Second project - a Saab Sonett V4 1969
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After my Saab Sonett III become ready, did thoughts of another project appear. In the world of the senses were Triumph, MG or even a Porsche. All three are funny cars and there is a relative abundance of right items.

However, it seemed that just a Sonett V4 were on sale that was worth watching. The advantages of the Sonett were obvious, and I now had sufficient knowledge of the model and also the right amount of things from III-ball that could be useful. It became a II was a natural for it is even more odd than the III-ball and the small car with the mail slot to the trunk and steering gear is very special. In May 2011 we went with the III-ball to Eskilstuna to view the car. The owner had rolled the car out of the garage and in the spring sunshine made it really good. I was warned that the car was converted to floor shift and the decor was right out. Aware of those things that did business and the car could then be taken home. The journey home was about 1 month later and there were quite a lot of puzzles before all practical pieces were in place. Among others find a car trailer that you could drive legally with after the old 9-5. Everything worked out and the journey home went well.

Anders Loberg got a call a few days later.

- "Hey, I just bought a Sonett V4....."

- "Well ..... OK ..... fun"

First stop came directly, the master cylinder to the clutch had smeared, and it was a must to bring it into life.

It took a few hours before Anders called and said;

- "Hey let's fix that clutch cylinder today ......"

Since my Sonett III would serve during the summer would the Sonett V4 be set aside in anticipation of the fall / winter later, it was virtually forced to demolish the master cylinder to the clutch to fairly easily move the car by hand. The brakes also had smeared to one piece so it was pretty slow to roll. An old and renovated master cylinder was at stock so it was only to replace. Now would be the engine test is started, it belongs to the!

Well it had not gone for good many years but with fresh battery as coughed it up and running for a little bribery with OK's start gas.

Heureka .......... it run with his own power and no apparent noise in addition to the fan bearing.

After a while, when it is hot, you could actually drive the car around the block without major problems. The brakes abutted right proficient and the tires were probably new to the 80's but it rolled. The gears went into them too without any major hitch. The cloud behind, I blame on the so-called carburator from FoMoCo with automatic choke, what a crappy carburator!

So far, there were no surprises and that's good. The car was put away and ran to actually own a dark night to the place where it would stand over the summer, it was thought, but it was two summers.

Autumn 2012 got III-ball and II: an exchange place, this time got V4: and go on the trailer again. Once back in the garage, I could now start to rummage with virtually everything. Engine room looked anything but fun out, the electrical system has anyone done rather than good bit more. Everyone wonder about rust and corrosion when it comes to old cars and Sonett is no exception and it was there but not as dangerous. An analysis of the thresholds indicated that you probably ought to change the entire left and fix it right. The decor went out a week before Christmas 2012 and Christmas day was spent trying to get an overview of the flooring inside the car looked. The floor was blasted and torn with wire brush to try to get a good overview. After vacuuming so it appeared that the floor was actually OK. The engine went out in early January and then it was "only" to decide what should be done. The plan was to get a motor in the style of III grade. A kit for retrofitting to 1700 was bought in the summer of 2011 and also the balance shaft bearings. Generator, wiper motor and starter also received a briefing during the winter. There was also an occasional purchase of e.g. thumb keys. Saab had quite a lot inch screws here and there. Some say that it had only inches, but there is no order as a good mix of both metric and inch is probably the best. Cars that passed in the US and has a few years, has almost exclusively inches, and for some reason I seem to always get the go screws other than those of the original.

The ancient cylinder heads and camshaft from III-ball left this time to ELWA-Motors for conversion to lead-free and considerably larger valves and porting, camshaft grinding was on to something edgier. The engine block was left to Huddinge Top & Motor. The block with the "new" pistons and new bearings were put together after balancing. The cylinder heads retrieved and assembled in a few weeks. Naturally, it was new gaskets everywhere. Since the engine hopefully will give more power so acquired camshaft of steel, which is clearly making noise much more.

A new oil pump with a higher capacity acquired as well. When the engine was finally assembled at home with the converted cylinder heads did I detect that valve bridge needed to be levelled down about 1.5 mm otherwise it was not possible to adjust the valves.

This was due to the new, larger valves because they were slightly shorter.

The front was given a thorough briefing with the new shock absorber (BILSTEIN Forza) and new

P ducks and spindle-leads. Disc brakes, wheel bearings and bushings felt quite OK so these will have to wait

An extra gearbox had been bought mostly "just in case", the gearbox sould be restored using original final gear. Gearbox and a standard clutch and a new slave cylinder to the clutch assembled.

Before the engine and the gearbox would be deployed again, it was time to overhaul the brakes. New front brake callipers had been purchased long ago (actually to the III). 

A new but totally unusable master cylinder had been bought from England. It was new in that it was in the box and was never used, but probably had dried up inside. It was a dreadful priming the brakes before the original renovated got refitted.

Engine and drawer paired (now with a certain habit). Wise from experience so used now a release bearing of the older and stouter variety. The same experience meant that the old cooler had to undergo the same treatment as that of III grade. Although cooler in the Sonett V4 is much easier to remove afterwards. Electric fan and steering mounted. Schedule of engagement are here

(El-schedule-Fan Sonett II.pdf)

The day of the motor starter arrived and after only about 10 seconds with the starter so went the machine itself. No leaks were either oil or water. The new cooler sat so nicely and after filling of water so everything worked, electric fan was spinning so fine.

The new firing system (Ignitor) worked just as well as the III-ball and highly recommended.

A little crafting how it should be, and despite the fact that all parts of the rebuilding of the steering gear was, but it was right tricky to bring order to the gear positions, there remains some minor adjustments before it is completely fine.

Everything began to look as it should. During the winter had virtually all rust identified and it was not so dangerous. The floor had fared well and after blasting so it was painted with 2-component paint for ships. Thresholds it was a bit worse. New had ordered the CSS and they arrived about 2 months later, thanks to the record of incompetence. We did choose not to cut away the entire threshold of risk that the car could get warped. We took only the bits that were bad. We actually managed to re-use both jacking brackets.

The welding was to say the least tricky to get good, especially the habit of welding was not at its peak, there were many hours of sanding, replacing of small holes, but it was finally good. Filling joints with fiberglass putty and then filling the thresholds from the inside with anti-rust got to finish the work.

Work that now remains is to bring order to the electricity system, which is anything but not in good condition. Probably it has been a short circuit in the car's childhood that someone has tried to fix. This is not particularly well done and little reliable. The plan is to draw everything that is bad or doubtful. Most likely you get to pick out the dashboard to get a good overview. When the electrical system is ready so the car should get new upholstery and finally a varnish.