Project Saab 900 (lost my mojo and now sold).

[Vantman]

Looking better now after all your fettling. I was very lucky with mine as it only needed one repair,i just keep an eye on the known grot spots and apprehend them before they fester. It's on the way to a new owner now though.

[Joey spud]

The gear change on this is a bit vague and notchy and not helped by heavy clutch pedal and about an inch of free play before the pedal moves the master cylinder so best off have a look.

 

The clutch and brake pedals are connected via shafts and rods to their master cylinders mounted on the n/s so the centre console and lower dash pads were removed to gain access where the slackness was found to be worn clevis pin holes at the clutch cylinder.

 

 

 

 

So i welded up and redrilled the master cylinder operating rod but couldn't get a drill in under the dash to do the same to the other worn bit so i welded two washers over the wear instead.

 

 

 

It was a bitch to get back together but it nicely sorted the slackness in the pedal travel but it didn't improve my gear selection woes so next stop is pulling out the clutch.

[Joey spud]

So Saab being Saab their clutch changes are a reasonably straight forward if not a little bit quirky thats all done from under the bonnet with the use of a special tool (think a length of 3/16th of bendy wire) and a couple of spanners.

 

 

The clutch is at the front of the engine under a plastic cover and to get it out you have to hold the clutch covers diaphragm spring fully compressed by depressing the clutch pedal and slipping in the special tool between the spring and cover.

 

 

I didn't have the Saab tool but i did have a length of copper brake pipe and this worked a treat.

Once the clutch is held compressed the first motion shaft can be pulled out from the clutch being careful not to stab the radiator core with it,then three bolts are removed that hold the clutch slave cylinder to the gearbox casing and six more that hold the clutch to the flywheel and it all lifts up and out.

 

 

 

The old clutch is minging and obviously been in there for years so i decided to change it.

[Joey spud]

 

My replacement clutch turned up this morning.

There's a brand from the past.

[Joey spud]

To fit my quality new clutch it again needs the diaphragm spring holding down.

I guess the correct method is to use a bench press that i dont have.

 

So a trolley jack,hockey puck,bit of wood and a Mitsubishi L200 were used instead.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorted..

[Mr_Bo11ox]

nice work!!!! I remember doing this back in the day and it was a piece of cake, as long as you had the right diameter wire to wedge the clutch fingers down with. 3/16 brake pipe looks perfect!

[Zelandeth]

I can vouch for the fact that doing this job *without* something which is that nice a fit to hold it under compression is a royal pain!

 

Still probably as good a car you're ever going to find for access to do a clutch change.

 

I take if you've checked the crossbar, I've heard of the weld holding the clutch pedal onto the bar cracking and you getting progressively more lost motion there as it flexes - until one day when the pedal falls off!

[The Moog]

I used to use the Saab itself lowered on the clutch as made it really simple to do.

[Joey spud]

 

It all went back together with no drama,the pedal is nice and light now and the gear selection seems much improved so i took it for its overdue mot.

 

 

Despite my slap dash welding it passed,the lad testing it had never seen one before and got a bit worried when the key wouldn't come out of the ignition because it wasn't in reverse.

 

So i drove home happy from the mot pass thinking i had now got the gears sussed. That was until i came off a 70mph link road and again the gear selection started to baulk and get notchy.

 

It is starting to get anoying now.

I know these Saab gearboxes were never great once they had a few miles on them and this one does whine a bit but it's only showing 128k miles.

 

It seems now that heat is effecting the gear selection.

Going to look at the hydraulics again or maybe change the gearbox oil for some fresh.

Reading on the Saab forums there is a choice of using old school gear oil or modern engine oil in the box so time to investigate.

 

It's booked for Fotu next month as well.

[Vantman]

I found this on a forum I use,it may or may not be relevant----

 

Spray grease on the ball shifter, that can work wonders. Also, sloppy engine mounts do not help matters. You can check gear shifter alignment through a little hole in front of the gear selector - it should line up with a little hole in the gear shift with the selector in 3rd gear. The rubber coupling between the gear linkage and box does die eventually.

[Joey spud]

I did look for the rubber coupling a while back but never found it..

 

Need to look again me thinks.

[Joey spud]

Closure time.

 

Well in the end i gave up trying to cure the wayward gear selection on the 900 and have now cut my losses and sold it via a buy it now / best offer Ebay auction for a fair enough £600.

 

Shame really as it was a handsome motorcar but i didn't like it enough to fanny about with it any more.

 

 

It has now gone to live with a serious Saab Botherer in Kings lynn.

[Broadsword]

Sorry to hear you’ve let it go. £600 is a very fair price to a Saab botherer. Hope it lives on!

[Saab900Steve]

Awesome thread, I bought this car in September with very little history and its good to see all the work that has gone in to it. 

[Surface Rust]

2 hours ago, Saab900Steve said:

Awesome thread, I bought this car in September with very little history and its good to see all the work that has gone in to it. 

I love these, having had several. In fact I used to use a 2 door 16v in 12 car rallies to good effect.

I hope you enjoy this one, but you have to tell us, after 5 years, have the gear selection problems the previous owner had been resolved? 

If not I'd place money on the clutch hydraulics!

[Saab900Steve]

Just now, Surface Rust said:

I love these, having had several. In fact I used to use a 2 door 16v in 12 car rallies to good effect.

I hope you enjoy this one, but you have to tell us, after 5 years, have the gear selection problems the previous owner had been resolved? 

If not I'd place money on the clutch hydraulics!

In all honesty it needs a bit of work and I haven't really driven it other than up and down the road, I've not noticed anything yet though!

 

[Joey spud]

Jeez was it really five and and a half years ago I moved this on .

I did see it back up for sale a few months later for around £2k with a gushing write up about how good it was but no mention of the troublesome gear change,maybe it was sorted out or not deemed a big enough problem to mention.

Being a two door saloon it's a distinctive looking car and polishes up well (but alas quickly fades again) that surely deserves a second chance.

[Saab900Steve]

The body is remarkably straight too, its got a very slight wound to the N/S  front of the bumper which had put a small crack in  it around the silver trim and its just the bottom of the doors, there is now a slight crack on the N/S tail light too which I'm not looking forward to trying to remove knowing how strong Tiger seal is!

I'm in Worcestershire and I am quite fortunate that there is a chap that specifically breaks classic 900s just a stones throw up the M5 so parts availability is still quite good for me.