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On street garage. (Long, Virtually blog) Posted by walt [Email]  (#2707) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from walt) on Sun, 5 Sep 2004 22:39:34
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My 00 SE 5-sp just hit 60k miles. I bought the car at 47K and so far have only changed the oil. So, time to see what is like to maintain a saab vs the vw's I had grown used to.
Figured I needed some Torx wrenches, got a set of 8 on a fold-out, ($10, CDN Tire) works! Must buy some torx ratchets.
Today, as usual in front of the house. the ghetto garage. Plugs. New 6's from Canadian Tire ~$3 each) A tube of dielectric grease $5, my little torx kit and my ratchet set and I'm off. My ratchet set has one spark plug socket, it fits. Excellent.
Unplugged the little clip on the wiring harness to the DI (common Saab fastener type, it seems. cool operation!) Push the little orange tabs, and the fastener loosens off. Nice.
Undo the 4 bolts holding the DI, lift it straight up, comes off cleanly. Keeping it horizontal I look up into the ends, all looks good, lay it down just below the cyl head.
Looks clean inside, plugs come out with a bit of force, look a little over a 1mm gap, pretty clean though. Old plugs were 7's so I guess I'm going up a step in heat, wonder if that causes any noticable difference? Car was hitting the red in the turbo guage pretty hard as things were.
DG on the new plugs, a dab of oil on the threads, tightened hand tight, then torqued 180deg. Felt pretty snug. (need torque wrench!) Does this sound acceptable? Couldn't find my gapper, so didn't gape'm. Looked a little less than 1mm. Could I cause problems if the gap is too small? The plugs were just straight BCPR6ES (no -10 or -11).
Reverse install the DI and that's it. ~20mins total. As easy as on any car, ever. Car fires up, traffic in Toronto too blocked to try out 5th gear boost, but all seems ok. Maybe a little smoother in acceleration. Guage didn't seem to be going into the red as deep. Maybe it was still learning from the hotter plugs? Possible?
Other than that, bought new oil/filter elsewhere. $16 labour by dealer in Montreal, and they washed it the car. Nice people. Of course, my GF did bring it in. SAAB Filter, Mobil 1 10W-30 (The manual said 10W30), would 5W30 or 40 have been useful? 0W is near unobtanium around here? Why do I think 76 Ford when I think 10W30? Anyway...
Finally put the 22mm swaybar on from my old car. Thanks to Nick T. for sending me new nuts and bolts. Used the old washers for the upper side as they were a little smaller and seemed to fit better. Used the new bigger ones on the bottom. Did the work on the street with no lift. Much more fun last time when I used a little drive-up 12" lift. With no lift, (and I won't go under a car using the jack) It was basically just big enough for me to fit under the under. Arms were pretty numb from reaching up and trying to fit the fasteners. :-) but, Done! ~1/2hour.
Came in, cleaned up, no beer in the fridge! D'oh. Poor planning. OK, rum and coke.
Notes: the factory bolts came off like butter. With my old '00 the factory bolts were already a bit rusted. Brought this car from Fort Lauderdale to Toronto this Feb. Absolutely no corrosion anywhere, yet. I've never seen such a thing! Makes for fun working on. Looks great too.
As a contrast to that, I once owned an 85 Jetta, 220KM/10 years in Nfld's salt and freezing sea-breeze. Everything was always seized, I just thought that's how cars were. My seat eventually went through they floor :-) (My newer VW's were much better though)
Next. Did the cabin air filter, actually just washed it as per the FAQ. Let it dry, little spray with fabreez (because I saw it), back in. As per the FAQ. Not difficult at all. It was _really_ skanky when I first took it out. Time ~1 hour. Next time, 30 mins. Car smells nice.
Still have to:
-Change the fluids (coolant, brakes)
-Change the fuel filter (I suppose)
-Do the brakes soon, front rotors look worn, pads still ok, but just barely. Going to replace all 4 rotors/pads. Wondering if I should try some locally sourced inexpensive cross-drilled rotors. I'm assume they were meant for Saturns, but they do fit and are being sold as SAAB 9-3 replacements.
-Air filter. With a K&N, any T.O. recomendations for one of these? Worth the cost over stock? Liked them in my VWs. Also, seems the 00 had two diff part numbers. Hope I get the right one. Is there an easy way to figure this out before opening up the air-box?
-Wants: The 260hp Nordic upgrade. Maybe in the spring.
So far, so good. I'm mechanically minded but definitely no mechanic. All work is done on the street infront of my house. If I can do this, you can too. Decided not to pay for the extended warranty, so I hope to keep up most of the maintainance myself.
Hope you're all still awake!
Walt
posted by 69.194.111...
, Sun, 5 Sep 2004 22:39:34 <-- Viewing This Message
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