1990 T16S Convertible restoration - Auto to Manual Conversion (and a lot more). - Page 2

Angus · #21 03-06-09

Engine nearing completion, just flywheel and clutch to attach

Aluminium flywheel – note it had no timing marks so I had to add these using a pin punch and my dremel...

Performance clutch disc, supposedly made of Kevlar ceramic or something – I bought this over 2 years ago and can’t remember the specification of it unfortunately

New pressure plate and release bearing

Angus · #22 03-06-09

Clutch and flywheel fitted.

Clutch cover fitted.

Timing marks visible through the clutch cover.

Alex · #23 03-06-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angus

Cheers! Good to be back :-) I can certainly say that the quality of CR Turbos work is second to none as will be shown in my later posts. I was amazed at how quick the turn around was to be honest, and when I got the tiurbo back it was so perfect I was convinced it was actually brand new!!!

I assume his collection / delivery is slightly different for you though as I'm not sure his man in a van would go that far North

Very pleased with the work that he did on my first TE05. Power characteristics are very good as well.

Angus · #24 03-06-09

OK, back to swapping the manual equipment over from the blue car to the convertible. This was the part of the job I was most apprehensive about as I had no info at hand from anyone who had carried out this swap on a right hand drive car. The good thing with having a donor car though is that you can literally rip it apart to clearly see how things operate instead of worrying about carefully removing individual components. My way of removing the parts I needed from the blue car was simply to remove the front seat, carpets and under carpets, the lower dash and centre console, then to fully dismantle and remove the dashboard, then remove all ventilation ducting and everything else from around the pedal assembly’s. Personally I love ripping cars apart, so this bit was a lot of fun J. I then unbolted the pedal assembly from inside the engine bay and finally from inside the cabin. You also need to unbolt the clutch master cylinder from inside the car to remove the assembly. I also dismantled the steering column to get the pedal assembly out complete.

The whole time I was doing this I was picturing the re-fitting in to the convertible, and was looking at ways to minimise the amount of disassembly of that car. When I had the manual pedal assembly on the floor and I compared it to what was in the convertible I saw that the only difference was the inclusion of a clutch pedal and connecting rod, and obviously the difference between the sizes of the brake pedals. The automatic cars share virtually the same assembly, and the holes for mounting a clutch pedal are all there. This made things a lot clearer for me, so I simply removed the clutch pedal from the manual assembly – it is connected by a washer and circlip at each end and then installed it in the convertible. This is not as simple as it sounds as you have to loosen the auto pedal assembly from both sides of the bulkhead, then disconnect the brake master cylinder connection, and disconnect the passenger side end of the brake pedal assembly, followed by carefully manoeuvring the clutch pedal assembly in place.

At this point I will start putting some pictures in, as they can explain things a lot better than I! All I will end by saying is that the installation of the clutch pedal took me just 30 minutes, but due to the awkwardness and the poor access to carry out the task it felt a lot longer.

Later on I will cover the other details with the clutch hydraulics and connection for cruise control.

The manual assembly in the blue car

Screws removed from the accelerator pedal assembly at the bulkhead

Nuts removed from bulkhead inside engine bay – these hold the drivers side of the assembly to the car

Disconnecting the accelerator cable

This picture shows the clutch master cylinder disconnected from the clutch pedal assembly

This is the connection to the brake master cylinder – it also has to be disconnected

Angus · #25 03-06-09

OK, here is the complete manual pedal assembly on the floor after being removed

To remove the clutch pedal you need to disconnect the circlip and remove the washer from each end. You can see these at the left hand side of the picture.

OK, inside the convertible now, here is what the automatic pedal assembly looked like at the passenger side end. You can see the hole for the clutch pedal to the left of the image, and you can also see that I have already removed the washer and circlip from the end of the brake pedal assembly.

This is the washer and circlip you need to remove

Inside the engine bay at the bulkhead you need to remove these nuts to allow the automatic assembly to move on the inside thereby allowing the space to fit the clutch pedal in.

You also need to remove these two nuts to allow the moving of the auto assembly. These will be re-fitted when you install the clutch master cylinder – covered later.

Angus · #26 03-06-09

This is the blanking plate removed – you will replace this with the clutch master cylinder. You can see in to the engine bay now!!

With the automatic pedal assembly loose you can now install the clutch pedal. This is the fiddly bit of the job as you will be scrambling all over the inside of the car (mostly on your back or in some awkward twisted position) to work the pedal in to its connection holes.

This picture (it’s not the best I’m afraid) attempts to show the routing to follow to get the clutch pedal in position over at the passenger side...

This one shows the pedal assembly end very close to insertion in the hole.

When you get the passenger side pushed in, move over to the drivers side...

Angus · #27 03-06-09

And she’s in!! A little more fiddling and the driver’s side connection is lifted and pushed in place. When this is done you need to put the washers and circlips on each end of the pedal assembly, then re-bolt the assembly to the bulkhead. You can install the clutch master cylinder after that.

Next install the clutch master cylinder to the bulkhead (view from engine bay)

View from inside – you can connect the pedal to the master cylinder now

You then need to connect a hose from the bottom of the fluid reservoir to the clutch master. Remember to drain the fluid before doing this!! There is a connection on the reservoir already, you just need to cut the bottom off it with a sharp knife.

Angus · #28 03-06-09

Finally – Install the clutch fluid line. You can take all clips from the donor car to connect this properly.

Next step, swap the gear selector assembly from the manual car over. This is very simple and I personally did not bother swapping the ignition barrel as I am also swapping the door locks over from the donor car.

Notice the drill bit? That locks the gear selector in to 3rd gear – this is essential when you connect the linkage to the gearbox.

If you have cruise control on your car there is one final job to be done to complete the auto to manual conversion – you need to install one extra ‘cut-out’ vacuum switch to a bracket above the clutch pedal. Luckily the bracket is already there but you will need to find a switch, a length of silicone hose, a T-piece, some short electrical cables and connectors. The job is very simple; just connect the extra switch in along with the one that is connected near the brake pedal. Here are a couple of pictures that may help. You will see the red silicone hose and T-piece; they are from the new switch.

Angus · #29 03-06-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

I assume his collection / delivery is slightly different for you though as I'm not sure his man in a van would go that far North

Very pleased with the work that he did on my first TE05. Power characteristics are very good as well.

I sent him my turbo by Royal Mail and it was couriered back to me after the job was done.

Angus · #30 03-06-09

Right – with all of that done the next thing was to get the engine back in. The next few pictures are pretty self explanatory. When I put an engine back in to a 900 I do most of the connections as I am lowering the engine back in to the car. I bolt the oil filter housing on at a suitable time, I reconnect the speedometer cable in a similar way, and the same goes with power steering pipes and some of the electrical connections etc. The only things to connect from below are the gear linkage and the drive shafts.

Angus · #31 03-06-09

With the engine in place it was just a case of reconnecting everything back up, connecting the gear linkage and then going about with the final part of the project. I had a 3” downpipe to bolt on and a nice FMIC with a selection of pipe-work to install. I also wanted to move the battery over to the passenger side of the engine bay.

3” downpipe and O2 sensors installed – one of the O2 sensors is for a lambda display unit I was going to install in the dash

Injectors and fuel rail installed

Radiator and fan installed

Trial look to see if the battery would actually fit at the passenger side – it did! Amazingly the battery tray also fitted with just a very small amount of modification. I even managed to bolt the battery tray to the underside of the engine bay using the original threaded rods on the battery tray.

Angus · #32 03-06-09

Next job fit the FMIC. This was an eBay intercooler and I must say that I was very impressed with the build quality considering the low price. The dimensions were as follows:

Here is the initial trial fit – I always knew the towing eyes would have to be removed, but at least I could now mark out the position I wanted it to be in.

Towing eyes removed using my trusty angle grinder:

Pipe work installed driver’s side then passenger side. I mostly used the original Saab aluminium pipes and all the couplers, but required 2 x 90 degree 2.5” pipes and some other rubber hoses. I cut these pipes to the correct length with the angle grinder.

Angus · #33 03-06-09

Next job was to clean and return the interior. I also repainted the door entrance sills.

From this:

To this: At this stage I remembered I had to cut the brake pedal down to size, so out came the angle grinder again, and I shaped it correctly.

To this.

3 pedals instead of two... Nice!

Full interior completed

Angus · #34 03-06-09

I now just had to sort out the drive shafts and get the bumper back on. I replaced all 4 ball joints and all 4 CV boots and grease. This is very easy to do when you have the drive shafts on the bench. To do the boots simply remove the circlip from the inner tripod and pull it off the drive shaft with a medium sized 3 jaw puller. I then removed the old boots, degreased and cleaned everything and fitted new boots before tapping the inner tripod back on with a rubber mallet.

motomartin · #35 03-06-09

excellent pics and work - a really good thread

Angus · #36 04-06-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by motomartin

excellent pics and work - a really good thread

Thanks!

unkleG'sif · #37 04-06-09

how long do you reckon it took in total....?
i reckon if you hadnt been taking so many fine pictures, she'd have been back on the road in half the time

seriously good work tho

G

Angus · #38 04-06-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by unkleG'sif

how long do you reckon it took in total....?
i reckon if you hadnt been taking so many fine pictures, she'd have been back on the road in half the time

seriously good work tho

G

Cheers! I did the auto to manual conversion and the engine and engine bay work between 29th of March and 8th May this year during my time off work (I do 6 weeks offshore 6 weeks on leave). I kept a rough diary of how long it took and it was about 80 hours total. If I had not bothered with the cleaning and painting it would have been less The cleaning and painting was probably the most time consuming part of this job though - for example painitng the engine bay took 1 week due to waiting for the paint to dry properly between coats.