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Let's ALTERNATE! The photo above shows before and after my reconditioning work.
Though you can't tell unless you look very carefully, it also shows that one alternator
is for a two stroke Saab and one is for a V4, though both have the early cast aluminum fan.
Now look at the FINS on each fan from the back. Note that the fins angle in opposite directions. While both engines turn the same direction [clockwise as viewed from the front], remember that the V4 fan pulley is on the BALANCE SHAFT, so the alternator turns the opposite direction. It is also good to remember that an alternator doesn't give a shit which way it turns---it just produces alternating current [AC]. The "juice"
is then fed through a full wave rectifier whose output is direct current [DC], the stuff the car needs. Cool, huh?
This photo shows all the gubbins. Note that I turned the commutator slip rings on the armature [brass color] down smooth on my lathe. The brush pack is on the extreme left. This alternator is a later unit [tho all are 35 amp, 12 volt] that used the stamped steel fan with the fins angled the correct direction for the Ford/Saab V4.
Here are three alternators that I just reconditioned. Left--late V4. Center--V4, sort of early, with aluminum fan. Note the arrow on the fan, indicating direction of rotation. The alternator on the right is a VERY early V4, also with a cast aluminum fan. So what is the difference between the one in the center and the one on the right?
The difference is in the electrical connections on the back. The one on the left and the one in the center use the 3-connector plug, plus a heavier B+ wire, plus a ground wire. The alternator on the right uses four separate connections, plus ground. All were used on Saabs, in various years, and all are 35 amp, 12 volt alternators.
I actually reconditioned six of the buggers, this session, but these three show the main differences that you might encounter. The most IMPORTANT thing to remember is that an alternator must have the correct fan. The arrow--either cast into the aluminum fan face, or stamped into several of the fins on a stamped steel fan--must indicate a counter-clockwise rotation for a V4. A cast aluminum fan for a two cycle Saab will have the cast-in arrow showing a clockwise rotation. Don't mix 'em up or you'll get to replace a burned-up alternator, and that's no fun...huh?
Most Saab 95 and 96 owners want this instrument cluster in their instrument panel. I include myself in that group of Saab Nuts.... This is the reconditioned instrument set and reconditioned Monte Carlo instrument mount PANEL [see my blog, dated 5 May 16 for that drill...].
This is a dramatically cleaned up--but not sanded, primed and repainted--standard 95/96 instrument panel. Note that is is for a PRE- 1968 model, because it has the mount area for the inside rear view mirror at the top center of the panel. Remember-- the Saab 95/96 cars up to and including 1967 had SHORTER windshields and rear windows....
Here is a closer look at the area where the Monte Carlo instrument mount panel will be fitted. Note the rust and discoloration on the main panel. I had not yet cleaned it up, nor repainted it.
YIKES! A giant HOLE has to be cut to fit the MC panel in place. This has to be done VERY carefully because enough material has to be cut away to clear the instruments, but material must be left for the six mounting studs on the MC panel. I have done this modification before, so I have a pattern that takes the guess work out of the job.
MUCH very careful trimming must be done to get a good fit of the MC panel. The six warning light holders have to fit onto the back of the MC panel, which usually requires MORE very careful trimming. Finally, the edges of the stock Saab instrument panel--at the cut-out area--have to be bent to just fit evenly to the MC panel. That MC panel is made of 50 year old plastic, remember, and does NOT care to bend.
Saab glove box doors have seven main pieces, as shown. I disassembled the door, then sanded, primed and painted the four main parts. It was a lot of screwing around, just to get a good looking glove box door, in the correct color. But there it is....
This photo shows the flip side of the door. The cup holder part is on the left, the not yet installed Monte Carlo 850 panel on the table, in front...
...and here is the glove box door, reassembled, ready to install in the instrument panel. Looks good, eh?
OK...Here is the finished product....Cleaned, straightened, sanded, primed, sanded, primed, sanded, primed, then finally given 3 coats of color. Mighty nice, don't you think?
A closer look at the installed Monte Carlo instrument mount panel, fitted in place, with all the instruments and warning lights.
The final, finishing touch will be a new instrument panel TOP. There are no originals, period. There a VERY few factory replacement top panels around [which were made without the grooves] but good luck finding them. Mark Ashcraft builds an exceptionally nice fiberglass replacement top panel, which comes primed and ready for finish painting and installation. He includes very good How-To instructions.
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."
From the dark, spider-infested depths of son Mark Ashcraft's shop emerged this pretty dang straight 1968 Saab 96 V4 Deluxe. We are starting a complete restoration on this car, which will include reconditioning or replacing bloody nearly everything mechanical PLUS a host of up-grades.
You can see that the car is complete--even the made of "unobtanium" light covers are on the car and in very good condition. I'll completely recondition the transmission, the engine [to be 120 bhp 1700+ cc], distributor, alternator, starter, wiper motor, heater motor and a ton of other small stuff. It will get a cooling system upgrade, including the "Florida Fix" side-of-hood vents, electric fan(s), and new everything in that area.
Would you believe those are the original mud flaps and that they are in very good condition? Well, the suspension and brakes will be renewed, too, and if we find any rust, we'll simply cut that panel out and replace it with one of our heavy duty panels.
This area will get a lot of attention, too. We'll rebuild the gauges, install one of our new dash tops and put in new upholstery and carpeting. This car will not only look like new throughout, it will be BETTER in many ways because we use modern, heavy duty parts in many areas, some we manufacture ourselves.
If YOU would like this car, we can put your a name on it NOW, and can do the special touches to the car to make it YOURS!
Interested? Contact me--work has already begun on the car.
