Bearing on primary drive cover , c900/99
Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 4:33 pm
Even a n/a 8V SAAB can kill its transmission if you wait long enough!
Three weeks ago the trans in my '85 900s notchback started to get really loud in reverse. Growly, sort of sounded like gravel in the transmission. Two weeks ago, first gear started to make a very loud clicking. Alarmingly loud. So, I did what any good procrastinator would do and I just started the car in second gear all the time. I thought I'd ride that out as long as possible, but in short order things started getting worse. I could hear a little bit of the clicking in other gears too, and it popped out of gear in 2nd a few times.
I have a nice 5-speed in a chill-cast case with a Quaife differential sitting on the shop floor ready to go, so I decided to make the swap this weekend. Pulling the engine was a lousy task since it has never been out of the engine bay in it's 375,000 miles. Super grimy and I'm very nervous about getting it to ever run again since I disturbed the very crumbly wiring insulation to get the engine out.
I finally got the engine on the hoist late last night, so I started the day off prepping the new box to go on. Since my car has the earlier style horizontal barrel motor mount, I had to swap the primary drive cover from my dead box onto the new one. Here is where I ran into some trouble. The new box has a bearing that supports the lower sprocket of the primary drive by fitting into the front cover. Here is a photo of the bearing:
Here is the cover that I need to use. You can see that the casting has a place for the bearing, but it is .050" too small since it never had the final operation to mill it out for the bearing. I have TWO of these front covers, and neither is machined for the bearing.
The trans I want to put in is definitely a mutt- it is a 4 speed chill-cast case, with 5 speed guts. Scanwest just went over it when I had them install the Quaife, and gave it a clean bill of health. It was rebuilt by a fellow enthusiast within the last 6,000 miles.
My question: I can't find anything about this bearing in any of my manuals, but is there a year/engine combo that has the front cover I seek? Or can I just remove the bearing? Any suggestions on how it comes off? It looks like it is just press-fit to the shaft.
I can always modify the motor mount on the car to fit the other style, but if I don't have any choice, then that's what I'll do.
Three weeks ago the trans in my '85 900s notchback started to get really loud in reverse. Growly, sort of sounded like gravel in the transmission. Two weeks ago, first gear started to make a very loud clicking. Alarmingly loud. So, I did what any good procrastinator would do and I just started the car in second gear all the time. I thought I'd ride that out as long as possible, but in short order things started getting worse. I could hear a little bit of the clicking in other gears too, and it popped out of gear in 2nd a few times.
I have a nice 5-speed in a chill-cast case with a Quaife differential sitting on the shop floor ready to go, so I decided to make the swap this weekend. Pulling the engine was a lousy task since it has never been out of the engine bay in it's 375,000 miles. Super grimy and I'm very nervous about getting it to ever run again since I disturbed the very crumbly wiring insulation to get the engine out.
I finally got the engine on the hoist late last night, so I started the day off prepping the new box to go on. Since my car has the earlier style horizontal barrel motor mount, I had to swap the primary drive cover from my dead box onto the new one. Here is where I ran into some trouble. The new box has a bearing that supports the lower sprocket of the primary drive by fitting into the front cover. Here is a photo of the bearing:
Here is the cover that I need to use. You can see that the casting has a place for the bearing, but it is .050" too small since it never had the final operation to mill it out for the bearing. I have TWO of these front covers, and neither is machined for the bearing.
The trans I want to put in is definitely a mutt- it is a 4 speed chill-cast case, with 5 speed guts. Scanwest just went over it when I had them install the Quaife, and gave it a clean bill of health. It was rebuilt by a fellow enthusiast within the last 6,000 miles.
My question: I can't find anything about this bearing in any of my manuals, but is there a year/engine combo that has the front cover I seek? Or can I just remove the bearing? Any suggestions on how it comes off? It looks like it is just press-fit to the shaft.
I can always modify the motor mount on the car to fit the other style, but if I don't have any choice, then that's what I'll do.