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Every V4 Saab owner's dream: A hot dog V4 engine with the legendary cross-ram intake manifold and a pair of Weber DCOE carburetors---WOW! This is one of two such engines that I built for a pair of Peking to Paris Saab 96 rally cars some years back. Note the special distributor, necessary to clear the intake runner for the right carburetor. Most, if not all, of these special intake manifolds were made up in England for Saab in enough quantity for Saab to qualify for homologation according to international rally competition rules. The manifold set you see here is the "factory" set-up.
There were several "wannabe" intake manifold builders so if you run into a cross-ram set-up it may or may not be what you see in the top photo. Each wannabe also made up some sort of distributor extension. In this photo, the distributor on the left is the Bosch unit made specifically for Saab for the rally cars. The distributor in the middle has an extension that uses a standard distributor. The distributor on the right is a stock unit, though the drive gear at the bottom has not been installed.
Here is a good look at the Bosch distributor made up for Saab. You can see that the distributor body and the extended shaft housing are all cast in one unit.
This is a third distributor for a cross-ram manifold set. The housing extension is different [shorter] than the one shown above. I just rebuilt this distributor for a customer. The add-on housing looks OK in the photo but is actually really crude and looks like it was done by two guys under a pepper tree with a hammer, hack saw and bastard file after the second six-pack of Bud....
The reconditioning of the distributor was straightforward, and I made the extension work, but a much better extension should be machined from a bar of good quality aluminum. I have made up machine drawings for just such an extension.
Does the vacuum advance unit look different? It's a much modified Hitachi with a special adaptor mount. I get the exact advance curve I want with this unit, but it is NOT "Plug & Play", with MUCH testing on the SUN distributor machine to be sure I have the correct modifications to get the right advance curve.
It is important to understand that advance curves--both mechanical and vacuum--must be tailored to the way a given engine will be USED; the goal being to promote performance while preventing pre-ignition [detonation] that can destroy an engine. Fun stuff, but as they say in the ads, "Don't try this at home..."
This is the classic "Before and After".....the top photo is the before, as you might suspect. It is a square body Lucas windshield wiper motor out of a '68 Saab 96V4, just as it looked when I took the sucker apart---YUK! This one had more GREASE--old, nasty, hardened crap--in it than any wiper motor I've ever worked on before. The owner said it only worked on one speed, sometimes. Given the amount of nasty gook inside it is a pure wonder that it worked, ANYTIME! I suspect that some "wrench", at some time, figured that "if a little does a little good, a LOT has to do a lot of good", and applied grease by the handful....
The second photo shows the same unit--cleaned and ready for reassembly, adjustment and testing. There were NO bad parts, just greasy parts, in this one. Even the armature and contact brushes were quite good.
This shows the wiper motor on my test bed. The different switches, and the relay that you can see duplicate the wiring for ANY Lucas wiper motor that I rebuild. This one passed all the tests with flying colors.
Isn't that one pretty! Ready to go to the customer, LOOKING, and WORKING like a new one. Good Stuff.
Time for more fiberglass fun on MR T, my 1937 FIAT Topolino Cabrio....In this photo I have the back fenders mounted [and each held in place by two bolts] and the valence between the fenders at bumper level in place. Now it's time to build the spare tire cover. If you look closely you can see a fiberglass ring around the spare tire, right at the body surface. I laid up the ring first to get a nice "fit" to the body of the car, which is really a compound curve in that area.
I attached a 0.375" center pin to a mounting structure that will hold the pin exactly centered and vertical. You can see the mounting structure attached to the ring. The shaped board [light color, top right] can spin around and will cut the foam [see next photos] to get an even shape for the spare tire cover.
I used urethane foam [of the type used in constructing composite aircraft] to make the basic form of the cover. Here the foam--mounted to the ring--is ready for carving to the final shape of the cover. [You can see MR T behind the table].
There is always some rough--but careful--cutting to be done before the spin cutter is used. That's what I'm doing in this photo, using a "Sureform" rough file for the job. The action here is to rough file a pit, then check it with the spin, which you can see mounted to the center pin in the photo above. The spin arm makes the final, fine cut of the foam.
The foam shape is done. The check template shows a good "fit", all around what is essentially a male mould for the cover. Time to lay on fiberglass cloth now.
AHA! It's laid up! I laid on seven plies of aircraft bi-directional cloth, directly to the foam mould. Five plies are of 8-ounce cloth, the final two plies are 4-ounce cloth. The dark band is of 8-ounce bi-directional GRAPHITE cloth, to give extra strength on one side for the hinge, and opposite, the latch. You can see a band of graphite around the base, at the junction of the new cloth and the original 'glass ring. I give the lay-up a minimum of 24 hours to complete the cure of the aircraft epoxy that I used. I used NO polyester resin on ANY part I made up for this car. Epoxy resin makes a lay-up at least twice as strong compared to using polyester resin. Two further benefits: This particular epoxy has almost no odor, and the working time is easily 20 minutes.
The new cover is cured, trimmed and setting in place on MR T. The fun stuff now is to mount the hinge [which will be centered on the LEFT] and build and install the latch mechanism [which will be centered on the RIGHT]. More on that in further adventures with MR T....
It seems Sonett III owners all over the place have either lost their ignition keys, never had ignition keys, or the ignition switch finally packed it in. These are the parts to make up four changeover ignition switch kits for those cars, and will be shipped out to owners whose wives have told them to "...get that damn can running or get rid of it!"
At the top of the photo are the mounts. Below that the switches and relays and finally, the connecting wires. Each wire has an identifying tag to make it easy for the owner to install the kit.
Here is an assembled kit, viewed from the back. The switch is on the left. Next to it a 50 amp relay. In this photo, the wires have not yet been collected into a small bundle to "neaten things up".
Here is the front. The unit mounts right where the original Sonett III ignition assembly was mounted. Once installed, you have to look closely to see that it is not the original. I include step by step instructions. All the wires are clearly marked to correspond to the wires you pull off the back of the old switch. This is about as close as you can get to "plug and play".
Best of all, you get to keep both your Sonett AND your wife!
SAAB V4 clutch problems are very often made worse by a worn clutch release arm. The drawing above shows the location of the release arm in the transmission bell housing, then [above and left] the release arm itself, and finally, above that, the fat arrow shows how the release arm gets worn where it holds the release bearing peg. These release arms are, of course, no longer available new, so the solution is to rebuild the arm by partially welding up the hole at the top and the "C" cup at the bottom, then machining them both out to fit the new release bearing.
This nasty bugger is how most of 'em look when I get 'em. It's hard to see in this photo but the welding has been done. I have a special jig I use to get the hole and the cup machined back out to the correct size and location [relative to the center line of the
main "pipe" [on the left]. The clevis [top] and its pivot pin also get badly worn.
I drill out the clevis rod [top] and the holes in the loop of the arm and use an oversize pin to eliminate the slop in that part of the arm. This is the reconditioned release arm, with all the related parts, including the new release bearing and retaining clips. Good as new and a lot prettier...heh heh heh.
The drawing shows the shift linkage for a Sonett III, from the shift tower [on the left] to the transmission [on the right]. Both the shift tower and the linkage support [bolted to the transmission] have two bronze bushings [see arrows]. Saab must have managed a "real deal" on the bushings because they get sloppy after only a few jillion shifts, and that, along with the fact that Saab did not add spring in the linkage to load the shifter to the 3rd-4th gate, can make selecting the correct gear a bit of a crap shoot.
These are the parts for the linkage at the transmission. But first, one other comment: The actual movement--INSIDE THE TRANSMISSION--from neutral to say, 3rd gear, is only about 1/2 inch [13mm] or so. So it doesn't take much slop in the linkage to confuse gear selection. That's why bushing wear can make things sticky-wicket in the shifting department.
Above--the support fixture with all the bolt holes has a bushing in each end. These are the ones that have to be replaced. Problem is, correct SIZE bushings are not available.
I get bushings that are just larger than the originals, chuck 'em in the lathe, and carefully machine them until they are just about 0.002" larger outside diameter than the inside diameter of the support housing. Then I press them into the housing. Above is my lathe setup for machining the new bushings.
Here is a photo of the old bushings and the support housing with the new bushings installed. Note that once I press the new bushings into the housing I still have to ream the INSIDE of each bushing to shaft size plus 0.002". Note that I also drill and tap the housing for a grease zerk so the bushings can actually be lubricated. [THAT is a novel idea the Saab engineers never thought of, apparently....]
This is the finished product, ready to go into the car. Might last a few jillion more shifts, especially if it gets a squirt of grease now and again...
These are a few of the buggered up transmission parts that I found in the bottom of a transmission I just rebuilt for a customer. This was strange because I usually don't find this sort of damage. It was also strange because the transmission was CLEAN inside. Clearly, someone had been into it recently and had screwed up the job. Also--parts were missing and every case bolt was WAY too tight, as if it had been put together using an impact wrench, which is NOT a good idea. ALL the bolts/nuts in these Saab transaxles must be torqued to the specs provided by Saab in their factory service manual.
Once I had the bell housing off, it was clear what had happened. The nut at the end of the countershaft [shown] had come loose. The shaft then "floated" and the result was that every part shown--3 gears, the shaft, low and second synchronizer rings, the synchronizer hub and a bunch of smaller parts--were all busted up and had to be replaced. All because the moron who was into the transmission last did not correctly torque the nut at the end of the countershaft. OY!
Well, here is the reassembled gearbox. All countershaft-related damaged parts--as well as others damaged because of the countershaft problem--have been replaced. Note that the 'box is in my factory transmission jig. Using this jig--and the 20-odd factory tools that go with it--is the ONLY way to be sure that an overhaul of one of these transaxles is done correctly.
There are a number of internal adjustments that MUST be done correctly--some with correct thickness shims, some with feeler gauges, and this one with a dial indicator set up--to insure long life and reliability of the transaxle.
Here is the finished transaxle. I always specify the use of synthetic transmission oil--AMSOIL being the BEST, in my opinion--so I use an anerobic sealer, which is not attacked by synthetic oils--for all case mating surfaces, and on both sides of the rear cover and top cover gaskets.
Another view of the completed transaxle. Note that there is NO freewheel control lever. This unit has been "neutered" so the freewheel--a carry-over from two-stroke engine days--does not function. It is very easy for the V4 engine--which actualy has TORQUE [compared to the two stroke] to damage the freewheel unit. It is worth noting that I DO NOT weld internal parts to neuter the freewheel! At any time in the future, the freewheel system COULD--if the owner got soft in the head--be put back into use.
Call it "Murph'y Law" or BumLuck or any other saying regarding mechanical difficulties, but recently I have encountered not one, but TWO problems with V4 Ford/Saab cylinder heads for high performance engines.
Take a look at my exploded view drawing above. Note the exhaust valve hard valve SEAT. Today's unleaded fuel will cause early exhaust valve failure without hardened exhaust valves and valve seats. So far so good...
I install larger diameter valves and of course larger exhaust valve hard seats. I've rebuilt dozens of V4 engines with these big valve cylinder heads, with no problems. Still, so far so good.
A couple of weeks ago, my machinist found a "pocket"--a casting flaw--in a cylinder head, where he had machined the head to accept a larger diameter hard valve seat. Result? the head was instant junk. Kauput.
This week, another bad cylinder head....
This head [shown above, before installation] was on an engine installed in a customer's Sonett III, and I discovered--during the 500 mile drive-off--that the right side exhaust pipe was putting out WHITE smoke. Not a lot at first, but it got worse as the end of the 500 miles approached, it was obvious that it was not going to get better. A compression check showed equal compression in all four cylinders and a vacuum gauge check showed steady--and correct--manifold vacuum for this elevation [1350 feet above sea level].
I retorque the cylinder heads and intake manifold to factory spec's 3 times during the 500 mile drive-off runs. The drive-off period allow correction of [usually] small glitches that always appear--in any number of areas--when a car has undergone a full restoration.
I removed the carburetor, intake manifold and right hand cylinder head. Close examination of the head and intake manifold gaskets showed no damage to either, but it was clear that there was a big problem in the forward [No. 1] combustion chamber. The exhaust valve was VERY white, indicating a lot of heat, and there was a bit of fluid around the intake valve. I had certainly found the area of the problem.
NOTE: White smoke in the exhaust means coolant is being sucked into the combustion chamber. Blue smoke means OIL is being sucked into the combustion chamber, either past the valve guides or past the piston rings, or both. Black smoke means the engine carburetion is WAY too RICH. Smoke of ANY kind from the exhaust means further investigation is needed, and soon.
The reason for the problem was a crack in the cylinder head at the intake valve seat, where apparently the machining of the head to accept a larger valve had either come close to another pocket in the head casting, or was simply because after machining, the wall thickness between the seat area and the water jacket was thin enough that it cracked with the heat of combustion. NOTE: both head were magnefluxed after machining and showed NO cracks.
Well...shit happens. Particularly when you are trying to get a quart's worth of work out of, essentially, a pint pot. My modified V4 engines produce 115 to 140 horsepower, depending on how thick the customer's wallet is, but the more power you produce
the more possible are the unexpected results. Usually....everything is just fine and the customer gets a really nice engine that will be as reliable as a factory engine.
But sometimes...shit happens. That's why we ALWAYS do a 500 mile drive-off before we deliver a restored Saab to it's owner, and why we insist that the owner of one of our reconditioned V4 engines follow the instructions we include with the engine when we ship it to him.
First--my apologies for less than wonderful photos. A BLACK engine is not the greatest for award-winning photography...This is the completed Ford/Saab V4 high performance engine, ready to go to the owner, to "wake up" a Saab 96. It will produce 110-115 horsepower--quite a step up from the original 73...
The car in the background is my '37 FIAT Topolino, "MR T".
Front view. Note the timing cover--modified to give room for a radiator with electric fans. Behind the cover are special timing gears--steel gears for crankshaft and balance shaft, aluminum gear for the camshaft. The cam itself is a regrind to Iskenderian F4 specs. Atop the engine is a Weber 32/36 DGV-5A carburetor and air cleaner.
Right front corner. The new oil filter and water pump are visible. Not visible--big valve cylinder heads and fully balanced crankshaft and associated parts. I reconditioned and lightened the rocker arms as well. Note the engine lift [in red], an item I built 40+ years ago. Good tools last a very long time...
Arse end. Note the reconditioned distributor and high performance Magnecore plug wires. Note also the light flywheel and matched pressure plate. The blue paint indicates the balance-match [pressure plate to flywheel] point. The bits of green tape seen here and there are to cover coolant pipes, etc, as the engine is to be shipped to it's owner in another state. I send along a compete listing of all the parts and all the work done on these engines [9 pages long on this one...] plus a short "manual" on doing the necessary re-torques and adjustments as the engine is driven in the owner's car.
This is a lightened flywheel on the V4 engine. Note that quite a lot of material has been removed around the OUTER part of the flywheel. I used NEW flywheel bolts because these bolts are torqued to 50 ft/lb, which is a "stretch" or "yeild" condition that Ford specified. No locking washers are used. Note the yellow paint between two of the bolt heads. This shows the mounting location for the flywheel, on the crankshaft, since this is a fully balanced engine. The balancer also put peen marks at this point. I add the paint so the next "wrench" who gets into this engine may notice that the engine has been balanced, and will, hopefully, reinstall the flywheel at that same location on the crankshaft.
I use a transmission clutch [input] shaft to center the clutch disc in the flywheel. I also use a witches' brew to put a thin coat of lubricant into the pilot bushing. My brew is 60% AMSOIL 75/90 transmission oil, 15% STP, and 25% molybdenum disulfide assembly lube. Mixed thoroughly.
The pressure plate is balanced to the flywheel. The paint--and peen marks--show the correct location for the pressure plate mounting on the flywheel. It is good to know that the release bearing pressure surface of the pressure plate--the flat plate where the inpu
Here are the four piston & connecting rod assemblies. The new pistons are 0.031" oversize. At this point all four have been in the engine [without piston rings] so the bearing clearances could be checked with plastigage. The bearing clearances averaged 0.00175". The original connecting rod bolts and nuts have been replaced with new high strength Ford V8 parts. The six small bolts in the photo are not part of the piston/rod assembly.
This is by far the best way to install piston rings, using an inexpensive piston ring expander pliers. You always need to read the instructions that come with the rings. There is usually a peen mark on some of the piston rings that indicates that side of the ring must be installed UP [toward the top of the piston]. I arrange the piston ring end gaps so they are 120 degrees apart when in place on the piston.
The piston/rod assembly is ready for installation in the engine block. A ring compressor tool is in place, and has compressed the piston rings. The yellow items on the connecting rods are flexible plastic protectors, to keep guide the rod over the crankshaft journal and prevent the rod bolts from damaging the journal.
Not a great photo, but it shows the piston being inserted into the block [top left]. I use a small hammer with a wooden handle to tap the piston/rod assembly into place in the block. Note that pistons have a notch in thier crown, indicating that the piston must be installed with the notch pointing to the FRONT of the block.
In this photo, all the rod caps are in place and torqued to 25 ft/lb. I use a bit of Loktite on each of the bolts as a bit of added insurance that a nut will NOT come loose. Note that a new oil pump has been installed [with a NEW oil pump drive shaft] and that the oil pick up strainer is completely clean. I squirt as much engine oil into the new oil pump as it will hold before I bolt it in place. Note the "1.7" on the second crankshaft counterweight from the front, indicating that it is a 1700 crankshaft. At this point, the lower end of the engine is "buttoned up" and ready for the oil pan to be installed.
You are looking down into the block of an overbored 1.7 litre Ford/Saab V4 engine that I'm rebuilding in my shop. You can see new balance shaft bearings, a new steel timing gear, and the fully balanced crankshaft. You can't see it because of its small size, but "BB3415" is stamped into the crankshaft. That indicates that the balance shop--Bert Beck Custom Engines--has recorded this crankshaft as the 3415th crankshaft they have balanced over the years. By now, they know what they're about!
These are the main bearing caps and their retaining bolts. All the parts have been meticulously cleaned. New main bearings are installed and the clearances checked with Plastigage. Average bearing clearances are 0.00175"---I make a "map" of all engine clearances a part of my records, and give the customer a copy as well.
The main bearing caps are installed and torqued to factory spec [72 ft/lb]. You can't see it here, but I install the rear main bearing seal as I install the rear cap. That assures a proper "fit" of the seal, with no chance of damaging the seal when it is fitted. You can see from the photos that the engine is VERY clean. That's the way I want it when I rebuild an engine.
