1950-1966 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Hi ---
I've got one of the larger collections of vintage SAABs in the southeast and I've been restoring them for a while now.
The things you want to look for specifically are:
all models: body rust
I'm a fairly accomplished welder so I'm a little more rust-tolerant than many people are. But the "mortal" areas for rust are behind the front shock towers and at the suspension mounting point in the rear, where the trailing arm attaches to the pan. Both of these areas are structural, and both require pieces bent to compound curves to be repaired properly. It can be done, but tends to be expensive and complicated. I do my own fabricating and welding, but just the same if I find a car that has rust in either of these areas I won't bother repairing them and use them as parts cars.
The rear is easy to check. Locate the foremost part of the rear suspension and it should be sitting in a u-shaped channel on the pan. Surface rust is OK, but it should be 100% solid. Then pull up the rear seat squab and apply your eyeballs.
The front is best checked from the outside. Turn the wheels 100% to the right and look behind the left wheel. There should be no sign of rot, filler, or repair. Then do the same for the other side. If the car has rust in either area, be prepared to pay some serious dollars to a welder, or better yet consider it a parts car.
Except for desert climate cars, the floors always have some rot, but the flat parts aren't really that bad to repair. If the rot gets into the pan seam (where the rocker and the two floor pans are spot welded together into a sandwich) that can also be a challenge, but certainly not impossible to fix. Most doors also show some rust, but it's not usually anything that you can't fix. Buy a can of POR15 (aka 'rust converter') and use it on the seams where the door skin folds over the door shell and they're fine.
Mechanical:
Two-stroke: engines are impossible to kill, as they only have 7 friction parts. The one thing to watch for on a two stroke is the cooling channels in the engine. If the engine has a rusted or loose freeze plug, it would be a good idea to pull them all out and flush the cooling channels entirely. Finding parts for two strokes isn't as hard as you might think.
V4: the Ford engine used in the v4 cars is actually an industrial engine designed for use on generators and fork lifts, so it's extremely tough. One problem I've seen is burned valves, which happens over time if you run unleaded gas. A valve job isn't extremely expensive, and parts are easy to find, but it's something to watch out for. The transmissions on the v4 seem more prone to leaks. I've never seen one that didn't need a new front seal. This will appear as dripping at the bottom of the bell housing, and if left unchecked can lead to a 'wet' clutch, which will slip unpredictably, and is fairly dangerous.
posted by 69.132.192...
, Wed, 1 Sep 2004 21:09:45
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