Another D2 S8 gets some TLC

[ThisWayUp]

It’s time for my S8 to receive some long over due TLC. It was bought to replace an ageing Saab 9-3 Aero, as it seemed easier to deal with mechanical issues rather than chase tin worm. I may regret that thought, and wish I was merely waving a sparkly stick at a Saab.

It’s a FL car with about 155k under it’s belt. I bought it on eBay blind, which in fairness turned out okay. The gearbox was an unknown so always likely to be my main issue.

It’s a bit rough round the edges, but I think it’s saveable. Depressingly it’ll need money spent on areas of wear and tear rather than the cosmetic bits. At some point it’s lost its alloy mirrors and the grille had been swapped out to an all black aftermarket affair, neither of which did it justice.
I like the overall colour scheme. The interior is black leather, with a dark wood and dark headlining.

As luck would have it I had a business trip to the USA (PA) and there was a guy breaking a D2 S8 in NJ. A couple of messages later I had agreed for him to send wing mirrors, grille and fuel filler flap down to PA for my visit the following week. Bit of a pleasing result.

The car was used for a while, and was generally good. A noisy auxiliary belt idler was replaced to quieten things down. However, it started to suffer from the smell of burning transmission oil. Living in Glasgow meant it was convenient to put it into Mackie’s to establish what was going on. The news wasn’t too good. Seemingly oil was passing from the final drive into the transmission and flooding it out of breather, and hence towards the exhaust. They also identified an oil leak from the rear of engine. To keep things going they sorted the oil levels out, and I used it lightly for a short period.
I even eradicated the plague of locusts behind the dashboard by replacing some of the HVAC servo motors. That felt like a significant improvement.

The PAS pipes were also looking frail, so this was another concern. I also don’t really like the brakes. I put new calipers and discs on the back, but the front end really needs some attention.

Lockdown occurred so it’s really not been used at all, but I had my Cerbera’s engine in bits due to a shattered inlet valve shim, so I really needed to press on with that and get it over the line. Nothing worse than having two dismantled cars in a completely unsalable condition. Anyway, by October the Cerbera was up a running. I did 100m miles shakedown around Glasgow and then used it for a business trip down to Peterborough. A win all round, as it survived, I survived, the engine got run in, and it only locked me out at Scotch Corner Services. I scratch built new door wiring harnesses over the winter, complete with waterproof connectors, so that is now a problem of the past.

Back to the plot. I’ve started to take the S8 apart to see what the state of play is. I followed the Elsa instructions (thanks Gregor) and the only sticking point really was unhooking the transmission cable from the switch. Getting the engine and transmission out was an interesting solo mission.

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With the engine out the bay doesn’t look too shoddy. There are however many areas that need attention. I’ve been diligently following MJ’s WITW projects (Huge thanks for all your ideas, tips and general information), so that prepared me for some of the typical issues. We could actually develop D2 WITW Bingo. I don’t quite have a full house, but it’s a good effort nonetheless.

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Off the top of my head I think it needs the following:

Vacuum system is needing many perished pipes replaced
Inlet manifold is pretty sticky, so probably not working
Sump needs resealed
Rear main seal is the source of the leak
Usual service items Timing belt/waterpump/tensioner/spark plugs/filters/thermostat etc..
Junction box for starter cable is kanckered
ECU box has missing inserts and wasn’t sealing
PAS hoses need a complete refurbishment
Transmission needs a rebuild. Possibly needs a valve block rebuild as it was an enthusiastic creeper!
Exhaust mount rubbers are poorly
Front (maybe) and rear crank seals
All rubber hoses for the cooling system
Transmission hoses – re-build
Stubby cooling pipe at oil cooler
New front discs
Rebuild front calipers
New front pads

My Excel sheet of parts and part numbers is growing by the day.
There are a couple of items that I’m pondering whether to do while I’m this far in. Is the oil cooler unit worth doing while it’s easy to access? Looks cheapish compared to a day of labour later on.

From the experience of pulling the engine out, I’m quite liking the idea of building it all back onto a refurbished subframe, and then stuffing the lot in from beneath. That does seem so much cleaner. Dropping the subframe at this stage seems sensible, but I think I’ll get the engine progressed, then the transmission rebuilt and then as the final stage do the subframe and front brakes.

I should be bankrupt and destitute by that stage.

Anyway, too many words. Some more photographs.

Sparkplugs as fitted by Noah, many years ago, before torque wrenches were invented..
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Front of the engine isn’t too horrific to be fair. Certainly not fresh oil.
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I’ve never liked mounting engines on stands. TVR engine block was made of something similar to chocolate, so I never dared to use this.
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A bit of cleaning later


First pass of cleaning the valley out. The Borrowers could have built at least three sandcastles with this one. It wasn’t too bad. The knock sensors are intact and didn’t fall to bits.


Overall it’s been predictable based on what’s been before it. It’s really a case of being pragmatic about what to do mechanically. In terms of cosmetics it could do with:

New tyres – Ditch Finders are not good
Wheel refurb badly needed
Rear Bumper – cover is split
Front wing damaged at arch – probably easier to fit new and paint.

The paintwork is not bad, so localised repairs would have it looking pretty good.

If you read this far, you did well!! Thanks!
Brian