1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
[Profile/Gallery]
, Mon, 6 Feb 2012 20:30:18
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
It's always cool to find one with such low miles. I pulled into a K-Mart parking lot once a few years back in my Talle Red SPG only to find a mint condition Monte-Carlo Yellow convertible! I parked next to it of course and waited for the owner to come out to the car. She did - it was a very elderly woman whose husband owned the car. He had gone blind and she took the car out to get groceries from time to time. I think the car had some 50k miles. I've been waiting for that one to show up again. I gave her my card and said I would love to talk if she ever considers selling it.
That being said, a few things that I have found on cars: in the past year, I've picked up an '87 turbo that sat for 14 years garaged and an '80 turbo that sat for some 25 years in the desert before an engine restoration, then sat for about a year and a half covered. Both cars made the drive of about 14 hours home.
Tires were an issue on one car - i picked up a nearly new set from craigslist. Did a fresh oil change in both and topped off all fluids. Drove for a few miles and got out and checked for drop in levels to make sure that nothing snuck up on me.
Check all vacuum hoses - the '80 started and ran perfectly until two days later when a vacuum hose slipped off underneath the intake. I didn't see it until a couple of months later after having a bear of a time starting it for that whole time.
Another serious thing to check for are loose nuts and bolts. Seriously! Both cars had bolts loosen themselves over time. After the long drive, the '80 started accelerating and idling funny. I stopped the car and checked the engine bay to find that the front motor mount bolt had backed out to the last thread!!! It was about to pop out while I was driving. Lucky find. Same thing with the distributor hold-down bolt, the bolts holding the oil line to the turbo, and all of the bolts holding the valve cover on - found that one after a serious mystery oil leak. So check your nuts and bolts for tightness.
Check your CV boots - you can see them pretty well either thru the engine bay for the inners or turn the wheel all the way to one side to check the outers. Any rips or tears (or missing boots) will lead eventually to a busted CV. Mine all went at the same time on the '87 after driving it for a couple of months. Died right in the middle of an intersection.
That's all I can think of for details before a long drive. And of course make sure the brakes and steering work very well. Bring a good set of tools and look up potential shops along the way before you go. Keep a not with addresses and phone numbers just in case. And get the 200 mile AAA. Good luck!
posted by 174.19.56...
, Mon, 6 Feb 2012 20:18:09, Mon, 6 Feb 2012 20:30:18
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
