9-5 NG Rescue project

[sgould]

I hope it goes well.

I came across this lot while browsing, when another owner had a problem.

https://www.majorandaspinallltd.co.uk

[carrera]

Success !  & thanks for the good wishes

Not how I anticipated it though, some notes while I remember:

The rear bolts can be removed with a 3/8" ratchet / bit, you will need a suitable C-spanner if undoing by hand. Impact gun will probably work regardless.
You did remember to leave the handbrake off so you can turn the shaft from the roadwheels, didn't you 
However, I couldn't withdraw the joint from the rear diff as I didn't have the special tool DT-49064 to press it out & it was rusty (plus warnings not to use a hammer on it)
I was satisfied that the support tool was working well, so decided to create the space to remove the front coupling by lowering the centre section, so removed the two bearing mounts
The front end was removed with the help of a 32mm open spanner (as my 38mm one was too thick) and a block of wood for the last bits

I did get some guidance from this video, especially for the front end, but he's a lot more cavalier than me in his methods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAI679iTFbM

So, with a bit of luck I'm on the home straight for getting the subframe off now, steering rack, rear engine mount & anti roll bar bits are the key bit to deal with

I don't understand why  Saab/GM didn't thread the back of the pinion flange, that would have directly applied force onto the back of it without any special tool requirement. Oh well.

[carrera]

Well, at the end of a long day we have progress (which included doing a brake pad change on a 107 that was brought down for me to check over)

Steering rack, anti roll bar, ball joints all left connected so when it's reassembled everything should still be properly aligned

The first photo gives a comparison between Saab & Insignia/Astra. Not so different, there's the aircon pipe clips to transfer & captive nuts for the second lambda. Looks like I need to make a hole for the engine mount bolt to pass through, four underneath for the bolts for the big plastic undertray retainer, and then the meaty work.

You can see the biggest difference, the GM has a big engine bracket at the rear which needs cutting off, while I need to fabricate / transfer the bolt holes for the exhaust hanger on the Saab

You may have noticed that I have already prepared & painted the front of the subframe, hammerite satin black.   

That's it for now, I'll need to examine more carefully before I start cutting

[carrera]

Driving home i was thinking about the comparison between the subframes & one thing is now concerning me.

What about the subframe bushes.

They clearly look different. Are the GM ones later / improved, or did Saab do their usual trick of improving the original technology with better NVH performance ?

[sgould]

It's difficult to judge from the picture, but are the bushes the same external and internal dimensions?

[carrera]

They are.

Two of the bushes are common between the Saab & Insignia. Two of them appear to be unique

The Insignia that shares the same bush is the AWD version, part number 13318428, about £26 ea on ebay

I haven't been able to identify what is fitted to te Astra GTC... yet

This is proving to be helpful

https://webautocats.com/en-gb/epc/vauxhall/g09/k/4/

[carrera]

Some more field engineering this morning

I decided to see if I could extract the bushings from the Saab subframe using my portapower. Unfortunately I don't have a stand for it, so am limited to the amount of mass on the 4 post ramp.

So far all 4 of the Insignia/Astra subframe have yielded, the two front ones from the Saab, which leaves me with the rear ones which for some reason are more difficult to remove

[carrera]

Closer examination of the subframes showed that there was more difference than thought on the rear section, which was hidden until i started looking behind the Insignia rear engine mount.

Consequently the subframes have been taken to a specialist for evaluation. He agreed that it's probably best to cut the rear of the Saab subframe into the GM one. He's going to evaluate further & call me tomorrow.

On the bushes, I didn;t get any more out, so never mind, the ones that are stuck are the common ones between Saab & Insignia. Sensible price for original parts from the local Vauxhall dealer, but there are none anywhere in the country. So they will have to get pressed out to be reused

[carrera]

The specialist hasn't given me a quote, so nothing done on the subframe yet.

Consequently I have turned my attention to the underside so the Bilt Hamber has been out. Though it appeared quite rusty underneath, it cleaned up reasonably easy, so wasn't so bad after all. The bottom of the sills showed some signs of rust which has been treated, as has the heat protector for the fuel tank. That will need some new metal adding at some point.

With the rear wheels off I noticed one of the pads had no friction material left. This seems almost commonplace now, whatever is being used to bond the friction material to the backing plate these days is not as good as it used to be 

Then I hit a snag. The piston would not wind in, nor will it rotate. I suspect the missing material has allowed the piston to come out of the bore and it is now jammed. So I guess I'll be learning how to remove the electric handbrake cables & taking the caliper off to rebuild it. 

[sgould]

I hate rear brakes.  They always cause trouble.  Even the "easy" ones on the Morris Minor were not as easy as they should be.

[carrera]

It's normally a drum vs pads dimension, drums, with shoes & springs, & retaining cups that just don't want to get into place.

Well, I had to get quite forceful to get the caliper dismantled. Curved mole grips on the piston & a lump hammer to force some initial movement. It then took quite a bit of persuasion to get to the point that the piston would come out, and even then, with  one of the seals out it really didn't want to wind back in. Anyway, it's disassembled now & the piston does screw smoothly down the adjuster.

One comment though, the pitch difference between the windback tool and the adjuster thread means you have to manually adjust the windback tool position to avoid that locking up.

I just looked at a rebuild kits & it seems I have managed to dismantle carefully

[carrera]

I have rebuilt the caliper, it's back on the car, and at least for now it seems to be working fine.

I reassembled first with just the seal in place, once the piston was aligned I was able to wind it in and out simply using the hand tool. Then came the fiddly job of getting the dust cover back on and winding the piston back in again, which was, shall we say fiddly....

The underside/chassis is painted where necessay, so she looks quite tidy now, & while I thought I had a broken spring, closer inspection showed that what looked like a fracture was simply the spring rising out of the rubber seat 

All I need is a subframe now 

[carrera]

Well, what do we have here ?

Bushes have been transferred over, I have made the holes for plastic clamp on the right hand side of the subframe (left in the image), and about to start work on the other side, you can se the first triangle I need to cut out. After that, it's simply a couple of threads for the headlight sensor and then reassembly is the reverse of dismantling, as they say in the books 

[sgould]

Is this the Insignia subframe modified, or the Saab one with the rusty bits replaced? 

[carrera]

It's the Astra/Insignia subframe, with the rear section from the Saab one cut in