A fun trip to the scrap yard with my mom

I mentioned in my previous post that I would need to head back to the scrap yard for yet another side skirt for the Saabaru. Last time, I was unable to find a local Kenny-U-Pull with a Saab 92X, but my research showed that the side skirt from a 2006-2007 Subaru Impreza wagon would fit, even though there are slight differences in the design. Imagine my surprise when a search turned up not one but two Saab 92X's at close-by Kenny-U-Pulls... on top of that, both were black! 

I decided to head to the Laval location, because as a backup plan, they also had a couple of Subaru wagons. I invited my mom to join me, as she enjoys this type of treasure hunt. On top of the side skirt, I was hoping to find a new front driver-side fender, as the bottom of mine has rotted and disintegrated... it has aluminum tape on it to fill in the gap! I also hoped to find some leather seats, which I learned were also available on the base model (the 2 cars in inventory were both non-turbo models). I asked my mom to pick me up in her 2010 Honda Fit, as you can carry some pretty big items in one. As I drove us over there, I pointed out to her that a) her rubber steering wheel was looking rough and maybe we would find a nicer one and b) her driver side inner door panel was cracked right where you rest your arm, which I also found annoying. She also had winter floor mats from my dad's old Mercedes B200, which did not fit properly. 

When we arrived, I asked for the location of Honda Fits, but immediately headed for the Saab. It turned out to be in really poor condition. The interior was trashed (and not leather, even the steering wheel was not leather!). Still, it had an intact driver-side side skirt. When I attempted to remove it, though, I found that the weight of the car was resting directly on the plastic part. As jack stands, they use two steel rims welded together, the bottom one flat, the top one standing. I could not pull out the side skirt unless the car was lifted. I found a crew of employees with a fork lift and asked them if they could help me and they told me they were not allowed to lift cars already in place. I didn't argue and headed over to a black Subaru wagon to get its sideskirt. We then went to look at the two Fits. They turned out to be a goldmine... the first one had a leather steering wheel. There was a guy taking out the seats and door cards and I asked him if he was taking the wheel, which he was not. We decided to come back later so he could work in peace. The other Fit had an intact door card, and some rare factory rubber mats. I needed a philips head screw driver, but did not want to head back to our car to get one... I decided to look in the factory toolkit of a nearby BMW (to my surprise, it was a Chris Bangle-era 750il!) and found a bunch of non BMW screwdrivers in the kit. I took the one I needed and pulled the door card off the Fit. Then I pulled off the airbag to remove the steering wheel. The nut was easy to remove, but even without the nut, I was having trouble removing the wheel.. After a few strategic bangs with my fist, I got it loose.

A nice leather steering wheel for the Fit

My mom would have a leather steering wheel in her car for 14$! This reminded me of my Civic... I changed the crappy steering wheel and cracked door card on it to improve the driving experience, and now my Mom would be able to do the same. Our good luck would continue: the forflift crew saw me and waved me over to tell me that they were now allowed to lift the Saab for me. 

The Saabaru was in rough shape

They did so and I grabbed the side skirt. I thanked them, then decided to also remove the front speakers from the Saab, since one of mine buzzes when there is too much bass. I ended up buying both the Subaru and Saab driver-side side skirts, in case I lose one again at the next rally in a few days. My mom made out better than I did, but at least I got the stupid side skirt (and one extra). I was glad to have taken 2 speakers, because when I accessed my old ones, I saw that they were a slightly different design and seemed to be more powerful than the model I had picked up. As a result, I installed them both, to keep the system symmetrical. Knock on wood, but the Saabaru, apart from the rust, is in the best condition its been in since I bought it. It runs strong, no check engine light (for now) and the ride is great since it got new shocks this fall. All in all, it was a fun and satisfying day (my mom thought so too). I may visit the other location with a Saab 92x to try to find that elusive rust-free black fender.