So it’s official! We finally have a new car to replace our trusted old Legacy, Say hello everybody to our 2007 Saab 9-5 Estate Auto which goes by the name of ‘Wasaabi’

 

Yes – That’s right!, we have replaced our 2006 Subaru Legacy Wagon for a 2007 Saab 9-5 Wagon, now while the Subaru was a brilliant daily driver/family wagon, this Saab is something else, for a start she is a lower mileage example compared to others in the same price bracket plus she is a top spec example with nearly every single option ticked which includes heated seats, electric drivers seat, electric mirrors, Full leather seats, Dual zone climate control, Air Conditioning the lot!

Now for those who maybe wondering why it’s nicknamed Wasaabi, the simple answer is that she is not an any run of the mill 9-5 Estate, she just so happens to be a HOT Aero Estate which has a stonking 260bhp & an equally impressive 350nm of Torque from it’s 2.3T 4 Cylinder B235R engine which means she can do a 0-60 run in 8.1 seconds and can cruise up to 152mph, not too bad for a big 1.6 ton Swedish estate, in fact back in its day it could outrun a Porsche 911 Turbo in a 40 – 70 MPH sprint!

So what made us go for a Saab in the end? Well we never really thought of a Saab as a Legacy replacement, we were actually considering either a Toyota Avensis or another possibly another Subaru Forester to replace the Legacy, the two cars in question are very good cars in their own right but both had their flaws, if we got an Avensis it’d had to of been an estate which would’ve been fine if we could find any for sale within our budget, now if we’d have gone for the Forester we wouldn’t of had any problems in terms of space or even pace but Subaru Parts are an absolute joke in terms of price and that alone put us off and was a major reason why the Legacy had to go, This is where the oddball Swedish company comes into play.

The Saab had all the practicality and pace of the Forester yet was as cheap to run as the Avensis, for £1500 we were able to find a relatively good example top specced, low mileage example of a sporty swede Estate, now compared to the likes of both the Avensis & Forester, you’d have to pay double for either a top spec model or a low mileage example and they just didn’t have what the Saab has to offer.

I stumbled across our 9-5 on AutoTrader for a measly £1500 while looking at either estates or SUV’s within our £2k budget, after looking at it’s MOT History and other things we decided it was worth a shot and we couldn’t let it go, so we decided to put down a deposit and eventually buy it, only issue was a 300+ mile journey down to Luton to get it.

Now while it may not of been everyones best idea to go and travel 300+ miles to get a car, we decided it was best if we made a weekend of it, so instead of just going & buying it and bringing it home, we decided to go to a few different places we had either never been to or places we’d not visited in quite a while.

 

some of these places were Blackpool, Newton Pagnell & Lancaster, of all the places we visited, I loved Newport Pagnell, I was luckily able to visit the Aston Martin Works dealership while down there and get close to some of my dream cars from my favourite manufacturer, that alone made the 300+ mile trip worthwhile.

 

We have had the Saab now for 1 week and we are already smitten with it, now like every car, it does have it’s little issues & niggles but it’s not drastic and can be easily fixed without breaking the bank, in fact, during the last week, it’s already had new tyres fitted alongside a brand new battery, some new bulbs and some new wipers too, soon it is due to have the thermostat changed alongside some other bits & pieces fitted too!

 

This is our first entry into Saab ownership and so far, so good, it is everything we expected it to be and more and we can finally relax in knowing it’s not going to break the bank any time soon, after a good two years of having Subaru’s, we are finally back in a Swedish beauty and for that reason alone I’m over the moon.

 

 

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

So the time has come, we are officially getting rid of ProjectLegacy for another car, now even though it is a relatively sad time for us, we have no choice but to get rid as you’ll find out below.

 

So, where do we start? Well let’s start off with ProjectLegacy – essentially ProjectLegacy is a 2006 Subaru Legacy MK4 Wagon 2.0R Auto, we have had the pleasure of owning her for a good year and a half now and she has been the daily driver/family wagon, In the year & 1/2 of ownership she has racked up 166,000 miles and has taken us to numerous trips back & forth to the college to even going up to Glasgow for the Ignition Festival and to Peter Vardy Heritage to see the Aston Martin DB2/4, she has been one of the best cars we’ve ever had!

Before buying the Legacy we had a MK1 Forester Auto which again was another good family car but after nearly 175,000 miles on the clock it was tired and was showing its age both mechanically and cosmetically, after a year of owning the Forester we were able to upgrade to the Legacy and what a car it was, it ran beautifully, had all the space we needed yet was more powerful and more modern but unfortunately after a while it started to show its problems to the point that we just can’t afford to fix it up like I’d hoped.

For a start off, to get all the problems fixed you’d be talking about £3000 all in and for that money we could get a car in tons better shape, possibly newer with lower mileage and hopefully more powerful, so that’s what we’ve had to do, It’s time to say goodbye to the Legacy for now as we move on to bigger & better things and I’m glad to report it’s replacement on paper anyway is shaping up to not just be a better car overall but could possibly become a regular feature on this website in one way or another!

So what is the Legacies Replacement? Well for the time being my lips are sealed but expect an article in the next few days revealing what we’ve bought and why we’ve bought it and what the plans are for it, anyways lets go back to the Legacy for a second as something relatively important needs to get addressed.

The Legacy is an absolutely brilliant car and will forever be missed and will still be one of my favourite cars on the road, they certainly live up to their expectations as a usable daily or a family wagon  and are able to do so with absolutely no fuss or arguments whatsoever – It is one of last proper underdogs of the car world!, for anyone who is hesitant on buying one take it from me, they are one of the best cars ever made, if it wasn’t for it’s little problems and the parts being so expensive she would definitely be staying put!

The Legacy will be missed by all of us – especially by me! even though I have the Volvo, I’ve always loved the MK4 Legacy since they were launched back in 2003 and I will always have an affinity with them. If it wasn’t for insurance prices being so high i’d have one in a heartbeat!

 

Even though it is breaking me to write this article, the replacement is gonna take the Legacies crown and take over with it’s duties while still being an equally as epic car, By Saturday the Legacy will be gone and the replacement will be here taking it’s place, as noted before there’ll be more articles to come about it relatively soon so keep your eyes peeled for that.

 

Hope You Enjoy

By Alex Jebson

Oh the joys of owning a Project Car!, Some days are brilliant, others are bad and well in the case of me & the C70, it was the worst!, essentially after spending well over a month doing the Engine clean on her, she decided to break in pretty sudden spectacular fashion, here’s how it went.

 

Last week I got woken up rather early to my neighbours telling us that the cars alarm had been going off for quite a while, after going out in a hurry and trying to sort it out, I’d realised that the cars battery had hardly any power in it as the alarm was still going off but I couldn’t open the doors nor start the car, after attempting to jump start the car I noticed a battery light on the dash glowing like a sunrise through a window, this was only the start of the problems!

 

After talking to a few people around the village it seemed that a huge crack of thunder & lightning had happened during the night right over our house which in turn set off the car alarm which subsequently drained the battery – most of you reading this will be saying by now “well just put the battery on charge, it’s probably drained the battery and needs a good charge” oh how wrong that statement is when it comes to ProjectC70 as she always has to be a pain one way or another when something goes wrong!

My first sign of protocol was to remove the battery and put it on charge overnight and check again the following morning, the reason I started with the battery is because it’s not a heavy duty battery and anything simple can get it to go flat as it’s a low output and the battery has on occasions failed on me before. After charging the battery overnight I checked the car again to see if the light had gone out but as it always goes with project cars, that unfortunately didn’t fix the issue whatsoever!
 

The following day I tried to fit the battery from ProjectLegacy into ProjectC70 to see for one if my battery was holding it’s charge and if so would a higher output healthier battery fix the issue and finally put the light out, unfortunately after standing out in the freezing cold changing batteries, the problem was still there – I was starting to lose my tether with my car and every time I went to work on it, I would get more and more annoyed with it and it’s antics it was playing.

 

Skip to the Weekend and I invested in a cheap but relatively decent Multimeter from Halfords to check the Voltage the car was producing to see if it was the alternator which was causing the issue instead of the battery – Bingo!, after all this time of checking batteries, charging them and even swapping them I’d finally found the problem with the car!

 

After some thorough investigation the Alternator was definitely the culprit!, when running it was only producing 12.05 V instead of 14.6V and the pulley was slipping quite badly, there was only thing for it, she had to go into the local garage to get it removed, due to lack of funds I decided to get the alternator refurbished instead of replaced as it was the cheapest fix overall (£300 for a brand new Aftermarket Alternator for those who would like to know), a quick look online and I found an absolute gem of a place which went by the name of Shandon Electrical in Bellshill! 

After getting the alternator from the garage I took it to Shandon Electrical so they could work their magic, now as I’d never got anything refurbished before in my life, I was skeptical a little, but honestly there was no need to be, they done a sublime job on it in the space of a weekend which included stripping it down and essentially rebuilding it all from the ground up, now when I was in college I was always told & taught that a modern mechanic never touches or strips down an alternator as the margins alongside all the little intricate pieces makes it a rather difficult job so for them to do it over the weekend was no easy feat.
 

When I got it back it looked like I’d just bought a brand new one from Volvo themselves instead of a refurbisher, it looked that good!, The staff was although not many, they were all helpful and understanding and generally happy to see customers – best bit of all however was the price! £80 all in for what is essentially a brand new Alternator, when comparing that to £300 for a brand new aftermarket unit and about a £400 – £500 estimate from Volvo themselves I was definitely over the moon with both the quality, timing and price of the job, I would definitely recommend them to anybody!

 Once home I put the alternator straight into the garage as soon as possible so it could get refitted so she could finally come home and this mess could be fixed once and for all, after about two weeks of pulling my hair out and getting frustrated, she was finally fixed and back home where she belongs.

 

 

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

 

 

 

 

So as the Title of this Article Reads, ProjectC70’s mega engine clean is finally finished! – Over the course of a month she has went from a car with a dirty unloved engine bay to a car which bay looks as if you could literally eat your dinner from it! Here’s how it went from unloved to shimmering:

Now when I started to take the C70 to the likes of Tartan Tarmac Meets, I always noticed one thing wrong with my car – I was always embarrassed to open the bonnet and show off the engine to the other like minded petrolheads due to the engine being so dirty, something had to be done so for the last month or so I’ve been doing a mega engine clean to her.

The first thing I done was removed all the hoses and connections to get to the old & rusty jubilee clips and clamps as they were the originals and were severely rusted into place, that meant i had to drain the coolant, the power steering bottle, remove the top coolant hose, remove the air filter lid, remove a hose for the turbo amongst many electrical connections and other wiring, at first it seemed as if i’d bitten off more than i could’ve chewed but i had an idea of what i was doing so there was no going back – it had to be done!

After replacing all the clips with new ones and putting the hoses back where they were, the next step was the actual engine clean itself – now for this step I had been suggested by friends to use Autoglym Engine Degreaser and Rubber & Vinyl Cleaner for a brilliant result but before that i had to prepare the engine for the clean, so for that I used Silver Waterproof, Heatproof & Rustproof Tape and my god it has to be the best tape i’ve ever used, when applied it looked and felt like I’d wrapped the electrical connections and wiring in Kitchen Foil, once the tape was applied i got round to cleaning the engine!

Now at first the hoses and plastics came up a treat but after hosing the cleaning products down i started to notice that the plastics had started to fade which didn’t look good against the shiny hoses and clips so something had to be done! – And thanks to a close friend of mine named Richie, I was told to go and experiment with Autoglyms Bumper Gel to work in conjunction with the engine cleaning products to bring the shine back up on the plastics, also while I was there I also got told to buy wire wool drill attachments for the embedded dirt on the metals and the Manifolds as a normal detailing brush wouldn’t get rid of the dirt. Once the bumper gel was applied and the metals polished up with the wire wool attachments the engine started to really take shape – it started to look as if a brand new engine was fitted into the car it was that clean!

The only thing which had to be done was a new Power Steering Bottle to be added alongside some fresh power steering fluid and coolant as they had been drained, the reason why the power steering bottle was replaced was because there was a hairline crack in the bottle and also the seal in the cap had worn down so it was pissing it’s fluid everywhere which didn’t look good and also didn’t do the steering any good neither. with a new bottle in place and new fluids in the bottles the car was ready to be started after it’s month of sitting with it’s throat cut!

Now this was the bit i was dreading – with the reason being I’d never done an engine clean before in my life on any car I’d previously worked on, one wrong move on my part and the engine could’ve been toast but after checking every single hose, electrical connection and every part of the engine and making sure all the fluids were in with no leaks I decided to start up the car and she sprung into life on the first turn of the key, no spluttering or nothing – Who says Volvo’s can’t be reliable! After constantly checking on the car for about 10-15 minutes checking every bit of the engine bay for any leaks i was satisfied that she was fixed, best bit of all was the temperature gauge, it was sitting exactly where it should be which made things so much better as I could finally calm down and celebrate a little bit. However this was in no way the C70 finished as i had a little trick up my sleeve to further improve the cleanliness of the engine and that was to replace the old rocker cover screws for new ones for the rocker cover, cam cover and the fuel rail cover, this was probably the easiest and least stressful part of the engine clean as all I had to do was remove the plastic parts of the engine and put in new screws and clean up any bits I’d missed one last time with a wire wool attachment.

​With the new screws in place and the engine having a proper clean up she is now looking a million dollars, I’m not one to blow my own trumpet but I have seriously outdone myself with the engine clean, I never thought she’d look this good when she was finished – best bit of all now however is I can now finally show off the cars engine to fellow petrolheads without feeling embarrassed anymore!

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson

Hey Everyone! Here is my 2000 Volvo C70 Coupe 2.0 Turbo Manual, She is my first ever car and I’ve had her since I was 17, She is finished off in Saffron Orange Pearl and is sitting on 17″ Factory BBS Propus Alloys.

I’ve always wanted a Volvo C70 since the summer of 2014, if I’m honest I’d never really thought that much of Volvo before – I always thought they were for old people but that all changed when my mum bought a Volvo S80 MK1 home, on the way home from buying it I started to really like it, so much so I started looking some up once home.

I decided to go onto AutoTrader and all the other car selling sights to see if there was any Volvo’s which I would be interested in buying once I was older and that’s when I stumbled across the C70.

I soon realised that they were dirt cheap to buy and surprisingly cheap to insure even though they had relatively big engines compared to a typical first car like a Corsa etc. Now like every young lad I shown my parents the C70 and at first they weren’t so sure and thought I was winding them up like I normally do but after realising I wasn’t being a joker, they started looking up on it they soon told me to go for it.

After having a bit of a discussion with my parents, my mum said that she would pay my bills while I was at the College so I could save up the funds from the college over an academic year so I could buy it.

I was told by the doctors that as long as I didn’t have any health issues I’d be allowed to own a car and drive it once I was clear, everything was going well but my first college started to cause arguments which then meant there was problems with me and my parents with constant arguing, I was determined to get a C70 Coupe, My parents were wanting me to get a smaller car because they were worried that I wouldn’t have enough money to run my car once I had eventually bought it.

After a while and with no choice whatsoever concerning the college, I just kept on saving money and got on with my work the best I could at college, as always I was always looking on Auto Trader, Ebay and Gumtree to look at C70’s for sale as I was truly smitten with them. After a long time searching I came across a Saffron Orange C70 Coupe down in Taunton in the south of England for £2,500, It was stunning and I loved the colour, it really really went well with the car and the specification of it in general was truly gorgeous.

Unfortunately after a few weeks of looking at it for sale it got taken off of AutoTrader – hoping it’d never been sold, I went searching again trying to find it but as it always goes when someone has found a car they like it got snatched up, don’t fear however, After a while of looking I found what was to be my C70.

That’s when I came across mine, it is in the spec I was always after, alongside the paint and wheels it also sports a two tone leather interior which really goes well with the rest of the car, It has the 2.0T B5204T4 Engine fitted which is the engine I had to get as it was the only way of getting a C70 at 17 due to insurance costs, also it was in my £2500 budget and it had only done 68,000 miles which was even better because lower mileage Volvo’s go for a lot more money. After a discussion we decided to go and take a closer look at it the day after which turned out to be a college day, I couldn’t wait till the college day finished so I could see it.

We got in contact with the previous owner so we could meet him at his house to see it, as soon as I left the college and went to his house and saw it for the first time I knew it was the one I was after!

I was besotted with it as soon as I saw it. Since owning it I’ve had to change the Stereo, the battery and put new tyres on it, I taken it to a Car Show up in Glasgow when I first bought it to show it off, and to my surprise a few people were quite interested in it.

Since ownership, I have fixed up most of it’s issues and transformed it to the way I have always wanted it to be, a few people have said that I’m mad for doing it but after seeing it, they love whats been done and they can’t wait till it’s finished.

Even though she is nearly finished, I have plans to get the interior retrimmed because the seats are getting a bit tatty and worn as well as get it Resprayed and the Alloys refurbished as the bodywork is still in a state. All mechanics wise its brilliant, She’s had brand new brakes all round, a brand new power steering bottle & suction hose as well as a refurbished alternator, Interior wise she’s had new dash trim & centre console trim, some new switches and a new gear knob, Exterior wise she’s had an all round facelift to 03-05 spec with “Jewel” Style Headlamps, An Egg Crate Grille, US Spec Indicators and Facelifted rear lamps.

At the moment I can’t think of any other car which could replace it, not even a brand new car could replace it. I’m definitely going to go for another Volvo again when I decide its time for a change.

Hope You Enjoy!

By Alex Jebson