1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
After reading all the snapped cable reports here I decided to trust this list, which said "replace it" rather than our (excellent) local Saab dealership which said "wait until the clutch goes".
Job went very well - maybe 2 1/2hours total but then I was moving very slowly since working under the dash with all that wiring always scares me. Getting the big duct out is the hardest part, as Anders warned, but not all that hard (mine slipped off pretty easy, compressing it enough to get it off the dash vent was the hard part as I chose not to remove the electrics box behind it which would have made it much easier).
Little coat hanger hook trick worked GREAT -whatever you do, don't remove the pivot bolt as some have suggested here, it isn't necessay. I used a canoe strap instead of a bungy which allowed more precise adjustment(mainly because one was lying of the floor of the car) and fastened the other end to the seat release lever bar rather than the steering wheel, which pulls the pedal spring down at a steeper angle which gets it more out of the way. Rigged up a sheet of plywood on two milk cartons outside the door so I could lie semi-comfortably with my shoulder resting on the sill, hold a small 2-AA LED light in my mouth and manipulate the cable end with my right hand and the pedal with my left.
Re trick silicone Saab grease - this is expensive and there has been some question here as to how necessary it is. However, the double washer SB says to use Molycoat or "silicone grease sourced locally from a marine supply" or something like that, which suggests the reason for the special Saab grease is not that it is anything special and magical, but it is just very water resistant - which normal auto greases aren't especially, but all silicone greases are. I used some I keep around for SCUBA regulators.
Old cable actually looked fine after 87K. No fraying/broken wires at end, and still a fair amount of original grease. However, it seemed to have a fair amount of internal resistance and the new cable made a substantial, though not miraculous reduction in pedal effort - maybe 25-30% improvement, which was as much as I dared hope for, and well worth the effort. Now it feels like a fairly stiff C900 rather than some mutant exercise machine from hell. BTW my feeling after playing with it a while is that the main cause of snapped cables is that stupid nylon pivot block with doesn't really pivot - I think a strain relief sleeve at that end to distribute any bending motion, or a more effective pivot, would greatly increase life
A few people have reported that running the cable through the engine compartment was the hardest part. My cable seemed totally trapped, as if they'd built the car around it and I was thinking I'd have to bend some of the pipes when it dawned on me that the rubber thingees on the firewall end are smaller than the ones on the tranny/lever end, and the cable can is much easier snaked out working towards the front, and the new one installed working from front to back
posted by 64.35.19...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
