using a saab turbo?!

[RobyD 0]

In my parents garage there is a rust bucket of saab 900 2.0 turbo(old v reg!). It's basically ready for the scrappy but the engine/turbo have only 75k on them plus both being rebuilt in the last 5k.

 

I'm just having a little day dream for using it for a turbo conversion on my 1.8 16v :lol:

 

Anyone know what turbos the old saabs use and if it'd be worth it all the hassle. I can imagine it being very light pressure plus the old saabs did have a lot of lag :?

 

I know there's a lot of other cost like manifolds and lower compression pistons etc...but, a free turbo seems a good start!

 

Please dont laugh :lol:

[Guest]

If it goes well I might have to steal my mates off of his ;)

[PhatVR6 0]

My mate got his Garret T3 or an old SAAB.

[stevemac 0]

One of my dad's mates used to have a Saab 900 turbo - C reg. A real flying machine from what I remember. I was gonna buy it when I was 17 but the insurance company just laughed at me :(

[Bally 0]

You nutter Rob, goodluck with it... 8) :)

[GazzaG60 0]

get something bigger for the 16v for proper power.

 

your gonna have to spend plent anyway to get it to run right so you may as well get it to run really right.

 

the yanks use t3/04E for good power.

 

maybe a TD05 of a impreza although air entry isn't the best. a smaller TD04 is standard entry type and cheap too. good for around 280hp bout hunder quid and a lot newer than the saab unit.

[aide 0]

I'm just having a little day dream for using it for a turbo conversion on my 1.8 16v :lol:

 

I was having the same daydream last Saturday!!! Came across a Y reg saab 900 rotting away in a field, though engine is in tasty condition - and you gotta love the dirty great manifold link with TURBO splashed across it :D

 

Like you say tho - a lottt lotta work

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The turbo isn't the problem or the hard bit to source. A high nickel content exhaust manifold that fits the 16V and retains the stock front pipe outlet angle, is!

 

Turbo Technics still have the moulds but won't produce them unless 10 orders are made (gits). So I reckon EIP tuning is probably your only option, unless a Turbo Technics kit comes up on eBay.

 

Then of course the bottom end is going to need dropping to 8.5:1. You can do it by offset bushing the small end bearings, which is OK up to about 250bhp but if you want more you'll have to use forged pistons and stress relieved con rods, total seal rings, etc etc....

 

K

[Guest]

hmmph, looks like I won't be creaping round my mates place in the dead of night with a socket set then :(

[RobyD 0]

get something bigger for the 16v for proper power.

 

your gonna have to spend plent anyway to get it to run right so you may as well get it to run really right.

 

the yanks use t3/04E for good power.

 

maybe a TD05 of a impreza although air entry isn't the best. a smaller TD04 is standard entry type and cheap too. good for around 280hp bout hunder quid and a lot newer than the saab unit.

 

You got any idea what power i'd get from the SAAB turbo realistically?

 

Suppose if your gonna go to all that trouble of the conversion you may as well get a decent turbo otherwise it would just piss me off after doing it that i hadn't been done to its full potential.

 

was having the same daydream last Saturday!!! Came across a Y reg saab 900 rotting away in a field, though engine is in tasty condition - and you gotta love the dirty great manifold link with TURBO splashed across it

 

Yeah, there definitley wouldn't be any 'can you guess what it is yet' :lol:

[PhatVR6 0]

http://www.8vturbo.com

 

all you'll ever need to turbo you VW. oh, and exchange rates are in our favour too....

[GazzaG60 0]

from what i can gather the saab turbo is pretty small (t3). itll boost early but not hold out. the bigger turbos obviously bring lag. it depends on what you want out of it.

 

the saab turbo would probly give you similar to what kev got out of his. suppose not a bad starter turbo. its just if you wanna go bigger there can be other costs like flanges, downpipes thatll have to be replaced again, maybe different piping too for oil/water feeds and air.

[RobyD 0]

Right, can anyone give the low down/list on what needs to be done when turboing a 16v, whatever turbo i was to use. Not aiming for really big power - 200 bhp @ the wheels would be great though :twisted: I know this turboing lark aint cheap :roll:

 

That the moment the EIP tuning exhaust manifold is roughly £270 + carriage etc..

 

Cheers

[Scott 0]

I had a mate stick a SAAB Turbo on a Sierra 2.0 8V Pinto..... made around 170bhp and went like the clappers - smoked a bit too mind you :D :)

[g60bv 0]

stealth racing do 16v turbo conversions, i'm sure of it :roll: . give em a call,

[BigTartanJudge 0]

RobyD,

 

See this post for info,

 

http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7831

 

Check the pictures of my mate's engine at the bottom, cost around £2250

 

Nice.

 

BigEastsideVWG60

[Matt GTi 0]

I'm in a sort of similar position, I've been offered a genuine Aston Martin Supercharger for peanuts. Apparently it is quite big though, so I don't know if it'll shoe-horn into my VR engine bay.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I think Astons use the Roots type blower, which will be a hefty old thing if it's from the 90s era. I think you'll struggle to get it in. Might be better to flog it on Ebay and put the proceeds toward a Vortech, which we all know is a bolt-on mod.

 

K

[scruffydubbers 0]

i think some of the old saabs turbos use a simular mechanical injection to k-jet, could be wrong

 

you might be able to use the metering head or some parts off it to increase the fueling aswell

[RobyD 0]

Cheers for all your replys guys!

[DaveM 0]

It would help to know the engine code of this V plate saab (im assuming you mean circa 1980 because if not then id not even bother with it). I assume its what would be known as a B motor, however it could concieveably be a later H motor.

 

to be honest its probably better if its a B motor. I dont know where you got this light pressure idea from. they run at about 1 bar of boost standard (I have 2 old origional saab turbos (99's)).

Also the reason they have a lot of leg is becuase compared to say the turbo out of a 1.8t they are massive, its old school power here too so theres no variable vanes.

 

In the USA its not uncommon for the turbine blades to be cut down so that they spin up a little faster, they can still achieve some respectable boost figurse like this.

 

Also these 'old saabs' do run k-jet so if you were gonna do the conversion you could rob the car of its injectors etc, which are higher lflow than the standard ones you have.

 

As for the problems with compression, you could always get a big copper head gasket made up to sort the compression ratio, I dunno how thick it would need to be but id want a hefty 1 if i was doing it. youll probably need quite a bit of head work, and things like sodium filled exhause valves too, and of course a manifold thats up to the job.

 

It sounds like a bit of an ambitious project but anything is possible.

As for performance its hard to say, saab managed to engineer crazy figures from their rally spec turbo cars and theres a nutter in sweeden who a while back was running his saab turbo with 4 bar boost, so i bet that wasnt exactly slow. even at the standard level of boost tho (if the motor could take it, id be worried about the bottom end!) it wouldnt exactly be slow >3k rpm.

 

at the end of the day its down to you.

 

I may be able to offer some insight into whats on the saab in terms of bits if you can provide some more detials.

 

Dave

[RobyD 0]

Cheers DaveM, you seem to know your stuff with saabs!

 

The saab is a 1979 900 2.0 turbo so probably a B motor as you say

 

So this saab uses a pretty big turbo then which would ultimately give a fair bit of lag? I'd rather have a turbo with minimal lag as the 16v already suffers from taking ages to spool up!

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[DaveM 0]

you sure its a 900 and not a 99, if its a '79 car.

counds a bit wierd to me.

 

but whatever it will be a B motor.

 

They are a bit laggy, put it like this my 99t is a 'normal' 2l till you hit 3000 rmp, then its an animal

 

Dave