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I grew up in a family who owned C900s and 9Ks, and after 10 years of Japanese cars gave in and picked up a 2000 2.3lpt sedan with 42,000 miles in December.
What a car! Words fail. Anyway:
I recently bought the e-code headlamp lenses from Taliaferro, the sport steering wheel from eEuroparts, and a used key with the built-in remote from eBay and thought I'd share my observations on installing them.
E-Codes:
The lenses arrived with seals and new clamps to secure them to the reflector units. After disconnecting the bulb connectors, I pulled the turn signal units and the grille. The headlamps were a a bit tricky to get out, as the bottoms kept catching against the flange at the top of the bumper. Finally, I undid the six clamps - two on the top and bottom, one on each side - holding the lenses to the reflectors, removed the lenses, and then extracted the reflector units from the car. The new gaskets and lenses mated up perfectly to the reflectors, but getting the new clamps on involved a flathead screwdriver, much squeezing, and a great deal of cursing... be careful and patient. There was no trouble putting them back on the car, surprising given how much of a pain it was getting them out. The low beam pattern and (especially!) high beam range make this one heck of a mod for the money.
Key:
Bought a used integrated remote key for $16 on eBay and went to Saab of Charleston to order the key blank cut to my car's VIN. Guy at the parts
counter was cool: "Great idea, you saved yourself $180!" When the new blank arrived, I showed up with all my keys and remotes, and the tech (Kevin?) did the Tech 2 routine with no problems, and changed the headlamp and foglamp settings to rest-of-the-world mode while he was hooked into the car. Kudos to Saab of Charleston for their enthusiasm and laid-back attitude.
Steering Wheel:
I was pretty nervous about doing this one myself, what with having to remove the airbag module and all. There are two Torx T30 screws - one each on the left and right side of the wheel - to undo, after which I pulled the airbag module toward me. There are two wire connectors to unfasten, and a white connector on the back of the airbag which (carefully!) pulls straight out. I set the airbag module, face up, well away from the car. I broke the 22mm nut holding the wheel to the spindle, gave the wheel a good yank, and away it came.
Here's where it got tricky.
All the wires fed back through a hole in the top of the hub to a coiled ribbon connector, which unwound itself all over the place. I was fortunate to be doing this with the help of a friend with Haynes 9K manual, which showed us how to deal with this mess. In short, after rewinding the ribbon back into the spool, one has to rotate the spool counterclockwise until it stops, and then clockwise as many turns as are indicated on a sticker on the spool itself; the point being to make sure that there's sufficient play to turn the wheel lock to lock in either direction without binding the coiled ribbon cable carrying the airbag and stereo remote control wires. After mounting the new wheel on the spindle - it's keyed, so no worries about being off center, and threading the wires back through, it's just a matter of reversing the initial steps.
Thanks to everyone on the board for sharing your thoughts and experiences. You've been a great help to me, both in helping me to decide to buy the car and in the subsequent tinkering - hope I didn't ramble on too much.
stewart
2000 2.3lpt
Charleston SC
posted by 65.13.83...
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