We've Got Other Fish to Fry Oct 2, 2007
We discovered that Garfield’s engine block is leaking coolant from its seap hole near the water pump “bulge” which indicates a failed water pump and thus we are going to park it for the time being. Our primary Saab project, the Grassroots Motorsports brown rally car is getting a new(er) engine that was originally a part of the deal with the previous owner, Luke. So that will be taking up a lot of our time. We’ll get back to this one soon.
New Shoes for Garfield Oct 19, 2007
Sometimes a car doesn’t need super-sticky R-compound tires, sometimes it just needs a good basic tire that can handle rain or a little bit of snow.
Sometimes a car doesn’t need super-sticky R-compound tires, sometimes it just needs a good basic tire that can handle rain or a little bit of snow. Our 1974 Saab 99 needed something to replace the old mismatched set of no-name donuts that it came with, so we mounted up a set of General Altimax HP 185/65R15 tires.
Our plan is to get the engine’s water pump fixed later in November when we’re back from some travel. We’ll get a good review of these tires then.
We also got a set of Soccerball alloy wheels shot blasted. They’ll get a coat of paint and a new set of tires before they get bolted up to our barnfind Saab.
Garfield Is Cool Again Nov 29, 2007
In one of our last updates for our “spare” Saab 99 we mentioned that we needed to replace the water pump. We finally got around to doing that this week. It’s a pretty messy job, requiring that the intake manifold and alternator be removed from the engine.
The Saab’s water pump needs to be pressed out of the block using a tool that we purchased from Pelican Parts. The tool was about $130.
We drove the Saab in to work today. We’re still in the process of bleeding the cooling system so that there aren’t any air bubbles in there.
A Christmas Drive Goes Bad Jan 3, 2008
We went for a drive in the country in our Saab 99 on Christmas, but it ended rather abruptly thanks to an unknown fuel injection problem.
We wound up draining the battery trying to get the car restarted, and finally wound up just towing the car back to our house using a 20-foot tow strap.
In other news, we copied the "LE" stripe that remained on the passenger side of the car; we had it cut for the driver's side out of black vinyl material. Now the car is a little more symetrical.
Edit: It turns out that the car just ran out of gas. Credit a nonfunctional gas gauge for that little fumble.
Saab Sold! Jan 9, 2008
Our '74 Saab 99 LE, a.k.a. Garfield, wasn't destined to be a long-term project car. As such, we cleaned it up, got it running and it's now going to back to Kentucky to live. A reader in Louisville bought the car and will be picking it up this weekend.
We still have the Grassroots Motorsports '77 Saab 99 rally car, so watch for updates on that project in our sister publication.