on my drive

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:34 am

Looking good

I did make enquiries about this car when it was for sale last year from it's long time owner in London.

I've always had 16 Valves but was tempted by this and now it's just the other side of town from me

Mike P

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:00 pm

That's one of the best BXs you'll find I reckon..

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:52 pm

Liking the Saab (from what I can see) too!

electrokid · Post by **electrokid** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:59 pm

Looks very good John

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:43 pm

anyu excuse to post a pic of the saab.its a 1982 99 with a turbo motor and a 5 speed fitted.i have put a leather interior from a 900 in it and made a few other changes.it is waiting for the new stainless single silencer exhaust to go on and then hopefully mot it and it will become my daily driver. im aiming for a fast reliable sleeper with it.ive junked the electric windows,aftermarket along with the aftermarket central locking,the headlight wipers-pointless-in fact any superfluous weight whilst keeping the car comfortable-hence leather.
when its on the road and usable i plan to be selling the bx,although its growing on me.i have spent two hours in the cold fixing the boot interior light,the number plate bulb,fixing some bungees in to hold my spare oil,water,screen wash etc. its looking very smart,the neighbours have even passed comment!

Post by **Tim Leech** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:52 pm

Two lovely motors.

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 4:09 pm

thankyou for that. they were both bought for the same fundamental reason.they are good shells and bodywork wise.
i have no welding gear and im not good at it either and the same for paint work.what i can do is fix things. i have no garage /workshop so all work is done where you see the car pictured. both me and mal are quite pedantic about keeping our cars clean and usable. i like everything to work correctly.spent a couple of hours or so on the bx just adjusting,cleaning and fixing/replacing bulbs. i even cleaned the number plate lamp lenses! i will give it a good polish and an interior valet when the weather improves,although to be fair mal has already pretty much done the interior.
the saab has never been welded so pressure washing the underside will be a regular job.the last two c900 saabs i owned were both scrapped for welding needed.

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:49 pm

I like the Saab too. I'm not really familiar with these cars. Did it come with those wheels and that rear window louvre? I like them.

I googled Saab 99 and this insane thing came up. Not likely to improve performance!

sdelasal · Post by **sdelasal** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:12 pm

That Saab looks a real cracker.

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 11:37 pm

the 99 came on minilite wheels but i prefer the incas and bought a set of refurbed ones to use whilst i refurb the minilites-which will be fitted with winter tyres-to save the incas wear. im after another design of wheels too to paint white.
the louvre was a lucky find .a chap on a saab forum sourced one from a swedish-i think-perhaps finnish?-auto jumble.it cost me 140 and a 230 mile round trip to fetch it because the seller wouldnt post it because its fragile.finishes the look with the boot lip spoiler.i have sourced but not yey fetched a turbo front spoiler which has cut outs for the oil cooler in it.
its been a seven month work of love and attribution so far but its coming together now.
that camper conversion pic is quite common.i think that actual pic is an early c900 but im no expert.
saab turbos are similar to the hydraulic suspension cx and bxs in as much as they are yet to be discovered classic cars.people will throw ten grand at a nasty mk1 or 2 escort and not give a second glance to these two vastly superior technologically but i think also stylistically cars.
each to their own i guess..............

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:50 am

JohnBird wrote

.it cost me 140 and a 230 mile round trip to fetch it

I admire the commitment! Did you fit the coloured coolant hoses too?

The Toppola camper attachment was made by a company called Scando - it took fifteen minutes to fit after the rear door had been removed. They made one for the Ford Sierra too. I only know all this because I was trying to find out if they made one to fit the BX and meanwhile stumbled upon the blog of some people who drove a Saab with one of these things fitted around the world!

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:48 am

the driving all over the country has been a feature of my car owning life.i love driving and find the way to achieve what i want is to do it myself.i have met some really nice people and seen many interesting cars whilst fetching car parts.its like a hobby and an adventure sometimes!
i dont watch the tv as it bores me to tears so i find a lot of time to surf the net and car sites and mess with the detail bits on my cars and fetch parts!
the hoses were originally rubber standard saab with a steel elbow over the turbo which was for heat protection.i cleaned it on the wire wheel and found a pin hole so instead of reusing steel i found a place selling stainless elbows-12/13 quid i think-so i got two and bought stainless clamps and blue silicone 32mm hose.it will be more durable than rubber and adds a touch of class.the blue and yellow is the swedish flag colours and a theme on the car im working on. found out a few weeks ago my car was actually manufactured in finland.......bloody buggar!
its been a long job so far and i have spent more money and hours than i care to calculate. enjoyed most of it though! met mal -the chap i bought the bx from-whilst hunting for saab parts so its got its upsides! john.

rmattila · Post by **rmattila** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 10:21 pm

I used to have a Saab 99 -82 (built by Valmet Automotive in Finland) with the Turbo engine, but without the turbo. Saab 99 Petro (from petroli = Finnish for kerosene) - a very peculiar Finnish concept of 1970:s and early 1980:s to promote domestic automobile industry by allowing the use of low-tax kerosene as fuel for "those cars that have an originally-built system for utilizing a second liquid fuel", as the official saying went. Two fuel tanks, a single fuel gauge with a switch to select the tank to be measured, and another switch to change fuel from petrol to kerosene (when engine was warm enough) and back to petrol (prior to shutting down the engine, in order to facilitate the next start with petrol in the carburettor).

As the compression ratio of the Turbo engine was relatively low (7.2 IIRC?), nothing needed to be done with the engine itself to enable kerosene operation. Just an additional preheater for intake air and another one for the fuel, and the aforementioned switches to change fuel and that was it. Fuel costs were approximately half of that with petrol, but kerosene was never very widely available. I think this experiment was finished in 1984, when they stopped making Saab 99's in Finland (a couple of years after the production already had ceased in Sweden). Kerosene was available at some pumps until -95/-96, which was the time when I turned from Saab to (diesel) BX...

johnbird · Post by **johnbird** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:25 am

Itys very interesting to read what you said about your car running on kerosene. As a fuel it has I believe a higher ron value than petrol. Its basically what avgas is now, jetr fuel. I use a mixture of pariffin which is kerosene by another name and acetone bouighjty from the chemists to mix my injector cleaner for all my cars both petrol or diesel. It takes about one acetone to four litres of pariffin and does three cars injectors no problem. On the c900 turbo I just scraPped you could tell the difference if I put a whole 4 litres mix in it in one go. Would boost better. The 99 engines are good as they are very low compression and run k jet which is as basic a fuel injection system as they come. No complicated electronic measuring devices to shut things down. I hate maf units.