9-5 NG Rescue project

[Banyaman]

They are definitely a fit, local tyre fitter confirmed,

[carrera]

Decided to put this in the thread, rather than in the what did I do to my car today, as things will be easier to find.

She passed the MOT again this week, 4 advisories

Three were for low tread on the tyres, which I knew about, the fourth was for a slightly binding NSR brake, which I fixed upon return from the MOT station. The comment was "It showed up on the machine", meaning, you wouldn't have noticed on the road, or even rotating the wheel.

He also mentioned that the drivers seat belt needed a clean as it was a bit lazy to return. So I did that this afternoon. I knew it was grimey, & decided to get access to the reel to make sure there were no other issues. You have to work upwards, removing the big bottom trim and moving up the B post to get access. These cars are put together using strong clips rather than screws, which always makes me nervous. With easy access I used washing up liquid & a steam cleaner to gently remove the crud. I also trimmed off the loose hairs coming off the belt, some of these were accumulated inside the B post as well.

In the end, the main issue was the runner at the top of the B post, which had an accumulation of crud. A quick clean with WD40 & application of silicon solved that, and in reality, that was probably all thjat I needed to do, but the belt is much cleaner as well

Then onto another "round to it" job

The drivers door check strap has never held the door open, so I set around removing the door card to get access to inspect it. More strong plastic clips !

The mechanism is essentially two plastic balls, pushed into position by springs which squeeze against the strap and nip it where the cut outs are. In my case it looks like one of the springs failed, resulting in a sieze of the plastic tappet, which was then eroded away. Given it's a Saturday afternoon, I have rebuilt the tappet using some chemical metal which I am just waiting to go off. This will hopefully be sufficient for it to operate, until I source a replacement strap & gain the courage to attack the door card again

[carrera]

The check strap was incredibly firm in the hand prior to fitting.

Once fitted, it did work, but was weak, so I started looking around for a replacement.

None available new and the Insignia part number is different, whether it is just additional plastic caps above the spring retainer I am not sure.

However, aftermarket Insignia straps are available and have the same cap arrangement as the Saab item, so I snaffled one for £13 and will simply transfer over the spring & cam mechanism

[carrera]

The replacement check strap arrived Tuesday, it came next day delivery 

So today it was time to fit it

The Insignia strap is slightly different. The strap length is a little longer, with a different A post attachment point. It would have fitted, but I wanted to retain the standard Saab opening points. The aftermarket also doesn't have the additional plastic above & below the bolt holes which will provide greater resistance to movement. Saab is better in other words 

You can see in the first photo how the strap is clamped by the two plastic domes, compressed towards each other by the springs. The contrast between old & new is quite stark, not only the rust and broken springs, but also the wear on the plastic dome

The second photo shows the car, with the door held open by the repaired strap, and the interior of an NG door. Once you have done the job once, it's only 10 minutes to remove the door "card" (which is plastic)

Look, no hands 

Time to put her completely back together now

[sgould]

Good job!

I'm surprised that the insignia is so similar.  I would have expected ~GM to have cheapened things.  I was recently in my daughter-in-laws Jaguar and my son's Hyundai i20.  Neither doors open as far as the door on either of our Saabs.