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Saab 99 questions and status

Well, I'm getting the 99 Turbo back together, and have run into a couple of questions.

  1. What size nuts are used for the side and front engine mounts? Are these SAE thread rather than Metric maybe?

  1. The manual suggests loctite for the flywheel bolts - do I want blue (mild), or red (medium) here? I know I don't want green (needs a torch to loosen).

  2. I put the valve cover on already, haven't put the distributor in. Is there an easy way to decide if #1, or #4, is at the top of the compression stroke, without taking the valve cover back off?

  1. I'd like to pre-prime the oil system before starting the car. Should I just crank it without spark and fuel for a while, or is it worth it to come up with a hexagonal shaft to go into the oil pump and turn it with a drill? If the latter, which direction?

  2. There are two bolts going through the engine into the transmission case, that are behind the flywheel. I've heard that some people don't put these in, why is that? They weren't in when I took it apart, but there were more than a few missing bolts so that's not a real good indication of anything. Why would I want to leave those out?

I've got to say, it's much easier to put the engine and transmission together, and get the manifolds in place, before it goes into the car. Many of those bolts are _much_ easier to reach when there's not a car in the way.

At this point, the powerplant is in the car, the oil system is connected, the coolant hoses except for the radiator are in place, the fuel system is back in place, the wiring to the engine and starter is in and connected. All that remains is flywheel, distributor, clutch, turbo ducting, and the radiator/grill/lights assembly. Hopefully I'll be driving it by this weekend.

Dave Hinz

Reply to
Dave Hinz
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Hi, Dave,

Sorry, No clue. Guess it depends on the die you used to clean the threads off with.

Blue

Use a long screwdriver in the spark plug hole.

In past engines, I had no problem cranking the engine with the spark and fuel pump fuse pulled. Turbo engine has a lot more oil passages tho'. So I would likely pop the valve cover off while cranking the engine over. (ack, too late huh?)

I'm not sure which bolt holes you are referring to. On the left side there is a bolt hole for a bracket that may or may not be there that supports the lower radiator hose. There is a matching hole on the right side whose use escapes me. The last 99 I worked on, I put a bolt in because one of 3 bolts that held on the clutch cover broke off. That bolt hole was a good substitute.

Try to not hurry too much! Might forget something. good luck dave

Reply to
dave

(answering some of my own questions for the benefit of anyone googling for the same things later)

These are M10, it seems. For reasons I don't understand, some SAE threaded nuts found their way into what I thought were the nuts for the engine mounts, which is what was throwing me off.

Well, I know when it's at TDC, but #1 and #4 both are at the same time. My solution (will try tonight perhaps) is to leave only spark plug for #1 in, take the other 3 out. There will only then be compression on one out of 4 TDC's, and it'll be the one for #1. Should be noticable turning the engine by hand. I'll report on how that goes. If not, it's not like pulling the valve cover is a big deal.

I don't follow that at all? How does taking the valve cover off help my oil priming, or are you saying I can watch for oil at the camshaft to know that the system is full, or ???

There is an aluminum (or aluminium, if you prefer) cover on the "back" of the engine (towards the front of the car), in which is the large crank seal. At the bottom of that cover are two through-holes, which correspond to two holes in the transmission. In every 99 or

900 that I've taken apart, those bolts are not in place, and I don't know why.

Wouldn't want to do that. I've got the Saab manual _and_ a Haynes manual, so I'm making sure I get everything mentioned in both, as well as the sanity check of "any extra parts? Any extra connections?".

Dave Hinz

Reply to
Dave Hinz

Perhaps I'm a bit sloppy, but I check for TDC on #1, and install the distributor. If the timing is not right, I must be 180 out.

Yes, look for oil at the camshaft.

I don't know. I don't remember anything about missing bolts on that cover, I wasn't looking either. There are a couple of bolt holes for the flywheel stopper thing. Is that it? (that would be my guess)

dave

Reply to
dorf

True, it's not like I'm going to hurt anything if I guess wrong, it just won't fire. I guess I tend to overanalyze these sorts of things sometimes.

Will do. That solves my "which TDC" question as well, and I already noticed that this valve cover gasket leaks. Grr. The B-engine's valve cover is one of my least favorite things on that car, closely matched by the water pump. I've got a new cork one, but I'm leaning towards permatex for this one I think unless someone here gives me a good reason to avoid it there.

Dunno, I just use a longer bolt through one of the flywheel through-holes, turn it in until it's in the gap between the distributor and where the head bolts on, kept it from turning just fine for the crank bolt torque I needed.

Dave Hinz

Reply to
Dave Hinz

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