1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
This is the best run down i can give you from personal experience and what i've seen on this board. All your dealer quotes are right on target so i can tell you that your local saab isn't gutting your wallet more then another. Keep in mind besides the OEM parts you get a full one year warranty on the work from any saab dealer so that is part of the high price. Other than that, most of what was listed can be done for only a 1/4 of the price to 1/2 the price on your own.
DI cassette and plugs: Your paying 400 dollars for the DI and the usual price for the plugs from the dealer. They will charge you the full hour of labor but it only takes ten minutes to change all four plugs and DI. Most likely the DI is good good but being 8 years old you'll want a spare. Changing the plugs just makes good common sense though. If you do it all yourself, looking at maybe 450 total if you go with a new DI. Like i said, must have a spare DI, doesn't have to be new but a spare is a must.
Motor mounts: Search the board here and you'll find there pretty easy to do. All that is required is a jack stand and a 2X4. Will take about an hour to an hour and a half at most to do by yourself. Plenty of write ups to guide you buy. Mostly cost you 140 at most to do by yourself depending on what and whos mounts you buy.
Exhaust: You say you got a shop you trust, let them deal with it. Otherwise it is a good excuse to replace the whole system with a stainless steel. My rear muffler just rusted through and i took it off, saving up for a stainless steel.
Power Steering hose: There are probably a good set of write ups for this procedure in the archives. 100 dollars at most for all the hoses and maybe a good hours of work to change the hoses as well as to flush and fill with new fluid.
Air intake: If the weld job is a good one you can ignore it, just make sure to keep an eye on it. Otherwise Abbott racing has a full three inch intake if i remember correctly. http://www.abbottracing.com They are in britain so it will be a bit pricy but looks realy nice if you ask me.
Head Gasket: Get a compression test done to find out if the hg is good or bad. It is a time consuming job. It will be 900 at min with a good saab indy to 1400 from dealer, i got 1200 from a dealer on my previous engine for the hg job. If you do this on your own, looking at 500 dollars total. 350 for all the gaskets and new studs. 120 will be the machine shops charge for inspecting the head to make sure its all good and removing any broken studs, i have yet to see a job where no studs are broken causing big headaches. The last 30 you can probably spend on yourself. Do this on a nice day if you diy and pick up your favorite beer or something to make the day go easier.
Not sure how much a ford dealership knows about direct ignition but try and play that on them to get more off the price so you can pick up a spare. If they don't know much then you'll have the edge. It sounds like you've got a good 98 9k thats just got the trouble spots getting ready to emerge but with tlc and proper maitenece you won't have to worry about them. Watch for the radiator and heater core though. You made no mention from the inspection as to there condition. If you got any question feel free to ask me, my email is nahumcc(at)aol.com.
Nahum Cook
Sigma Pi till i die.
posted by 199.8.171...
, Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:32:42
, Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:08:39, Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:38:25, Wed, 22 Mar 2006 07:41:11
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.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
