SAAB 900 B212 Assembly

In this video, you get to see the GM45714 cleaned and prepped for re-assembly. You also get to see some of the engine assembly process as I give my thoughts and experience with this engine. Also my findings on a major contributor to the engine's failure and what you can do to prevent this from happening to your SAAB and a few interesting facts about SAAB's hefty engine parts!!
Sound Track
David Cutter - Other People
www.davidcuttermusic.com

[@MrBallyhoo62]

Perfect job and fun to watch. Greetings from a Saab 900 owner from Germany.

[@jonasuebel9125]

Great vid! Thanks for that. Don’t worry about the beefy internals.. just turn up the boost man 😅!. In the eighties a Saab engine was said to deliver 500 hp without any need of changes to the internals.

[@RetrocarStyle]

Ive heard about 600hp before any internal mods need to be performed...i couldnt confirm that number personally. Crank is super strong. Pistons would definately need replacing...Rods may need to be lightened for a better response.

[@pawpawbandit3871]

Hey, thanks again, it's not only a great video that's literally guiding me to take my engine apart, clean it, and reassemble, but it's a great soundtrack (using a better shape lower mileage engine block), on a hunch it was in the block..and I did feel play in the bad block upon taking it out of the car (not going to bother dissassembling that one, as I'm dissasembling and cleaning up the good enigne, and it all looks very good internally, I may not even replace the rings because they're original saab and don't seem to have much wear, any need to replace good looking piston rings? if the engine had around 120k miles let's say?). Seriously this is massive, this is allowing me to rebuild my engine and clean it up with way more success than I would have had otherwise.

[@louiswalmsley5811]

Hello from England. Really enjoyed your engine videos. I'm in the process of restoring a 1980 Saab 99 turbo.Thanks for the very clear and informative description of the work you have done so far.

[@bjorn2290]

Nice job ! This motors are strong !

[@jayschuon8330]

Beautiful! Peace of mind knowing it's going to get oil and that you did it right . Really nice 👍

[@TerjeNormann]

Hi Bro! What a great video... One day I should like to do this same job with my 2,1i 16v engine and gearbox...

[@RetrocarStyle]

Hi Terje! Thanks for watching! I have actually purchased parts from you on EBAY!! Yes a complete refresh was necessary on my 2.1L engine as it was leaking lots of oil and it blew all the bearings. It runs great minus a few issues, but it will be nice to get it back on the road again!

[@TerjeNormann]

@@RetrocarStyle I belive I have a tiny coolant leak between the block and top at the passenger side front corner. And some valve lifter ratteling. Did you buy new hydraulic valve lifters? Ohhh.... Did you buy parts from me? What was it?

[@RetrocarStyle]

@@TerjeNormann I didn't buy valve lifters. I re-used the same ones as they were quiet before the rod bearing failure. I purchased a good condition Glovebox Door and one other item...a turn signal switch.....I think. I forgot what the other Item was but I definitely remember buying the glovebox door. I bought it to match a crack free dashboard i have for my 900.

[@jamesdewar-mills1105]

Very good videos, well done

[@RetrocarStyle]

Thanks for watching!

[@loftalofta8423]

jesus you are making Amazing vids...the explainations are waaaay helpful! thnx! my 85 turbo was rebuild as Factory...but might look into building another one with high performance sleeper in mind

[@RetrocarStyle]

After I saw a Turbo Miata high compression setup...and how easy it was to make 350+ hp on midrange boost,..I said to myself this is a MUST. the B202/B212 has great potential for tuner cars. But you just have to get the gearbox stregthened to handle the extra torque output. I can't wait. Im glad you like the videos and thanks for watching!

[@michaelmoe8656]

nice video. one thing i noticed is that the thrust washers on the number 3 main bearing were missing when you lubed the bearings, but didnt see them installed before the crank. just letting you know just in case! keep saabing!

[@RetrocarStyle]

@@michaelmoe8656 Yes It wasnt shown at that point but I did get them in. Good eye!!

[@richardmclennan2479]

Thank you. That was very very helpful, I'm sure one day I will be running it and re-running this vid to check on what I'm doing on my own engines, the detailed commentary most appreciated. Interested in whatever else you are planniing for classic SAAB 900.

[@RetrocarStyle]

Thanks for the positive comments. Next the suspension has to be rebuilt before i can safely drive the car. This means the engine has to come out again. Need to get the front upper control arms out and powder coat them and put them back in. Then i can install all new ball joints, lowering springs and shocks.

[@richardmclennan2479]

@@RetrocarStyle YIPPEE. Great to hear, I'll watch out for it...(from here in Melbourne, Australia).. :)

[@jeenoniin]

Thank you very much for a great video! I would really like to see how you change seals to power steering rack. Mine is leaking fluids😁

[@RetrocarStyle]

I have the rebuild kit. I started to do that whwn I had the engine out but mine werent leaking. I have to remove the engine again because I need to get the control arms out and powder coat them. Then install new bushes and my lowering springs. I may feature that on the channel

[@jeenoniin]

@@RetrocarStyle Where did you buy the seal kit btw?

[@RetrocarStyle]

@@jeenoniin So you can buy the end plate gasket sets with all seals for the lower part of the 2.0/2.1 8/16 valve engines from RBM SAAB PARTS in France. You can also get all the gearbox seals for the end plates and access covers from RBM as well.

[@jeenoniin]

@@RetrocarStyle I mean for the power steering rack😁 sorry

[@RetrocarStyle]

@@jeenoniin Gates sells a rebuild kit. I bought mine from ROCKAUTO.COM

[@bengtmowitz5012]

Great job! I did th the same job on my OG 900 -85 some decades ago. The renovation of the cylinder head was the most labour intense part.

[@RetrocarStyle]

Lifting the heads off these engines is quite a chore because the castings are very heavy. The first start is coming up but after all this work.......the clutch slave cylinder blew up....😝! Brake fluid is leaking all over. I should have changed it while it was out. Now im fighting to get the old one out. Once its out ill change the clutch master cylinder too as its old and leaks as well.

[@TerjeNormann]

@@RetrocarStyle I use to use brake tube to put in to push the "spring fingers" so you get space for to get the clutch cylinder out. ;)

[@do.u.groove5112]

Killer work. have you looked at putting a 2.3 cylinder head from a 9000 on a 900 block??

[@RetrocarStyle]

Well the 2.1 head and the 2.3 9000 head or B234 head are the same. There is a later 9-3 head that has rectangular ports. I wont be using that head. I have considered taking a 1985-86 SPG head and enlarging the ports to that of the 2.1/2.3 head. The reason for that is the combustion chamber has a special shape and volume that can produce very good flow numbers for the ultimate torque monster. I saw this while watching one of David Vizard's cylinderhead porting and valve unshrouding technique videos. The Mazda head he was demonstrating has a similar combution chamber to the early 900 turbo/spg heads. Definately looking into that.

[@do.u.groove5112]

@@RetrocarStyle I hope you share the road blocks. Im going across the nation to buy an '87 and planning on making the switch. Id like to see 250 HP in it one day.

[@RetrocarStyle]

@@do.u.groove5112 250HP is plenty in the classic 900..... though what I was aiming for was 285-340HP. Still not much by todays standard, but honestly thats enough!!

[@austinvitoux]

Another excellent video my dude! I see you went with the aluminum color for the block. I did the same as the OEM red looks out of place.

[@RetrocarStyle]

I felt the same too...it just looks better. Another thing that influenced that decision is that I saw some pictures inside SAAB's museum in Sweden. There were engines on the stands that featured aluminum paint. They looked much better than the red blocks. The heads & blocks were the same color. That is what I plan on doing to the high compression turbo build....just experimenting now but i'd like to make it look really nice!

[@austinvitoux]

@@RetrocarStyle Oh. My. Gosh. That was my EXACT reason as well! Wish I could chrome up the hardware like they have it in the museum too or replace it with stainless, but I did replate them with new zinc so it'll be super shiny.

[@RetrocarStyle]

@@austinvitoux I was thinking the same thing we have a place here called Fastenall or Würth. They keep new shiny hardware to make things pretty.

[@stephenmorrissey1254]

What would this engine out work have cost if a shop charged you?

[@RetrocarStyle]

Hard to say with varying shop rates. If I had to guess, A typical SAAB specialist likely would charge $2.5k - $3k...and this is being conservative. A job like this could easily eclipse these numbers, and that would depending on several factors.

[@pawpawbandit3871]

@@RetrocarStyle yeah; especially if you had any machine shop work done; that's what people don't realize. All the work I'm doing on my car following this disassembly would cost like $5,000, because I'm also going to be cleaning up the engine bay, new radiator, hoses, headlights, replacing engine block with smooth one, getting the head done as well...gonna replace the shifter cables, throttle cable, etc. Oh, and the suspension bushings/ ball joints/ upper control arm bushings and repaint while engine is out. You really can't get "everything in the front of the car" redone ...I mean you can get an engine or transmission replaced for $2,000 or so, but that is the bare minimum... that doesn't include "and treat it like it was your car you want to drive for next ten years, and replace everything else that needs replaced, and clean it all up, and paint it"...that is seriously like $5k+ overall, and thats if and when you can find someone to do it - which is not going to happen soon.

[@RetrocarStyle]

@@pawpawbandit3871 True. There are very few SAAB repairs shops around and doing this work will be very expensive if you decide to pay someone.