DV Whistle Mod, Proof of Concept

This is a proof of concept for a DV Whistle Mod. This is not a joke post, I really did all this, but I want to make it clear that I do not regularly drive around with this whistle DV. I’ll stick to my Forge DV. This was only done to follow a train of thought and it happened to work, so I’m posting it here if someone wants to build on these ideas.

This is a stupid story, so bare with me. I was watching The Fast and The Furious and the Hollywood  designed sound effects of the BOVs in that movie got me wondering the same thing every other person on SAABCentral seems to post, “How can I get more “BOV”/Turbo sound from my 9-5″. (open air intake is the correct answer to this question, btw)

So I took my old Bosh DV and some Mighty Putty and looked up instructions for clay whistles online. I used those designs as the base for putting a whistle inside a DV. I installed the whistle DV and took the car around the block. The thing worked. It is not as loud as the BOVs in the movie, not even as loud as a real BOV, but it did change the tone of the DV in a pleasant way. It was more than the sound of blowing across an empty bottle, but less than the sound of a person getting attention by whistling. I didn’t record audio of the test drive ( I wasn’t even sure if the car would run once I got out on the open road) and the design needs some polish to say the least.

Someone who has the open intake and still isn’t happy with the sound should pick up where I’ve left off. I’m not taking responsibility for any damage this modification might do if something goes wrong. The Mighty Putty holds strong, I wasn’t worried about it getting sucked into the mechanics of the vehicle or anything, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t make scrap metal out of a turbo if it got loose.

The tone was a very low whistle and I think I could dink with what I have so far and adjust the sound some. I might pick this back up some day and see what I can make out of this.

Yes, this is “stupid” and “ghetto” as-is,but I think the design could be adjusted and if it was fabricated professionally some people would buy it.

SAAB Sighting

Silver 9-5 that lives in my neighborhood.

Nuerburgring Webcam

Nuerburgring Webcam

SAAB Sighting

A white 9-3 in front of me in traffic.

Free DIY Dent Repair

A video about repairing dents with canned air was posted on SAABCentral. I went out and got a can of air and tried the technique on a door ding I had collected a few weeks ago.

The dent is about the size of a nickel.

I heated up the area for about a minute with the hairdryer and then sprayed the air upside down until the spot was frosted over. The dent is not gone, but it is more like a shadow of what it was before. There was no damage to the paint as far as I can tell.

This would be a good thing to try before sending the car to the body shop and would be interesting to see on a larger dent. Anyone willing to give it a try on a larger dent?

At any rate, you might be satisfied with the results and would save some money. If you aren’t happy with the results, then you aren’t really out anything and can get the car fixed by a professional afterwards.

The two images look strange because I ran the photos through some filters to enhance the dent area. Both photos had the say filters applied. The dent doesn’t show up well in the untouched photos. I marked the spots so you can at least look in the correct area. See the dark spot on the right edge of the dent in the “after” photo? That’s where it didn’t change and can still be seen when looking at the door in person.

Before:

After:

So, the bottom line- the dent didn’t disappear; sort of flattened itself out around the edges instead.

I guess it is really a $5 repair, since I had to buy the air, but it would be free if you have a can of compressed air sitting next to your computer already.

Vehicle Performance Computer On Sale

The Escort Passport GT1 G-Timer Vehicle Performance Computer is on clearance at Amazon.com for $35. Retail is $150. Mine just arrived today and I haven’t had time to really play with it yet. I did hook it up and did a quick 0-60 to see how it works. It reads average and peak HP, 0-60, 1/4mile, G-forces, all sorts of data. This is a really nice piece of gear for $35 and there are places still selling it at the retail price.

I can’t wait to track changes in performance from various modifications to the car. More information and a review will follow once I have time to work with it. I just wanted to make a post to share the fantastic deal.