[wrighar]

The carlsson got a minor spruce last week, a new pair of low the level driving lamp and the old ones were so sand blasted the were almost ineffective.

Fathers departing CDE donated it's lights which have been covered for years and were like new.

Much better until Thursday when a stone went straight through one

And now, the O-rings between the engine block and water pump housing has started to leak badly i.e max to min in 1-2 days. It used to take 3-4 months to go from max to min (minor leak on the radiator fan sensor).

Going back through the docs givebn when I bought it, it had a water pump in August 2000.

Looks like more work is needed before next weekends lakes trip.

Andrew

 

[billj]

Just to make you feel better, Andrew, I'm going through grief with the Aero. Having noticed a split CV joint boot (and ordered a new one) just after Goodwood, I didn't drive it for a week. Then drove it a few miles last weekend and heard a grinding noise. Immediately suspected that perhaps we'd done the 200 mile blast around Goodwood with no grease in the joint, so bought a new joint. Tried to fit it on Wednesday, but:

a) found the real reason for the grinding noise - the wheel bearing was completely shot (rusty and falling apart).

B) damaged the inner joint while ham-fistedly removing the driveshaft (don't ask...)

Bodged it back together enough to drive the car into the garage and ordered a wheel bearing and new inner joint.

Yesterday, had another go. Fitted the wheel bearing and the outer joint. Then found the inner joint was the wrong one. Couldn't get another on a Saturday. Problem was that one of the bearings on the tripod had come apart and emptied the needle rollers into the housing. I recovered as many as I could find and dismantled the new joint to make up the shortfall. Good job, I reckoned.

Put it all together and went for a scrub-up. Then off for a test drive. Grinding was gone, but coming off my "road-test" roundabout under heavy throttle in 2nd gear, the inner joint exploded with a bang and I just managed to coast into a petrol station, where the car has been since and will remain until I can tow it home tomorrow.

Having gone back for another look (and to remove the rear towing eye so I can fit it to the CSE for tomorrow), as well as the rubber boot being history and parts of the inner joint being visible on the subframe, the housing of the joint has popped out of the diff housing a bit. There is a very slow drip of transmission fluid from there, which I'm hoping is just because the joint housing isn't all the way in to make a good seal. I hope.

My current theory is that there was a needle roller still lurking in the housing which jammed the joint. I'll be trying to get a complete assembly including the housing for plug'n'play convenience.

I'd gladly trade having to replace a water pump and lens for the mess I may be about to face. While I'll certainly try my hardest to have the car ready for the lakes, I fancy your chances more.

P.S. Anyone know where I can get a driveshaft assembly (complete with inner driver housing) for a '96 Aero manual in the next day or so? I believe any from a '94-on B234R, B234L or B204L will fit if it's from a manual car. i.e. any '94-on full pressure turbo manual. I believe the inner joint housing is handed, so I need a LH one.

I'll be trying the usual suspects (Two-stroke, et. al.)

Also, anyone know what fluid Abbott put in the transmission (I'll be asking Giles tomorrow) and where I can get some in a hurry, or something easily obtainable that will safely mix with it?

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

 

[wrighar]

That puts it into perspective.

Just seem to remember that the full turbo's and later cars gor 'big inner drivers'

Hope you haven't damages that LSD.

Andrew
whos back in the aero this week.

 

[wrighar]

PS.

Try speaking to your friendly saab dealers.

Exchange Saab boxes come with shiny new drivers.

See if they are swapping a box out and see if they will let you swap your dead driver for the one on the returning dead box.

That's how I got 2 reverse gears cogs, an input shaft and a 5th gear cog for £80.

Giles may even have a 2nd hand one...

Andrew

 

[billj]

The latest...

Thanks first of all to Mark E and Bubbles who towed me and the car home. I definitely owe him a drink or three.

Got a new (used) driver from Saab Centre (Mark E's usual garage). Went to replace it this morning, then gave up as I don't have the facilities here to repair a bl00dy great hole in the gearbox casing

A call to Abbott confirms they can pick the car up and repair it for around £400 (assuming no other damage, which they're hopeful there won't be). Don't know when yet - they'll ring me back - but I may have to time it so that payment isn't due until pay-day. As long as they can do it in time, I hope to be all set for the Castle Combe track day on 22/3.

Maybe once it's sorted out by someone who has a clue about working on cars

, it'll work properly and stop costing me money for a short while.

 

[mark e]

Bu66a! Thrice bu66a and several times over bu66a!

Sorry to hear that Bill- still, at least Abbott should be able to fix it (fingers crossed). I hope it's sorted for CC- otherwise it looks like I'll be doing a lot of passenger rides

 

[aeropilot]

Commiserations Bill,

 

[billj]

Originally posted by Mark E:
[qb]Bu66a! Thrice bu66a and several times over bu66a!   [/qb][/b]

Yes, I imagine that was more or less how it sounded...

Originally posted by Mark E:
[qb]I hope it's sorted for CC- otherwise it looks like I'll be doing a lot of passenger rides      [/qb][/b]

So do I, as I'd like one last crack at the title of "fastest 9000" before Ylee goes and spoils all the fun

The only time constraint, probably, will be that I'll have to try to arrange it such that payment doesn't fall due until the end of next week (payday). That will still leave me a week to bu66er something else up before CC.

 

[murphwiz]

So whats caused the hole?
the driveshaft??

 

[wrighar]

Yes, tell us where/how and photo the hole!

Andrew

 

[1989agoodvintage]

That will still leave me a week to bu66er something else up before CC.  [/b]

Take it easy Bill, you don't want to be crawling around CC in the CSE letting all those Ferrari's & Porsches get their revenge.

 

[billj]

Originally posted by Scaero owner:
[qb]Yes, tell us where/how and photo the hole![/qb][/b]

You rotten lot. It's peeing down outside.

OK - here you go...

Not sure yet what caused the hole. When I looked at it in the garage forecourt, the end of the driveshaft was in the inner driver housing (rattling around). On the way home, the rattling stopped at some point and now the driveshaft is out of the housing. There is a mark on the driveshaft, though (bottom left of the photo) that looks like it might have hit the corner of the wheel-arch (left) which might indicate that the shaft did indeed flail in that direction and could have struck the gearbox casing.

The entire inner tripod joint left the end of the shaft. I found the tripod and two of the bearing races lying on the subframe. The third race was nowhere to be found. It might be on the road, somewhere else on the subframe or even in the gearbox. Perhaps it's in the driver housing. On the parts I could find, there are a few little marks, but nothing conclusive, given the fact that they'd probably been ejected at high speed.

 

[mark e]

Ouch!

 

[wrighar]

ooooo that's a mess, It's like watching casualty.

I'd say it was the end of the drive shaft that contacted the box, possibly with teh tripod attached.

I wouldn;t think anything is in the box except maybe the previous contents of the hole.

Andrew