Getting a Saab Sport back on the road....

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RangerNeil
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:43 pm
Location: Dagenham, UK
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Getting a Saab Sport back on the road....

#1 Post by RangerNeil » Thu Sep 29, 2016 9:09 pm

Welcome to #4 in the fleet - and this ones actually NOT a green machine!! :D

Way back in the 1990's I bought a 1963 Saab Sport as a non-runner for the bargain price of £00. Since then it has sat in my garage and it thing its time the old bus was finally put back on the road. :D

Apart from a split in the roof where a previous owner dripped something rather heavy on it which will need welding up the only major problem I know of is that the box is stuck in gear - no amount of moving the gear leaver will free it. So the first question is - can anyone recommend a good repairer of 2-stroke 4 speed gear boxes here in the UK??

Plan right now is to strip the engine down and rebuild using a hybrid crank, modified con rods and Waesco pistons from Tom Donney over in the USA. Whilst going that the more or less stripped body shell can get rubbed down, treated with rust killer where necessary and any major issues identified for repair by a suitable specialist. It;s going to take a while but will be worth it in the end. :D
Below are some photos of when it came home all those years ago.

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The first hurdle to overcome is shown in the photo below - can anyone actually SEE a car in the garage???

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Neil.
Cars
1974 Saab Type 95
1963 Saab Sport

Green Machines
19xx Czech built UAZ 469
1957 AEC Militant Mk 1 6x6 Ten tonner
1974 Landrover 109" FFR Series 3

kevin
Posts: 856
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 7:49 am

Re: Getting a Saab Sport back on the road....

#2 Post by kevin » Fri Sep 30, 2016 9:10 am

Love them Saabs, Dad had a lime green version.

Garage needs some general tidying up Id say, other than that its fine :D

kev

alabbasi
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:54 pm

Re: Getting a Saab Sport back on the road....

#3 Post by alabbasi » Sat Oct 01, 2016 5:06 pm

That is one rusty mamma jamma!

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RangerNeil
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:43 pm
Location: Dagenham, UK
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Re: Getting a Saab Sport back on the road....

#4 Post by RangerNeil » Sun Oct 02, 2016 8:44 pm

After a days solid work - we managed to clear one side of the garage!! Fortunately I picked the side with the visible damage. unfortunately the damage from rust is more extensive than I remembered.

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Looking at the next sequence of photos you can see the base of the A pillar basically does not exist any more and there are some unexplained holes in the inner wing at the bottom:

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Conversely the damage to the roof is not as bad as I remembered and the rest of the corrosion does appear to be only surface.

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Next step for now is to have a look and see what replacement panels are available for inner wings etc. That A pillar really worry worries me though as I think it will have to be rebuilt from scratch - and that is a bit outside my skill sets. :(
I do have a surfeit of riches in spare wings and bumpers though - as well as a bull nose bonnet without the tropical vents and a two-strokle engine block.

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Neil.
Cars
1974 Saab Type 95
1963 Saab Sport

Green Machines
19xx Czech built UAZ 469
1957 AEC Militant Mk 1 6x6 Ten tonner
1974 Landrover 109" FFR Series 3

jpsh120
Posts: 321
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Getting a Saab Sport back on the road....

#5 Post by jpsh120 » Fri Oct 07, 2016 7:55 am

Good luck with that one!

It's nice to see a long forgotten car get another lease of life, all too often these stories don't have a happy ending :thumbs:
1971 Sunbeam Rapier H120

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RangerNeil
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:43 pm
Location: Dagenham, UK
Contact:

Re: Getting a Saab Sport back on the road....

#6 Post by RangerNeil » Fri Oct 07, 2016 11:23 pm

jpsh120 wrote:Good luck with that one!

It's nice to see a long forgotten car get another lease of life, all too often these stories don't have a happy ending :thumbs:
Thanks :D For sure where the bottom of that A pillar is concerned I think I am going to need it. :shock:
Neil.
Cars
1974 Saab Type 95
1963 Saab Sport

Green Machines
19xx Czech built UAZ 469
1957 AEC Militant Mk 1 6x6 Ten tonner
1974 Landrover 109" FFR Series 3

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