The dreaded scuttle rust.

It ain't so bad. Mine was much worse.
Needs a professional repair, followed by a new windshield.
My advice....take the front wings off yourself; the repairer will never find the lower bolts.
Remove the top of the dashboard off yourself and mind the alarm led,very delicate wiring.
Remove the corner headlining pieces at the side of the windscreen. When the old screen is removed, the "technician" might skin the fabric. Welding with the screen removed means that delicate items in the cockpit might get burnt. Good idea to protect all these beforehand.
Make sure the windscreen spindles end up at the right angle before the paint is on.
Wish I had had this advice !
Cheer up !

 

I agree it looks much worse than it is kamikaze. If you can get your hands on an air compressor, then get a small die grinder for 25 bucks with some of those green and orange fabric disks for another 10. You will not need much air. Then gently knock that stuff out. The soft pads are very user friendly and easy to control. The die grinder is small and will fit in there. Once most of it is out you will have better idea how far you want to go. The acid rust treatment stuff is more like a Band-Aid, so do not put too much trust in that, but there are products out there like por 15 http://www.por15.com that will seal up the metal for perhaps as long as it matters 20 years. If the car is really something you want to keep for long time then glass beading might be better. The por15 stuff is expressive, maybe 30 bucks ½ pint, but it is nasty. The recommendations actually say they do not want all the rust off. Even if you have a pro do the replacing when they see most the stuff is gone their price is going to be cheaper. It is easy to use a die grinder with low air
steve

 

X2 with sp53.

A Por 15 solution if ever there was one - this is exactly what it was developed for.

With proper prep and application the repair will be permanent.

 

Often windshield replacement "mechanics" make a real mess of the paint around the windshield opening and hide it under the sealant. Only one glass monkey in the car's history would be enough. Never, ever get a cheap windshield replacement for this reason.

 

The windshield was replaced before, about 6 years ago. I'm guessing the last guy who installed it scratched it up pretty badly and invariably caused the rust. I'm pretty unhappy, I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for all the info!
Tom

 

Bottom corner windscreen opening rust and POR15

Finally after 3 yrs am I about to get my 9k to a new location where it can be used and driven, instead of sitting out in the open uncovered and hard to access.

I know that I've got rust developing in the bottom corners of the windscreen.

Just recently I did a full rebuild in the front axle assembly of my 80 series landcruiser and the swivel balls on the ends of the axle housing were badly rusting. A lot of prep and then correct application of POR15 (did three coats) has got it all sorted out, and might need to try the same thing with the 9k.

I don't want to scrap the car as I've put a lot of work into fixing stuff on it since I got it, just that where I lived for the last 3 yrs has been 200 km away from the car, so time to do work on it or even drive it has been very minimal.

Craig.

 

K-Tom, that is definitely not bad at all! Relatively speaking, that is... It seems to be a fate that most 9K's suffer. Like others have said, rust bomb and POR will fix that up nicely.

For a bad one (and even this one has very little actual rust-through) take a look at this link: http://www.saab9000.com/procedures/b...screenrust.php

 

Wow! that's pretty depressing.
IMO that car is toast.. at least in terms of properly fixin' it.
A good bodyman/restorer could graft salvaged pristine panels / metal for a 100% repair. .
But you could buy a 3 yr old Saab for the price charged.

Sure you can slap some POR on it, should work for at least another winter.. if lucky.
But It's ..no replacement.. for rotted metal... merely Pancake makeup.
IMO damage photo'd was perhaps not entirely from a bungled windshield install. A poor fitting seal would allow water and subsequent rust damages inside the car. Not normally affecting the outside .
Unless of course the unseen bits inside are seriously badly rusted out.. and the photos illustrate where the rust has extended to... which IS a possibility.
Does the car have swimming pool floor mats after heavy rains?

Given that one can buy Passable condition rust free 9000's for Very little $ these days. A replacement car might be the clever solution.

 

Wow! that's pretty depressing.
IMO that car is toast.. at least in terms of properly fixin' it.
A good bodyman/restorer could graft salvaged pristine panels / metal for a 100% repair. .
But you could buy a 3 yr old Saab for the price charged.

Sure you can slap some POR on it, should work for at least another winter.. if lucky.
But It's ..no replacement.. for rotted metal... merely Pancake makeup.
IMO damage photo'd was perhaps not entirely from a bungled windshield install. A poor fitting seal would allow water and subsequent rust damages inside the car. Not normally affecting the outside .
Unless of course the unseen bits inside are seriously badly rusted out.. and the photos illustrate where the rust has extended to... which IS a possibility.
Does the car have swimming pool floor mats after heavy rains?

Given that one can buy Passable condition rust free 9000's for Very little $ these days. A replacement car might be the clever solution.

If you think that's bad you haven't looked at my build thread yet
And you're sure to not like how I repair mine! :cheesy:
Maybe you're right--I should just set my car on fire and call it a wash...

 

I'm trying to understand why some rust in the sill would equate to the car being "toast." Other than providing a bed for the lower part of the windscreen...and providing a solid platform to anchor the wipers...there is zero structural dependency on the sill and a proper repair could be done a number of ways.

Now if the A pillars were rotted beyond salvage, that would definitely be worrisome, but that's not the case here.

 

Is there a proper way to re-fit the plastic scuttle plate under the bottom of the windscreen? I've had mine out to check and deal with rust (has rust at corners but nothing along bottom edge), but I'm breaking the plastic seal lip as I try to bend/warp/twist the scuttle plate to get it back into place.

There has to be a proper method but I'm frustrated that I'll break something (or me) when a seal tool goes flying, or I break the plastic.

Craig.

 

If I'm following you rightly--Do you have the two plastic corner pieces out? If they're out of the way the large center section of plastic (scuttle plate) will twist and push into place. I've done it in cold weather (below freezing) it's quite forgiving... Just push it into place lining up the holes in the plastic with the holes in the metal shelf it sits on.

 

It's a single piece on my 9k. The end sections tuck behind the hinge points for the hood/bonnet and I have to bend/flex the whole part.

I've read about a 3-piece version. Must have been changed in later years because the single piece one is too difficult to remove/fit.

If I break mine such is life, but I have no out of the weather place to park the car so it'll be sitting outside with less weather protection than before I started the job.

Here's a pic of where I am stuck. I can't bend/flex/twist the plastic enough to hold it with one hand while trying to use a plastic trim panel tool to try and work the plastic seal strip along the bottom of the glass over the plastic of the scuttle plate.

flickr page

Getting it out I had to do a lot of careful pulling/twisting and I knew re-fitting would be a real pain the butt because of that sealing lip. Frustrating because I want to drive the car and can't with this not finished.

Craig.

 

The subtle differences of the pre-facelift circa '93...

If you pop the hinge pins out like I mentioned in the other windscreen thread
and pull the hood forward (put a blanket down first to protect the paint
then you should have plenty of room to just lay it in place. No need to undo the struts--just move slow and gentle.

 

Scuttle plate re-fitting and broken seal lip - not happy jan

Well I've just got it in, but the drivers side of that seal lip is also now broken, and worse than the left hand side. Only way to get it was take out the equivalent end at the left (which doesn't have a wiper shaft through it) and that gave me a bit more abilty to twist the right hand side of it, but then the seal lip gave way and it looks horrible now. Not sure if I should just cut the broken section of seal lip off, and try to form something equivalent using black silicone or similar.

Until I have a job I can't afford having the glass removed and the rust I found removed/treated, so I may have to stretch a little bit to car cover to at least keep rain off the car (it's been stored outdoors with no weather protection for almost 4 yrs continuous) and that could be a stop-gap to reduce the corrosion.

I wonder if the later style (which must be a 3-piece fitment apparently?) of scuttle plate is a direct replacement for the early style that my 9k has?

This is what it looks like now I've been able to get the plastic scuttle plate back in, but having completely broken off the seal lip at the bottom of the windscreen on this (drivers) side:

flickr page

Lets just say I'm getting really annoyed both at myself for being unemployed, but also because every time I try to fix something, I'm breaking something else and having to do twice as much work (and/or spend more money) to try and recover the situation. This is the challenge of older vehicles I suppose. I still love driving the car, and that's what generates the passion for the brand.

Craig.