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This all started with the acceptance that the brakes on my dear old 82 900T just aren't as good as they should be. Two incidents recently where I had to stop quickly to avoid an accident and almost not stopping told me that. I've driven enough cars and trucks over the years to know "we" can do better. Even my prior 82 900 n/a had better braking. Yes, the brake system is purged of air. The master cylinder (taken from the former 900) was rebuilt two years ago.
I decided to upgrade to the 86+ vented rotor system. Based on what I've read here and elsewhere, I wasn't going to get a dramatic improvement, but any improvement at all is better than none. Particularly when hot in start/stop driving. I was actually surprised to find scant information on the subject of this particular brake system retrofit here. I did find a series of "yes, I've done that to my car", but no details.
I did find a perfect donor car at one of the local parts yards - 86 SPG with less than 150K miles that was smashed in the middle side, effectively totaling it. The front end was untouched. From a look underneath, it appeared as if the car recently had some extensive maintenance work done with lots of clean parts and pieces where there should have been grime - CV boots, ball joints, a rebuilt steering rack, new radiator, and a sparkling new catalytic convertor with fresh welds and mounting bolts. The vented rotors were in great shape too, with very little wear.
I initially assumed that the only parts I needed for the retrofit were the rotors and calipers. I managed to pull both sets and was back home by Sunday midafternoon, eager to begin the swap. When it came time to fit the 86 caliper and vented rotor on my 82 steering knuckle, it became obvious there was a problem - the 82 hub was too short, causing the rotor to press against the inside caliper housing. That meant I would also need the 86 steering knuckle and hub to complete the job. Back on the car went the old calipers and solid rotor so I could drive back to pull those needed parts! But, it was already past closing time at the parts yard, so I'd have to wait til... when I didn't know.
Monday was gonna be a busy work day for me, plus there was rain in the forecast! It hadn't rained in months here in CA, and the day I really needed to be outside is the day it decides to rain! Well, it did rain quite a bit early that next day, with intermittent rain expected throughout the remainder of the day. I managed to plow through a lot of office work, then decided to go for it, rain be damned. Good thing I went out there as soon as I did because in the 20 hours since I'd last been there, someone had pulled both front springs! They also pulled all the ball joint mounting bolts, thus leaving the steering knuckles hanging only by the drive shafts. That made it twice as difficult to remove the axle nuts. I did manage to remount the ball joints to the a-frames, lock the opposing wheel and tranny/engine (using a pipe forced into the clutch housing) enough to loosen the axle nuts.
Just as I was about to remove knuckle #2, some guy walks up and mutters, "SAAB huh?... I had one some time back... this same year in fact. Man I spent so much money keeping that thing running..." At just that moment it began to rain hard, so I jumped into the car's interior to keep from getting soaked. The guy scurried away before he could tell me his sad SAAB story. Like I needed to hear his tale of woe! Thank you rain!
So to wrap this up, I managed to successfully mount the "new" left side vented rotor/caliper/knuckle late this afternoon. A 2 hour job. Taking a close look at the "old" knuckle, I noticed how loose the lower ball joint was - with enough play to cause a rattle. If the right side is also loose, that will go a long way toward explaining the consistent suspension rattle heard in colder temps and during the initial warm-up miles.
After the reinstall, I realigned the front wheel and took a nice long test drive this evening. All systems go. Don't know when I'll get the chance to attack side 2. Maybe Friday afternoon if I'm lucky.
posted by 152.163.19...
, Thu, 23 May 2002 09:52:59, Thu, 23 May 2002 14:48:32
, Thu, 23 May 2002 06:21:53, Thu, 23 May 2002 18:02:03
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