UKSaabs

My GM 900, as well as the 2 others I test drove, had about 1-2" of free play in the clutch pedal, meaning you had to really concentrate on flooring the clutch pedal to get a smooth gear change. I investigated a bit and removed the pedal and cable form the car and of course found the silly ratchet mechanism built into the cable. On mine, the cable was reaching it's stop before the pedal hit it's end stop, so there was indeed a fair bit wasted travel in the pedal.
I cleaned the pivot up and smeared plenty of grease around it and the rubbish plastic hoop of the clutch cable (so eliminating the annoying sqeak) and reftted it all. I attempted to re-adjust the ratchet to take this slack up. A quick 20 mile drive yesterday ended up woth me only being able to use 3rd gear! The cable had adjusted itself somehow so I couldn't get the clutch to disengage fully. Looking at the pedal it looked the same as a Mk2/3 Astra and Mk3 Cav item, which is far better made as it has a hole for the metal end of the cable to hook into with a spring retainer, instead of the hook and plastic loop of the Saab item. Why anyone alterned this aspect of the design I just do not know. I'm assuming the ratchet is to make the whole thing maitenence free. Which never works!
So a trip to a scrappy secured me a Mk3 Astra pedal, spring and cable to prove the theory. The Vauxhall cable is about £9 instead of the ludicrous £45 for the Saab item, and has a threaded section on the gearbox end so not only can you adjust it to get the bite and release points right, you can also adjust the pedal height to your preference. Much better system I think.

Comparison pics, Saab pedal on the left with the cruise switch pad:



You can see the shape opf the pedal and the rubber is exactly the same. It literally looks like the top hoop has been cut out to use the plastic hoop system. Horrible.



So a few minutes work at the bench has the rivet ground out and the new pedal drilled and the cruise switch pad relocted to the Astra pedal with a 5mm nut and bolt:



Fitting is very easy. Simply refit in the cabin using the same spindle shaft and 15mm nut and circlip but using the Vauxhall pedal spring, then pull the slack through to the engine bay. Then lever the clutch arm back on the 'box with a breaker bar in the gearbox mount to hook the cable end in, then 'screw up' the plastic locating shoe to the point at which the arm rests naturally on the box. When you then let go of the clutch arm, the pedal is pulled tight up to the stop on the pedal. Vauxhalls don't need the pedal stop as the cable cannot be accidently be knocked off the top of the pedal due to the closed hoop on the pedal, and the spring resting against it. Using the Saab method, if the pedal stop is removed and you lifted the pedal up, the cable will simply pop off the end.

Now, not only do I get a far nicer, notch free gear change (reverse is especially better), the pedal feels more positive, is much lighter now with the pedal cleaned and greased AND the clutch judder I usd to have is now completely gone! The clutch is totally smooth and had transformed the whole feel of the car. It really did let the whole quality feel of the car down. The quiet silky smooth engine, the positive gear change, then the illusion shattered by the whole car vibrating if I pulled away with anything under 1500 revs. Now trickling along in traffic is superb.

So, for a tenner all in all a worth while little mod. Of course during the week, with the theory proved, I'll buy a brand new cable.

If this holds up for the week Dan, might be an idea to have it made a sticky.

Sounds like a sound move. Nice one.

Mods,

Worth moving to the workshop?

Thanks.

I did debate putting it in the workshop area, but wasn't sure if as many people would see it...

Hi Guys, new to the site and need some advice.
I have just had new clutch fitted to my Saab 900 2.3SE. All forward gears run smoothly but I have trouble engaging reverse, it either clunks or grates as it go's in. Would this be a clutch adjustment problem or is it more to do with the gearbox. Any advice would be great. The car goes back to the garage where the clutch was fitted on Thursday.

Thanks in advance guys,
Chalk716.

it will most likely be the reverse gear synchro, a common fault ive done mine and its still not brilliant.

That is a classic sign of a clutch dragging. It always effects reverse more as it doesn't have a synchromesh.
You can't adjust it due to the silly cable ratchet I menetioned, and the garage should have fitted a NEW cable at the same time as the clutch.

Thanks Guys, it should give me some ammunition to go in with.

Astra Dan wrote:That is a classic sign of a clutch dragging. It always effects reverse more as it doesn't have a synchromesh.
You can't adjust it due to the silly cable ratchet I menetioned, and the garage should have fitted a NEW cable at the same time as the clutch.

it does have a syncro but could be due to clutch drag but that would effect other gears too.

Are you sure? I've found nothing on mine to hint that it has, and why should it need it? It was the horrid noise mine made when going for reverse (you know, EVERY time I switched the damn thing off) unless I pushed really hard on the clutch that made me first investigate the clutch.

Also, in this scenario, it doesn't make sense that the synchro would suddenly stop working with a new clutch fitted...

ahh well they defo have one. anyhow mis read the post i thought the clutch had been replaced due to the gear selection problem, as it hasnt then yes id say you will need a new clutch cable as the ratchet has probably one on the other one. the new repair above seems a sensible one to do as before that you had to fit a hydraulic clutch off a 9-3 which costs ££££'s

Hydraulic clutches aren't a good idea when the slave is inside the box IMO.

tell me about it ive replaced enough , mine feels like its sticking too after 3k but thats another story.

Ouch!
After owning Vauxhalls for the last decade where a clutch takes under an hour and the box stays put, I'm not going to start having the box out very often!
Hence for the Saab I've got a spare box which I'm going to rebuild/ refresh, and I'll stick on during the summer with a new clutch, so it can stay on for the next 10 years/ 100k miles!

I could do a clutch on my old 99 in 30 minutes, bit of a retrograde step for saab but most modern cars are bad, try a mondeo...

Hi, I have just joined the forum after reading the OP.

I have a 96 900 se turbo and the clutch bite point is right at the bottom of the pedals travel, you only have to lift the pedal around half an inch to engage drive. The clutch itself is failry new. Would the OP assist in this, as from some searching around, it would appear that puttng washers on the clutch cable, on the engine side of the bulk head helps with this, but I would rather do a 'proper' fix.

Also, is the afrorementioned astra clucth cable a deffinate fit at a fraction of the cost? If so I shall get one ordered and get the Saab back on the road.

many Thanks and hello to everyone from a newbe

from what i have read and understand you can only use the vauxhall clutch cable of you swap the pedals over at the same time.(i stand to be corrected if ive got it wrong) this is due to the differant designs of the cabin end of the clutch cable.

im gonna do this mod myself asap,,,because the clutch is making my leg ache and the slop in the pedal is rediculous!

cheers for the idea and write-up astra dan

Yes, you need the Astra pedal and spring, but you have to rmeove the pedal to change the cable anyway, so it's actually no extra effort!

hello guys new to the site and to saab's! just bought a 900 talladega turbo 97 on a r plate, what a great car!!! but the clutch pedal was heavy and lumpy! just completed astra dans pedal/cable conversion and have to say WHAT a difference ,light ,smooth etc etc i could go on ,and all for £20 .anyway cheers for the info .

Anybody know what cable I need to ask for (model year etc) when I go to the motor factors to do this mod

Cheers
Matt

Sorted it had a look through all the vauxhall cables and went for an astra cable part number was qcc1818

For anybody thinking of doing it all I will say is it made a huge difference to the feel and well worth it for the total cost of around £20 its a real bargain mod and it only took 35-40 mins to from start to finish