Well, all of the valves were indeed bent, and idk about the lifters. But I guess it doesn't really matter, because we have decided to buy an engine instead of fixing the one we have! :P Normally we wouldn't do this, but we found one for $600 or something like that, with a new water pump and I think anew timing belt assembly as well.
I'll keep you guys posted.

Once again, thanks for the input^^

Hello all, I have an update and a question for yous:
We have the new engine and it seems to be good, with fairly low miles, and we finally got it in the car (we took it out the top and only worked on it on the weekends) and we were all set to have it running by nightfall.
However, when attempting to line up the holes in the torque-converter with those on the flywheel (we left the torque converter in the transmission, you see) we couldn't turn the crankshaft. At all. So we took all the bolts off that hold the engine block to the transmission to have a look at what was going on and somehow the flywheel was up against the transmission housing on one side (the side closest to the back of the car) and had quite a space on the side closest to the front!
How can this be? All of the engine block-to-transmission bolt holes line up (so we can screw the bolts in with our fingers) and yet the flywheel (which should not be independent of the engine block) is not where it should be.
Does anyone know what's going on?! :eek:

picture?

Ok, so here's some pix to show you what I'm talking about. Sorry, they're kinda blurry. My camera is going whack.

This is looking from the left front wheel well towards the transmission, on the back side of the engine. Its hard to see, but the fly wheel is hitting on the transmission housing.

Attachment 810



And this picture shows how much gap there is between the fly wheel and the transmission housing, looking at the front side of the engine.

Attachment 811




Something is wrong here, because there should be an even space around the whole fly wheel. When we tried putting it together again we were able to turn the crankshaft easily until we started drawing the engine block up to the transmission by tightening the screws that hold them together.
Is something bent?
And I'm pretty sure we didn't put the fly wheel on backwards because there is a spacer that left a mark on the side that faces towards the engine.

Any thoughts?

all I can think of is the tranny sitting on crooked somehow...this is really awkward.

Success!!!! =D
It turns out we didn't have the torque converter in all the way (we couldn't see the splines it was supposed to fit onto), but once we pushed that back the engine slide right in and we could still turn the crank.
And now, two days later, we finished hooking up all the electrical and all the hoses and I actually got to DRIVE the thing for the first time in over a month! I am so freeking excited right now!!! You have no idea!! =P
However, we're back to dealing with other issues, like the 'check engine' and 'check gearbox' lights. =/ Really not sure how to start fixing those... We might have to go visit the Saab dealer to have them check the diagnostics computer thingy. -_-'

And another question for all of you: How do I turn off the alarm? lol
Every time we hooked the battery up the alarm started going off. I took out the 'burglar alarm/telephone' fuse (telephone?!) so that we could drive it a bit, but I'd kind'a like to put that back in, even if I don't have a phone in there.^^

Thanks for all the help everyone! I'm so glad my baby is running again!!!

Do you not have the keyfob that came with the car?

Yes, I have that one. Do I need to have it in the 'on' position when I hook the battery up or something?

And I forgot to ask a more important question. lol

When the car is just sitting there and running, the gas pedal kinda sticks at first. And then when I push it down the car doesn't go until I nearly floor it, and even then its really really slow. Once it gets going it accelerates like normal, but if I have to slow down or stop again, it has no go! Does this have something to do with the transmission or torque converter?

Thanks again.

get the codes pulled first...that should shed some light at what's going on. You're in limp mode, so I can't tell you what is "normal" for limp mode on that transmission...never had any personal experience with it.

Hmm, I see. My dad contacted the nearest Saab dealership and they said that all they had to do was plug it into their machine and punch in the code to get it out of the 'default' setting. Normally this would be good news, but considering that we have to drive almost 200 miles to get to that dealership its kind of annoying that that is all that needs to be done to it... =/
Ah well, so it goes.