I have been continuing with the disassembly of the 1978 99 Turbo. It’s coming along well – no big problems so far. The rust situation is pretty much as I already suspected. There’s a lot to weld. Thankfully I have pretty much rust free doors, bonnet and hatch awaiting.
One thing we try to be extra careful about are all the window glass. If any of them breaks it’s going to be pretty tough finding a replacement. The Turbo has blue-tinted glass not commonly used on other 99s. Also the windshield has a darkened section on the upper edge. These are just not available.
So far I have found out that I’m missing at least a few essential components. I will need to find the correct throttlebody and intake manifold for 78 Turbo as well as the headlight wiper motors and mechanism. Other than that there are some smaller details that need looking into.
Disassembly is going fine. The interior is now pretty much gutted.
The dash is a bit of a pain to take apart compared to a Saab 96.
Pretty much all the late 70s metallic color Saabs had a bad corrosion problem right from the beginning.
Repair pieces for the window frame I got from a fellow saabisti.
The original Saab 99 Turbo front spoiler is done for. They pretty much never survive.
I do have a new fiberglass spoiler though.
Most of the original plastic parts are in pieces. Thankfully the battery box cooling funnel survived.
I have parts from a few spoilers so I think I can rebuild a complete set.
I need to find a new front grille, but I decided to fix the headlight bezels that came with the car.
They always crack here so it needed to be glued.
Also some of the attachment prongs were broken off.
I cut new prongs from a piece of the grille.
Cutting a hole for a new prong.
And gluing them with epoxy glue.
After some fine grit sanding I painted the bezels with gray basecoat close to the original color of the plastic.
Then I painted the front side of the bezels with silver paint. I think these will do.
Even the prongs look pretty good.
The old style window handles are almost always loose because the plastic body breaks. I put in some seeger rings to tighten them again.
I think we will be able to lift the engine during the weekend. Then it’s just the matter of removing the suspension and putting the car in a rotisserie.
Hello. Can u help me with my saab?
Im searching for the seal of front windshield. Do u know about something?