[V8] Saab thread

[toml99 at todomundo.com]

For the record, Saab started it's decline in 88 when GM started  
poking around(yeah those same people that built the crappy front end  
on my 04 supposedly "built like a rock"/hecho in mexico  truck.  By  
90, as I recall they had 49% interest in the company....Shortly  
thereafter, the had controlling interest, then they owned them  
outright, and took a 148 man/hr car down to 6.8man/hr, and redid the  
whole factory(bummer)......Long story short, the 86 SPG was the creme  
of the swedish crop(that still had rectangular affordable  
headlights......The 87 I just finished, is still the same car/with  
the headlight lens/halogen bulb.  A 90 or greater is a different  
car.....the 9000 autobox's were possibly the worst tranny's ever  
produced in the world, and you can find some really mint looking cars  
with 45K that need a tranny. If you had the rest of the clutch parts,  
it's an easy swap.   Saw one recently that was FREE with 52K, but I  
wanted no part of it.  I probably would have been a Saab guy forever,  
if I wasn't given my Lago car(gave up 3 nice saabs in 02 for lack of  
room/felt like I'd stumbled on something better).  It was a joy to  
work on that car this last week, as what I used to think of as  
"cramped"(steering rack etc), was a piece of cake compared to the  
V8.  I've got a pic somewhere(probably in the old PC files) that  
shows a guy with a 80's 2.0 turbo totally reworked for rallying, that  
posted around 700HP on the dyno, and his exhaust manifold was beyond  
cherry red(white)....he even said it only lasted a race, but  
woah....it's a scary picture.  He might even have that adjustable  
regulator that you've got Ron, on your 200(guessing turned up all the  
way)....The blocks were built like a diesel motor, and the car I just  
finished had 210K, and when I'd brought the head in, there was no  
measurable wear on the valve guides(synthetic oil since day  
1.....works?).  When I got the head on 2 years ago, I filled it with  
regular oil, and had a catastrophic oil leak, which garaged it  
since.  I've never been a synthetic fan, but in today's world(and a  
car that takes 4 quarts), I'm wondering if my change caused the  
hemorrage?  It lost all the oil in 20 min...and the crank seal didn't  
look bad at all, but was hosing.  Girlfriend didn't feel comfortable  
driving an "old car", and it got parked/and lost the rest of the oil  
in the last year while sitting.  Doesn't leak a drop now/engine or  
rack, and it's happier than any saab I've owned.  Here's the high  
mileage page....I'll be a 80's Saab guy forever.....Tom(tomato guru)

http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/faq/miles/miles900.html