Saab B204e to Calibra SE5 - & So It Begins.....!

[DanSE4]

James drove the donor Saab 9-3 & his SE5 up to Andy's this weekend & so the fun begins.

Bit of a monsoon over Milton Keynes all day on Saturday so couldn't get a thing done (have to consider my hair you know) but Sunday was a complete contrast so we got cracking with stripping the Saab.







For starters, got the car side of the loom to the ECU through the bulkhead & into the engine bay so hopefully the engine will come out with the majority of it still connected (had a quick look at the loom adapter James has been sent & at first glance it seemed to make sense but will know more when I'm in the footwell of the SE5).

Had fun & games with the rad, after much exploration (taking things apart) it was a matter of removing the intercooler to get at the oil cooler to then remove the screws securing that to the air-con rad & then in turn the air-con rad from the main radiator & well as various other air-con related bits (ending up in a nice white cloud of air-con gas - Ooops, sorry Greenpeace)!

Back to it next Saturday & hopefully by the end of that we'll have a B204 dangling from a crane!

[Allys Cally]

this was always the transplant i considered doing to the 8v when i had it, but no matter how much i tried to blow that bloody engine up it just wouldn't give in

[v6 steve]

keep the up dates coming mate we all love a build thread

[Chavtastic]

Subscribed!

[DanSE4]

I'm sure James will contribute plenty here as this goes along, he's the "man with the plan"!

[DanSE4]

We had originally planned to remove the Saab engine with the gearbox still in place in the car but there was no way enough room between the engine & the offside inner wing to have been able to separate them in place so the engine came out with the box attached.



Box, clutch & flywheel removed we now have the engine nicely on a stand.







Bloody annoying place to put an alternator (V6 owners know all about that lol) which makes the driveshaft bracket a pig to get at but that's another head scratch for another day.

Nothing happening tomorrow as James & I have other things to do so next weekend will be work on the B204 (head gasket, oil pickup cleaning, timing chain & a few other bits) & the engine needs to be out of the SE5 by the end of the day on Sunday.

The B204 has an oil cooler (still in place in the pics if you look carefully enough, cable tied out of the way) so that will need to be incorporated with the mounting of the intercooler & Saab rad in the SE5.

Plenty of other things were spotted today which require consideration but we'll work those out as we go along.

[DanSE4]

Because the engine is out, it's on a stand which is the best place for any engine requiring work to be, it's looking a bit oily in various places, James wants the engine that goes into his SE5 to be in the best condition it can be in so now is the best time to future proof it.

[DanSE4]

Ask James, not my car!

[Teejay]

Exciting times ahead


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[DanSE4]

Another weekend & more progress made.

I plodded on yesterday with starting to strip the SE5 & get it ready to lift the engine while Andy & James got on with stripping the Saab engine. Quite different from when I removed the 8v from my SE4 when I first converted it to V6, I really didn't need anything in the bay wiring wise so it was pretty much "cut, cut & out"!

Had to be slightly more methodical this time though & keep everything intact.

Very, very clean Saab engine though.



The crank case, sump & oil pickup were just as good when removed.

Today, with pretty much everything ready to lift, Wayne (Zethos) & I got on with removing the engine from the SE5 while Andy & James carried on with the engine.





Look at his little face (James that is)!!

I mentioned to James yesterday evening that we probably should use the wishbones & ARB (24mm) from the Saab, he agreed so we went to swap them over today.



With both subframes out it was a bit of a no-brainer really, just stick the whole Saab subfame with everything attached into the Calibra! Calibra subframe got stuck back in the Saab as it needs to remain as a rolling shell & the Calibra subframe was showing early signs of rot. The Saab one is mint so another bonus.

I'll let James add the details of what's happening/not happening with the engine as that's his & Andy's domain but it was so clean that there's really no need to do the timing chain or balancer chain (it's only done 60k with FSH) but the head gasket is still being replaced.



It was a bit oily on the outside & that's the decision Andy & James made.

Driveshaft wise, it looks like we'll be keeping the Saab offside shaft & using the Calibra nearside one. The bracket to the block on the Saab shaft also incorporates the alternator mount & when comparing the two together, it doesn't really look that possible to use the Calibra shaft.





The SE5 will need the inner wing washer bottle like the V6's as the coolant expansion tank from the Saab needs to go where the washer bottle was but Wayne removed the one from the Saab & it looks like a direct fit. Just a case of cutting the hole for the filler nozzle which is exactly what I had to do when I converted to V6 initially. Piece of p**s!

Also offered up the Saab rad, oil cooler & intercooler to the front of the Calibra. A little fabricating to do there but not much (Andy & a big hammer sorted the tight squeeze for the intercooler pipes LOL)!

James is on holiday over next weekend so I've got a weekend off (as much as we're all friends, I ain't spending another weekend on his car if he's off on holiday ), next instalment will be the weekend of the 1st/2nd November.

[craigyboy]

Enjoying this thread Dan,keep up the good work mate.

[John Owens]

Have you heard of http://www.saabconversions.com ? Loads of help from these guys if you need it [WINKING FACE]


Praise the Lowered !

[Chavtastic]

Nice progress Although a word of warning on the Saab wishbones, they are a lot longer than the Calibra ones, so will kick out the bottom of the struts and give you around 2.5 degrees camber, which will eat tyres!

[DanSE4]

Although a word of warning on the Saab wishbones, they are a lot longer than the Calibra ones, so will kick out the bottom of the struts and give you around 2.5 degrees camber, which will eat tyres!

I'll run that one by James, his car after all!

Would be a shame not to use them, even if it is just for the 24mm ARB!

[Richiem]

Nice job Dan, seems you like an engine out buddy!