SAAB 96 V4 Exhausts
Just a few words of advice and encouragement to those about to undertake replacing V4 exhausts.
The exhaust I've just fitted (May 1997) Came as four separate parts; Front dumbbells (forms a U shape, to go either side of the V4 engine), two straightish middle sections (each about 5 foot long) and a rear box.
Preparation:
The first job was to offer the pipes up to the car to compare them to the old exhaust to see if it was roughly the right shape and had any chance of fitting. As the exhaust is of the (horrible) slot-together variety I took the foresight to make sure all the pipes fitted together before trying to fit them to the car. This is recommended, based on my experiences, as it took quite a while to convince the parts that they were going to mate together successfully.
Removal:
It is well worth disconnecting the battery at this stage as sooner or later you'll short out either the alternator or the starter motor to ground !
The next next step was to remove the old exhaust - I was "fortunate" enough to have a very rotten exhaust. The rear of the car was jacked up and supported on axle stands on the right hand side of the car. The road wheel was removed and the rear box kind of fell off. The box is usually held on by some kind of rubber support - mine were two rubber rings (don't know how original this is). The middle two pipes were tackled next. Having tried to separate the front joint (straight run to dumbbell ) and failed as the joint was very seized I hack sawed the two apart. The middle section is supported by two short rubber pillars which connect onto a strap welded to the middle section (rear-most). Having undone these the straight pipes were then carried away from the car. The front dumbbells had fractured at two points and (having undone the manifold joints) with only a small amount of encouragement these came away freely.
Fitting:
Assuming that all the rusty bolts have been cleaned or replaced as necessary there only remains two more problems, firstly getting the front dumbbells through the holes in the car and secondly making sure all the joints are gas tight. Now comes the fun part. The first part to fit (in order to get this over and done with) is the dumbbells. These are notoriously difficult to fit, no doubt some clever chappies (or chappesses) will say it easy - don't believe it! I was fortunate enough to receive some advice from a Saab man of long standing. The advice is as follows - jack the fron of the car up as high as you can - in order to give yourself plenty of space - get everything ready - now - sit down with a really nice cup of hot tea and daydream about how nice it will be to hear and drive the V4 again - this will give you the patience to work the next bit which is really a clever bit of Swedish design (i.e. a built in puzzle). The holes in the bodywork through which the dumbbells must pass are narrower than the spacing between the ends of the pipes. Get yourself comfortable under the car and feed the end of the exhaust that goes into the Left Hand Side hole (ie near the starter motor) get the exhaust well into the hole and wiggle it about - then the other end should now be near the right hand side hole and just slide in and all is well! Now that little procedure can take a long time and afterwards when it all works you'll probably sit back and wonder what all the fuss was about and why it took so long - and "How did I actually do that?".
The remaining parts are relatively easy to bolt or hook up and fit (presuming you've already checked off the car). Use exhaust assembly paste as and where necessary and grease bolts, clamps with copper-ease. When all pipes/boxes are correctly aligned (remember to check for body clearance) tighten up bolts/clamps - run car and check for leaks.
Best Wishes - and Happy Saabing.