Hydrocarbons To Noise Saabaru Build Thread

[Ipassgas]

Hi everyone! I'm really glad to become part of this community. I have been interested in building an 818 for years. With the front end and coupe updates, I'd become convinced it'd be my next major project. All that was left was for the pieces to fall into place. My background is not mechanical, but I enjoy wrenching, problem solving and driving like my pants are on fire! In preparation for this project, I bought a broken modern sport bike with "some sort of bad engine", dug into it and fixed it. I thought if I can't revive a fuel injected motorcycle, I have no business building a car. My garage is almost equipped enough for this project, but I expect the last pieces will come together without drama.


I have been debating appropriate donors and searching craigslist/Copart/IAAI for accessible, reasonable donors. Finally, after 2 years, I finally found a "good" donor, and with my wife's understanding, pulled the trigger on a 2006 Saab 9-2x Aero (Saabaru).

The car has 134,000 miles and an auto trans. Per the previous owner, the engine spun a bearing at 90k and was rebuilt with CP forged pistons, Manley forged rods, Cosworth bearings and forged crankshaft, 1000cc DW injectors and a 20g STI turbo. It also got SS headers, uppipe, downpipe and exhaust. The tuning is done with Tactrix Open Source.

The down sides are it's an auto, and likely has a blown head gasket (hopefully just the gasket) based on overheating at idle after prolonged driving. There is no apparent mixing of oil and water. Also, the body and interior is beat up. It is not a looker (which is a good thing for me - drove the price down)!

Up next is sourcing a 5MT to swap and a shop to work in, and ordering a kit! Though not necessarily in that order. I could use the garage, but my dear wife would much rather not, as she can accurately anticipate the amount of mess that I'll make.

I hope to keep my build thread "clean", as in I won't ask esoteric questions here, but in their appropriate sub forums.
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