| Author |  Topic  |
Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts |  Posted - 04 May 2014 : 13:10:50  
| I ought to 'register' her on here as she is a rolling project and will have quite a bit done to her over the years.
She was a lightly used family owned motor (aunt then niece) and has done 73,000 miles. She has been really well looked after, waxoyled at just the right time, never put back into the warm garage without being dried if wet and the interior was covered from new. Despite MOT's 'RUF' had only done 150 miles since 2004 when she had her last service, she is currently with Graham Macdonald having a full service and welding at the bottom of the rear wheel arch sill and around the front brake pipe. The floor pan, jacking points etc are in remarkably good condition - best I've ever had, even has original paint on the jacking points! Rust is just coming through once again around the front indicators so I will eventually get that sorted with new wings if I find a very good pair.
At the moment I have treated all the rusty bits without putting on top coat - I'm not bothered that she looks scruffy, just want to kill the rust and keep an eye on it. She looks much better in pictures as always and has some dings/dents in the passenger door that I will sort eventually.
For me I just want her mechanically sound/serviced to enjoy, the engine is sweet and she drives beautifully. It's nice in a way to have one that isn't bodily perfect as I can just have fun driving her without having to worry about stone chips etc.
Jobs to do include putting on a Jetex and getting a new MOT, take all fours wings off this summer for rust preventative treatment. New window chrome strips in, sort temp gauge that is resting at the top for some reason - odd, new shocks at some point, and smarten up the engine bay keeping her as original as possible e.g. The hose circlips(red bits on circlips) are all original so I will keep those.
She needs very good headrests and later type inserts, petrol cap, very good rubber bumper strips/clips and very good condition front bumper (same as 99,)2 VERY good wings, end caps for door strips, rear window black knob, a later type clock with orange hands and the little v shaped washer that goes on the bolt that holds the spare wheel down. I've had sport steering wheels and Ronals before and think it would spoil her (too boy racer'ish with her colour!) so she will be kept as standard as possible. I'm going to the SEC & Swedish Day if anyone has any of the above items.
New rubber, old tyres go back to 1993 
My old Sonnet now exchanged for a sailing boat!
The previous owners husband sent me this picture from 1984 outside of a pub in Derbyshire.
1977 96L Opal Green
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Edited by - Zagato on 16 May 2014 08:50:29 |
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john-saab
Administrator
United Kingdom
2679 Posts | Posted - 04 May 2014 : 18:19:42
| I may be able to help with the headrests and i'm sure I have a NOS bumper strip (stainless steel) somewhere. Probably have the window knob. I will have a look for the petrol cap...you will want the later SAAB cap..i'm not sure what i have. Can bring them to Swedish day next week.
Oh and I have said it before and I will say it again..I love this car!
'72 95 (The Flying Banana),'72 96(Bridget),'72 96 (green one)'73 96 (Vernon),'74 95 (Veronica) |  |
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Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts | Posted - 04 May 2014 : 19:49:53
| Much appreciated John 
Some pics for interest and cos I've got a hangover and I'm missing my motor and need some SAAB healing!
Opal green for 1976/77 only... I wonder why It's growing on me but my favourite colour is Indian Yellow (orange) with ideally a Lion interior not the brown which it came with. All I've got to say is why didn't my ole man buy a new 96 when they were still in production! He bought a new Alfa Sud instead which should have been scrapped 3 days after leaving the show room due to the rust!
Don't know why the pictures have come out sideways I rotated and saved them on photobucket the right way around!
1977 96L Opal
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Edited by - Zagato on 05 May 2014 10:09:43 | |
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Borstlap
V4 Fanatic
Norway
334 Posts | Posted - 05 May 2014 : 16:35:03
| Opal green for 1976/77 only... Nope, mine got license plates in March '75, but maybe things were different for the UK market.
Alex
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Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts | Posted - 06 May 2014 : 10:45:13
| Good to hear it was more popular than just two years Alex, I took the info of 76/77 from 'The SAAB WAY' book!
Have you got any pictures of yours, would love to see some
Just remembered that my father had quite a nice 'T' reg opal green 99 combi back in 1984. He drove it into an unmarked ditch on a camp site! Both front wheels dropped into it at quite a speed but the SAAB was pulled out by a tractor and sustained no damage at all 
1977 96L Opal Green
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Edited by - Zagato on 06 May 2014 10:54:32 | |
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Borstlap
V4 Fanatic
Norway
334 Posts | Posted - 06 May 2014 : 21:25:52
| See this picture as a morale boost for you; yours is in a much less deplorable state than mine (and much more opal green...). Picture is from February 2008 when I moved from Holland to Norway.
Got it from my dad in 1986 or '87. I parked it indoors in 1992 for extensive restauration but never got to it in a serious way. Logic says I should have ditched it long ago, but where is logic in such matters . Recently I started to work on it again. I overhauled both clutch cylinders and installed a new fluid hose. The clutch is now functional again. The worn Fomoco carb was replaced by a Weber 32/36 DGV and right now I am working on converting the ignition to Megajolt. Some welding needs to be done. It sits now behind the Sonett in the 40-foot container I use as storage, making it difficult to work on it.
There must be something with the quality of the Dutch opal green 96's. Just recently a guy on the Dutch Saabforum started a thread about the one he bought recently. Turned out to be even more crispy than mine; hope he will persevere.
Alex | |
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Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts | Posted - 07 May 2014 : 08:02:55
| Looks great Alex a work in progress Fiddling with them is half the fun... er sometimes, a few knuckle scraping jobs we all know about come to mind 
I wonder if the Dutch ones were made in Sweden or Finland (Swedish being the better examples!). I don't think the later models in general were as good as say the 1971/72 models. My top coat on the underside and under the rear bumper easily peels off the grey undercoat for instance.
As the underside of mine is so good I may paint it with POR-15 chassis paint. You wouldn't do it if you have rust, it's incredibly hard paint and would just trap the rust but it maybe an idea on mine... I used it on a new galvanised Series II Land Rover chassis during my build and a brand new Defender I bought, It's good stuff.
I didn't know about the Dutch forum so will google that .
Just read that the 'L' in the later 96L models stands for De Luxe and that "A reinforced transmission was one of the few innovations in 1975".
"Impact absorbing bumpers were introduced from Aug 1975, the back seat moved further back, new steering wheel, improved instumentation etc. The 95 lost the extra rear seat and got it's spare tyre relocated under the rear deck. Scandinavian cars came with head restraints and an electric rear window defroster".
The later models also had thicker carpets, brown boot matting not grey, new seatbelts with improved fixing points, 55 amp alternators etc...
1977 96L Opal Green
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Edited by - Zagato on 07 May 2014 08:08:50 | |
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Borstlap
V4 Fanatic
Norway
334 Posts | Posted - 07 May 2014 : 16:33:49
| www.saabforum.nl There is one category that only shows when you are logged in, being "Restauraties en Verbouwingen" - roughly translated into "Restorations and Reconstructions". For V4 enthousiasts there are four threads running that are highly recommended, being:
Saab 95V4 - Trollewop
Jacob, de 96 van Vlietmansje
Christiaan94's 96: Simonstijd!
Saab96 uit'76: Knutselkermit
Creating an account isn't too difficult, so give it a try and enjoy!
Alex | |
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Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts | Posted - 07 May 2014 : 18:43:52
| Many thanks for the link Alex. Lots going on in that forum. I confess I had to look up 9-4X & 9-7X to pass the security... er I'm not really interested in modern motors, didn't know what they were 
Cleaned up the roofrack today ready for any camping rallies. Although very similar in design It's not a SAAB one I don't think but was made in Sweden  and suits the car especially the black bits that match the later models bumpers etc. (previous owners picture)
Love the way SAABs had funky colours in those days.
1977 general non UK colours schemes.
1977 96L Opal Green
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Edited by - Zagato on 07 May 2014 19:14:41 | |
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Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts | Posted - 13 May 2014 : 11:48:57
| Picked up an Opal Green model at the Swedish Day, shame they really don't do models to this scale
Think I need to nurture my new opal green obsession by contacting Mr Hodcroft to find out what others are out their, bet there are some nice rally ones...
1977 96L Opal Green
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Woody
V4 Guru
United Kingdom
2764 Posts | Posted - 14 May 2014 : 23:12:02
| | there is one of the Opal Green rallycar - ETK909. | |
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Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts | Posted - 15 May 2014 : 07:34:12
| Thanks Woody. Time to start digging around for one.
My father gave my sister and I one of those red Corgi V4 models when we were kids (I still have mine! Probably shot hers to bits with an airgun ) so it would be nice to do the same for my sprogs.
Talking to Wal at the weekend, he mentioned the trick to overcome shrinking rubber was to put it in boiling water and stretch it back out. Hoping it will work with my rear window...
These havn't shrunk BUT I have some surface rust on the front corner bits of the window/door frame and need to get behind the rubber. I can't remember how these rubber strips come out without damaging them. It would be nice to get the whole strip out to treat the clips (think it is clips!) as they rust also as well as the door frame.
1977 96L Opal Green
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Edited by - Zagato on 15 May 2014 07:46:59 | |
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Woody
V4 Guru
United Kingdom
2764 Posts | Posted - 15 May 2014 : 12:01:40
| | I used the hot water method on mine but it soon shrunk back. Need to have some clips to grip the rubber and keep it in place. | |
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Zagato
V4 Mad
United Kingdom
812 Posts | Posted - 16 May 2014 : 07:27:15
| OK, I'll get hold of another Woody and have a go at cutting out an extension piece, bond it in then re-fit and see how that works!
1977 96L Opal Green
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Woody
V4 Guru
United Kingdom
2764 Posts | |
melle
V4 Guru
United Kingdom
3833 Posts | Posted - 16 May 2014 : 16:26:54
| The rubbers for the rear quarters are a standard profile, very cheap at your local rubber specialists. Do not buy them from Ashcraft as they do cheap s.h.i.t at insane prices. The door window rubber is a bit trickier, I got away with putting them in water for a bit and them gluing then in the channel and onto the door body with Shell Tixophalte (I simply love that stuff!). Also here, do not buy from Ashcraft.
1970 96V4 "The Devil's Own V4"
1977 95V4 van conversion project
1988 900i 8V | |
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| Topic | |
'RUF' my opal green shocker!
