Ed Townend

Since last update I’ve painted a few panels, all of the aero kit in satin black, fitted 6.5” speakers in the doors to replace the in dash ones, fitted vent covers and some fog lights as well as swapped to the earlier front grill.

The speakers are quite neat, though the door panels were made by the last owner.

Unfortunately I didn’t have time to do all the paint in one go so due to the need to get to work I rocked the extreme rat look for a while…

But finally bit by bit I did the painting. I had a lot of trouble with this, and the results are pretty poor, even after rubbing back the orange peel but at least she’s mostly the same colour now. I didn’t paint the driver’s door because they’re both getting replaced with less rotten ones eventually.

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Painting the body kit satin black instead of the standard anthracite colour went much better. I think it contrasts better with the bodywork.

She took a few days off sick recently after a brake bleed job went awry. The first circuit bled fine, but then the front left wheel wouldn’t stop spurting bubbles. On closer inspection of the reservoir bubbles were also coming up through that circuit’s port. So off came the master to find seals and bores looking in fine condition. Ordered a new one anyway because I didn’t have time to play, and also some new front pads. Went for Ferodo DS2500 in Mk. 2 Ford Escort fitment, which drop in with only slight modification.

The DS2500 replaced worn out EBC yellowstuff and they feel pretty similar, but with a bit more initial bite especially when cold. I fitted 9000 brakes to my last 900 and they were great but since Helga is a front handbrake model, I don’t fancy converting the front hubs, handbrake mechanism and rear axle to rear handbrake at the moment. So for now I’ve chucked all I can at these brakes to get them as good as they can be.

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Been using Helga regularly for the last few weeks, and all was going well. Fixed a few niggles along the way like the central locking on the boot and making a bushing to take the slack out of the clutch pedal.

Had a bit of a showstopper though, suddenly started getting a knock from the back so I investigated and found the shock has parted company with it’s mount.

Also, there was a hole in the back corner of the boot floor.

So, having just moved into a house with a garage again, I bought myself a 250 amp gas MIG welder and got to work.

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Plus there was a patch in the boot floor. All acid etched, seam sealed and shcutz’d now, though I still need to paint the body areas in her Odoardo grey yet and refit the aero panels so she looks very mad max for now.

For a while there’s been a leak between the turbo and it’s elbow, which turns out is because the elbow has pitted quite badly. As a temporary fix I’ve made a thick copper gasket, but ultimately I’d like to do a 3″ downpipe.

Anyway, after all this I took her for a MOT on Monday which after an initial fail and quick tinker, she passed! Which is great news, because it was just in time for the Gold Cup at Oulton Park.

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This year it was drama free apart from popping a boost hose yet again while trying to find out who’s fastest in the gang. Amazingly a chap came up who said he used to own Helga!

Other work done lately:

• Fitted a decor panel (the bit between the rear lights, might take it back off, not sure I’m fussed)
• Fitted the front seats that I refurbished way back.
• Fitted a new old stock bonnet release cable – finally I can get my mole grips back
• Fitted the bigger sump guard from later 900s
• Fitted a LED running light in place of the broken boot light – bit silly bright but pretty effective.
• Made a new parcel shelf from ply

She’s running fine, so I’m going to keep using her for now but there’s plenty to do tidying wise. First up I think will be to sort the paint and refit the aero panels. There’s a slight whine in the box so I think at some point that’ll need changing, though it hasn’t got any worse. I’ve got a spare lined up for when the time comes.

I’m not much of a fan of minilite-style wheels on 900s, so I got hold of some freshly refurbed Super Incas from JamSaab along with super rare locking centre caps. Had some Uniroyal Rain Expert 3’s fitted, and on they went. Annoyingly, the centre caps don’t actually fit – they’re about 1mm too big for the hole. It might just be the thickness of the paint, but I’m not too keen to file them down so they’re staying off for now.

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Also – what’s this? A genuine Saab whale tail? I’m still in two minds about it – I think they look great on later slope front cars but I’m not so sure about flat fronts like Helga. I’ll leave it a while before fitting.

Progress on Helga since the last post on repairing the outer arches has been a bit slow, but she’s back on the road. The front inner arches have been repaired, etch primered, seam sealered and schutzed.

Naturally I then took the interior out. The carpets were sodden, looks like water has been getting in behind the pedals past where the cabin air intake thingy meets the bulkhead. Fixed the missing vacuum line for the heater controls and put the interior back minus the carpets for now until I’m happy the leak is fixed.

She was struggling to start after being stood so I’ve fitted a new Varta D24 for good measure. I’m really pleased that the new temp sensors seem to have done the trick, she starts almost instantly and idles perfectly now.

Had a spare full interior for Helga in really good condition, apart from the stitching was coming apart on the driver’s side base so I spent a little time stitching it back up. I’ll save it ’till the outside is tidied so she feels like a new car.

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For a bit of fun I drew up the missing 16v badge for the bootlid. Not delighted with the print quality but it looks okay painted.