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I rebuilt one...(long)
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Posted by JD From LA (more from JD From LA) on Fri, 27 Jul 2001 03:40:09 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: The 'Mother' of the 99/900 - where it came from..., Tcar, Thu, 26 Jul 2001 14:58:13
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I had a 1972 99e with the Triumph-built 1850cc motor. Saab's first engine was the 2.0 "B" engine starting in 1973 and continuing into the early US 0900 series.

God, what a horrible motor that Triumph engine was. When I started that engine, I had already built 12 FIAT twin-cams, an ALFA and two Volvo B20s. That Triumph motor rebuild was more problemmatical than ALL of the other 15 motors combined. I should've known when it took me a day and a half just to get the head unstuck from the block. Not unbolted. Unstuck. don't get me started about the non-paralell stud-and-bolt arrangement holding that head on...

Went through three bad cylinder heads to find one that didn't dissolve or have a worm hole in the casting. All the aluminum on that engine was very porous. Went through every box of TR7 valvesprings in New England to find a set with the same free height. That motor was notorious for dropping valves so I had to get all new keepers too. The .020" over Mahle pistons cost more than the gross national product of Botswana.

One of the rods wasn't cast properly. There was a huge chunk of metal missing from it so I had to find someone with another rod and have the whole engine balanced. The "forged" crankshaft was so soft, I accidently scratched it with my fingernail! Which initiated a search for someone who'd nitride-treat my crank at the last f-ing minute.

I didn't discover one of the bad heads until it was back on the block in the car and getting ready to start. Something to do with all that coolant pouring out of a spark plug hole. That was the one with a worm hole in the casting. My machinist supposedly pressure tested the head before he reconditioned it. At least he charged me for it. So I had TWO heads rebuilt.

Amazingly, the harmonic balancer as well as the tranny were problems back then. The balancer rubber parts would disintegrate from leaky front crank seals....does any of this sound familiar? Some of the problems we face now have been around for over THIRTY YEARS.

After four agonizing months and 1700 1988 dollars later, I finally got the thing back together and it purred for 88,000 miles. Unfortunately, the head really wasn't fit for no-lead gas and valve seat recession finally did it in.

If I could do it over again, I would've tossed the 1850 and installed a '73 or '74 2.0 which bolted right in and used the same fuel injection. The quality and availability of the parts was MUCH improved and one could rack up some serious miles with one. Unlike Tcar's experience, I was lucky to have that D-Jetronic setup just right and knew all the trouble spots. I had great drivability and gas mileage.

That P.O.S. motor went through three transmissions. I became so proficient at pulling the motor, I could have it sitting on the street in 90 minutes.

So if you think these 900s are a pain, let me tell ya........

I still have nightmares from that job.

JD
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