SONETT II & SONETT V4 REPLACEMENT IGITION SWITCH

Ignition switches get tired after being twisted for over 40 years. Sonett II and Sonett V4 cars at least have an ignition switch you can replace without dismantling the steering column assembly, which is the case with a Saab 95 or 96. The problem with all these cars is that Saab saw fit to run four or five circuits with current that had to pass through the ignition switch.  NOT one of their better ideas.

Finding a replacement switch that will mount through the plywood instrument panel was tough enough. Finding one that looked "original"--with keys that say "SAAB"--just wasn't gonna happen--so I figured--just get over it. My solution is shown. The 40 amp relay [extreme left in the photo] keeps the electrical circuit load off the switch and the whole assembly just plugs into the wires that were originally connected to the ignition switch. I matched the new wire COLORS to the old wires and also marked each wire with bands. One hole has to be drilled to mount the relay [I know that's a toughie], but the rest is pretty much "plug and play".  As a last resort sort of thing, I put together illustrated step by step instructions. See--I hate to recreate the wheel every time I do something.

SAAB LIGHTS IN AN ITALIAN CAR ???

 This conglomeration of wires and "stuff" will be one of several interior lights in MR T, my 1937 FIAT Topolino "EuroRod". If you guessed that the two lights were Saab 99 interior lights mounted behind the inside rear view mirror---you're right!  The piece of steel angle [on the right, above] will mount the lights just under the rear window on MR T, to light the luggage area behind the seats.

Here is the assembly, ready to install. I'm in the process of doing a complete, NEW wiring job of the entire car, using a LOT of plug-together connectors like the one at the extreme left of the photo above. All good stuff....for someone who actually LIKES to do automotive wiring! 

ITALIAN CLOCKS IN A SAAB ???

 Here are the gubbins of a couple of ALL ELECTRIC clocks from a couple of Saab 96's. The dial indicator gives you an idea of the size of all that stuff that makes up tickerator. [Good word, eh?]

 These all-electric Italian VEGLIA clocks do NOT have the auto-rewind package used in a lot of the VDO tickerators. Instead they have a coil [see photo below] that starts the rocking action of a small weighted wheel that puts the gearset into motion, causing the hands to move. 

 The small "spoon" [just above the coil] is an electrical connector. As with ALL clocks, these little suckers have to be carefully cleaned, rinsed and then lubed with professional "right stuff", or there's no point in trying to recondition the clock in the first place. I also "hot check" 'em for an hour, to check for time accuracy and to give them a fresh run-in period after they've been messed with.

Here is a reconditioned tickerator. There are four parts missing: a chrome "cup" that fits over the set shaft next to the glass, a wee spring, a chrome set knob, and the setscrew that holds the knob in place. They were not on the clock when I received it from the customer. I hope he held on to them because they are made of "unobtainium."

TOPOLINO HEADLIGHTS & WIRING

 Say hello to "MR T..."   I got tired of looking at empty light sockets and wired up the VW Beetle headlamp assemblies to go into the wee car. I had already installed the signal lamps in the small grille openings on each side.

 Here's the wired up light set. Beetles had the park lamps inside the glass in these headlight units.  Works OK for me---Hey! It's a 1937 car!

Even boids flyin' over think MR T looks better with his eyeballs installed!

SAAB 95/96 IGNITION KEY/SWITCH/RELAY SYSTEM

This conglomeration of wires and stuff is [left to right] 1--the steering column housing from a Saab 95/96. You are looking at it from a view you will never see when it is mounted inside the car. The steering wheel would be just beyond the TOP of the black housing. The round shiny thingy at the right center is a new, heavy-duty replacement ignition switch.  It is part of one of my new ignition key/relay systems for these cars. The relay is under the switch on the outside of the column housing.  The wire bundle is routed to plug right back into the original wires that were formerly attached to the stock ignition switch.

2--Center is the assembly jig showing the same switch, relay and wiring bundle.

3--At right is a completed system, ready to go in the box for shipment to a Saab customer who really would like to just get into his car, shove in the key, turn it, start the engine and be about his business. 

These are the same items, viewed from the front. Note that the ignition key is now on the LEFT side of the column housing. SOME 95/96 cars had the 4-way flasher switch on the left. It is now on the RIGHT, for those cars. MOST 95/96's had the 4-way switch up on the panel to the left of the instruments, AND For those cars, there is a black, push-in plug that covers the ignition key hole on the right. It's a neat, bullet-proof system!

SAAB Sonett III New Ignition Switch System--Testing

Old--uhh--VINTAGE--cars tend to wear out. Or break stuff. On vintage Saabs the ignition keys/cylinders/locks get tired and finally head West. New Saab parts are NOT available, so I engineer good quality replacements that work well and are reliable. In the case of the Sonett III cars, you have it easy. All you have to do is get rid of the housing that carries the key cylinder AND the steering column lock mechanism. It is a pain in the butt anyhow. Saab 96 & 96 cars are even worse, but I'll talk about them later.

 Saab used snap off bolts to hold the mechanism to the  Sonett III steering column. I use a very sharp small chisel and ball peen hammer and back those bolts out. It is easier than you think [see drawing above]. I have a very good replacement system for the Sonett III cars, which bolts quickly back into place, right where the original assembly sat.

 I refuse to install anything I don't test first. Above is the simple test rig I use to make sure I have the replacement ignition switch system wired correctly. The bulbs light up as I turn the new switch to it's "ON" and "START" positions.

 The switch is in the "ON" position here. Current is flowing through the heavy wire that will feed 5 fused circuits in the Sonett, as well as to the coil circuit for running the engine. I got that one wired correctly--HA!

This is the prototype replacement switch/relay/wiring/mount  assembly for a Sonett III. It would be rotated 180 degrees to mount in an actual car. Once in place, all you have to do is pull the wires off the old ignition switch--one at a time--and plug 'em into the [well marked] wires shown here, and you are good to go. Pretty neat, eh?

Engine Cooling Fan Fix

Everyone needs to work on his/her Subaru Brat once in a while....assuming he/she owns a Subaru Brat. This is "MR B", my wee Subie 2 or 4 WD pickup. Neat little truck!

 MR B has two electric engine cooling fans. The No. 2 fan decided to SQUEAL at me a day or so ago. So I got the battery out of the way, and with only minor amounts of swearing, pulled the fan assembly.   

 These are the parts---fan blade, motor ass'y and mounting shroud.

 The sealed motor is NOT meant to be taken apart. So, of course, I took it apart. The shaft bushings--after only 182,000 miles--were dry. I cleaned up the armature, the shaft, the bushings and the four wee brushes, lubed the bushings and put it back together again. Works like a champ.

The assembly, ready to go back into MR B.  Good to go for another 182,000 miles. See how much fun it is to work on your Subaru!

TOPOLINO HEATER/DEFROSTER CONTROL BOX

MR T, my 1937 Fiat Topolino EuroRod, got a bit more attention during the last week. Above is the custom heater/defroster control panel that I built. The car is very small so I've attempted to make every part in the car do two or more jobs. This panel is no exception. The knob on the left controls heater fan speeds, the slides just to the right

control heat, vent and defrost on the heater "box" itself. The center orange lamp indicates when the secondary direction signal semaphores pop out and flash. The red lamp just below lights up when the emergency brake is "on". The two slides on the right control the outer air inlet door on the side of the cowl ahead of the right door, and the 3 position switch on the right controls the semaphore flashers on each side of the car.

 This shows the INSIDE of the panel and all the gubbins that go into, or onto, it. The flasher units [top right] are for 1] the regular direction signals, and 2] the semaphore flashers.  The latter are just for fun, but they were standard equipment in 1937. 

 This is the inside with all the bits mounted up. Two relays are mounted outside the box [extreme left side].The unit under the box on the left is the intermittent windshield wiper switch [a standard item on '70's-'80's Fiats], and the two flasher units are under the box on the right. It will get a lot more interesting when all the wires are added, plus the five operating cables. Like I said, I like to make one item do a lot of jobs, and this is typical of the whole car.

For some reason the front surface looks grainy in this photo. It isn't--it's smooth. The box is 10.5" wide and 2.75" high.  My wife says I'm having WAY too much fun with this little car. I just look at her and grin and say, "Yeah--ain't it great?" 

SAAB RIBBON SPEEDOMETER REBUILD

This is a "ribbon" speedometer from a model 93 or early 96 Saab. The photo below shows how the poor thing looked when I took it apart---YUK! After I took it completely apart, blew the spiders out, cleaned out the rust and general crud, it began to look a whole lot better.

 The unit has five main parts--the cast aluminum face [top], the clear plastic "glass" [behind the face], the sheet metal number panel, the cast aluminum back case, and the speedometer gubbins themselves [shown here inside the back case].

 I went through several cups of coffee getting the speed drum out and cleaned up. I had to "unfreeze" the input housing with the magnet and the primary odometer drive [extreme right, at top]. The geartrain leading to the odometer wheels was a mess, as usual, and looked like they had been underwater for a few years [they are all cleaned up here, ready to go back in the case and be properly lubed and adjusted].

I painted the case--inside and out--and polished out the badly scratched plastic "glass".  You can see that the odometer is reset to all zeros plus point four miles--the last number wheel is for tenths of a mile. I even replaced the colored  plastic for the indicator lights--seems like those litle buggers are always shot. The small one right under "SAAB" is red, the larger one below that is green. So this remnant of Saab antiquity looks and works like new once again--it's ready for another 50 years of faithful speed-O-ing.  Old Trolls are like that.

FIAT TOPOLINO----HEATER CORE CHECK

Now for a change of pace!   The top photo is my 1937...yup THIRTY-seven...FIAT Topolino ["Little Mouse"] "EuroRod".  The running gear is almost all 1980 Fiat 124 Spider--2-litre twin cam engine, 5 speed transmission, 4-wheel disc brakes, tilt wheel, and more. Saab parts include a Sonett steering rack, a 900 Turbo aluminum radiator and 99 rear suspension trailing links. Sonett coil springs are fitted on all 4 corners.

The hood/front fenders ass'y is all new fiberglass [and tilts forward as a unit] as are the rear fenders [which do NOT have wheel cut-outs]. The rear fenders are removed by taking out one bolt. The fiberglass center roof section is removed by unsnapping four convertible top over-center clamps.

The heater assembly was pirated from a Fiat 124 Special Sedan. I thought it might be wise to check the heater core and heat control valve for leaks--OUT of the car. This is  the test set-up, using a cooling system pressure tester.

The valve--top left on the core--leakd, so I replaced it. The pressure gauge has 13 psi on it, a pressure that held for 30 minutes. Good to go. One more block checked off.
Oh!  Yes, those ARE suicide doors!

SPECIAL SPEEDOMETER TOOLS--VW

So far in the speedometer reconditioning adventure, I've built close to 50 special tools. Each VDO speedo is enough different that new tools have to be figured out and built as the job progresses.  This is a VW late Beetle [not the NEW Beetle] speedo with the tools required to do the internal reconditioning of the bugger.  There are some more special tools to get the outer chrome ring, glass and inner ring off [these parts are shown laying behind the speedo unit in the photo].

Ahhh...but the formerly grimey, ugly, siezed-up speedo looks and works so GOOD when I'm done with it!

DISTRIBUTOR HELP

 My drawing shows a typical Saab V4 distributor in all its glory. Pretty wires, wire separator, condenser, and vacuum control unit [the round pot on the right side].

What the drawing doesn't show is what happens INSIDE when the distributor has a jillion miles on it, things get worn, and the engine runs a bit wonky. 

Note the drive gear at the bottom of the distributor shaft. Just above it, where the shaft passes into the distributor housing, the housing itself wears, because Bosch did not see fit to install a bushing there.





 

Here is how to test YOUR gesparker to see how bad that wear is, down at the bottom of the housing. 
Take off the distributor cap and the rotor, rotate the engine until the ignition points are OPEN, then push the center shaft toward the point, as I show here.












This is a drawing of the cam on the center shaft, and the ignition points [the points gap should be 0.016"].

Watch the points gap. Push on the center shaft. If the gap increases more than about 0.004", the wear at the bottom means the housing will have to be bored and bushed.




The drawing below shows the distributor parts. Another malady of distributors is a bad diaphragm in the vacuum chamber [shown by the unnamed arrow]. Put a hose on the pipe to the chamber and suck on it. The breaker plate must rotate anti-clockwise as you suck on it. If it does not rotate, the diaphragm has a hole in it and the vacuum control unit must be replaced.The good news is the distributor can be reconditioned and new vacuum control units are available.

VW VINTAGE VDO SPEEDOMETER REBUILD

I got into a mini-production line fit of rebuilding Volkswagen VDO speedometers. This is the mess of nasty, corroded, gummed-up parts of two speedometers from so-called "Type 3" bugs-- the Fastback and Squareback VW's of the 1960's.

Note the discoloration of the plastic "glass", which was caused by demon rust on the metal panel that supports the plastic. Both of these speedos were in pretty rough shape. The input shafts were seized up and the old grease was about the consistency of dry clay soil. I had to build a couple of new special tools for these two, even though many of their "innards" are very similar to the VDO speedos used in Saabs.

Above is one of NINE pages of sketches I made as I disassembled, cleaned, adjusted, re-lubed and reassembled these speedometers. I do this on EVERY speedometer TYPE that I rebuild--the first time I encounter one. Makes great reminder information for the NEXT time I get one of them in for reconditioning. I could never see the point of reinventing the wheel....

Here are the two reconditioned Type 3 Volkswagen speedometers. Other than some very minor scratches on the plastic "glass", they're completely reconditioned, calibrated and ready to go--good as new!

SAAB V4 COOLING SYSTEM

Saab did a lot of things right with the V4 cars, but one of the areas they could have done much better was the cooling systems. They were great for Sweden but not so great anywhere south of the 38th parallel. My "COOLING IT" book tells you not only where the weak spots are in these cooling systems, but how to test the systems and how to improve them.

The poor bugger shown in the cover drawing [above] has probably lost not only a couple of V4 cylinder head gaskets but a sexy girlfriend, thanks to the effect of an already too-small cooling system in his 96...Poor Sven...

This is one of many drawings in the book. It shows where hydraulic erosion often occurs in the timing cover mount and the water pump back plate on the V4 engine.This erosion reduces the coolant flow through the system and invites overheating. Further text explains how to repair these areas. I wrote the book to help you avoid Sven's fate, and there are many more very helpful How-To tips like this in the book.

The best major fix for a marginal cooling system is always a bigger radiator. This is a Sonett radiator equipped with dual electric fans, a MUST with a V4 with more than stock horsepower or an air conditioner. Especially if you live south of the 38th parallel. The book has all the spec's and dimensions for the fan framework as well as the wiring diagram, which shows all the switches, relays and indicator lights and where to locate them.

The bottom arrows show where the front grille sheet must be trimmed in order to use the Sonett radiator on a Saab 95 or 96 V4. The top arrow shows where fan clearance must be maintained when the Sonett radiator is used with a conventional belt driven fan. This 56-page book is jammed full of information like this, all intended to make hot weather life bearable for the little engine, and more pleasant than it was for Sven. For more information on this--or any of my books--contact me at jacksonashcraft@gmail.com. And...stay cool!

SAAB RHEOSTAT TEST SET

I always think it is a very good idea to TEST any unit or part that I have reconditioned. I test the rheostats for the proper resistance with an ohmmeter, and that is a good first step. The proof that the job was done right is to load the rheostat with instrument lamps, just like the ones in the speedometer, tachometer, clock and other gauges in your Saab.

You can see eight 2-watt instrument bulbs mounted on the test panel, along with one of my reconditioned rheostats. To the right is a 12 volt car battery. The reconditioned rheostat is hooked up and ready for the "hot check."

This photo shows all eight lamps ON. Loading the rheostat in this manner gives visual proof that the rheostat provides a smooth increase in light intensity from dim to bright as the knob is rotated. When the 'stat passes this final test, I know my reconditioning job was done right.

VINTAGE SAAB CLOCK REPAIR

Below are two examples of what some of the VDO clocks I receive for reconditioning look like when I get them. Makes me wonder how long they were under water! YUK!

The clock on the left actually had PAINT all over it, the one on the right, just a lot of CRUD. I was able to save BOTH little tickers and get them ready to tick merrily along once again.

HA! An ASSEMBLY LINE of wee clocks. These have been through the ultrasonic cleaner, using high priced chemical clock and watch cleaner, then an ultrasonic rinse, using high priced chemical rinse. They have all been lubricated with watch oil, using some surprisingly expensive oil applicator probes. The oiling process has to be done under strong magnification because the parts of the tick-tock portion of the clock are VERY SMALL.

This shows the parts of a VDO clock. From left to right---the chrome ring, a retainer ring and the plastic "glass" with the time changing knob. Next the two hands of the clock, then the clock face. The main housing or can, with the illumination light holder is the lump in the center. Almost invisible in this view is the actual tick-tock clock mechanism, which is bolted to the back of the housing. Next is the auto rewind mechanism. The white plastic part is the cover over both the clock and rewind mechanisms. Th U shaped piece is the clock retainer that holds the clock in place in the instrument panel, along with the two securing knobs. Below all that is the in-line fuse assembly that I add to all my reconditioned clocks to protect them, since most have the [blown] fusible link soldered back together with high temperature solder.

Believe it or not, This is the wee clock that was shown on the left in the first picture. It wasn't easy bringing this one back to life! It usually takes me about a week to recondition your clock and get it sent back to you. It's good to hear these little clocks ticking merrily away in a vintage Saab. E-mail me at jacksonashcraft@gmail.com for information.

SAAB WIPER MOTOR 3RD SERIES

The third series of Lucas wiper motors used by Saab for the 95V4 wagon and 96V4 sedan was an interesting combination of several Lucas units. I always make extensive rough drawings of ANY mechanical part I take apart, like the rough of this motor, shown below. That way, after the parts are all cleaned, reconditioned, painted, etc, and scattered all about, I know how it all goes back together again, with no guesswork.

While Lucas wiper motors are all similar, there are important differences. The drum wheel [lower left in the drawing] is different from one style motor to the next, as are mounts and self-park switches. Incidentally, the drawing is one of FIVE I made to further detail this Lucas motor.

This is the disassembled motor. You can see why the rough drawings are important. I have already cleaned the grunge off the outer "can" and the main mount [top, center]. I have also cleaned out 30 years or so of nasty, mostly hardened grease off the gear case and drum gear [center left]. The badly worn brush plate and wire assembly is at bottom right.

AH! NICE LIKE NEW DEPT: The armature [left] has been thoroughly cleaned and the commutator [the brass "thingie" at the center of the armature] lightly turned. The main gear case has the new brush plate assembly installed. Time for lubrication [with modern, temperature stable, non-hardening lubes] and final adjustment and assembly.

Here is the finished, assembled motor ready to go to the owner. I showed you my test bed for wiper motors in an earlier blog and this motor passed the bench test with flying colors. No reason this motor won't give years and years of reliable service.