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Mass production time again--Saab 95/96/97 transmission oil dip sticks this time. The red "thingie" in the foreground is the jig I built that I use to get the correct bends and "fit" for the dip stick. The dip stick in the jig is an ORIGINAL Saab item. The eight new dipsticks [above] are ready for customers, tho the last three need to have their handles painted green.
Another view of the eight finished dip sticks. See...having a transmission oil dipstick just might mean you would actually CHECK THE OIL LEVEL in your transmission. Just remove the fill plug near the top of the gearbox, wiggle the dip stick down into it until the bent "stop" sets against the sides of the open hole, pull out the dipstick and read it. There are notches for MIN and MAX on the dipstick--just like the original--so you can tell the oil level in the unit.
You don't have to get greasy trying to take out the stupid check plug on the side of the transmission, and you don't have transmission oil dripping on your garage floor. AND...the transmission you save--from lack of oil--just might be YOURS!
Time to recondition some more clutch release arms. These get worn in the area where the release bearing is held--[see fat arrow at the TOP drawing, above], and in the loop at the outer end and in the clevis pin itself. I weld up the wear areas and machine them back out to fit the new release bearing. NOTE: Currently there are TWO styles of release bearing available, and the mount "pins" on them are different diameters. The release bearings shown in the photo below are the OLD style, with larger diameter pins.
The old release arms are usually pretty grubby when I receive them. Compare an old one [right] to one of my reconditioned arm assemblies [at left]. What you can't see in the photo is how much slop was in all the joints and how bad the release bearing was.
I prefer to recondition a batch of these critters at one time. I did eight of 'em this go-around. If you look carefully you can see early and late release arms. The three on the left [top row] and one on the left [bottom row] are LATE arms. The rest are EARLY arms. There is no difference, functionally. Just a running change that Saab made at some point in the production of these parts, and not at all unusual for a car company.
I've just reconditioned another Saab V4 engine, this one for a '73 Sonett III. The photo above shows new piston rings about to go onto a cleaned up piston. Note the piston ring expanding tool at the right. The yellow sleeves are to protect the crankshaft when the piston is installed in the engine block. I always have the connecting rod big ends "sized" and always use NEW connecting rod bolts and nuts. These are torqued to a "stretch" or "yield" condition and can NOT be re-used, as they may well break if they are again torqued to yield.
I always take a picture of the installed, new timing gears and tuck the photo into the records for that engine [this one was rebuild number 474...]. Note the new design of the big camshaft gear. Nice quality...BUT...the manufacturer didn't do enough homework. The two standard bolts that retain the intermediate plate [visible at the very bottom of the photo] contacts the outer ring of the aluminum center of the gear. I make special THIN head bolts to retain that plate and use Loctite to keep the bolts in place--no room for lock washers, not even the thin spring plate type. I call that "close, but no banana".
Note the big valves in the right cylinder head. I use these big valves in ALL my reconditioned V4 engines. ALL the valve parts are NEW except the top retaining plates that hold the split keys. The exhaust valves are hardened and I install hardened valve seats for the exhaust valves. This was a warmed up street engine so the owner wished to stay with a single barrel carburetor. I use NEW Weber carburetors on ALL reconditioned V4 engines, this one a 34 ICH.
You can see the Weber carb and special air cleaner assembly, the reconditioned Bosch distributor, the new oil fill cap and the light flywheel and new clutch and pressure plate. What you can't see is the camshaft, reground to Iskenderian F4 specs, and the new tappets [cam followers]. The yellow tabs are shims this clutch set required to get the release bearing plate [the six-sided plate in the center of the pressure plate ass'y] in its correct fore-aft location. The six shims go between the pressure plate and the flywheel. These MUST be offset by installing a slightly thicker shim WASHER under each of the six coil springs inside the pressure plate. About HALF the NEW clutch kits [clutch disc and pressure plate] I get these days require this shimming. I am really picky about the machining of the flywheels to maintain the STOCK depth of the pressure surface to the pressure plate mounting surface, so I know the problem is NOT the flywheels. Necessity, someone said, is the mother of invention......
Saab V4 flywheels are, at the youngest, 40 years old and virtually ALL of them must have their pressure surface [see drawing, above] lightly machined to remove damage from clutch slippage or chatter. A critical dimension of 0.660" from the pressure surface to the pressure plate mounting surface must be maintained. If this distance is NOT maintained, the aft surface of the release plate [the hexagonal flat plate in the center of the pressure plate [see photo, below] will not be in the correct fore/aft position. That surface must be 0.125" to 0.140" aft of the three flat pressure plate surfaces [the ones with two big holes, each--see photo below]. If not, the clutch will NOT release, and the release bearing arms will strike the surface of those same three flat pressure plate surfaces. NOT good.
This customer's machinist had machined the pressure surface and the pressure plate mount surface allright, but the measured distance was 0.670", not 0.660", which allowed the hexagonal release arm plate to sit forward too far, down in between the 3 flat plates [the ones with two big holes, each]. Although the clutch disc and the pressure plate were both new, the clutch would NOT release and the release bearing arms hit the pressure plate. The customer sent the whole schmere to me for correction.
There are two solutions: 1] Machine the flywheel to get the critical dimension to 0.660", or 2] Shim the flywheel. This is a shimmed flywheel/clutch/pressure plate assembly.
I used a special tool in my shop press, disassembled the new pressure plate and added 0.030" valve spring shims under each of the six coil springs in the pressure plate. This was to compensate for the shim 0.024" plates [in red, in the photo] that I fitted under the pressure plate mount bolts. The 0.024" shim plates moved the pressure plate so the release bearing plate was in the correct position--0.125" aft of the three flat plates. HOWEVER, adding the 0.024" shim plates takes too much mechanical clamping action off the clutch disc and the clutch will slip. The 0.030" valve spring shims restore the mechanical clamping action [and adds just a touch more than stock], so the clutch works just fine and the releases properly.
Interesting "fix" for improper machining.
I completely reconditioned this Saab Sonett transmission and kept it as a spare for my last Sonett. Then I got soft in the head and sold the Sonett, and the new owner didn't think he needed a spare transmission. I discussed using it for a coffee table mount with my wife, which turned out to be a short discussion. So it is available for someone who needs it for his/her Sonett.
The trans has new bearings, seals, gaskets and a number of other internal parts. You can see the new clutch release bearing and rebuilt release arm in this photo. I made all the internal adjustments to Saab spec's. The freewheel has been "neutered", using one of my neuter kits. Its READY TO GO! But I still think it would make an interesting coffee table....
If you're interested, give me a growl.
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.
