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Viggen Bumpers |
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| I bought the front bumper used from a
Viggen owner. It had a small crack in it from an impact but was fixed with
flexible body compound. The rear bumper I bought new from a dealership.
Bumpers were painted at Macco and match perfectly. Neither bumper came
with any mounting hardware. I used the bumper support and foam from the
stock bumpers to mount the Viggen bumpers. The foam needed to be trimmed
slightly to fit into grooves on the Viggen bumpers. Viggen Bumper Aerodynamic Information Time: 3 hours Difficulty: medium |
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| Removing the aluminum frame from the old bumpers required 4 flathead screw drives. They were used to hold back the plastic retaining clip as the frame was pulled away from the bumper. Below is a picture of the front bumper with a yellow arrow pointing to the raised fin on the inside of the Viggen bumper. A groove must be made in the foam from this fin to fit into. The Picture below that is the Viggen rear bumper disassembled with two arrows. One points to the fin on the inside of the bumper and the other points to the groove the was made in the foam. |  |
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| I installed the old NG900 fog lights in the Viggen bumper. 9-3 fogs are expensive and cost $150 each for new ones and I did not feel like spending $300 on fog lights. Instead I was able the mount the original and smaller fogs with rather ease. Each light required two holes to be drilled, but the holes are not visible unless looking up from below the bumper. The fit is pretty good but a little awkward. The lights are smaller so I am going to use the extra space to run ducts to the front brakes for added cooler. I’ll then use black mesh to cover the holes to improve the look. The fog lights have a vertical adjustment to set the correct beam height. |  |
| After putting on a few hundred miles
with the Viggen bumper I noticed a rather serious handling problem during
high speed driving. Over ~85 mph the feel of the Saab became light and
unstable. Approaching 110 mph it felt dangerous, the Saab would squirm
around like in a high crosswind. The reason was the aerodynamic flow under
the front bumper. A high pressure bubble was formed under the front end
and was un-weighting the front of the Saab. Normal driving speeds were
fine, but the bad airflow also increased drag and decreased fuel economy.
The fix for this problem is simple, Saab makes a lower splash guard for the Viggen bumper, but at a cost of $170. Using cardboard, fiberglass and sealing paint I was able to make my own for $30. It’s not pretty but since no one can see it I didn’t care. The one I made is also large and smoother than the part from Saab. There are mounting holes already drilled in the bottom of the bumper and a nice long lip for the splashguard/airfoil to sit on. The downpipe comes close to the guard so I stapled some aluminum foil to the splashguard to protect it from heat. The picture below shows the aluminum, which I initially stapled to the wrong side, which is why you can see it. The result of the splashguard/airfoil was rather amazing. The Saab now feels incredible stable at speeds in excess of 120 mph. With out looking at the speedometer it is tough to tell the difference between 70 and 110 mph. For anyone installing the Viggen bumper the lower front splashguard is a must. I am now looking at the rear bumper and planning on making a similar airfoil to further improve high speed handling. |
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| To help finish off the look I had the side skirts, mirrors and rear spoiler painted by a body shop friend. Besides cleaning the parts I did no other prep for painting. Everything removed easily and looked after a few coats of paint. I'm very happy with the result, lower side skirts and a custom rear soiler I am making will finish everything off. |
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