01x04 - Saab 900 Turbo Part 2

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler Dealers, the show
that's mad about modern classics.

This is our Saab 900 Turbo, which I bought
for a knockdown 600 quid.

The challenge is to buy
and restore a car like this for

1000 quid, then sell it on
when all the work's done.

So far, we're winning.

My mechanic Ed China has been working flat
out.

He's completely over all the brakes.

Worth doing on a powerful 175 horsepower
motor.

And he's addressed a common Saab problem.

Dickey electric windows.

Now they work perfectly.

Money wise, we're doing all right with 210
quid still left in the kitty.

But there's still plenty
of work to do before

I try and sell the car
later on in the show.

I'm on the hunt for a
lever interior and Ed

has got some fiddling
to do under the bonnet.

But before that, I want to offer some
inspiration.

I met a guy called Stuart Nutton who's got
a pristine Saab 900 Turbo to find out how

one of these babies really should look and
handle.

Looking over a perfect Saab will give me a
clear idea how our 900 could end up.

Now I can remember the very first time I
got into a Saab 900 Turbo back in the mid

80s and getting into
second gear, keep my

foot on the accelerator
and all of a sudden...

Whoa!

It was like Mount Vesuvius.

Off it went.

I mean, back then it was a jolly quick
car.

It wasn't the quickest off the line if
you're doing a trophy like Grand Prix,

but once you get into second and third,
as you say, it went and went and went.

It was competing with
the likes of the Audi

Quattro, Renault Turbos
and big engine BMWs, 308s.

For my money, it carries on the Saab
pedigree of turbo charging, safety, speed.

The engineering is fantastic.

The Saab have a great aeronautical
history, still do.

Now you say it's aircraft inspired.

What about the overall design?

What appeal just to that?

The design is very quirky.

You won't see another
car like it on the road unless

you come up against another
Saab 900 of traffic lights.

What about the handling?

Handling is superb.

It was when it was first introduced and
still is.

It's front wheel drive,
which some people

would say doesn't
make a great driver's car.

But coupled with the front double wishbone
suspension that Saab produced on this car

in the mid 80s, which no other
manufacturer was doing, the handling

really is out of this world and was out of
this world when it was introduced.

Right, so what's the best spec and look to
go for?

In my opinion, it's got to be black.

Black is the only colour for a 900 turbo.

Leather interior, so much nicer as you're
driving along.

Cruise control always makes it nice on the
motorway.

Aircon for the summer driving.

Three spoke hour is a standard.

Electric sunroof is a standard.

Basically, that's what you need to look
for.

You've just described your car,
haven't you?

I have, yeah.

It's my car.

Do you want to sell this one?

Absolutely not.

Well, at least let me have a drive with
it.

Why not?

Thank you.

I love that kick in the back it gives you.

It's just got that vigour that you'd
expect the car is an exciting car to drive.

This car has done 180,000 miles,
but it's still got this whoosh factor.

Look at it go.

It's got that get up and go about it that
appeals me to salves in the first place.

Look at me.

I'm smiling and I'm driving an old car.

I feel like I'm 17.

It's got the black leather interior,
the leather steering wheel.

It feels right.

The paint work is glorious.

The brakes feel precise.

The whole chassis feels nimble.

We want our car to have all the feeling of
this one.

It's got to feel young.

It's got to feel youthful.

It's got to feel dynamic.

Now, the clear differences between this
car and our car are plainly obvious.

Our car's got loads of little niggly
problems that we need to address.

And if we can get our car
heading in the direction of

this condition, then I
reckon we're on to the winner.

Thank you.

Right, fun's over.

Time for Ed to get cracking on that
exhaust.

On the drive back to the
workshop, I noticed the salves

exhaust was much louder
than I'd normally expect.

Now, it could be one of
a number of things, but

there's a quick test I can
do to pinpoint the problem.

When I stopped the exhaust coming out of
the tailpipe, I couldn't hear any gases

escaping from further up the system,
which means the pipes are intact.

So I've got a pretty good
idea of what the problem

is, and it's not going
to be too much to fix.

The blowing box may have affected the
engine's back pressure, which might have

caused the dip in performance that Mike
was worried about.

Well, I've got the car
up on the ramp, so I

can have a good look
at this exhaust system.

And as I suspected, it's a
perfectly good nick, which

leads me to suspect
that the muffler is at fault.

Now, a muffler works rather like the
sil*ncer on a g*n.

It absorbs sound.

Inside here are some
baffles, and I think they might

have gone, which means I'm
going to have to replace this.

Before I remove the sil*ncer, I need to
undo this U clamp here and the U clamp here.

Now, because of where they are on the car,
they tend to get very rusty, so a good

square with some penetrating fluid is a
very good idea.

You can't see anything happening in front
of your eyes, but it's worth leaving the

fluid enough time to do its stuff,
so don't hurry.

I've given the penetrating
fluid time to settle

in, and now it's just a
case of undoing things.

Now, when something is rusty, it can just
shear off, which makes your life actually

a lot easier, because
then you just throw away

the clamp, and the
exhaust is ready to come off.

So that's the first clamp, and I'll have
to do the second.

Another one sheared off.

Bingo.

And now our second clamp is removed.

I'm now going to remove this rubber mount
here, so I can get the tailpipe off,

and that should make removing the sil*ncer
even easier.

In a perfect world, once I've removed
these rubber mounts, I should be able to

slide these pipes apart, but of course
that's not going to happen.

It's going to need a fair
amount of work to get

that off, and worst case,
I might have to cut it.

As I thought, it's not going to work with
all this hammering, I need something else.

This should do the trick.

I'm wearing ear defenders and goggles,
so should you.

It's so much easier to work on the pipe
when it's off the car.

In case you're worried, the only bit I'm
cutting into is the old unit.

Now the new back box will just slide into
the existing tailpipe.

The great thing is that modern exhaust
systems are made up in pieces,

so all I have to do is replace the old
sil*ncer with this brand new one.

It's definitely worth trying a job like
this yourself.

A garage would probably charge 100 quid in
labour, plus a mark-up on the parts.

This box only cost me £30.

Just making sure that all the bolts are
nice and tight now, and then I'm just

going to do one last
check to make sure the

exhaust isn't touching
the car in any places.

OK, well let's see what it sounds like.

Now that's the purr of a Saab 900.

Job done.

Right now I'm on the
road looking for salvage

parts with what I've
got left in the kitty.

The bodywork on our Saab 900 is lovely,
but the interior really lets it down.

It's that horrible beige
draylon, and I think

it looks smart with
some nice black leather.

Now I've been told that's an impossible
task, and I'll never find one.

In fact, I've been given two options.

One is to retrim the car, and that cost
500 quid, the second of which is to buy

another car, and I'm certainly not doing
that.

However, not one to give up.

I made a few more phone calls.

In fact, it was 20, and I found another
Saab 900 black leather interior.

This guy reckons he's got one,
and it's spot on.

Let's get for them.

Some salvage yards are
oily and dirty, and you bring

your screwdriver to pull
any bits off you need.

This one near Oxford couldn't be more
different.

It's clean enough to eat
your dinner off, and all the

parts are already stripped
and carefully organised.

And this is it.

A beautiful Saab 900 leather interior.

Now, don't worry too
much if you turn up and it's

got the old little scuff
on it, or little mark.

You can soon put some leather feed and
bring it back.

Even a bit of boot polish helps.

Even a little tear can be repaired.

But this is spot on.

Four seats, and I thought that was all you
got.

I thought you'd buy your interior,
you get four leather seats.

But actually, that's just the beginning of
the experience.

There's a lot more to it.

Have a look at this.

You get the door cards.

These are grey.

Remember our interior's tan, so we need
these.

You get the ones for the back,
you get this thing.

I don't know what it is, but I'm sure
we'll find out.

You also get panels with switches in.

Remember it's black again.

You get cards, inserts, you get absolutely
everything.

In fact, there's more
work here than I originally

thought, so Ed's going
to love me for that.

But with the interior and all the inserts,
it only comes to £175.

Now, for that, it's going to transform our
car.

So here's the interior.

It's a lovely leather, but it's also a
lovely grey, not beige, which means not

only have I got to
change the seats, I've also

got to change the
carpet and the door cards.

I'm going to start by removing the seats.

It's going to give me so much more room
for everything else.

Now, I've slid the seat right to the back
of the runners, and that's revealed two

bolts at the very front, which I'm now
going to undo.

I'm going to needle these nuts and bolts
later on in the refit of the interior,

so I'm going to put them away somewhere
safe so I don't lose them.

Okay, I've undone the seat, and now it's
ready to be removed, but before I do that,

because it's a heated seat, I must
disconnect the wiring.

Simple as that.

Unlike the driver's side, on this side,
there's two extra screws at the back,

and they're just under here somewhere.

Changing the interior of a
car sounds like a massive

job, and frankly, it's
not for the faint-hearted.

It's well worth buying an owner's manual
if you want to try it.

I'm just removing the rear seat,
it's in two parts, which makes it nice and

easy, and the base is held in with two small
hinge pins, which are just behind there.

Remember that losing any part of the
assembly here will be a major pain later on.

Don't let it happen.

And out it comes.

Okay, that's the last of the seats out.

I've just had to remove two clips to get
the back out.

It wasn't that hard, but it could be
useful to have a second person around.

The carpet is now ready to be removed.

It's held in by these kick
plates either side of the car,

the centre console and a
couple of other pieces of trim.

So it's really a case
of removing a load of

screws, and then the
carpet should come out.

It's only when you
take a car to bits, you

realise how many parts
make up the interior.

It's a good opportunity to go
through and replace damaged

trim or loose carpet that
might put off a potential buyout.

Now I can finally take this really nasty
carpet out.

Oh, look at that.

A whole manky old carpet to the bin,
I think.

The last bit of this interior that I'm
going to remove are the door cards.

It's a really easy job.

All that's holding this
panel on is this little

thing, seven screws, four
of which are behind here.

There's one behind the door handle,
and then there's one each in the corners.

Now once that's off, to keep things
simple, I'm just going to put the brand

new door card back in and then the
transformation can begin.

One of my first jobs on the Saab was
changing the electric window motors.

So now I know where all the bolts are,
the door cards can be swapped in minutes.

That's the first one.

Now for the other three.

The rear door cards are almost as easy as
the front.

There are six quarter-turn
fasteners around

here, and I just have to
disconnect the seatbelt.

This is often the point where you find
you're missing the right colour studs,

or that some of the interior trim is
missing.

But luckily, we're fine.

Now it's time for the seatbelts to be put
back.

It's got to be done properly.

It's crucial for safety.

This is a really satisfying job.

Every piece makes the interior look so
much better.

And Mike will be happy that we're adding
value to the car.

It's kind of obvious, but this is the
carpet.

I'm going to do some carpet fitting.

The temptation here is to wash the carpet
before it goes back.

But to retain its shape, you're better off
waiting until it's fitted.

The carpet's back in, so now I'm going to
start putting in all the panels.

Assembling the centre console is rather
like a puzzle.

The key is to remember
how you took it apart,

because then it's easy
to put back together.

This salvaged interior that
Mike has managed to get

us has been quite a
result, except for one thing.

Somewhere between
there and here, this knee

roll has managed to
get very badly damaged.

Now that leaves me with a bit of a
problem.

I have a grey interior and a very beige
knee roll.

So I'm going to have to fix that,
but I'm not sure quite how yet.

These seats have had
a bit of a hard life, so I'm

cleaning them, first of
all, with a leather cleaner.

Then once all the grime is away,
I'm then going over the rest of the area

with a leather cream to give it some
condition.

The leather cleaning products are cheap,
but they do make a difference,

and the seats soon lose their scraggy,
nasty feel.

After a thorough clean and polish, our
sumptuous leather seats are looking delicious.

So now I'm going to put the rear seat back
in.

I've got to try and get these little pins
on the other side into this little clip.

And it would be kind of
handy if I had somebody else,

but I haven't, so I'm
going to have to struggle.

Only one of the many fiddly jobs,
but I'm winning.

For the base of the rear seat,
all I've got to do is get the arms back

through some slots and put this into the
hinge.

And it's perfect, but no time to rest on
my laurels.

And that's the passenger seat done too.

Just these two bolts to go, and I'm done.

I'm so chuffed with this new interior, it's
really given this car a touch of class.

If you look over here, our nice beige new
rod is now a perfect matching grey,

thanks to a couple of coats of vinyl
paint.

I think Mike will be really pleased with
this.

Our tired old interior is no longer
required, and I've saved at least 300

pounds that a professional trimmer would
have asked to do the job.

Excellent.

There are still a couple of last minute
jobs I'd like to do.

First, this car needs an oil change every
5,000 miles, and that's due right now.

Perfect.

A new clear indicator lens has really
smartened up the front.

The Saab 900 Turbo is finished.

Let's have a look at what we've achieved.

Clean 900s are rare.

I used the internet to track down the
cheap 16-valve turbo that needed work.

The owners showed me pages of history,
and I shook on it right away.

Ed overhauled the tricky brakes,
and replaced the pads and discs all round.

Now the car stops as sharply as it looks.

He also managed to get the electric
windows working again.

The noisy backbox has
been replaced, and the

tired draylon interior
is a distant memory.

We spent £70 on the brake parts,
and £120 on the electric window motors.

The backbox was £30, and the interior was
a bargain at £175.

Dial in £15 for service
parts, £25 for new light lenses,

and £600 for the car, and
we're over our £1000 budget.

To the tune of £35.

And the result?

Well, it looks amazing.

I reckon we've done rather well.

Don't you?

Ed, what a transformation.

It looks fantastic.

Well done, fella.

Thanks very much.

It's a great car, but now it even stops.

It's got new discs and pads.

I've changed the oil, I've
fixed the exhaust, and I've

even transformed that
interior with that lovely leather.

You've been working hard, haven't you?

Well, it looks right, but does it go
right?

Sounds beautiful.

Have a go.

Lovely.

This sub's now got its fire back in its
belly.

Thanks all the work that Ed's done on the
exhaust and on the engine, it just goes.

I think the main difference on this car is
the way it's transformed the interior.

Before it was very bland
looking for that beige,

but now it's got the lovely
luster of black leather.

It helps it get sold.

It helps get this car down the road.

And maximise the profit.

But more importantly, does it stop because
it never stopped before?

And look at that, the brakes are awesome.

Now, I gave £600 for
this car, and I reckon it's

easy worth double that,
maybe even a bit more.

About £12, £1400.

And that's what I'm going to ask for it.

Well done, Ed.

You never know.

If it don't sell, I might even keep it
myself.

Now Saab 900 looks and drives fantastic
thanks to Ed's hard work.

But I need to work out
how to maximise the amount

of profit that we're going
to get out of this car.

I reckon it's worth between £12 and £1400.

Remember, it's a cult
car with a loyal following,

and that's the kind of
clientele I need to attract.

So I think the best
place to advertise this car

is on a specialist Saab
website on the internet.

People who are looking for a Saab on the
web want to see clear evidence of service

history, so make that a big part of your
ad.

You need to stress the amount of cash
spent and work undertaken on the car.

Finally, mention the luxuries,
like cruise control and CD player,

and stick in a decent picture.

It always helps sell the car.

The web is a quick and easy way to sell
your car and usually get results.

Problem is, I advertise this car on a
specialist website, and nine times out of

ten you're going to get a specialist
turned up.

And this lady really does know the stuff.

She's already asked me a couple of awkward
questions.

I reckon I'm in for some tough
negotiation.

And I reckon she's going to knock me back
a few quids, so wish me luck.

Karen, how are you getting on?

It's nice and tidy in here.

It's had a lovely black leather interior,
CD player as well.

OK, great.

What about the electrics?

Yeah, they all work.

Funny enough, I'll be honest
with you, when I got the car the

electric windows weren't
working, but we put new motors in.

Yeah, not too bad.

When was it last serviced?

It was last serviced just recently,
actually.

We'd just done it.

OK.

And turbo, has that been changed?

The turbo was changed about three years
ago.

I've got all the receipts for that,
so that's all good news.

So, filters, everything like that?

Everything's been done, yeah.

Yeah, no, it's nice and straight under it.

It's been well looked after.

Bodywork, has anything major been done
accident damage?

Not as far as I know.

It's one of those cars.

I always think Psalms are sort of honest
cars.

The type of people that
own these are professional

people, solicitors,
bankers, lawyers, doctors.

And they never race or rally them,
so no, it's fairly good, Nick.

It's not a lot of money.

It's cheap as chips, I like to say.

And it looks good.

It's black with a black liver interior.

It's got turbo written on the back.

What else do you need?

So, we're settled on 1,200 quid.

Yeah.

Happy?

Yes, very happy.

Are you sure?

Because, Artie, you bought a cracking car.

Yes, I know.

You've done a lot of work on it.

It's great.

You're going to be very happy to get a
well done.

Thank you.

The Psalms made us a couple of hundred
quid profit.

All right, not enough to retire on,
but still pretty good.

We've doubled its value and the car's gone
to a good home.

What a great feeling.

That's it for Wheeler Dealers.

Join us again soon when we give another
modern classic a second lease of life.

Tala.