It's a Small World

[TRDejaVu]

As well as owning a TR4, I have just found out that the engine in my daily driver also has some Triumph blood in it.

I recently bought a used Saab 9-5 Aero, which has the 2.3 liter 250 BHP turbocharged 4 banger engine. Apparently good for 155MPH, but more importantly I can vouch for its awesome mid range overtaking times that put a lot of much more capable cars to shame. My B235R engine is evolved, through a number of iterations, from the Dolomite engine, which was originally used in the Saab 99. 2009 will be the last year of this engine line.

 

[jjw]

Well... no relation to the TR4 engine, but your Saab engine can trace its roots right to the Standard-Triumph Slant 4 (as used in the TR7 and Dolomite) and the related Stag V8.

Always found it interesting that the first car to use S-T's OHC Slant 4 was not even a Triumph, but the Saab 99.

Both my and my wife's daily drivers are Saabs with that same basic engine...

 

[tdskip]

but more importantly I can vouch for its awesome mid range overtaking times that put a lot of much more capable cars to shame.

It makes them fun to drive, no? I miss my 9-3 for that same urge.

 

[martx-5]

I worked for a Saab dealer when the 99's came out with the Triumph engine. There were alot of problems (mostly head gaskets) with that engine. Within a few years, Saab totally redesigned it. Although the new engine had similarities to the Triumph version, it was essentially a different engine. We called that one the "King Kong" because of it's reliability compared to the Triumph lump. :hammer:

 

[DrEntropy]

:lol:

I worked at an independent shop and fixing Saab 99's head gaskets was a "groaner" job. I recall thermostat housing issues, too.

...and the beast was mounted bass-ackwards, IIRC. :shocked:

 

[HerronScott]

:lol:

I worked at an independent shop and fixing Saab 99's head gaskets was a "groaner" job. I recall thermostat housing issues, too.

...and the beast was mounted bass-ackwards, IIRC. :shocked:

It was definitely backwards! In-line 4 with front wheel drive but the clutch was at the front and the timing chain at the back. We had a timing chain tensioner break on a free Saab 99 that someone gave us (the great orange pumpkin) and I was amazed at how easy it was to pull the engine/transmission to fix it. Very few things that had to be disconnected to get it out.

Scott

 

[martx-5]

There were some definite advantages having the engine in backwards. The clutch was right in the front behind the radiator, and could be changed in less then an hour.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

Unless one of the pivot arms on the pressure plate had broken.
Then, you were in for HOURS with a cutting torch.

Did that.....once.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Well, we're getting a bit off-topic here, but the later Saab 99 with the 2.0 liter had a clutch that was a positive pain in the wrench to swap out. Oh, and having the engine in backwards was fine...so long as you weren't sold the wrong water pump by mistake and ruined the jackshaft that ran it, meaning you had to pull the engine to change that shaft, which went in the front (which faced to the rear) of the engine! And I don't even want to TALK about the water pump covered, which inevitably corroded in place, meaning the only method of removal was total destruction! (I once had the engine actually hanging only by the water pump cover; it lasted a good hour or more like that before it snapped! TRUE STORY!)

At least Triumph knew enough to mount the engine facing the correct direction!

Now if Saab had developed the engine the same way Triumph did, say, by joining two of them in a Vee and making an eight-cylinder, and then adding the four-valve heads....hmmmm.... ;-)

 

[Deleted member 8987]

That's why, whenever one came into the shop for repair, it was called a "Saab Story".

 

[TRDejaVu]

Now if Saab had developed the engine the same way Triumph did, say, by joining two of them in a Vee and making an eight-cylinder, and then adding the four-valve heads....hmmmm.... ;-)

While mine has 250 BHP, the latest ones have 260. Couple that with its mid range torque and you don't need a V8.