Problem Removing 85 900C Turbo Clutch

My wife's slave cylinder went out on her 85 900T with about 180k miles. This car is kind of banged up as a tree fell on it (mostly hood damage) and she backed into our snowmobile trailer (tailight and fender damage). I did not want to put a lot of money in it and so I decided to remove and rebuild the slave cylinder.

I followed directions as carefully as possible. I used Dave Hinz' IV method of clutch bleeding and filled the system back up so I could depress the clutch. Coathanger wire was too thin. A piece of vinyl hose (about the thickness of the recommended spark plug wire) was too thick. A piece of 14 guage solid copper with insulation fit.

I have the Bently manual and I have looked at the instructions on

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(very nice!). I also have a lot of tools and have been working on SAABs since 1968 or so.

I should mention that the clutch has a much wider diameter opening in the housing than shown in the Bently manual, as it is the older style clutch. It looks exactly like the one shown on

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Now I am thinking the clutch slave was not working as well as I thought. I cannot get the clutch out. It is jammed in there. Cannot get the slave out either. It seems I need a lot more clutch depression and to get something as thick as a spark plug wire in there.

Now I think the slave is shot from trying again and I am welcoming suggestions as to how to remove it. I do not have the recommended special SAAB tool for depressing the clutch when the clutch hydraulics is inoperable.

She has a "new" 93 900 Turbo ragtop but she still wants her old car back. However I plan to replace it with a 9000 as soon as I can find one and I really don't want to put a lot of money into this car as I plan to sell it.

Thanks for any assitance,

Charles.

Reply to
Charles
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You basically have 4 options:

  1. Try to get the slave to depress the spring further. This may or may not be possible.
  2. Use a crowbar to lever the clutch out of place, sliding your lever between the spring casing and the flywheel. This will damage many things (some of them part of you), but will eventually (after 2 hours) work.
  3. Cut the spring fingers off with your favourite small cutting tool (Dremel etc).
  4. Save yourself much trouble and buy/borrow/steal the Saab tool.
Reply to
Grunff

That is a crude method but it works. A more elegant method is to use studs or long bolts instead of the standard bolts that hold the clutch casing to the flywheel, and put nuts between the flywheel and the casing, after using the crowbar to make space for one nut. After going round and replacing the standard bolts one by one, you can use the inserted nuts to lift the casing evenly away from the flywheel. That will depress the springs against the slave cyl. and you can insert the special wire tool or another thick wire (spark plug cable or whatever you have). After you have the wire in, loosen all the nuts and bolts and you can take out the clutch and slave cyl.

Reply to
MH

Worked good for you, I hope? Any improvements to offer?

You don't have a 2-stroke/V4 transmission jig that you'd be willing to sell and/or measure up by any chance, would you?

Yes, the #14 sounds awful small. The "fingers" should be pushed well past flat in order to get you the clearance you need. If you're anywhere near a Saab dealer (or eeuroparts.com) you'd really, really be well served by buying the clutch pressure plate retaining tool - it's something like 20 bucks and is just the right size. It's especially nice in that it springs outwards, so you get it under the fingers, pry one at a time and it snaps into place to hold them where they need to be. Turn engine manually (flywheel teeth / lever) to get all the way around if you need to. Once you get the clearance, you'll be golden.

Ah, there you go. Get the spacer and you'll be fine. If you're anywhere near Milwaukee or Madison Wisconsin, I'll be in both of those towns this weekend and can meet you with my spacer.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Ah, I forgot that one. Yes, I've done this one and it works well but makes a hell of a mess, and of course destroys the pressure plate. But, it's the solution of last resort and is effective.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

That, is a _really_ good idea, Martin.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

in article snipped-for-privacy@wispertel.com, Charles at snipped-for-privacy@interpex.com wrote on 19/08/2005 04:24:

Hi Charles,

One of my countrymen at 900 Aero dot com was kind enough to photograph and document the procedure:

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Hope that helps you,

Paul

1989 900 Turbo S
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Reply to
Paul Halliday

That's a very informative page/article! Why did he replace the entire clutch master cyl. rather than replacing the seals only?

Reply to
MH

Thanks for all suggestions. The one from MH seems to be the most useful, under the circumstances. I am going to try putting bolts and nuts on the slave (and maybe the pressure plate) to try to compress it.

It is useful to know that if the tines are not flat, you are not compressed enough. I did not see such a guideline before.

I may also buy the real SAAB tool and try pressing one tine at a time.

Dave Hinz' IV method of bleeding the clutch works well and my only addition (this is the third time I've used it) is don't throw out the bulb on the turkey baster, it can cover the "reservoir" when not in use and can be used afterwards to suck the dirty fluid from the reservoir.

I will let you know how it works out and I will pass my comments and pictures on to FixMySaab.com!

Charles.

Reply to
Charles

I tried putting bolts under the slave cylinder and bolts through and it seems to be working. I used 1/4-20 bolts and nuts (I am in the USA - Colorado).

I have now got about 1/2 inch clearance between the rear of the slave and the housing. It will not go any further and the tines are pretty flat. If I get the right "keeper" in there I should be able to get the damn thing out.

Does anyone know where to get the special SAAB keeper tool online?

Where is a good place to buy the rest of the parts online?

Otherwise I will try Mile Hi Body Shop as they usually have good prices too.

Charles.

Reply to
Charles

eeuroparts, but, seeing that you're in Denver, I'd call:

...those guys. Do they still have that line of 96's stacked up towards the back fence?

Dave Hinz

Reply to
Dave Hinz

I was just there the other day. We took our "new to us" 93 900 T ragtop in for some turbo and ABS work.

I noticed Jerry has a 95, 96 and a partly there 97 on the south side. I did not inspect what is in the yard. I'll check next time I go down.

Charles.

Reply to
Charles

I will relate my clutch depressing method.

I cut up a piece of striaght square bar stock ($2.00 from hardware supply store) into pieces just smaller than width of pressure plate splines. I do not remember if I used the 3/16 or 1/4 inch as I bought both sizes. Using a very short pry bar (18 inch) depressed each spline individually and slipped in a piece of the stock between the spline and plate. I pried against the release bearing and did not care if it or the splines got damaged as both were being replaced anyway. This method worked really well although time consuming. I also shaped my own piece of round stock for the refitting of the new pressure plate.

Reply to
Jim

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