New Ride

Just scored my new ride, a 2000 Saab 9-5 turbo sports wagon. Excited about owning my first European car, as well as having a car with all the bells & whistles!

Progress At Last!!! Sort of . . . .

If there's one thing anyone who gets enthralled with restoring an antique vehicle, particularly if you're using most of the original parts (i.e., no reproductions), will learn almost immediately is that when you fix one problem, you generally find the next one. Here's my latest conundrum: I had an issue with the fuel system; debris kept clogging up the line & cutting off the fuel supply to the fuel pump. My father, being the hero that he is, bought me a new fuel tank for my birthday, which I supplemented with a new fuel line. In the process of transferring the the fuel sending unit from the old tank to the new, found the new problem & a major culprit of the debris: the sending unit was a huge crusty, rusty mess. So I order a new unit, wait a few days, then have to go on a bolt search, as the old bolts didn't fit the new tank. That problem solved, I finally get everything hooked up & installed and whaddya know, I have a good fuel supply to the fuel pump & carb, at long last. BUT . . . . . and there's always a but . . . . apparently now I have a problem with my carb, as I can't rev the motor up without it skipping & missing (it idles OK, but could be better). So I check all the plugs & wires, play around with the choke, and still it won't rev appropriately. So, next steps will be to make sure I'm using good gas, run it with some cleaner through, and maybe even take the carb apart & rebuild as a last measure . . . . it is an older carb, & I think the real root of the problem is a sticky float, as sometimes I can tap the sides of it & it will rev a time or too, then go back to choppy running.

Oh, the joys of old vehicles . . . . certainly worth the character building!