sanding!

first day of class was today. I put the body of the saab on the trailer. Body=fiberglass shell from the windshield back. Put the trailer on the back of Janna's Corolla and headed off to San Jac south. It actually stayed on the trailer! I took off all of the extra parts (turn signals, tail lights, mirror, sun visors) and scraped off all of the body glue. Those wacky swedes actually glued the body onto the chasis. Then I got to sanding. I basically finished an area about 18x24 inches....oh boy! and 8 more hours of sanding next week! . Plus there are a handful of cracks that I have to glass in. Then just spray on some sealer, and filler primer...and sand some more...then more filler primer...than sand some more...and if i'm lucky...a hit with color and clear...then more sanding....sanding is my life.

rear suspension tweak

I worked on the saabette! I'm so proud. I took the rear axle off...AGAIN...took the rear wheel bearing out and put them in correctly this time...with the spacers installed..doh! I also managed to get the center bushing...um...centered. I had someone else do it, initially, and they didn't quite get it...which threw the rear alignment out of whack. This is one of those jobs that is a 15 minute job once you get on the right path...but is 5 hours long by the time you've failed several times, broken a tool or two and been to the store. It must have taken about 3000 psi to budge the little bugger. I finally got it with my giant vice, a 3 foot cheater bar, and some carefully positioned half inch steel chunks. I'm fairly certain that I cheated death. At anyrate, its all back together and looks pretty good. We'll see when I go for the first test drive.

That little project was a big black cloud over me, knowing for months that i'd have to get it done...now it is. So hopefully that opens the door for wiring! I'll start up the class in the spring again and start painting the body. By the time I get the body painted I should have the interior wired and plumbed so I can put the body on...that will be very weird looking...I haven't seen the body on it in years.

Well...not much new in the world of saabettes. Its hard to get anything done when you only work on it 2 hours a day twice a week. I'm going to finish up a few more things and bring it home for the summer to do the brake lines, gas lines and wiring. Then I'll get into the saturday class and start work on painting the body. I think I found the paint codes, and i'll probably get a paint chip and find a matching metallic, or crystal paint to add a little more depth to the paint job, while maintaining the same color.

I did finally get the doors hung. gah...that was fussy work making a new hinge pin with an interference fit with the hinge.

All i did was get a #8 bolt of the right diameter. I can't remember what size it was...I think it was metric. It was a perfect fit for the hinge. I welded the bolt to the chasis so it wouldn't spin, and viola, new hinge pin.

finished chasis paint

can't remember where I'm at with saabette stuff. let's see, finished painting the chasis..put the car back on its wheels...what else? I brought in the doors for fitment, and by golly they FIT! The rear axle is out of whack though, I *think* the axle itself is bent...which would mean a trip to the frame machine for a good ole fashion beating. It could alternatively mean that the mount is slightly tweaked...which, actually, has the same solution. So either way, the saabette's rear end is going to take a beating...I know some of you will be very jealous...
I found a problem putting one of the doors on, that I'm surprised I hadn't noticed before. One of the hinge pins was loose. Given the wear on the pin, it's been loose for 15 years. No replacements are available anywhere, but I can get a slightly larger pin and drill out the hinge for it. Oh well...one more thing.
Let's see...i think I have a picture here somewhere..wow...dusty camera!

saab update 11/15/06

put some work into the saab lately. got the trunk and rockers painted. Man those rockers took a lot of work, but they look really good now. Unfortuneatly, i'm afraid that all that work is going to get broken off by a jack stand or good rock hit or something. I really wish my metal work had been better. It's solid. More solid than stock actually. But it wasn't straight so I have a lot of fiberglass filler on it. The guys at school say that the stuff will be fine, but I worry about it. I suppose I'll know how to do it better next time..

I also put the steering arm back in with new tie rod ends, and remounted the suspension with new bushings, and ball joints. I cleaned and painted some of the components to make them look pretty. Those springs are absolutely deadly to install. I only got one of them installed next week, and then realized it was upside down. I didn't think it would make any difference, but the winding of the springs and design of the spring cups makes it slip off the top cup if it is installed upside down...drat!

To install the springs I have to take the upper A arm completely off, compress the spring, install it, and put the A arms back on. gah...and if you have the spring compressor in the wrong spot it binds when you let it out, and you have to start all over...bloody freaking fussy engineering.
Here are the pictures...

more rockers...more rockers

I've spent days shaping the rocker panels. They're the one piece of metal work that shows. It was: put on fiberglass mud, sand to shape, find imperfections, repeat..and repeat and repeat and repeat... I finally got to the point of "good enough", and hit the area with some high build primer to fill the sanding scratches, and sharpen the body lines. Looks pretty good. Now, I want to work on cleaning and reinstalling the suspension, so that as soon as i paint the rockers and rear wheel wells, i can put the car on its wheels. Then, i can safely cut off the bracing keeping the car from tacoing, and paint the interior black. Things are looking up, even though everything takes 10 times as long to do then planned. I guess a career in project management is not in my future. Ug..just bought another $300 worth of paint...hopefully that will last me through the chassis. It looks like I'll need another $500-$1000 to finish painting the car completely. Doing good work is EXPENSIVE. Good thing it takes me forever, because I can save all my nickels and dimes to do it...
Looking, i decided i needed new boots and ball joints. Need to buy those. Possibly some new rotors too if I can find them. They are badly pitted, but I'll check the thickness tolerances before I spend the money. Maybe I can get them turned. Looks like one is much thinner than the other already though...could be a problem. And i lost a suspension bushing in the move. They can only be bought in packages...crap. $200 for a $25 bushing. I guess i'll put that one on the cost of divorce charge code.

filler

school started again...yea!
Every saturday from 7:30 to 4:30 I'll be narrowly escaping death! Today's death is the slow and painful death of lung cancer from inhaling fiberglass. I am smarter now though, and wear a filter mask when I'm working with dynaglass. I wish I had something interesting to say about my glass this week, but really I spent 8 hours putting on filler and sanding it off. I'm trying to match the contours on the rocker panels, just so. I think I've got 40 hours total now in shaping filler on the rocker panels...They are nearly done, and then I can move on finally...