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As far as your skepticism about 235 hp out of a 2.0 9-3, lose it. My 1999 9-3S, US spec car is probably about 250 hp at the moment. My car started life at 185 hp. I soon got the Saab sport cat-back exhaust and a
K&N air filter. I took it to Hirsch for an ECU upgrade. The car ran a baseline dyno run of 192 hp and 270 Nm. After they reprogrammed, it ran 227 hp and 326 Nm. A few months later I went to have them install a Viggen spec I/C, the one that you have, and then the car ran 238 hp and 338 Nm on the dyno. Since then I have added a BSR 3" downpipe with race-cat, a BSR Optiflow intake and Aquamist System 1s water injection. Based on the feel I can give a conservative estimate of 250 hp and about 340-350 Nm. I plan on taking it down to Hirsch for a new dyno run at a later time. Also, Hirsch sells modded T-7 9-3's with 250 hp and they have a 3-year warranty.
So, my point is that Nordic hp claims are probably good info and from what I understand, Wigwam Saab, the US distributor for Nordic, retain the 3-year warranty coverage as well. Being that Wigwam sells new fully modded cars as well, I would assume they remain reliable.
I am sorry to say that Hirsch is not yet in the US market. As far as I know, I have the one and only US spec Hirsch ECU upgraded 9-3. They custom wrote the program to my car, since their normal program is for non-OBDII cars.
Who are you contacting for BSR? If it is Engstrom, yes, he can be slow to return e-mails. The best bet is to call him on the phone. He seems to travel alot but he has the calls forwarded to his cell phone.
One last thing, you mentioned just a chip and intake from BSR. Do you already have a cat-back exhaust? The reason I ask is that the stock exhaust is too restrictive and needs to be opened up before other mods are done.
So, in final, I really can't recommend any particular tuner. I went to Hirsch because I currently live in Germany and Hirsch has quite a reputation in this part of Europe.
As you are doing, get informed and then have fun!
Eric Burr
1999 9-3S
a whole bunch of mods
posted by 195.178.11...
, Tue, 27 Aug 2002 16:11:07
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