The banner above is an advertisment - if it asks you to download software, please ignore.
Site News - 3/26 M Car Covers (by State of Nine) | 12/12 Make Amazon Pay Saabnet!
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 23:43:39 +0100
From: MeatballTurbo <carl.robsonnopsamcing-czechs.com>
Subject: Wow, Malbrad are great


Got a week off work, decided to sort out the lack of vacuum canister, thanks to the old one leaking like a pig (disconnected and capped off). So, on the off chance, and having heard about their multiple units of stripped C900's, I decided to fire up the GPS, and make the great trek across the M62, over the pennines, to Huddersfield. Not a bad drive at 11AM, few wagons rolling, but not too much traffic, and the 4th lane upto the summit (highest Motorway in the UK)helped avoid the trucks, and the BMWs that were obviously having trouble in the thin atmosphere. Got there, explained what I wanted, he had a look at 1 shelf, pulled one out, and said "£5 for cash, don't want to pay VAT do you". Nice guy. problem is new one appears to quack slightly, like the old one did, but, it hasn't dropped me to base boost, and the vent control makes that nice click woosh, like it used to, before I started messing with the valve on the old one. Well, I'm not messing now. It works, and only cost me £5 to get back where I started, so I'm leaving well alone. While I was there, I asked about what the cost of a rear wheel bearing would be (when the front was done they reconned that the rear was a little dry, bu not noisy yet). Local garage who did the front reconned about £240. Malbrads price to replace the hub £30 second hand hub/£80 New hub, and one hours labour. Even with the extra petrol price for the rough 100 mile round trip, I'm looking at a saving, and having the job done by experts. He had a quick look at the gear shift rubber for me, reckons thats OK, so it must be selector fork that is going, as the older 16v ('84/85) were solid mounts, so it is unlikely to be a failed mount like the later hydraulic ones. Didn't try to sell me getting them to book me in for a recon box either. Then he spotted the chain tensioner (original style single bolt) and suggested I change it ASAP to a newer type, to avoid needing to do the chain. And again he wasn't trying to sell me up, as he didn't have any in stock, but suggested I still replace it ASAP. And he showed me how to get the seat into the fully low position, instead all I could work out which was fully up, or rear of base dropped at an angle. Now it is lower, it so confy to drive. Feels like a completley different car. Best bit of all was, I got his last rear decor panel that he had in stock (used one) for £40. Nice, will try to sort some before and after pics when I fit it. My recomendation. If you need to find some spares, or even book some work in, try Mabrad. http://www.malbrad.co.uk/ There email is down ATM, as they have had to re-install the Office PC (I offered to help, and had a bash, but he didn't have his Win95 CD handy for the Winsock files), so phone or snailmail would be est to contact them. But very reasonable, easy to talk to, and knows what he is doing. -- Carl Robson (The poster formerly known as Skodapilot) http://www.bouncing-czechs.com

Return to Main Index
StateOfNine.com
SaabClub.com
Jak Stoll Performance
M Car Covers
Ad Available

The content on this site may not be republished without permission. Copyright © 1988-2024 - The Saab Network - saabnet.com.
For usage guidelines, see the Mission & Privacy Notice.
[Contact | Site Map | Saabnet.com on Facebook | Saabnet.com on Twitter | Shop Amazon via TSN | Site Donations]