Saab 9-3 Aero

Heres mine

It's a 55 plate Saab 9-3 v6 Aero, ive had it just under 2 years now, haven't really touched it in the last 12 months but plan to get back at it this year (ive been a bit lazy compared to my old cars!)

Here it was the day I collected it, completely standard.

I dropped it off with the Saab garage same day for an oil change and fresh plugs ready for the remap booked for a couple days later

Interior is pretty nice with grey leather & light grey leather inserts, dash is bit plasticky tbh but still a nice place to sit.

Leagues ahead of my other Saabs for comfort & refinement.....but that Audio....terrible!! I've been in a few new shape 9-3's and all have sounded pretty bad. This has the full 13 speaker system and its still awful!

So the first job was an oil & filter change, fuel filter change and fit new plugs. I went for these NGK IridiumIX plugs as theyre recommended for the new map by JZW as standard plugs can throw a wobbly.

Also bought a BSR Optiflow intake kit which sounds like there's a DV fitted! Not to everyones tastes but really brings the v6 growl to life especially on start up. I like it anyway

A few days later I had it remapped, it's a JZW stage 1 'aggressive' map. You get 3 to upload via the obd2 port & laptop: 'Regular' 'aggressive' and 'revised' Should see 320bhp & 409ft/lbs 409 with the aggressive map and slightly more with the revised map but it's also a fair bit smoother and I prefer the slam you into the seat feeling. Power comes in nice and early and the extra torque over standard is pretty insane! Giggling like a school girl first time I floored it....and then the clutch slipped! More on that later

 

[griffindai]

Plugs & coils swapped, definitely did the right thing here and take it to the garage!! Looked a right faff!

Running slightly smoother now, misfire seems to have gone but still has a slight boost issue like before, just dumps it early again, the 3.5bar map sensor helped (a lot) but it's still there. I'll give the other actuator a try out with different spring rates and see how it goes, nothing else I think it can be?

Pics of the old plugs

How do they look? They've done around 12k, should really be half this though so I'll add this to the yearly service, only doing maybe 5k a year these days vs 20k+

 

[griffindai]

No update as such here (we're going to NYC next month so no more spending on the SAAB for a while!!)

But it's booked in for a dyno run on a rolling road day I'm organising over on Pistonheads in March. Any South Wales guys (or anybody else who fancies it!) more than welcome to come

After chatting to JZW it looks like I'll come in a little lower than expected, I think his 19t & 20t dyno runs were done on a 'dynojet dyno' and the place were using has one that reads similar to a 'mustang dyno' so I'll end up with around 15% less than he'd thought? So the only way to get a more accurate reading would be to have a bog standard v6 Aero on the same dyno to give us a baseline figure, then maybe he can work out the difference, wish I'd known this 2 years ago before I mapped it....

I've read the dynojet ones can read a little high though? The nearest dynojet place is 4 hours away (so that's not happening!) Should be a good day out anyway, I'll plug HP Tuners in for the runs, hoping that'll show up what's causing the throttle cut/boost dump and maybe the dyno operator can shed some light on it? I still think it's the actuator not up to it though.

If anyone's clued up on these dyno types...please chime in! Here's where we're going:
http://www.gotboost.co.uk/dyno-and-workshop/dyno-services/

 

[griffindai]

Dyno day tomorrow

Had a look at some logs from last year to get a rough idea how much power to expect. John's said not to get too disappointed if I come in lower than expected as his cars are dyno'd on dynojet dynos and I think the one tomorrow is more like a mustang dyno so will read different.

Really need to get my head into HP Tuners and learn how everything works (and what all these squiggly lines mean!!)

I'm still having a slight boosting issue if I go even half throttle under 3k in 3rd and it's around 25-27psi (max boost is above 30psi but off the scale so can't be sure exactly what it really is here) the log above was problem free as I held off until 3k before nailing it. I'm hoping the dyno op will be able to shed some light on it and know why it's doing this. I keep thinking it's the actuator, I've swapped boost solenoids for my old one but it's still the same. Or could be the map is just too full on for the 18t? Mid range & top end clout seems fine, just that slight problem between 2.5-3k (I think it's a tweaked 19t map)

So going off the 277.97 grams per second here I think it's around 347bhp if you divide it by 0.8 (think that's right anyway?) If that's right it sounds a little low and more like stage 3+ guys are getting on the 15t No matter and not getting too hung up on this, just want the throttle cut/boost dump issue resolved.

Absolutely no idea how much torque I'm getting (can any tuning gurus here tell from the above log?)

Managed to figure out how to get dashcommand working again and time a 60-90 run. Pretty much the same as last time 3.4s

Anyway....we'll know in 24 hours!!

Cars had a bath, couple new Abbott Racing stickers added

Still loads of slots available if anyone fancies a running the dyno tomorrow

 

[T9 man]

Looking lovely as always Dave

 

[griffindai]

Thanks Os

Will have to give the credit to he local Polish guys though!! Car cleaning does my head in! It's 50 quid well spent!

Bodywork needs attention though, now it's nice & clean the rusty arches & stone chips on the bonnet really show up. Needs a respray, I've found a couple local guys who have a decent rep and pretty cheap. I'll probably keep this a while longer so makes sense to sort the bodywork next and then crack on with the tuning side (tempted by a big turbo again....)

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Dyno Dynamics seem to be the most popular dyno over here and they are normally used in "shootout mode" Dynojets are thought to be a bit on the optimistic side BUT the important thing is to use the same dyno type when one makes improvements and having it retuned/mapped to see any difference in power/torque outputs.

What max boost pressure are you running?

 

[griffindai]

Yep that's what I'm thinking. I'll see how it runs tomorrow then I'd like to go back next month with the new actuator and try a couple runs with the different springs fitted.

Max boost pressure I'm not sure on until tomorrow, I think it's peaking over 30psi here (seems pretty high that for such a small turbo, over 2 bar in old money!) but it's off the scale and I can't tell from the logs as they only read up to 30, so I've no idea what it's getting, seems to settle around 25-27psi though comparing a few logs.

 

[griffindai]

So..back to the dyno and it didn't go well

I did ask them to do a pull from 3k in 3rd or 3.5k in 4th where the cars happy but they didn't and did a run from around 2k in 4th and the car ran like *#*#*#*#, hit throttle cut, then had traction problems when it sorted itself out and made low power (does this on the road, just can't got WOT below 3k in 3rd or 3,400 in 4th as it hits throttle cut, backfires, kills the boost and I have to back right off then accelerate again and it's ok) But if I nail it where I should (3k plus) it's off like a rocket and pulls strong all the way to redline.

Here's the dyno plot (and it's not looking good!!!)

328bhp & 414ft/lbs

Gonna be a while yet until I get two of these

Feedback from them was it's running dangerously lean low down, he was happy with mid range & top end power but recommended getting the map looked at.

So being a little worried I went back to my tuner, showed him the graphs and after a bit of messaging back & forth he explained how he maps these differently to the other tuners, sounds like it's a much more aggressive way of mapping and unlike some of the euro tuners where you get a nice steady build up of torque, here it's pretty much full boost from the get go. So with these tunes the cars don't like to be lugged low down as it puts too much stress on the rods, box & clutch and it's better to run them WOT between 3k to 6k instead of flooring it lower down and riding the torque like the others. Maptun/Hirsch cars don't seem to have these problems as they're tuned differently. Both still v.quick but a bit less mad to save stress on the engine & clutch.

So had a few map tweaks to make it slightly richer lower down and this has virtually eliminated the throttle cut around 2.5-3k so can now get a decent pace on around half throttle then nail it at 3k (quick!!!) whereas before I'd have to baby it to 3k the go wot. But yes there is a problem here and it looks like it's a weak fuel pump. It's running a bit leaner than the other cars that are .86 lambda and this stays in .98 range until 5k. So the main suspect now is the fuel pump. Nothing after market/upgrade I can find for this (miss the old days with the 9000! 80 quid Walbro, job done!!) But have been advised to just get a new standard pump (£175 plus shipping/tax!!!!!) which is good for 450bhp. Tank also has to be dropped so there's a good few hours labour here Also worth swapping the fuel pump controller module and I'll get a new petrol cap while I'm at it as any one of these can throw a cel (0089) so worth doing the lot in one go. If you don't give the cap 3 clicks when you tighten it, run the tank low etc....throws cel 0089

So bit gutted I didn't make the numbers, but also glad I've had this dyno'd and it's shown up the problem, got the map tweaked again and that's got us looking at the dodgy fuel pump as the culprit.

We're getting there......

Once this is done im taking it to a Dynojet dyno and see what it gets there, should be a decent comparison to the US 19/20T guys then.

 

[griffindai]

Billet Pro Shop Shortshifter fitted

Bit of a faff to fit this (looks like it's my fault!) whatever I did I couldn't select 1st & 2nd without slacking the shifter cover right off but then couldn't get 5th & 6th. So ended up shaving off a load of the plastic cover to get 1st but meant I had to shave off the reverse lock....so could get 1st & 2nd now but there's a risk of selecting reverse by mistake.

After some digging online I finally found some info on a Chevy Cobalt forum with a fitting guide, not much info on the Saab forums but the Cobalt shares the same shifter assembly. Should have put the car in 4th before taking it to bits, then just needs a bit of adjustment to get it bang on I'll get another cover for it and sort it next time I'm home.

The kit came with a stainless clamp, the old ones a bit flimsy & plastic. Same as what's on the left of the new clamp

Also fitted the supplied shifter bushes which replace the old rubber ones:

The new ones are stainless so there's a nicer feel to the shift changes with the solid mounts.

Then fitted the weighted knob and adjusted the nuts to get the pattern right.

All done

 

[griffindai]

Short shifters finally sorted!! What a pain this was!!!!!!!

Long story short was the shifter itself is too thick to get the plastic shifter cover back over it, so had to file/shave/trim the inside of the cover to slide it back over rotate it 90degs until it cleared then rotate back to get it to screw down. Luckily one of the Saab forum members sent me the cover foc or id be looking at getting a completely new assembly...

Next issue was trying to select 1st as the stick wouldn't go far enough left unless I lifted the reverse collar and gently slid it into 1st without getting reverse by mistake (had a few interesting moments at the traffic lights!!!) so this needed sorting asap before I slammed into the car behind. 50/50 chance of getting 1st or reverse...

All it really needed was a few mm shaved off the left side of the cover to get enough clearance so I can get it far enough left and forward to engage 1st gear. Took some head scratching and around 3 hours adjusting the clamp all the way up and down the cable every mm then reassembling everything to try and get it in gear, no joy and came close to sacking it. So gave it one more go and ended up filing the cover but was careful not to touch the reverse lock or I'd be back to square one again!

Pic below shows where I've had to file down the cover, only a few mm but had to do it in stages so I didn't take too much off (took a while as its all got to come appart again then refit until it's done)

So that's sorted! Should really be plug & play this considering the price of it, the only thing I can think is either the shifters been machined a few mm too thick or the Chevy cobalts cover its a couple mm wider.

Well worth the effort though, gearchanges feel miles nicer and precise.

Next fix was meant to be a new fuel pump and then sort the TCS/Stability control fault out but money's had to go elsewhere

 

[obi_waynne]

Have you got the short shifter sorted now?

 

[griffindai]

Have you got the short shifter sorted now?

Sort of! All gears are engaging but shifting fast from 2nd to 3rd is a right pain and doesn't always go in. Need to adjust the cable again when I get home.

 

[obi_waynne]

How annoying. I'm sure you'll crack it though! Are you liking it?

 

[griffindai]

Yeah it's not bad, throws a fair bit shorter and looks nicer than the standard stick, just a shame with all the instal problems. Just couldn't get it to work/fit unless the shifter cover was cut. Took ages!!

 

[obi_waynne]

There are quite a few people reading this thread looking at the stats but we've not had any updates from you in a while any updates on this project - or have you moved on to another one?

What are your plans for the future?

 

[griffindai]

Yep pretty big update



I think it's thrown a rod.
Best case scenario is the turbos just blown, could feel/hear it shooting down the exhaust! But the amount of oil it's lost I think it's terminal.

Might break it over summer and keep all the mods for a newer 9-3 or Vec VXR. Gutted

 

[obi_waynne]

I feel your pain, that is so sad. I feel guilty pressing like but I don't meal like, just I sympathise with you.

Keep us posted with your next project then - or let us know if you manage to get it all mended.