SAAB 95/96/97 TRANSMISSION OIL DIP STICKS

 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!

SAAB CLUTCH RELEASE ARM RECONDITIONING

 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.

A REBUILT TWO-STROKE SAAB TRANSMISSION

 Here we have an expired four speed transmission from a '66 Saab 96 two-cycle. The half inch accumulation of grease, dirt and general crud has been cleaned off the outside of the box. I put it in this position to remove the retaining bolts from A] the end case cover, and B] the bell housing. You can see that these bolts are missing in the photo above. Now the transmission itself can be lifted off the bell housing and installed in the Saab transmission press.

 The bell housing assembly has been partially wiped out inside, but I get them much cleaner before I do any reassembly. The clutch shaft--which you can just see inside the housing--has to come out so the center ball bearing can be replaced.
I clean and paint the axle drivers, as you can see.

 Now this is more like it! I changed all the bearings, synchronizer rings and shaft lock plates, plus the main shaft which had rust in the free wheel hub. The correct end plate shims are in and the shift selector forks [gold color in this photo] have been adjusted [fore/aft] correctly. I use anerobic sealer on both sides of the gaskets so synthetic oil can be used with no leakage problems. 

 VOILA! The little beauty is ready for installation in the little popcorn popper! I do use a gasket at the top shifter cover, again with anerobic sealer on both sides of the gasket.

 

You can see my rebuilt clutch release arm with a new release bearing in this photo. I  also add a petcock so the transaxle oil level can be checked without having to remove the little plug on the side of the box.  So let's go ring-a-ding--ya sure!

SAAB V4 FLYWHEEL/PRESSURE PLATE

 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.

SAAB V4 RELEASE BEARING ARM REBUILD

 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.