Hey, Finland is Cool

"PRBot II" (prbot2) 09/14/2013 at 01:29 • Filed to: SAAB, valmet

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I'm a SAABist, and I thrive on being different. Come at me, bro.

Eazy-O > PRBot II 09/14/2013 at 09:46

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*shrug* It's prolly a convertible, most were built/finished in Valmet, Finland. :)

PRBot II > Eazy-O 09/14/2013 at 11:43

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Hey c'mon, it could be a Viggen...

Or not.

Eazy-O > PRBot II 09/14/2013 at 13:37

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VIN: YS3DD75N9X7053471
Manufacturer: Saab Automobile AB
Product line: SAAB 9-3
Body type: 2-door Convertible (CV)
Gear box: 5-Speed Manual
Engine type: B204L - 2.0L turbo with intercooler
Model year: 1999
Assembly plant: Nystad, Finland
Serial number: 053471
Control symbol: Passed
SRS: w/Dual Airbags, 9-3

Sorry, Viggen has a B235R. ;)

PRBot II > Eazy-O 09/14/2013 at 13:42

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Damn straight it's a 5-speed! That's pretty cool... how do you do that?

Eazy-O > PRBot II 09/14/2013 at 15:28

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In this case, I used my club's VIN decoder: http://www.saabslo.com/index.php?opti…

For any other brand, you can go with something like this: http://www.vindecoder.net

...though it does seem to omit some information.

This your ride? :) Got the steering rack brace yet?

My first post was in reference to the fact that it says Made in Finland, I wasn't quite sure what you were getting at, but assumed that you were wondering what Finland has to do with SAAB. :)

PRBot II > Eazy-O 09/14/2013 at 15:58

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Thanks... Yup this is my ride. Lol, no steering rack brace for me - not yet at least.

Eazy-O > PRBot II 09/14/2013 at 21:01

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Any pics of the car? :)

This is the brace I meant, all the og9-3 Aero owners I know swear by it: http://www.abbottracing.net/product.php?id…

A buddy might have one nearly mint for sale in the near future, for about 100€ less than new.

PRBot II > Eazy-O 09/15/2013 at 09:29

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Here she is... back in my FL days. I miss that state.

Oh yeah, I've seen that brace before. It's another item on a long list of mods I'd like to put on the car. But I don't drive my car too hard, so the torque steer doesn't bother me too much. Ugh, I've got some other expenses to deal with on my car as it is, lol!

Eazy-O > PRBot II 09/15/2013 at 14:10

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Don't tell me about expenses, man, my 9000 likes to screw with me every now and then. Latest niggle: Water temperature gauge not working. Alas, not all is lost, I recently acquired a cheap OBD-Bluetooth dongle and my phone is happy to display everything for me. Including the speedo, which has been broken since I've had the car. That's not a major difficulty though, since I've learned to read speeds from the revs and gear I'm in. :D

Lovely wheels, gotta say. I'm thinking of updating my own with something newer, perhaps an inch larger than the current 16" Super Aeros. Any suggestions? :)

PRBot II > Eazy-O 09/15/2013 at 15:07

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That's funny, I've had to fix my water temp before... here's a shot of it when it wasn't working right:

I took that on a drive from FL to CT. This was after several hours in NC on I-95. Obviously, it shouldn't be reading that cold. I forget what part needed replacing, thermometer maybe? but it was an easy fix.

I had to fix the speedo too (it was nice not accumulating mileage on the odometer for a while). I'm not quite as good at guessing my speed from just rpms, so I downloaded an app to my phone that reads out mph, as well as 0 - 60 times. It also had a G-meter, but idk how accurate it really was.

Thanks, the wheels are 17" refurbs from the 2002 - 2004 9-5, like this one:

Getting refurbs really helped save a lot of cash, it was only $90 per. It's the same bolt pattern, but the wheel wells are a little cramped so the tire rubs during tight turning. I'd suggest getting the newest prettiest SAAB wheels you can. Putting updated OEM wheels on an older model really brings the whole car up to date. Case in point, here's my car in 2010 with the old 15" wheels:

Gross, lol.