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Please forgive and hopefully forget (at some future point) this whiny rant, but I need to get it out of my system.
I’m in the 3rd week of an auto to manual swap that’s a bit complicated. The recipient chassis is a ’93 900S NA 3 door, rust free at 225k miles but furloughed due to a failed automatic transmission. The donor motor is from a ’93 900S NA with only ~120k miles that was harvested from the car and left idle on the garage floor for the past ~ 2 years owing, as well, to a bad automatic transmission. The last piece of this puzzle is the 5 speed tranny from my beloved ’88 900S that had to be retired at 392k miles owing to frame rust that made it impossible to drive over 25 mph.
Money being tight and all, here’s what I’ve done: I pulled the drivetrain from the ’88 and separated the 5 speed from the motor (both are in amazingly good shape given the mileage). I salvaged other parts from the chassis and sent the carcass to the boneyard (sniff, sniff). Then I separated the 120k ’93 motor from the automatic transmission and mated it to the 5 speed. Finally, I pulled the drivetrain from the 225k 900 and replaced with the hybid motor/tranny.
Mind you, I’m a research scientist, a father, and avid fisherman/boat guy. All of this has taken place over the last few weeks of lovely Wisconsin weather and I’ve managed to keep my day job, if not my sanity. Only once did I lose my nerve but on the way to check-out an ’06 325i I couldn’t bear the thought of letting the Saab resurrection project go unrealized. I called to cancel and returned to my task.
Tonight was to be THE night. I had it all buttoned up, new fluids in place and a fresh battery at the ready. I settled myself into the driver’s position (I haven’t yet reinstalled the seats), pressed the nicely firm clutch, sampled through the gears (smooth!) and then switched it to ON. The ABS pump whirred, all of the dash lights came on, and I braced for the twist to start and to hear that lovely Saab purr, at which point I was prepared to shout “IT LIVES!!!” {appropriate as it will be known as the FrankenSaab if this ever gets done).
But that didn’t happen. I got nothing. The oil level and alternator indicator lights go out but the “antilock” light comes on. There’s no sign of the starter engaging, the headlights don’t dim, there’s no signs of life. I’ve checked the battery (12.5 V) and it was good enough to start the car a week or so ago before I pulled the drivetrain. For what it’s worth, I also transferred the starter from the 225k to the newly resident 120k motor since it (the starter from the 120k motor) had problems before I pulled the motor.
I’m going to take another “vacation” day tomorrow to troubleshoot, but I gotta tell you, that 325i is looking better and better all the time. If you’ve read through this far I thank you and if you can lead me out of the darkness of this Saabless valley with some pointers towards a fix I will buy you beer (or at least hoist one in your general direction.
This too, shall pass… This too, shall pass….
posted by 24.183.35...
, Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:16:51, Wed, 1 Sep 2010 05:27:13
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