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I’m gonna try to document all the things Ive done, bought, or had someone else do to the car since I got it back in March 2018. In no particular order:

  • 4 tires
  • Front lower control arms
  • Passenger side adjustment screw
  • Autolite copper sparkplugs
  • 5 qurts 5w 40 oil
  • Bosch oil filter
  • Mann air filter
  • Ecoguard fuel filter
  • Denso platinum sparkplugs
  • Bosch double platinum sparkplugs
  • Mann air filter
  • Manhle air filter
  • Upper radiator hose
  • Multiple generic coolant hoses
  • Gallons and gallons of coolant and distilled water
  • A couple bottles of seafom
  • Marvel mistery oil
  • Bottles of Lucas octane booster
  • Driver side headlight assembly
  • 6×9 Kicker spaeakers
  • Kenwood bass amplifier
  • JVS Head unit
  • Tech 2 Scanner
  • K&N Oil Filter
  • Quarts and quarts of motor oil of different specs
  • Royal Purple 5 quart jug
  • Head was resurfaced
  • Replaced head gasket
  • Valve cover gasket kit (pending to be installed)
  • Water pump U hose
  • Thermostat
  • Thermostat (spare)
  • Water pump U hose (spare)
  • The 4 rotors were resurfaced
  • The 8 brake pads were replaced
  • Ecoguard fuel filter
  • Climate control (vents are in a fixed position, facing towards the cabin)
  • Upper radiator hose
  • Lower radiator hose (pending to replace)

That’s what I can recall. I’ll update this entry when I remember something else.

As promised, pictures of before and after. One issue (or advantage) with these cars is headlights are made of glass. Issue because they’re easier to break (accident or vandalism), advantage because they’re are resistant to deformation and yellowing (I’m looking at you Nissan).

Before:

During:

Quite easy to remove, just remove three T25 screws and unclip the grill. Unplug the harness. Be careful with the wipers.

After:

Now I have proper lighting and no more dealing with tape. The new housing even came with bulbs and the electrical plug. Awesome job from the Wisconsin junkyard!

Next would be to check why the left turn signal socket is not making proper contact.

Got a few presents for the love of my life. So far I replaced the DIC and the plugs. The old DIC had melted tips and who knows if it was ever replaced before. I tried a chinese knockoff before with horrendous results, so this time I pulled the trigger and got the Saab original part from esaabparts.

As per sparkplugs I got what Saab offered back then as an option for “hard driving”, the NGK PFR7H-10. So far this morning going to work it ran great 🙂 Thanks to the Saabnet member who documented the sparkplugs on this post

Couple weeks ago I changed the oil and filter using Royal Purple 5w-30 and a K&N filter. I’m pending to swap the air filter.

I intend to replace the headlight tonight, I’ll make sure to post before / after pictures.

The Krzysiocart is a flashcart made primarily for the famiclone consoles. It also works on most famicom compatible hardware.

It was developed by Krzysiobal a Polish developer who was inspired by the Pegasus a famiclone popular in Poland.

It all began as a project for his tesis, then worked on ministurizing it until he got to the product he is now selling.

It is a small one man operation, you contact this guy via eail, ask for payment details, send the money then he ships it very quickly. Price is $55 USD shipped to the US. Besides the flashcart, a 4GB microsd and usb adapter are also included.

I tried it on the AVS and on a NOAC Famiclone console (SY-700) and it worked fine on both consoles.

The interface is simple, look for your file, press A then your game boots.

When you place the cursor on a rom file, at the bottom a message tells you if the rom is compatible or not.

The creator’s goal is to make a device capable of running most famiclone games at an affordable price. That said, here are some notes:

  • dbelec cannot “complain” about incompatible voltages. The creator took special care to protect both the device and the console.
  • Battery backup (sram) doesn’t work at all. Games like Kirby and Zelda run fine but won’t save progress on a file like they do on an Everdrive or a Powerpak.
  • A number of gamesare just not compatible. Like mentioned before you’ll see if a game is not compatible on the menu. Examples of incompatible games are Goal 2, Japanese and American Castlevania 3, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, unlicensed games, etc.
  • Contra 100 in 1 works. Haven’t tried 168 in 1.
  • It doesn’t sort files, you have to use a utility like Fat32 sorter.
  • It works on the AVS, however, after pressing reset it doesn’t go back to the main menu, it only resets the game loaded in memory. You have to turn off the console to return to the rom selection screen.
  • It is a tad slow to load even small size roms. While you wait you’re treated to a color changing screen.
For what t is and for the price I can’t complain, it works great and still you can run a great selection of games. You can still have a lot of fun.
Archive photo

Archive photo

 

Last night I performed the maintenance on my 2013 Versa. I didn’t take it to the dealer for the first time in its 5+ years. According to the schedule I was supposed to take it for an oil change next month. Also since I don’t drive it that much the scheduled work corresponds to 90000 km though it only has less than 80000 km.

Oil pan bolt was a pain to remove but nothing some penetrating oil and a little force couldn’t fix. The Oil filter was the real pain to remove, even with the screwdriver trick, it wasn’t until I found a better leverage point from the top of the engine that it budged.

Items used for this work:

  • Valvoline Synpower 5w-30 full synthetic oil
  • Bosch 3300 Premium oil filter

And that’s the thing I like the most about doing it myself, I know for sure what’s going in there.

The parts arrived, this is how the left turn signal looks now

Compared to before:

Also got a new engine oil dipstick, and as I suspected the new one is a bit longer:

Also, finally got around replacing the fuel filter, it was easier than I thought, this is the right part in case you’re interested https://amzn.to/2tIuuvt

The 17 mm banjo bolt came out with some effort, but for the 19 mm I had to use penetrating oil and let it sit for a few minutes, then still had to fight it a little bit. The clamp is held in place by a T25 screw and the plastic cover by two 10 mm nuts.

 

Recently (April 4th) I did something I wanted to do for a long time, and that was buy another car. I saw her at the company parking lot and I guess it was love at first sight. I looked for the owner,  inquired about the car, did a test drive and placed an offer. Well, that’s not how the story ended. After that I decided to explore the Facebook marketplace and looked at other cars. I test drove a 79 Malibu and a 79 Fairmont, they din’t convinced me or I was convinced of how much of a death trap (for others) that kind of cars could be. At the time the Saab owner sent a message telling me he was willing to go a bit lower on the price, so I went with the Saab.

Here’s a picture of her:

I’m really enjoying working on her, so far this is what I’ve done:

  • Oil and filter change
  • Sparkplugs change
  • Hood strut
  • Trunk lifts
  • Coolant hose (URO Part # 9178849)
  • Air Filter (Mann C31122)
  • Airbox, MAF, intake hose cleaning
  • Fixed parasitic current draw by removing the stock HU
  • Head unit and speakers replacement (used this VW harness Metra 70-1784)

Work performed at the local shop

Pending work to do:

  • Fuel filter
  • Brake pads
  • PCV valve

Since what I listen to most is alternative rock and speed metal I don’t require a huge sub woofer, what I require is to isolate the low frequency signal. The JVC KWAV61BT allows precisely for that. Just hook up this baby into the dedicated sub woofer output then Bob’s your uncle.  Polks will now only deal with mids and highs.

I installed it on my 2013 Versa, it is placed on the passenger side below the glove box area. It doesn’t draw much current so I tapped from a spare 20 amp acc fuse.

 

Sounds great for alternative rock and speed metal. Here’s a sample:

 

Product Link: http://amzn.to/2D9gtuh

I finally removed the center console from my 2013 Versa sedan in order to do some work.

The service manual instructions are misleading, you should first remove the piece below the AC controls then you can remove the center console.

I couldn’t find the shifter bulb, and I didn’t remove the ipod harness (too much trouble untangling everything).

Using screws I properly fitted a center console compartment. Previously I was using a piece of cloth to keep it in place.

I fitted a usb port in a similar fashion as the newer models. I added an inverter with extra USB port. I’m thinking of adding a videogame console later on.

It may not look like a lot but it was a good learning experience. Now I don’t have to reach all the way to the back to remove a usb drive and the center box is now securely attached and folks can use it as armrest.

Here are some pics in no particular order: