The big delivery

Picked up the transmission from Scanwest today. It's cleaner than anything else on the car at the moment. Also sprung for a new rebuilt steering rack and a used brake booster. Rob convinced me to get a resurfaced exhaust manifold as well, due to the usual warping at cylinder #1. Pics tomorrow.

Reinstalled the cleaned and painted upper control arm on the left, and got the spring in. Removed the spring from the right side and the control arm is ready for new bushings. The lowers are at a welding shop getting the box treatment. They should be done in a day or two, then all three will go get the new bushings installed. In the meantime, the rack will get swapped out and I will scrape more crud from nooks and crannies. Replacing the rack should be easy with the engine out, though I imagine it will be quite messy draining the power steering fluid.

Still waiting for the big shipment from eEuroparts, which should be any day. That and the new front shocks, plus the brake lines...I have some work to do. Oh yeah, and the turbo should be here soon as well. The studs for the exhaust elbow need to be replaced, and they are obscenely expensive. Rob at Scanwest says there are no other sources -- have to bite the bullet and get them as a Saab part, at nearly $25 for each of the three studs. Yikes. Hopefully that will be my last major outlay for this project.

Well, one can hope, anyway.