent - when we put new suspension on the car a few years ago we had to replace the front strut towers as the coilovers it came with were welded to the tower, the replacement struts towers came off a car with ABS, so the tone ring is in the way for removing the bolts.



Out with the angle grinder, two cuts, bend the ring out the way, swap over bolts, bend tone ring back - all good!





Not all good, issue no.2 is the ribbing/splines on the spacer bolts wouldn't fit the car even though the original bolts from the car fit the spacer nicely. The Volvo bolts have a tapered spline/ribbed section whereas the spacer bolts have quite a step up from the thread section to the splined and didn't want to seat on the car at all.



So I need new bolts! The front caliper pins will be greased and the new Volvo alloys can go on the front with the nice new Bridgestones It will be good to give the brakes a good bleed when the engine is back in too as there is enough air in there somehwere to put the dash light on!

[TomSaintJames]

10 new studs ordered

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284310302...cAAOSwcOFWaV-L

Should be delivered Thursday, I think I can do one side Sunday morning before I go to sleep for my shift on Sunday night, the other side will have to wait until Monday/Tuesday.

After the brakes, it is time to get serious with the new engine. We plan to have the Hearse MOT'd and usable for the 3rd October this year, the Haselbury Inn hosts a few car shows each year including a SWEDISH DAY, it would be great to have the Hearse and Saab in attendance, who knows perhaps I could persuade some forum folks to come along? The pub do one of the, if not, the best carvery's around!

http://www.swedishday.co.uk/

[Thekilt]

Love the Saab, especially with the aero wheels. I’ve been looking at them but the prices are getting silly now. Is it a turbo or NA?

[Laird Scooby]

Last of the proper Saabs there Tom! Looks like you may have had a good buy with that!

With the wheel studs, you should be able to feel the new ones in so they sit inside the grooves the splines on the originals made. Do them one at a time, use a wheel nut to pull them in - in fact you could use the old spacer to make life quicker then remove it once you've got all 5 new studs in with the nuts. Then fit the alloys.

Glad to see you using the priniples of leverage to make your life easier too. Don't think i'll be able to make that October meet sadly but it looks a good day out.

[TomSaintJames]

Thanks Thekilt and Dave, I love the Saab - I think it uses LH2.4 too, they seem to have come with one of four different management systems! The photo is very flattering for it, it is quite tidy but a bit tatty and needing love, the bonnet and bootlid have laquer peel in places and it has the odd scrape or dent that has been touched up (rather poorly!). It hasn't been used much over the last few years I think so needs a bit of love! Once the hearse is on the road and the BX is sorted (classic Citroen road trip in France next May), I can give it the love it needs The prices do seem to be on the up for these, especially the turbo's which seem to go for anything upto and over 10k I snagged this one for about 3k which I think is a fairly good deal, especially with the aero wheels which can fetch 1.5k by themselves apparently!

It is the N/A 2.0, but with the 16 valves, especially when driving solo, i don't think it really needs a turbo as it has plenty of go once you rev it It is a nice engine with some lovely noise when flat out, it sounds distinctly old fashioned like a carburetted 60s/70s british triumph/MG etc. Interestingly most people who chat to me about it ask if it is a 71 or 72 with an L suffix plate!

The spacer sounds like a grand idea Dave, saves me spending ages winding each wheel nut down the entire thread and back. The spacer bolts just wouldn't sit in the grooves by hand and I didn't want to force them in so new ones ordered.

A shame you don't think you'll be able to make the event Dave, I suppose it is quite far for most to come all the way down here!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TomSaintJames

Thanks Thekilt and Dave, I love the Saab - I think it uses LH2.4 too, they seem to have come with one of four different management systems! The photo is very flattering for it, it is quite tidy but a bit tatty and needing love, the bonnet and bootlid have laquer peel in places and it has the odd scrape or dent that has been touched up (rather poorly!). It hasn't been used much over the last few years I think so needs a bit of love! Once the hearse is on the road and the BX is sorted (classic Citroen road trip in France next May), I can give it the love it needs The prices do seem to be on the up for these, especially the turbo's which seem to go for anything upto and over 10k I snagged this one for about 3k which I think is a fairly good deal, especially with the aero wheels which can fetch 1.5k by themselves apparently!

It is the N/A 2.0, but with the 16 valves, especially when driving solo, i don't think it really needs a turbo as it has plenty of go once you rev it It is a nice engine with some lovely noise when flat out, it sounds distinctly old fashioned like a carburetted 60s/70s british triumph/MG etc. Interestingly most people who chat to me about it ask if it is a 71 or 72 with an L suffix plate!

The spacer sounds like a grand idea Dave, saves me spending ages winding each wheel nut down the entire thread and back. The spacer bolts just wouldn't sit in the grooves by hand and I didn't want to force them in so new ones ordered.

A shame you don't think you'll be able to make the event Dave, I suppose it is quite far for most to come all the way down here!

If it has a cat then it is most likely LH2.4, if not probably LH2.2 Tom. Either way a lot of parts cross over from the Saab to the Volvo (fuel filter for example and headlamp wiper blades) and vice versa.

Interesting you mention it sounds like an older Triumph, Saab re-engineered the Triumph Dolomite engine and developed their own 16v head for it so now you know why!

It's illegal to make a car appear newer by use of a later number plate so you can't put an L prefix plate on a 72/3 car but you can put an L suffix plate on a 93/4 car - could be an interesting option for a private plate! That said i've just checked and yours is an H prefix meaning 1990/1 so you can't put an L prefix on it but a proper L suffix plate would be allowed, something like TSJ 900L would work well!

It's a 4 hour/230 mile drive each way from here to Crewkerne Tom, a bit much for me these days.

[360beast]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Last of the proper Saabs there Tom! Looks like you may have had a good buy with that!

With the wheel studs, you should be able to feel the new ones in so they sit inside the grooves the splines on the originals made. Do them one at a time, use a wheel nut to pull them in - in fact you could use the old spacer to make life quicker then remove it once you've got all 5 new studs in with the nuts. Then fit the alloys.

Glad to see you using the priniples of leverage to make your life easier too. Don't think i'll be able to make that October meet sadly but it looks a good day out.

The last proper Saab was the 9000 Dave, shares the platform with a Lancia and I think the Alfa Romeo 164 but the rest of the car is distinctly Saab. I've grown up around Saabs as my Dad has had a few 900s and 9000s. The first GM/Saab made was the NG900 which is where it all went downhill.

I'm currently trying to convince him to buy a 900 turbo 2 door I've seen for sale to restore but he isn't playing ball haha.

[360beast]

I was planning on making the trip down to the Swedish day this year Tom so I'll see you there... let me know when the engine and box are ready to go in!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by 360beast

The last proper Saab was the 9000 Dave, shares the platform with a Lancia and I think the Alfa Romeo 164 but the rest of the car is distinctly Saab. I've grown up around Saabs as my Dad has had a few 900s and 9000s. The first GM/Saab made was the NG900 which is where it all went downhill.

I'm currently trying to convince him to buy a 900 turbo 2 door I've seen for sale to restore but he isn't playing ball haha.

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?