99/c900 Clutch Spacer Tool?

I have seen two types of diaphragm springs on 99/900 clutches. Those where the inner circumference (the bit where the fingers touch the casing) is smooth, and those where it is notched. Springs with notched circumference can only accommodate a much smaller spacer than those with smooth.

I've never figured out how anyone could ever get a normal ignition lead in either gap - they're just far too big. The notched spring you can just about squeeze a 3mm diameter wire into. The smooth you can get about 5mm-6mm spacer in, I've used 1/4" copper pipe.

The spacer is quite thick, as such I don't believe it could fit into the notched spring.

Which type of spring is it?

Casing? Do you mean behind the throw-out bearing, or somewhere else? I have the part on order already, it's only 20 bucks...

Looked like a good sized gap in there, with no feet on the pedal at the time, between the fingers and the, housing? of the clutch pressure plate. So if it's a "big" or "little", I'd say this one is "big". I know the clutch was redone in the 1980s, because I redid it.

How did the pipe work for you? If I have a small gap and the tool is for large, do you have suggestions of what to use?

I'll check as soon as I understand where I'd see notches?

Thanks a bunch, Dave Hinz

Picture the throwout bearing touching the spring fingers. Follow one of the fingers outwards, towards the circumference of the flywheel. At some point, the spring finger will be resting on the thing I'm referring to as the casing. It's all one piece, part of the spring assembly, but it's that bit of it that I'm talking about. The hole, diameter 4-5".

Sounds like it.

Right. AFAIK the two types of springs are interchangeable.

Pretty good. It hols in there nicely. Precut the pipe, and bend it to approximately the right shape.

Yes, some thick wire with an outside diameter of 3-4mm works well. We use it for domestic wiring in the UK. You must have something similar.

Ok, back to my description. Where the spring fingers rest on the edge of that 4-5" hole in the middle of the spring, some wprings instead of having a smooth hole, have little teeth sticking out of the hole circumference. Does that make any sense?

Anytime.

Got it. Will check seconds after arriving home tonight. I wish I had posted the disassembly photos already, that'd make this all easier. Sadly, my network feed is down at the moment (oak tree - line of sight wireless to a T1 at the neighbor - taller tower on the way - you know, the usual...) so I can't even connect up to my system at home and grab the pics. Ah well.

Either way, 20 bucks isn't wasted money for a tool that saves that much hassle. Should have bought one for my c900 when that clutch went at only 200,000 miles.

Anything to check for while I have it out? It's been sitting for maybe 10 years, a bit of surface rust I'll clean up (you should see the rotors...or maybe not) but I plan to reuse nearly everything.

Sounds like #6 or #4. I live across the road from an electrician who is also an old car enthusiast, so this should be a good source.

From my visual memory (which is pretty reliable), the fingers aren't anywhere near resting on that surface right now. The throwout bearing is touching the spring fingers hard enough that I can't turn it by hand. Not sure if this means it's still applying pressure or not, but those fingers are constrained in forward motion by the bearing right now, not by the ring.

(thinks)...

If that's the clutch disk I put in, which I expect it is, it was brand new and therefore thick. (pivot - thick - lever ) so, it seems to me that that gap will be largest when the clutch disk is thickest. So, I think that works for me in this case.

Anything I'm going to run into that won't be obvious to me knowing the '88 900T?

Dave

The spring fingers have been known to break, usually at the tip where they make contact with the throwout bearing. Check that they look fine.

Only big difference is that on a 99 there isn't enough room to remove the clutch shaft. So the radiator needs to come out :-(

That whole assembly is out already. I'm fully anticipating pulling at least the engine, and depending on where that rod bolt came through, maybe the tranny too. If I'm going that far, I might as well take all the easy stuff out, do a good cleaning, touch up the rust spots, and do this thing like I mean it. Not doing a full restoration, but if it's out, why not...

Dave

Having the engine out makes life so much easier. You can do the seals at the same time, check the engine mounts etc.

Wish I had my old 99...

If you are going to take the gearbox off anyway, there is no need to compress the clutch?

Oh there is! If you don't, you won't have enough clearance to remove the clutch slave and the clutch spring.

Oh, do you mean with the internal slave cylinder? Never had a 99 with one of those, mine is 1975.

Heh, I forgot about the external ones (never had one of those ;-)

Yes, I mean the internal donut shaped slave, as used on later 99s and 900s.

Only if I want to separate the tranny and the engine, which I do. And that's a _LOT_ easier to do if I put the spacer tool in when the clutch is still connected to the car's hydraulics. Ask me, er, how I know that. For the record, the official Saab service manual does _not_ mention that step in the "removing the powerplant" section, and in the part about taking out the clutch, they just say "remove the 3 bolts and remove the slave cylinder" which is most definately not gonna happen unless you've got the spacer in.

I ran into _that_ little problem when the slave cylinder went on my c900, and I had no way to depress the fingers. Bought a whole clutch kit, used a cutoff wheel in the dremel to cut all of the fingers on the clutch plate so I could get the darn thing out. Wasn't gonna reuse it anyway, but it kind of hurt to destroy parts to get it apart. Ah well.

Pictures shortly for those who want to see the gory details. No blood yet.

Dave Hinz

You do not have to remove the clutch if you are going to seperate the engine from the transmission, Just undo the bolts that hold the slave in place and it will come forward enough to allow the engine to be lifted from the box after bolts securing the engine and box are undone. The point to remember is to make sure that as you lift off the engine is to make sure that it is kept horizontal. Not wishing to piss on anybodys parade, It can be done this way and saves a lot of time and hassle. HTH, Tom.

Ah, OK, I think I see what you mean. I'm probably thinking that because you can't remove the clutch (or can you on the 99?) without the spacer tool in it, that that'd be a problem for the engine. Either way, it's all coming apart anyway...

Thanks. What's the reason for keeping horizontal, and is that the long way or side-to-side or both? I know the oil strainer is back there, but what else should I watch for?

Dont undo the bolts that hold the clutch cover on, Apart from that its no problem, You need to lift the engine off the box squarely otherwise the lip on the flywheel gets caught on the lip at the back of the box, but all will become evident as you proceed, Regards, Tom.

In my case, there were two bolts under the flywheel connecting the block and transmission. So I had to remove the clutch and the flywheel to get to these bolts..

-Aki & c900t16

Oh yes, I remember those. I am not sure if they are meant to be done up, or whether they are left over from the Triumph ancestry; the last time I didn't use them. Haynes removes the engine from the box with the clutch in place so they don't expect them to be there, but they do use lots of sealing compound across there instead so that's wht I did. My main problem was putting the oil-seal that goes round the clutch shaft in the wrong way and getting oil leaks until I thought about which way the oil was "pushing". It seems ok now.