We’ve been patiently waiting to start this very exciting project for the past few months, and yesterday, it all began like a hurricane. Several hours in, and the Nocturne Blue 9-5 had been completely disassembled, the modified and performance parts carefully removed, checked and catalogued, and the engine and gearbox ready to be removed the following day.
It’s been a hard decision to not save the Blue Aero, but having covered some 250,000 hard miles, it was exceptionally tired, nearly all panels required some kind of attention, and quite honestly, financially it just didn’t make sense. More importantly though, the beating heart of the car will live on in a new guise, the wonderfully strong engine was fully modified less than 100,000 miles ago, and after many miles covered, has proven it’s worth, it’ll benefit from numerous new ancillary parts, and be reunited with a freshly rebuilt manual gearbox, with LSD, upgraded clutch, new slave cylinder and gaskets.
It’s one less Saab for the world, but we’ve been fastidious with removing the parts that will become spares for the Graphite Green Aero, including switches, SID and heater units, lights and many interior parts have all been put aside for future use.
I’ve been getting a steady request for parts to be sourced and ordered, the new Bilstein B12 kit has arrived, along with new wheels and the ECU has been shipped off the Karl at Noobtune for a new bespoke Stage 5 remap.
As the next few days progress, I’ll attempt to take photos at various stages of the build, I’m truly humbled by Jason’s knowledge of Saabs, and quite honestly, feel this would not have begun without his friendship or belief in my projects. These are not my normal, ‘finished project’ photos, these are moments of the build, captured and enjoyed for their detail, I find a genuine beauty in the deconstructed nature of them, the hundreds and thousands of individual parts that come together to form a single car, in this case, a Saab that continues the journey of two.
