1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
I just had to make a similar decision w.r.t. my '94 Turbo Coupe with 206,000 km on the clock (I'm Canadian, eh). My front suspension was shot and the brakes needed rebuidling. Still on its original clutch, but not slipping. The engine is tight, although the rear seal on the manual transmission is weeping slightly. Probably will need a new clutch and seal replaced in the next 10,000 km.
I looked at a trade against a 1999 5 door Turbo 9-3 with 90,000 kms (was offered CDN$3000 trade against CDN$13,000 for 9-3) versus fixing my 900 and keeping it for another 12 - 18 months.
The decision that I came to was that if I did the work myself, it made sense to keep my car and carry out the repairs - mine was a 3rd car I used for the daily work run, so I could afford to keep it off the road for a couple of months.
If I wasn't prepared to carry out the repairs myself, then it made more sense to trade as the labour costs would have more than doubled the repair costs.
I hadn't really done much in the way of car DIY before (pads, oil change about it), but I took my time, researched part prices and did the following work over about 5 weekends (might give you some ideas):
1) Rebuild strut assemblies with 2 new strut inserts (KYB - probably a bad choice, would use Boge next time), replaced 1 broken spring (Saab OES), 1 new bump stop, 2 new bearing mounts (KYB), and 2 new thrust bearings (SKF).
2) While strut assembly in pieces, had local engine rebuilder press out the 2 front wheel bearings and installed 2 new (SKF) bearings myself.
3) Upgraded front suspension to post '95-1/2 spec. Got an upgrade kit for US$412 that included new sway bar, 2 stanchion arms, 2 control arms with all bushings. Hadn't planned on upgrading, but my stanchion arms and all bushings were shot, so worked out cheaper replacing the whole lot with upgrade kit. Makes a big positive difference in handling.
4) Rebuilt 4 calipers with new seal kits and replaced rear metal brake pipes (originals seized and damaged while removing calipers). New pads and cleaned and adjusted handbrake assembly.
5) Replaced 1 broken ABS sensor in front strut / bearing housing.
6) Replaced leaking water pump, including aluminum adaptor sleeve and O-rings.
7) Replaced master brake cylinder with used unit from late model 9-3. Cost CDN$100 versus CDN$860 for new cylinder from dealer. This repair may have been self-induced from repeated bleeding of brakes during caliper rebuild.
8) Installed new intermediate flex pipe on exhaust. Only thing I got an indie garage to do, as I have a welded stainless steel sports exhaust and flex pipe needed to be welded in against stainless pipe.
9) Had 4 wheel allignment done by dealer.
Did all this with a 175 piece toolkit on sale from Sears plus I bought an engine support beam (required to support engine weight while dropping subframe to change sway bar) for CDN$100.
Reckon I spent about CDN$2500 in total, but would have spent more than twice that to have the work done even by a mechanic. Best part of it was that I had a great time doing this work and now have myself a new hobby.
Hope this experience helps.
posted by 137.186.2...
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