MadaboutKitcars

I agree, that should just buff out a treat :-)

I was planning on distracting the mot guy when it gets raised up on the lift, then nonchalantly leaning against the car with my bum covering the holes in the side of the floorpan while he does the inspection. Will have to gain some weight first though.

It's so simple it might just work...

nice thick "dol-lop" of under seal will hide it...

Just had a rude reminder of why I prefer old cars to new ones:

Finished work at midnight on Monday and found my Saab wouldn't unlock on the plipper for my journey home. Opened it with the manual key and found no electrics, everything dead.

Managed to jump-start it but engine died within seconds of disconnecting the jump leads. Blagged a lift home as I didn't want to be hanging around waiting for a recovery truck.

Got a lift to work yesterday afternoon, put a new battery in it and it started on the key, Hooray!!

At two in the morning and half way home a warning message comes up on the head-up-display saying "BATTERY NOT CHARGING, MAKE A SAFE STOP AND CONTACT SERVICE CENTER."

After a frantic Apollo Thirteen style shutting down of unnecessary electrical ancillaries to save battery power, I got it home with whitened knuckles from the dread that it would die on the move in the middle of nowhere. In a gale. With no mobile phone signal...

A bit of internet research this morning suggests that the alternator has failed, a common problem on the 9-3, apparently.

Now, amongst other things, I'm a qualified aeronautical engineer. I know how to fix stuff, and, if it was my trusty Triumph generator, I'd stand in the engine bay, undo a couple of imperial bolts, put new brushes in and Robert would be my mother's brother.

So, can you buy new brushes for my 'Saab' alternator? (read Vauxhall alternator as the 9-3 is really just a Vectra with the word 'Vauxhall' crossed out and the word 'Saab' written on it in crayon).

No.

The only option is a new alternator. And the cheapest I could find is a hundred and seventy quid, which I suppose isn't too bad.

As I don't have a Haynes manual for my Saab I thought I'd better have a look on the owners' forums to see if there were any useful hints and tips about replacing the faulty alternator.

Why yes!

It seems you need a star-drive socket to undo the special bolts holding the alternator on. And it seems that Saab used three different sized bolts depending on what type of snow was falling in TrollhÃttan on the day your car was produced. And it seems that you can't get at the alternator to check which socket you need without removing the o/s front wheel. And the o/s front inner wheel arch. And the sump cover. And, because you can't actually remove the alternator through the fag-paper sized gap amongst the air conditioning pipes without damaging the a/c system, it's best to remove the o/s drive-shaft too. For which you need a specialist tool.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

So, I can build myself a superb recreation of a fifties sports racing car using hammers and spanners and manual skill. But I can't change two quids worth of carbon brushes on my modern car without handing my credit card over to my local Vauxhall dealer and keying in my pin to the tune of three hundred and sixty quid. Money I'd rather have spent on my Spyder.

I'm seriously considering making the inside of my Sammio water resistant, buying some motorcycle leathers and using it as my only car. At least then, when it breaks I know I can fix it.

I feel your pain. I felt exactly the same way when my S-Type blew a turbo. £1300 later (It's a long story, involving being towed to the garage, having £400 worth of 'investigation' and then being told I had to bring my own vasoline whilst I was royally buggered by the Stealers), the Jag is back on the road, but it left Vikki unpainted for another year.

It was the same situation - no workshop manual, no one on the forums had replaced one and all sources of parts I had where going to charge £700 for a replacement turbo anyway...

I hate dealerships.

I feel your pain too. The alternator went on my old pick-up truck which is an Isuzu TF. Should be the same as a Vauxhall version but isn't. The truck number plate doesn't come up on the dealers system so there is no way of identifying the right replacement. Finally found TheAlternatorMan (or similar) on the web. I rang and they said it is probably part XYZ as they are the normal ones to fail. £150 instead of £470 fromt he main dealer.

The bit about special tools and none standard bits isn't just for new mainstream cars. My TVR is a lovely mixture of imperial and metric fittings and trying to fix the cooling system was fun. 1/2 inch to an 8mm pipe reducer please. It is going between a Metro header tank and a Ford radiator but also needs to connect to a Rover SD1 water pump.

The rear diff is Jag XJ connected to Cortina shafts, Granada hubs and TVR bespoke trailing arm...

Hi, my 2.2 Saab 93 did the same the week before Xmas! Bought secondhand one from Neo Brothers on fleabay. Good price and service. Fitting took all day between showers. Ended up with brake master cylinder off to get it out!!! Good luck

Wise words guys. So I'm not alone in hating modern car dealerships.

Hats off to you Froggyman for doing the alternator yourself on your 9-3. Unfortunately mine's the 1.9tid 150 which the forums suggest is about twice as hard to access as the 2.2.

I've booked the Saab in for the new alternator tomorrow and found that it's due a cam-belt service too.

Total bill for the service and alternator...

Just shy of a grand.

I could've pretty much bought another Sammio kit for that.

WCA your TVR drive-train sounds interesting. At least you can tell the left leaning green party environmentalists that you drive a hybrid car. Just don't tell them what's under the bonnet...

On thinking about it, I reckon Gary's operation is really very environmentally friendly: after all, our cars are 100% recycled!

It is a true hybrid - I had to use the battery to turn the starter motor while in gear to drive to the petrol station the other day. There was me thinking that 1/4 of a tank on the gauge meant anything. Still, at least I can say I made the last 50m on pure electric power!

I have since heard that if you rock the car from side to side you can get an extra 1/2 mile out of the slops in the second tank as it sloshes across

Ha Ha, sounds like it's practically a Prius. All very eco-friendly.

Trust me, is sounds NOTHING like a Prius!!!! ;-)

mister towed i know how ya feel, its like your been ripped of by main dealers who get a apprentice to do the repair but charge you a fully skilled rate...

One of my son's did a week's work experience at the age of 15 in our local Aston Martin dealership. They had him changing brake disc's and stuff, before that the only spanner he'd used was in a meccano set..........

It doesn't bear thinking about really.

Paul.

One feels Aston Martin servicing is an absolute steal at only a thysand pinds an ire.

thats nothing ive just sprayed my sammio, before that the only spray i had used was " hair spray"........hehe

Saab's back on the road today after its service and new alternator. Hooray!

Bank balance took a hit of eight quid short of a grand. Boo!

Anyway, sh!t happens so I consoled myself by spending another couple of hours working on my proper car.

Carried on sandblasting the bulkhead and found a few more holes that'd been plugged with filler and hidden under lashings and lashings of bitumen. Nothing that can't be sorted though and at a great deal less expense than my modern car.

I've had to admit defeat with the passenger floorpan though. The metal is easier to blast away than the paint so it's too far gone to save. I've ordered a replacement from Canleys at £74.

Should get a bit more done tomorrow and will post some pictures once there's something worth seeing.

I managed to get a new radiator for Skippy for £1.95 off ebay local no postage result so ordered the paint and stuff, just vinyl brg stripes to get, Pat

So, is it to be broom yellow?

Very promising potential donor on ebay at the moment, located in Bristol and finishing Tuesday 17th Jan:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Vitesse-mk2-convertible-restoration-project-/170761988062?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27c23527de

Looks almost too good to cut up...

Naah.

It does look a good prospect and the bits more interesting to the Sammio build have already been sorted.
It's never too good to cut up for a Spyder! The better the donor the less hassle in the build. (I'm still to find out what my chassis looks like but won't be long now!)

Agreed! When a Herald or Vitesse gets the Sammio treatment it means the die-hard Triumph enthusiasts get access to the parts to stay on the road and each one that gets re-registered makes their car just that little bit rarer. How can they complain?


Best of luck with your chassis when you take the body off, I hope it's better than mine was!

Add to that the fact a decent restored example will still only be worth less than a Sammio on average , and the argument gets even stronger !!!

Based on all the niggles i've encountered, i can't back this up enough!

Speaking as a die-hard Triumph enthusiasts, I see your point, but it still aches a bit to see a nice complete car that has survived all those years in perfectly good nick get broken up...

(but then a Sammio does look very nice, doesn't it...)

No problems at all however with a restoration project (like the one now on e-bay) or a car that has stood in a field for years getting converted to a Sammio !!

Baz from Brussels

Potential donor going on ebay - but only if you relish a challenge...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-VITESSE-GT6-/220932788755?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item33709ed213#ht_500wt_1202