Saab engines?

[Guest Azel]

The past couple months I can't seem to make up my mind about which 4-banger to swap into my next project Z. However today, I ran into a very unlikely 4-banger candidate.

 

There's a fella that lives about a block away from me that's a dyed-in-the-whool Saab freak. He has like 4 Saabs and 1st gen DSM. I've never really talked to guy, but have seen him speeding through the streets around my neighborhood. Everytime he'd drive by, I'd hear something that sounded like a BOV, but I figured, "ah heck, it's a Saab, can't be turbo'd."

 

Well today I passed by him on the way home and just asked politely what the heck he had under the hood. Told me he customized a few parts on his car and that he was running a Tial BOV. What kind of engine it was and how much power it was making. He responded, telling me it was a 2.3L 4-banger and the only thing he did was an upgraded ECU, turbo and a some fuel goodies and his car is now putting down 340 fwhp and 370 lb/ft. of torque at 3,200rpm. I'm talking about a totally untouched bottom-end! At first I was skeptical and asked if I could check out the engine. Looked fairly stock, the turbo was about the same size as a T04 or T61, he just told me it was a german KKK turbo. We chatted about our cars and interestingly, he told me that Saab's, Volvo's and Audi's are hot cars to tune out in Europe. It was strange but intriguing to hear about the niche Saab aftermarket. According to him, the Saab 2.0L and 2.3L motors can make tremendous power in stock trim, over 400hp in some cases with stock bottom-end. When he was on his way out, he did a very sick burnout that shattered any doubts that this car was putting out that kind of power, they might have even been conservative.

 

It boggles my mind that all this time, Saab's can be made into very fast hot-rods and Saab motors can handle that kind of boost and do it reliably. Anyone familiar with these motors?

[Guest jens]

You would need a custommade transmission adapter to use a saab engine unless you want to place it all in the rear like crazy swedes do. The 2.3 turbo ford can make the same power with bigger injectors chip and t3/t4 turbo and a t5 fits. Sierra cosworth engines can make 330-360 hp with the stock turbo and bigger injectors/chip and best of all the t5 is factory installed with long 1 st gear. A 5 cylinder volvo 850 turbo or t5r can make 315-330 hp with a chip and fits with a volvo 940 2.3 turbo m90 transmission or a supra with adapter the sound is like the old quattro engines. The 165 hp 940 turbo engine can make 350 hp but needs 5th injector bigger turbo and modified combustion chambers.

[Guest Azel]

sigh.....so many possible engine swaps.....so little time (and money).....

 

Love the sound of the old Audi Quattro's, especially the old Group B rally cars.... That BRAAAAAAAAAAPPPP sound will never be forgotten. Always sounded to me like a giant motorcycle engine. The 5-cylinder Volvo engines sounds kinda neat. 5-cylinder seems like a good number to run sequential turbos on. Imagine the look on peoples' faces when they find out you have a 5-cylinder swap?

[Guest Anonymous]

Its my understanding that certain years might be best to leave lying. Have you ever seen how many SAAB turbochargers are in the wrecking yard? I'd do the research and find what years were the 'bad' ones as I know there was a few years that were less than wonderful to own.

 

For a 4 popper, I like the Ford 2.3T idea, 400hp is fairly routine with a few fuel/turbo mods. Another is just stay nissan and go (sorry I'm not good with these import engine designations) with a SR20 (?) with plenty of boost and you'd be happy with it I think. Or the DSM engines like Bill has mentioned sound pretty good.

 

I tell ya I like my V8Z, but small turbo 4's and V6's look awful attractive, IMHO they'd make the car much more nimble and be less harsh on the car's chassis. Only downside, is keeping the smaller motor hopping to get the torque, where as a bigger displacement with more displacement will require a lot less rev's to accomplish the same thing. Good luck with it though, I'd like to see a 4 banger in one, lets of setback, little weight, and whattaya know, exhaust clearance.

 

Regards,

 

Lone

[Guest jens]

That type of transmission would you use behind a sr20 Is it 200sx or 240sx transmissions.

Have you seen the price for upgrades

www.norrisdesigns.com under 200sx s14 or the 1.8 s13. Its £ not $ 19995 £ for 500 hp. I think you could buy a couple of stroked stage 2 v6s or a 700 hp cosworth/audi for that price. See a 575 hp streetdriven cosworth doing donuts here. Its running low 11s with 3.15 gear and has a 325 km/h topspeed. Choose a engine that needs a minimum of aftermarket upgrades to satisfy your needs. Upgrades with new parts is often several times more expensive than buying the engine.

[Guest Azel]

I was always under the impression that the Escudo was a twin-engined car? Seriously though, that engine has been destroked to run a higher redline and has probably $100,000 if not more invested in it, I kid you not. Next to F1 cars, Hill-Climbers are the most extreme cars (more like 4-wheel rocket) on the planet.

 

Volvo engines are pretty stout from what I've seen. There are plenty of 850's running low 13's with bad traction. Jens is right about the sound though, they sound amazing. The Volvo engines look very tiny though for a 5-cylinder engine. I figured they'd be a little longer but the exterior dimensions are about the same as a B18 honda motor. Should be fairly light, a little more than 300 perhaps?

[DAW]

Racer X, I had been looking at transplant engines on paper and the Suzuki V6 looked good re power/wt. It was a while ago so I might be mistaken, but I think the dohc V6 in the late model Isuzu Trooper was another. Re the Saab, I'm interested for another reason. The older ones were longitudinal engine fwd and the later ones transverse. I want to know if the turbo Saabs had LSDs. I'm toying with the idea of one in my 510 (instead of the backseat).

For a Z engine, I've wondered about the new GM inline 6 (but one I looked under had a front sump oilpan), and about Volvo rwd engines. The 2.3L turbo 4 in my 940 Turbo wagon pulled strong and looked almost too small under the hood for that kind of power. I drove one in Italy that had a 2.0L dohc turbo which was also impressive (European spec engines aren't offered in the states, but many are tuned for more power per liter. There's some sort of tax law which is heavy for engines over 2 liters). Another Volvo rwd engine possibility is the 3 liter dohc inline 6 they offered just before the fwd cars came out.

Does anyone know about these engines re wt., front vs rear sump, and power tuning potential? DAW

[Guest Azel]

Wow I guess that Saabs really are a cult car and the 2.3L inline-4 is a more potent motor than I had initially thought. Just checking things out but can you tell me more about the inner-workings of the 2.3L? Does it come from the factory with forged crank and pistons? I really love the sound of the motor, sounds like a gigantic canvas-ripping sound. Also, how light is this motor? To me, total power-output isn't as important as weight-reduction and powerband. If the 2.3L Saab engine has a penchant for torque and if it's lighter than some of the other four-cylinders (3S-GTE, 22R, Quad-4, SR20, CA18, etc.) then I'm DEFINITELY interested.

[Guest HIGHRPM]

Originally posted by Azel:

The past couple months I can't seem to make up my mind about which 4-banger to swap into my next project Z. However today, I ran into a very unlikely 4-banger candidate.

 

There's a fella that lives about a block away from me that's a dyed-in-the-whool Saab freak. He has like 4 Saabs and 1st gen DSM. I've never really talked to guy, but have seen him speeding through the streets around my neighborhood. Everytime he'd drive by, I'd hear something that sounded like a BOV, but I figured, "ah heck, it's a Saab, can't be turbo'd."

 

Well today I passed by him on the way home and just asked politely what the heck he had under the hood. Told me he customized a few parts on his car and that he was running a Tial BOV. What kind of engine it was and how much power it was making. He responded, telling me it was a 2.3L 4-banger and the only thing he did was an upgraded ECU, turbo and a some fuel goodies and his car is now putting down 340 fwhp and 370 lb/ft. of torque at 3,200rpm. I'm talking about a totally untouched bottom-end! At first I was skeptical and asked if I could check out the engine. Looked fairly stock, the turbo was about the same size as a T04 or T61, he just told me it was a german KKK turbo. We chatted about our cars and interestingly, he told me that Saab's, Volvo's and Audi's are hot cars to tune out in Europe. It was strange but intriguing to hear about the niche Saab aftermarket. According to him, the Saab 2.0L and 2.3L motors can make tremendous power in stock trim, over 400hp in some cases with stock bottom-end. When he was on his way out, he did a very sick burnout that shattered any doubts that this car was putting out that kind of power, they might have even been conservative.

 

It boggles my mind that all this time, Saab's can be made into very fast hot-rods and Saab motors can handle that kind of boost and do it reliably. Anyone familiar with these motors?

[Guest HIGHRPM]

ASIL. Having reached to level of a SAAB MASTER TECH, I can honstly tell you that the SAAB 2.0 and 2.0 are tremendous motors. The 2.0 liter started life as a Triumph motor of which Bought the rights to the design. The 2.0 has gone through several upgrades over the years and some are better than others. Don't touch any 2.0 liter before 1987, after that, they never really changed that much. As mentioned by someone else, the hardest part will be mating up a r/w trany to the f/w designed motor. The 2.3 liter is the next step in the evolution of the 2.0. and is one dam fine motor. Now, just think about this technoligy that Saab had for their direct ignition moduale that fit between the over head cams. The ignition system sences ,through the spark plugs, within two revelotions of the motor where tdc is and fires spark accordingly. Also, through the spark plugs, timing is adjusted by up to 1/10 of a degree in each cylinder to combat ping, knock etc. The turbo system, reading info from the ignition control unit can alter boost according to quality of fuel that you are running. All in all the 2.0 and 2.3 are tremendous motors, and most people know nothing about them. I am thinking about doing this conversion on my second 260, if I can find a trany to work with. Time will tell. Overall, a great, light, strong, reliable motor. I have played with dumping twice the turbo boost at a 2.0 liter, and it was insane right to when I stretched some stock head bolts. So with some stong bolts or studs, one only wonders what this little motor can do. Good luck.

 

ROD

74 EARLY 260 - DAILY DRIVER

74 EARLY 260 - HYBRID PROJECT

87 300 ZX N/A

[Guest HIGHRPM]

AZEL. Having reached to level of a SAAB MASTER TECH, I can honstly tell you that the SAAB 2.0 and 2.3 are tremendous motors. The 2.0 liter started life as a Triumph motor of which Saab bought the rights to the design. The 2.0 has gone through several upgrades over the years and some are better than others. Don't touch any 2.0 liter before 1987, after that, they never really changed that much. As mentioned by someone else, the hardest part will be mating up a r/w trany to the f/w designed motor. The 2.3 liter is the next step in the evolution of the 2.0. and is one dam fine motor. Now, just think about this technoligy that Saab had for their direct ignition moduale that fit between the over head cams. The ignition system sences ,through the spark plugs, within two revelotions of the motor where tdc is and fires spark accordingly. Also, through the spark plugs, timing is adjusted by up to 1/10 of a degree in each cylinder to combat ping, knock etc. The turbo system, reading info from the ignition control unit can alter boost according to quality of fuel that you are running. All in all the 2.0 and 2.3 are tremendous motors, and most people know nothing about them. I am thinking about doing this conversion on my second 260, if I can find a trany to work with. Time will tell. Overall, a great, light, strong, reliable motor. I have played with dumping twice the turbo boost at a 2.0 liter, and it was insane right to when I stretched some stock head bolts. So with some stong bolts or studs, one only wonders what this little motor can do. Good luck.

 

ROD

74 EARLY 260 - DAILY DRIVER

74 EARLY 260 - HYBRID PROJECT

87 300 ZX N/A

[DAW]

HIGHRPM, do you know if the 2.3 will bolt-up to the early style Saab drivetrain (longitudinal engine)? Do any of the Saabs have LSDs? Do you know of anyone who has built a mid-engine Saab powered car? Thanks. DAW

[Guest Thurem]

Do you know of anyone who has built a mid-engine Saab powered car? Thanks. DAW

Saab did back in the day, I think they are called the Saab Viggen, I could be wrong though.

Thure

[Guest jens]

A custom car builder called leif melberg made a mid engine car with the 9000 engine paid by saab. There is also build a few called uno by a private engineer that used to make chassis tools called unoliner. Amateurs has done the swap with the complete 9000 suspension system and locked the steering but i think they used automatics to avoid gearshifter trouble. www.dubsport.com has made several vw golf 1 and 2 with vr6 engine and trans in the rear some even with 2 turbo vr6s

[Guest Anonymous]

Originally posted by Azel:

I was always under the impression that the Escudo was a twin-engined car? Seriously though, that engine has been destroked to run a higher redline and has probably $100,000 if not more invested in it, I kid you not. Next to F1 cars, Hill-Climbers are the most extreme cars (more like 4-wheel rocket) on the planet.

 

Your right, each engine is what 1.5 litre V6 or something and it has two, one mid engined, one front, AWD on some ungodly light tube frame, I still am amazed someone would drive a car that can run over 230 (with the right gearing over 250 is no problem) mph on pikes peak, the guy has nutz I tell ya.

 

Regards,

 

Lone

[Guest Azel]

I can't get a handle on some good ole ACCURATE info on the Escudo. In some places it's been spec'ed as a twin turbo V6, in other's it's a twin-engined monster. Whatever it is, it's EXTREMELY fast. It can go from 0-100 in 4.8 seconds in gravel! Finished second to Rod Millen's Tacoma only because of mechanical failures...

 

Looked around on the net for some more info on the Saab fourbangers. In the mid 80's, those little 2.0L four-bangers made 760hp in there modified rally cars.