Several years ago a group of Russian Saab enthusiasts ( Nikolay Borzenkov in cooperation with VTuner and NGB Performance –) made a really interesting Tuning project based on Saab 9-3 Turbo X.
it was one of the cars from The quota for Russia and post-soviet countries (30 Turbo X in total). According to Saab engineers, 250 hp is the limit for FWD car. They say everything above that figure in nothing more than a waste. But, many tuners this argument does not take into account – and AWD is another matter, and that is an advantage Turbo X.
TX lacked the vicious acceleration, and the brakes were also under par. 6-piston 336 mm brakes were fitted on Rear axis and 360 mm rotors and 8-piston calipers on the front of this TX. The stock turbocharger was swapped for Garrett with modified T19 impellers.
The stock intercooler gave way to IC, which is 2,5 times more efficient. Injectors were also swapped for 360 ml ones. 3-bar Map sensor was installed, as iridium spark plugs and K&N performance filter did. And, of course, the exhaust system was fully changed – both cats were removed, 3-inch turbo-to-muffler system was finished with Magnaflow mufflers.
According to Nikolay, the ECU mapping for the car was rewritten something like 20 times to accompany the ever-changing technical layout of the car. The main target was to ensure stable engine output.
Result of this project has been impressive – performance figures for tuned Turbo x was 460 hp at crank and 390 whp. So it’s basically what was planned initially. Next target – 600 hp.
Really…. no dyno chart the tune is .. what ??? does not indicate any change to the internals . There is an Australian TX that has been tuned for massive torque with dyno chart to back it up