SAAB MONTE CARLO INSTRUMENT RECONDITIONING, PLUS

 This is the flip side of a Saab Monte Carlo instrument module, in all its beat up glory. Rust, corrosion, hard handling, and 50 years time have taken their toll.   AK!

 Here is the front of the plastic instrument mounting panel. It was pretty boogered up. You can't see all the cracks and gouges in the panel, in this photo, but they were there.

 The panel had six mounting bolts cast into it--this is the back side--and five of them were ripped out. The panel was also warped and was cracked in about a dozen places. 

 J B Kwikweld to the rescue! A local hardware store was the source for the 4mm x .7mm bolts, as well as the brass pipe I used to provide the centering sleeves for each of the bolts. There were a number of places where I used the JB to straighten the panel by routing out a long groove, laying in the JB, then holding the panel flat as that brand of killer epoxy cured for 24 hours. 

 The front of the panel had eight or ten places where there were a lot of little side by side cracks.  I ground out each tiny crack with a Dremmel tool, then filled it in with auto body filler and sanded it smooth. This sand-fill-sand-fill-sand process went on for a couple of days.... Then it was time to prime-sand-prime for a while, and finally give it three coats of color.  Pretty good, huh?

 Each of the instruments were reconditioned. Here is the full set, ready to install in the car.

And here are the four major instruments sitting in the repaired and repainted mounting panel. All the warning lights--not shown in this photo--were also reconditioned--they were just as grubby as the rest of the module [see photo one--above].  The owner could have just whacked out a panel out of aluminum and screwed it to the instrument panel of his Saab 96, but chose to have me do the job right...and you can see the results. Reminds me of a sign I saw one time on the shop of an old time welder/blacksmith:  "I can mend anything but a broken heart."

SAAB SPEEDOMETER--DUAL REGISTER INTO A STANDARD 2-STROKE

 What we have here is a HYBRID speedometer.  My customer wanted a dual register speedometer--as in a Monte Carlo--for use in his standard 1966 96 two stroke car. The trouble was that the Monte Carlo cars--either two-stroke or V4--had a transmission with a 4.88:1 final drive transmission.  The '66 two-stroke had a transmission with a 5.43:1 final drive. So the MC speedometer would be WAY WRONG in both SPEED and MILEAGE recording......Hmmmmm.....

 Clearly, the solution was to change the internal gearing of the MC speedometer [see first photo]. After some head-scratching, I did that gearing change, and the finished speedometer [above] reads correctly on the test bed, for a Saab with 5.43:1 gears.

Here is the flip side of the finished speedometer. I set the odometer miles to match the miles currently shown on the speedometer in the customer's car. The change-over can be done, but it is nice to prove that the change was done correctly, by running the finished speedometer on the test bed.   Good stuff!

SAAB 95/96/97 BACK UP LIGHT SWITCHES

 These are the [made of unobtainium] back up light switches for Saab 95/96/97 cars that I recondition. The drawing above shows where the switch is located on the Saab transaxle, and the internals of the switch. Nothing much to them...right?  Well, yes and no. Because of the nasty environment where they "live", they get really grubby and corroded inside. The trick is to get them apart without destroying them.  AH! as the Bard of Avon said, "There's the rub!"

 Here are 16 switches. At the bottom, one switch disassembled. Above, are 15 switches that I have reconditioned and tested. As I said, getting them apart without destroying the switch is the trick, and it is a bitch....unless...

...you happen to have my special tools. Top center--the tool that holds the switch so  you can use the bottom tool to UN-crimp the steel body of the switch WITHOUT breaking the plastic switch body. The same tool is used to RE-crimp the steel body of the switch.  The little red tool is a special holder for trimming tiny brass screws that I sometimes have to use to hold a new connector when one of the electrical connector tabs are broken off.

If you are wondering where to get these tools....they're made of unobtainium, too. Just send me you dead switch and I'll recondition it.  When I'm done with it, it will look like one of the 15 switches in the center photo.  Good stuff, huh? 

SAAB 95 & 96 WIPER MOTORS WIPE AGAIN!

 Wiper motors again! This ugly duckling is a Lucas motor for a late SAAB 95 or 96. This one was in its fairly ugly, not working, state when I received it.   Nasty....

 Here is the same motor...DE-nastified, and ready to be reassembled and tested.

 Ah, Henry Ford would be proud of me....three of 'em reconditioned and ready for reassembly.

...and here they are, ready to do their duty happily in a vintage SAAB 95 or 96.  All have been tested for both speeds, plus self park.  Neat, aye?

WIPING CLEAN

 SAAB/Lucas wiper motor reconditioning time again--three of 'em at a time. Most of 'em look like the one shown above when I take 'em apart---YUK!  No wonder they don't  work worth a damn.  Well...over 40 years of working wiper blades....

 Here are three of them--reconditioned. One assembled [on the right], two ready to go together.  

 Ahh...that's better. The brush plate inside has been replaced on this one--you can see where the wires to the self-park switch and main connector have been spliced.

Here is one of the motors on my test bed. I can test any style Lucas motor with this unit. The electrical connections are exactly the same as if the motor was mounted in a car.  No guess work here---I run the motors for a while, on both speeds, and test the self-park feature.  Nothing like the right tools for the job--aye?

SAAB V4 DISTRIBUTOR RECONDITIONING

 Mass production time again! Here are six [of eight] Bosch distributors for Saab V4 cars, completely disassembled, and with a zillion miles worth of grease and crud cleaned off. They are ready to have the bottom of the distributor housing rebushed. The housing "hogs out" at the bottom, with age and a jillion miles of useage. This wear causes the point gap [thus the dwell and the ignition timing] to fluctuate and the engine runs like crap. Note that the second housing from the right already has a steel bushing installed.

 I use a bronze bushing...BUT...first the distributor housing must be reamed to a certain diameter.  It is essential that the distributor be held perfectly square and the tool that I made [which is in the lathe chuck in this picture] does that job. You can see that several distributors have been drilled, thus the pile of aluminum FUZZ on the lathe bed.

 You can see the bronze bushing set in place, just ready to be pressed into the distributor housing.

 Once I get the bushing in place, I have to ream it to the shaft size, plus 0.003". This is a tedious process, but doing the job with a hand reamer makes sure I get the correct fit. Every distributor is a LITTLE DIFFERENT and has different amounts of wear--remember--these suckers are about 50 years old! 

 You can see the five distributor bodies with bronze bushings and the one with the previously installed steel bushing here.  All the shafts have been fitted and they are ready to go back together again. Now the REAL work starts, as the points advance plates must be fitted and adjusted, a vacuum control unit fitted, and then the assembled unit has to go onto the SUN distributor test machine to set the advance curves.  This usually means I get to take the suckers apart 2 or 3 times to adjust the mechanical advance gubbins to get the correct advance curve.  Swearing usually helps. Quite a lot of swearing helps quite a lot more. 

All eight completely reconditioned distributors are shown here. These all have points and a condenser installed. If the customer wants a Pertronix unit, I take out the points and condenser and install the P unit. Then I add a rotor, a cap and a new set of spark plug wires, and the bugger is ready to go into the customer's V4 engine, for another 100,000 miles.  Good stuff!  

SAAB RIBBON SPEEDO MODULE--ELECTRIC TEMP GAUGE

 Here we have two ancient Saab 96 speedometer/multi-gauge units. Because the temperature gauge [left gauge in top module] is a so called "bulb" type, the capillary tube from the sender in the cylinder head to the gauge itself gets damaged and the gauge is kaput. NO new assemblies are available. The SOLUTION is to change to an electric gauge/sender unit combination.  The PROBLEM is figuring out how to mount an electric gauge in the old module. Head scratching time....

 My solution is to remove an electric temperature gauge from a Saab combination gauge unit. I trimmed the gauge face slightly and mounted it on an aluminum plate, as shown above. Making the gauge fit the mount plate and the mount plate fit the speedo module....let's just say that part took the most head scratching.  

Once you get one of these suckers apart, you have quite a few pieces. I've cleaned them all up here, and have repaired the inoperative odometer in this one, and it's ready to go back together. That's another the tricky part, as you might imagine...

 I always have to strip the main, cast aluminum case because it was painted white at the factory and the old white paint flakes off. You can see it is all cleaned and repainted here, and the mechanical bits are all lubricated correctly and yes, the odometer now works!

Go back to the first photo [bottom] to see how the electric gauge looks when it is installed. It is a good "fit" and a good "match" for the other original gauges. This photo shows the back of the module, with the electric gauge mounted. The tan wire is marked "tank", but that's my mistake--I changed it to correctly read "temp sender".
All electric gauges--except an ammeter and a voltmeter--need 3 electrical inputs: 12 volts for reference, an input from the sender unit, and ground. The latter is the black wire in the photo.  So you see, the head scratching worked! 

CLOCKS THAT GO "TICK" IN THE NIGHT

 A world of square body VDO auto rewind clocks!  I have to play the percentages on old clocks, so I usually do four of the buggers at a time. Here they are---all apart, but completely cleaned, oiled and ready for reassembly. At the extreme left center is an auto rewind unit. Below the three outer bodies [silver color] are three clock mechanisms [brass color]. Below them are the white plastic back covers.  Whole LOT of pieces!

 The red object is one of about 100 special tools I've built to use in the reconditioning of clocks, speedometers, wiper motors, etc.  This one is a multi-use HOLDER. The arm of the tool [on the right] fits into my vise, to hold the clock steady while I work on it.

AHA! Four of the buggers reassembled and ready to go. I test them for function and time--on my test bed--before I put the plastic "glass" and the chrome outer ring back on. Remember, these clocks are getting close to being 45 years old, so they "enjoy' a failure rate of about 25%.  Old age takes it's toll.  These are four that "made it."  
The red gizmos behind three of the clocks are in-line fuses. I have to re-solder an internal fusible link, and the 3 amp inline fuse protects the coil that actually makes the reset link arm go "ka-KLIK!" and resets the clock so it keeps on ticking. 

SLIME IN A SAAB V4 TRANSMISSION

 I have reconditioned a TON of Saab 95/96/97 transmissions over the years--this one is number 519--and have seen a lot of different combinations of CRAP oils that owners or mechanics have put in them.  This one was new to me and was probably the nastiest GLOP I have ever found. It was about 1/8" thick and was total SLIME, and completely unidentifiable in nature. It looks like RUST but none of the trans parts were rusty. It WAS sticky, so I suspect SOME of the YUK was STP, which is a complete NO NO for these units. 

 The GOO was all throughout the transmission--thick, ugly, yet more or less pliable, sort of like molasses at zero degrees F. I completely dismantled the transmission and sent the case and covers to my machine shop to be run through the hot tank. No way was I going to spend 2 or 3 hours trying to clean the CRAP out! Clearly the last owner had no clue about what transmission gear oil to use in a Saab transmission.

 There is a VERY good reason to use the correct gear oil[s] in a Saab transmission. The exploded view above shows a section of the gears, bearings, etc that fit on the MAIN SHAFT of the Saab 95/96/97 transmission. There are four needle bearings on this shaft--see numbers 30 in the drawing. The numbers 31 indicate a slightly different size needle bearing used inside 4th gear [No. 33] on later transmissions. Gear oils heavier than SAE 75 GL5 or SAE 80 GL5 simply will NOT lubricate these needle bearings. Similarly you must NEVER use a HYPOID differential grease which is available in SAE 90 or SAE 140 viscosity, for the same reason.

 Above is a typical differential assembly. Items numbered 6 and 11 are the heavy duty differential carrier bearings. Items 16 and 20 are the pinon shaft bearings. These are large and open, so it is easy for the heavier greases to keep them lubricated. It should be plain to you that this is not the case with the needle bearings in the Saab transmissions.  DO use the correct gear oils. I have used AMSOIL synthetic gear oils for 40 years or so and have never had ANY problems with them--they are the kindest thing you can do to your Saab transmission.  It is also a very good idea to get off your duff and check the oil level in them about once a month. [I offer a dip stick OR an oil check petcock  for this purpose. Either will simplify checking the oil level and make it quicker, easier and less messy than unscrewing the check plug to see if oil will run out on floor].

Here are two of the transmission case pieces--post hot tank--ready for reassembly.
I STILL don't know what that CRAP was in this particular transmission....

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.

SAAB V4 ENGINE RECONDITIONED

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......

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!