1995 CSE Clutch Nightmare!

[millster]

Thanks for the tip on making sure it was out of gear.  Why that slipped my mind, I'll never know.  Anyway, she went on.  I took one of my straps off that was actually getting caught on my support beam and holding the trans up from swinging far enough to the firewall.  Once I pulled it off it practically went right on. 

Now the bad news.  It seated tight on the top right off.  I expected this having read other owners' experiences.  The locator studs are, as everyone has said, a total pain in the aft-end.  I used the forward bottom bolt to ease the fore end of the trans onto the stud and that worked great.  If you haven't guessed, this is where things turned to rubbish using the aft bottom bolt to try to suck that end of the trans onto its stud and into line did not go well.  Enter the classic Saab 9K trans swap rookie mistake.  Yes, I cracked the ear on the sump.  I was immediately sick.  One quick pop and there was oil in my face.  The small blessing is that since it's the one stuck up by the converter, I was working with a boxed spanner and did not have a massive amount of torque.  The crack is quite small.  Just enough to leak that bit of oil on my face when it split.  I'll epoxy it up tomorrow and expect no further problems.  We used a combination of the bolt below the starter and a block of wood on the final drive with a 5lb "persuasion device" to drive whatever was stuck into place.

So it's up there and I don't think anything's badly damaged.  Tomorrow begins the attachment of everything else and so long as I can get the shift linkage adjusted properly, a road test.

Thanks for all the help, P@K!  You've saved my tailpiece numerous times and this is yet one more!

[millster]

Oi mates, it's done!
The CSE hit the road at 6:20PM MDT with a new lease on life.  I can't believe how bad that old clutch was.  It has never had a bite point so low, has never shifted so smoothly or had such an easy and smooth clutch actuation.  Simply put, she's been knackered since I bought her.  Now to put new FETs into the ECU, test the wastegate actuator (since I have a vacuum pump) and get a turbo adaptation run in.  It's got a wicked hesitation in first gear and doesn't pull full boost.  I'll get her there, though.  The clutch was the major issue.

So what did it take to get it going?  Once the trans finally popped into place, the slave refused to bleed.  I tried pressurizing the reservoir, two different types of vacuum pumps on the slave bleeder and had absolutely no luck.  Pulled a TONNE of air through it but zip for fluid.  Finally had to go radical.  Use a 6cc syringe to incrementally force DOT4 juice into the slave.  About 7 shots and when I pushed on the pedal, it had resistance and popped back up on it own.  I kept pushing fluid with the syringe until I started getting bubbles in the reservoir.  I then topped it off, put the cap back on and went to work with the MityVac.  About 10 cycles and it was pulling nary and air bubble.  I decided it was good to go at that point.  After that, I set about adjusting the shift linkage (that ended up being the easiest part of the whole process) and shortly after had her back on the road.

I have missed that car.  Ever after it taking a week just to replace a clutch and having worn my poor MS riddled body down to the nubs, I'm so glad the CSE is rolling again.  I'm pretty solidly convinced there will never be another car I will EVER love as much as my 9K.  I want another Saab at some point (I'd love a C900) but it'll just be a second car.  I'll never replace the 9000.  Just keep replacing parts until there's nothing left of it.

Thanks again mates!  I couldn't have got it done without you!

[sgould]

Well Done!

[Paul @ Kippen]

millster,

If  you ever have to bleed the clutch again then invest in a 50 ml syringe to 'back bleed' from the slave cylinder end.  Either that or find a way to get the nose of the car high in the air.  ( I drive to my local garage - clutchless changes ! ) and stick the front wheels on the hydraulic ramp.  Lift until the rear valance is almost on the ground then bleed with a standard pressure bleeder.

The problem is the geometry of the master cylinder which is positioned with a significant downward aspect.  Since the fill point from the reservoir is in the top corner air just shuttles back and forward as you pump the pedal.  The pressure bleeder doesn't generate sufficient flow to carry air from the master to the slave.  Getting the nose in the air puts the outlet from the master at the highest point.  Easy to get the air out through the slave and bleed nipple.

Paul @ Kippen.

[millster]

Thanks sgould!  I'm SO happy to have it back running.
I did have a SLIGHT incident today when I had it idling in the driveway resetting the preferences on my head unit.  Out of nowhere, it started making this horrible grating noise.  It sounded like the starter had gone haywire so I shut the car off.  The sound stopped.  I turned the key on, the noise started again.  When I turned it to start, it cranked and started.  Shutting it back off, I took to looking under the hood.  It didn't take long to notice the bent fan shroud.  I must have knelt on it while climbing around on top of the engine checking things out and bent it just enough to hit the blades when the fan ran.  A quick yank upwards and it was back to normal. 
Thing still smokes to high heaven when it warms up thanks to the broken tab on the sump, but I'll get that fixed.  Just have to get a new cat and I'm cutting the old one off, patching the hold up good and putting the new cat in place.  I figure with 220,000 miles the old cat can't possibly be any good anymore.

Thanks for the tip on the syringe size, P@K.  I had the front lifted pretty high as it was (my stands are really tall) but apparently not quite high enough.  In any case, for the next little bit I'll be carrying my little syringe with me just in case things go totally awry.