sorry not a Calibra but this is my saab powered conversion!

[rich_DTM]

i have posted on a few other sites but thort some of you guys may be interested in a read
i'll just copy and paste

right despite the snow i began my first engine conversion today!

after alot of research and reading astra-nige's project i desided to go down the saab turbo route! as i'm a mechanic by trade i will be doing the work myself and a fellow tech at work was a saab master tech so he has kindly given me the saab 900 engine electric book with all diagrams and pin locations which will make live a lot easier!

so lets start with a picture of my 1991 Astra GSI!

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i bought it back in 2005 and always wanted to C20let her so bought a calibra LE turbo in 2008 but decided to keep the calibra instead but couldnt bring my self to sell the gsi so it was stored down my dads for a year untill my partner needed a car as she had passed her driving test so she was going to have the gsi untill i decided to break the calibra due to excessive rot! so instead of sticking the LET in i wanted to go down the saab route! so picked up a Saab 900 se turbo with rear end damage off ebay for £200

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first job of the day was to get the calibras subframe on so i could move it off the tarmac so i could begin removing the saabs engine!
so subframe back on the calibra sporting some lovely saab alloys

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sorry as this is my first project tread i havnt taken alot of stage by stage photos as i'm used to at work getting on with the job but i will try to get good close ups of the engine mounts etc... for any others who are think of doing this conversion!

Before i began removing the engine i took just a small video just to ensure the engine still ran before removal!
YouTube - Saab 900 se turbo

i have started removing the engine and hope to have both the saab and the astras engines out by the end of this week!
i also plan to convert to 5 stud by using the saab front legs and rear axle and may try an use the saab instrument panel to!

just a shot of the saabs engine bay!

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[rich_DTM]

Right small update, had a few hours on the saab today, first job was to remove the seats and door cards as the guy was coming to collect today! i was debating about putting the seats in the astra, good job i didn't as the rear back rests fix completly differnt at the top, the bases are the same as the astra tho!

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so with the interior out i jacked up the front and removed the turbo down pipe which has the cat' convertor built in, i will cut out the cat and weld in a straight piece of pipe and a flange to connect to the astras custom stainless system!

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i then removed the subframe

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saab subframe

i could use the saab subframe if i swapped off the lower arms but i dont see any advantages in doing this as the saab and the astras subframes are the same so i'll just stick to the astra one!

close up of the lower arms!

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once the subframe was off i found that i need a new rear engine/gearbox mount as the one that is one it is fu*ked:mad: and also that it looks like the rear main crack oil seal is leaking so i will replace this before the engine goes back in!
so i finshed up today with the engine ready to be dropped out, i dont want to take it out yet as its being kept dry by the bonnet at the moment!
so on sunday its time to remove the astra's engine so i will have another update then!

[rich_DTM]

Update time!
sorry about the picture quality, all the photos are on my camera phone as my digital camera is broken, hope to get one intime for next weekend!

right had most of the day to the project today, i had to tow the astra dad to my dads as it had no tax and insurance plus no petrol and due to the high tide i had to wait till after 2 as my dad lives on mersea island and when i tide is in it covers the road which leads to the island! so while i waited till 2pm i decided to fully remove the saab engine and remove the gear box to access if the rear main was infact leaking!

so engine all ready to drop!

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as this is the 4th engine i've had out down my dads i really should invest in a engine crane, due to having no crane i have been using a hoist that is meant be be attached to the roof, i just have it on a bit of 2x2" square tube straped to some scafolding frames! works quite well, i normally drop the engine out the bottom them attach the hosit to the front off the car and lift the car up and drag the engine out!

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one saab engine out

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this is one heavy engine, me and my dad strugled to pull it out from under the car!

some ramdon photos of the engine
a lovely T25 garett turbo

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aux belt pulley set up,saab engine has a chain driven timing system

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will be loosing the a/c pump

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saab gear box

knackard rear gear box mount due to being covered in oil from the leak!
saab want £130 for one so i think i'll get one on ebay for £30 lol

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gear linkage set up

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the reason for the oil leak, one knackard rear main oil seal
at least its obvoius now so i can deal with it while the engine is out rather than 500miles after its running!

and one very oily bell housing

i took the gear box to work so i can steam clean it off in the week so its nice and clean to go back in, may even paint it!;) the clutch was in good condition lots of life left so that can go back in!

just a shot of how far i had to lift the front up to get the engine out, the rear bumper was touching the floor lol


right with the engine out the saab and the time was 2pm it was time to go get the astra




by the time i had got the astra back, when and got some petrol before the station shut, i only managed to get the astra up on axle stands,remove the wheels and get the exhaust manifold off and cleaned up ready to post!
so will be getting the mount and crank seal ordered in the week and will contiune next sunday, cant wait!

[the painter]

Great work and great thread, good luck with it!

[RobbieV]

Great thread

[splinter]

Emm, i bet that goes well.

[BazV6er]

well done mate , great progress so i take it this one is the one you will be bringing along to the rolling road

[v6man54deg]

while you have the saab engine out - remove the sump and clean the strainer on the oil pick up pipe - i had a saab 900 convertible that when bang - rod through the block and on stripdown that was the reason - turned out to be a common problem with them - doesn't help having the cat directly under the sump pan!
also worth putting a new timing chain on as they tend to stretch - much easier out of the car - a lot of people get shut of the balance shaft chain - but think the balance shafts where only fitted to later models.
apart from that they are a good solid engine - but very heavy!

Update time!
sorry about the picture quality, all the photos are on my camera phone as my digital camera is broken, hope to get one intime for next weekend!

right had most of the day to the project today, i had to tow the astra dad to my dads as it had no tax and insurance plus no petrol and due to the high tide i had to wait till after 2 as my dad lives on mersea island and when i tide is in it covers the road which leads to the island! so while i waited till 2pm i decided to fully remove the saab engine and remove the gear box to access if the rear main was infact leaking!

so engine all ready to drop!

as this is the 4th engine i've had out down my dads i really should invest in a engine crane, due to having no crane i have been using a hoist that is meant be be attached to the roof, i just have it on a bit of 2x2" square tube straped to some scafolding frames! works quite well, i normally drop the engine out the bottom them attach the hosit to the front off the car and lift the car up and drag the engine out!

one saab engine out

knackard rear gear box mount due to being covered in oil from the leak!
saab want £130 for one so i think i'll get one on ebay for £30 lol

the reason for the oil leak, one knackard rear main oil seal
at least its obvoius now so i can deal with it while the engine is out rather than 500miles after its running!

and one very oily bell housing

i took the gear box to work so i can steam clean it off in the week so its nice and clean to go back in, may even paint it!;) the clutch was in good condition lots of life left so that can go back in!

just a shot of how far i had to lift the front up to get the engine out, the rear bumper was touching the floor lol


right with the engine out the saab and the time was 2pm it was time to go get the astra
]

by the time i had got the astra back, when and got some petrol before the station shut, i only managed to get the astra up on axle stands,remove the wheels and get the exhaust manifold off and cleaned up ready to post!
so will be getting the mount and crank seal ordered in the week and will contiune next sunday, cant wait!

[Allys Cally]

looks an interesting conversion, will be keeping a close eye on this one

[James_Mould]

Great thread. Very interesting to follow. Good luck with the rest of the work, hope it all goes well

[calibra_16v]

great thread mate, same as above, ill be keeping an eye on this lol

[rich_DTM]

[quote="v6man54deg"]while you have the saab engine out - remove the sump and clean the strainer on the oil pick up pipe - i had a saab 900 convertible that when bang - rod through the block and on stripdown that was the reason - turned out to be a common problem with them - doesn't help having the cat directly under the sump pan!
also worth putting a new timing chain on as they tend to stretch - much easier out of the car - a lot of people get shut of the balance shaft chain - but think the balance shafts where only fitted to later models.
apart from that they are a good solid engine - but very heavy!


[quote="rich_DTM"]

yes mate dont you worry yourself my mate at work was a saab master tech so he has informed me on all the issues lol and yeah its due to the bloody cat being right under the sump lol fools! i will remove the sump once its in the astra before i put the exhaust back on! and i will do the timing chain later once i know its all runing ok plus have the spare dollor!

the plan is once its running to remap the ecu which i can do on my house pc thanks to an amazing bit of software called t5 suite which allows you to reflash your ecu with a different map with a click of a button! so combined with a 3" down pipe and stage 3 software should be around 280BHP the saab i bought has had a LSD fitted eariler in its live but the plan will be to convert to 4x4 later in the year!

thanks for the comments, i have my rear main oil seal on order from saab and should be ordering my rear mount later in the week so hopefully on sunday i might be close to the saab engine going in the astra!

[v6 steve]

keep up the good work and keep the pics coming

[rich_DTM]

Right update time, no update last week as i was unable to get any time to go and work on it!
i did buy a new high def digital camera in the week but it didnt turn up in time so again sorry for the crappy camera phone pictures!

while the gearbox was off i took it to work and gave it a good clean and a lick of paint!



replacment rear mount fitted!



next on the list was S**t scary, i drilled out the 8 debugging pins on the ecu and soldered in the pins which will allow me to remap the ecu on my home pc!





that was all i could do in my lunch breaks in the week.
so yesterday i removed the engine from the astra.



with the engine now out, before going full steam ahead i wanted to swap all the required parts over to fit the new engine so to day i started with the saab radiator
front end removed from the saab

bumper off the astra


drilled out the spot welds from the cross member and removed along with the astra oil cooler



saab radiator in, god it was tight, took me ages to get it where i wanted it so i had enough room for the intercooler pipe work!

to keep cost down as i need this on the road asap i am using the standard saab intercooler untill i can afford a nice shinny one
so radiator and intercooler fitted along with pas pipes, i need to get custom hoses made up from the saab oil cooler and tidy up the wiring harness then modifiy the gsi bumper ( keeping the standard look) so i can go back on!



swapped the throttle cable over as the saab has a different fixing for the throttle body and swapped the heater pipes around!
so with the engine ready to go in i replace the rear crank seal and refitted the gearbox, alternator and aux belt and removed the air con pump!



the day was getting on and had the get the missus from work at 5 so i just replaced all the vaccum pipes as the old ones were all soft!





so next saturday the engine will be going in and i will have a new camera so promise i will have better photos!

[calibre ray]

brave man tackling that, will be nice to know how it all turns out. keep up the good work.