Miata Drivetrain in a SAAB 96
 

I know, I need to finish one project before starting another, but when the option presents itself you must move on it.

Picked up a 94 Miata R last week. Got it home on Friday night. Looked like this.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328503300
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328503300

As of 10:00 Sunday night it looks like this.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328503300

The intent is to swap the entire drivetrain including engine, trans, rear end, both subframes, suspension, brakes, wiring harness - the whole thing into
a SAAB 96. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and I was unable to view said SAAB at the owner's farm. Hopefully next weekend.

If it just will not go, I'll build a Locost but I really want to do the SAAB. It will be tough. The SAAB was a FWD car with a 1300cc V4 in it.
I'm thinking SR20T25 budget turbo build. With the drivetrain in the SAAB it will perform and handle pretty well. The vehicles are similar size and weight. Making camaro, vette and mustangs cry on the road course with a 60's vintage SAAB will be epic.

Parts chillin in the shop.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328503300
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328503300

subbed for gigant bon4rz

Thanks for gutting a perfectly good Miata, assflute.

And an R to boot, making me Mr. assflute to you.

So you bought his car...The dude you bought this from posted on miataforumz.com

I sad until I read this.

I wonder if you could put that R back together in 2 days.

really? I need to creep that.

EDIT: Tried to find anything - couldn't. He didn't strike me as the kind who would post. The guy i got it from bought it at impound auction. The prior owner got caught on a drug stop on I80 going from CA to IA and the car was impounded and then sold by the tow company to cover towing and storage.

http://www.miataforumz.com/showthread.php?t=630

Oh wait, so maybe it's not you...crazy that two saabs are going on miata subframes.

I don't give a ---- about the "R", we're going to run out of chassis soon and its your fault. See you in hell.

I doubt it. It took me that long to disassemble and that always goes about twice as fast.

It is actually my fault. This is the first time that I have dismantled a non-wrecked running car. It was just perfect for what I wanted. I actually had waffled on just making a cheap track slut out of it. It already had the suspension and hard top. Just gut, roll bar and drive, but I have the V8 car for that. I wanted something different.

Don't tell me, tell this to Marshall Applewhite at Heaven's Gate.

The 96 will need some flares since the track is somewhat "different" to a Miata (1220 mm vs about 1420mm, 48" vs 56").
I remember trying to be two kids in the back seat, it was tight.

Yes, I anticipated this on the track width. I still need to go to see the car with a tape measure in hand.

I'll also have to move the firewall back about 10" because there won't be room for a footwell once there is a transmission tunnel there and the fender protrudes into the cabin. As a result it will be losing the back seat. No matter, it will be getting a set of aluminum 15" or 16" Kirkey seats and a cage and that's about it.

Omg you ruined a perfect miata! These cars are such gems, and you destroyed one. Your saab won't have the weight distribution to ever keep up with the perfect design of the miata!

/m.net rant.

J/k man, subscribed to see how this turns out.

SAAB 96?!?!
Subscribed for glorryyyy!!!!!

At first, I was like "a Saab?"

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328552996

But then I saw you write, "Making camaro, vette and mustangs cry on the road course with a 60's vintage SAAB will be epic" and decided to google Saab 96 and discovered this:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328552996

and this:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328552996

and decided his might be pretty spectacular after all.

Yes, that last picture is my target. More flare, though, to get the stock suspension under it.

old SAABs are awesome!
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1328555368

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1PnI1gLjtl...+Lampinen1.jpg

I haven't yet seen the actual SAAB but it has been stored indoors for 12-15 years. It does come with multiple doors and more importantly multiple fenders for figuring out the "slight" fender roll.

It's gonna be interesting to see a RWD Saab 96. Any idea how much it will weigh?

Just got back from viewing/measuring the SAAB. It's awesome. It's pretty much intact. It's larger in every critical dimension than I require. I'm not going to say it's an easy swap but it will work exactly as I envisioned. I don't even know if I will have to hack the fenders. I may get by with a pull and roll. Rears maybe not. Front fenders are 62" wide, rears are 60" wide. Miata rears are 66" wide. Hub to hub on the Miata front is 58".

Tons of room in the engine bay. There is a clear 12" in front of where the crank pulley will be and I can fit as big of a radiator as I want to with puller fans, along with tons of room for an intercooler in front of that. I will have to cut out the existing firewall and install a new one about 10" back but everything looks good to go. Rear is WIDE open so installing the rear subframe/diff will be pretty easy.

Moving the firewall back 10" means also moving the seats back 10" but the seat back is 12" in front of the edge of the door so moving it back will just make entry easier and more roomy. The seats were forward obviously to access the back seat. The back seat is going away so there will be tons of room behind the seats for whatever. I had heard how narrow they are and that I will be rubbing shoulders with a passenger. Not a worry. A Miata is 48" inside of sill to sill. This is 50" so plenty of room to add the trans tunnel. It's FWD now.

The parcel shelf will have to be rebuilt with metal as there are currently wood panels and I'll likely use the Miata gas tank above the rear subframe so I will need metal bulkheads to separate it from the cabin to be legal.

All in all, I didn't see one issue that made me pause and wonder if it would work.

No pics. I forgot my phone in my truck and John's wouldn't flash. Hope to pick up as soon as the road dries up enough for a trailer after all of this snow. It won't be this weekend. Oh, and we have to make sure we can get a title. His uncle said he has about 20 SAAB titles so it should be there.

:yippee::yippee:

Just found out that the car is a '68 and the owner did find the title! It's in the mail. The last hurdle before the beginning of the swap has now been cleared.

Curb weight is 2,100. I would bet I gain 300 between the Miata lump, trans, diff, turbo kit and steel for semi-tube frame and cage and losing a few bits and seats. Putting a pair of Sparco Sprint V's in it. Have them in the V8 MIata and they are comfy and more importantly, they fit.

Definitely top contender for "best thread about cars in Nebraska I have ever seen."

What you gonna do that with miata shell now?

Crush it for scrap once I have everything that I need off of it. You want it? Rust-free CA car.

Yes I do. Roller or no?

LOL, no roller. We are talking bare tub. BARE tub as in there won't be a single thing bolted or screwed to it. Still interested?

I have tried to give away several of these over the years. After sitting for a bit I run over them with the dozer and stack them on the truck and haul to the metal recycler.

Thank you. Hope to pick up next weekend. It needs a passenger door - it's rusty. Wouldn't you know it there are two spare driver's doors in the pile of spare hoods, doors, trunks and fenders but no passenger doors. Oh, well.

I'm interested in the shell send me pics of it. Where in nebraska are you located at?

Pics of the underbody? Of the inter. Front. Back. Sides. I'm pretty interested I have a truck n trailer ready to go too.

I won't be done stripping it for a couple of weeks. After that I may keep it around for a month or so for measurements and reference. I can send pics when done. Don't worry I'll let you know before I do anything with it.

It's really clean. Rear fenders are good, it's very nice.

I'm only an hour west of Omaha. Seven hours door to door to Chicago.

Damn was looking to get it faster...how many for the way it sits in the pic?

I need to walk away from this thread till the tub is gone....

Can't. I still need parts

pixxxx of saaaaaaabbb!


sub'd for epic-ness. these drivetrain swap builds are always the best!

In anticipation of picking up the SAAB this weekend I started prepping some parts for the transfer to the new car. I will be using the Miata trans tunnel, floor with seat mounts and firewall to have all of the mounts for the MC, clutch master, throttle and cables. In addition there are four mounting holes for the subframe that tie into the footwells so it helps to use them.

Super Lightweight Miata

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329367964

Parts were cut out as large as possible and will be trimmed later for best fit.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329367964

I still need to cut out the front rails, subframe mounts and shock towers but I'm waiting for the weekend when I can have both cars side by side in the shop.

u got my attention sir!

no kidding. when you said you were going to sell the "shell" you meant "some of the shell"

The thing is- even though there's only a "little" left shell, I think I've installed more than half that stuff on race cars- rockers, windshield frame and rear quarters. Sum of the parts really are worth more than the whole.

subscribed

LOL, as soon as I started cutting I had two people want me to cut out rocker panels.:giggle: They are going to chpmnsws6. Fo free.

Damn you and rust free vehicles!!!!!! I would KILL to find a car like the one you bought to tear apart...

Although I would have probably chosen an S2k or Vette drivetrain depending on budget
...and I wouldn't feel so bad cutting one up.

Awesome project none the less

We usually see rust here as well. Fortunately this was caught in a drug stop coming from rust free California. Rust free does make it easier to disassemble, though.

This is way cooler than the Borgward swap. Subbed for Saabata badassery.

Other than killing a perfectly good NA, I really really am diggin this. Sub'd

Picked up the SAAB today. Here it is in the sunshine for the first time in about 20 years. John was confident that the tires would hold air. There was a fist-sized hole in one rear so I thought he was full of it but it held up. Must have just been the tread cap. I was also surprised that the brakes weren't frozen to the drums. All four wheels rolled without incident.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627567
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627567
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627567

Loading onto the trailer.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627567

Ready to head home. The back of the truck is filled with three hoods, three doors, two trunklids and five fenders. I'll be changing out some of the parts with better ones in the future.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627567

When I got it home I immediately wanted to clean it up. Twenty years of mouse nests makes for quite a bit of smell. The seats were removed and promptly tossed. Here is the floor.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627612
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627612

After shoveling out the interior, I shop vacc'ed it and then loaded it back onto the trailer for a trip to the car wash for a good power washing, including the interior. I also hit the engine bay because I hate working on greasy stuff and hosed off 20 years' worth of dust. After returning it to the shop I got out the heat gun and scraped off the tar sound deadening sheets from the floor and trunk. They were full of mouse smell and the water went under them in the channels, plus they needed to come out anyway. The floor is surprisingly rust-free which will help when I go to weld in the new Miata floor and trans tunnel.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627612
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627612
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329627612

I drilled holes in the floor and plan to pull it outside again tomorrow for a good scrubbing and hose down on the inside. It already is ten times better than before.

Engine bay shots? Cute little car.

I'll get some tomorrow. The open area between the inner fenders are 2" wider than a Miata bay and it is at least 8" deeper grille to firewall. Well, that is after I cut out the doghouse footwell and move it back, but the top vertical portion of the firewall is. The rest will when I put in the Miata footwells and firewall. I could V8 swap it easily with the room in here.

It's a little haggard but I have a lot of spare arts that will replace bad areas. I have a bunch of glass that came with it as well.

Thats a suprisingly clean tub!

Yeah, the only thing that is bad is the lower body where the chrome bolted through. If I didn't have a "deluxe" I probably would have had less body rust. The deluxe had the chrome and a tach. That was pretty much it.

The title is dated April 1974. She paid $2,760 for it.

Dude all that mouse crap is nasty as hell. Looking good so far though

I am definitely in for some more pictures! This is extremely interesting stuff.

Agreed; I was a little discouraged when I saw the first picture but it did clean up better than I expected.

Good luck and godspeed.

that car screams acid dip and respray, does it not?

Wow wrong thread I posted in lol.

Anyways I agree with y8s.

Well, I didn't take any pictures today when I had it out to wash the inside out again. The main reason is I inventoried the spare parts that came with the car. I will be replacing both doors, three of the four fenders and the trunk lid with spare parts that are in very good shape. So, a freshly washed pic wouldn't be worth much.

I have been disassembling the front end to start. A couple of observations:

I haven't worked on a 40 year old car. Ever. Even in my youth they weren't 40 years old.

Fasteners DO rust to the point that they will not come off and simply break

I hate the Swedes for not using hex head bolts and for using Phillips head bolts everywhere instead. The fenders, the doors, everything under the hood is held in place with Phillip head bolts. I'm sure some genius back in '68 thought they could speed up assembly using them but didn't think about maintenance in the field after a liberal application of road salt. It's bad enough trying to break free a 40 year old hex head. I actually took the front part off of my hammer-style impact driver for screws and used it on my regular impact for some larger #4 Phillips. Did you know that they make 5/16-18 bolts with a Phillips head? I didn't but I do now.

I also snapped the tip right off of a big Craftsman #3 Phillips head screw driver. Never mind that I had a 1/2" ratchet and a deep well 1 1/8" socket over the handle but that was the only way to put force into the screw and then have enough leverage to turn it to break it loose.

Here's how it sits today.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329713325
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329713325
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329713325