UKSaabs

I've just completed this myself

Makes a HUGE difference to the pedal feel - even though mine was a new clutch cable from Saab it still didn't adjust properly resulting in a VERY low clutch bite.

Now it bites slightly high but I can always adjust it.

Quick note - if you're like me (6 ft in all directions! ) then you may struggle getting the pedal in and out as I couldn't fit my shoulders in the footwell and retain any movement with my hands - luckily my brother is not only a skinny runt but a mechanic!

Rather than bolting the cruise bit on, I just drilled through and riveted it - depends on what you've got to hand I suppose!

FYI - asking at the motor factors it appears that any of the MK3 Astra cables are the same for the petrol variants - the diesel ones do vary though apparently. Cost of a new cable was £9 or so - well worth it.

Only bit I wasn't sure on was the placement of the 'other end' (i.e not the end that holds the cable in) of the return spring - although wherever it ended up it seems to be doing the job of holding the cable end in nicely - it's a full 90 degrees different to the Saab spring...

There were a few clicks and clunks when I used it initially - I suspect it was everything just moving back into place and it seems fine - so assuming it doesn't snap I'm happy!

FANTASTIC MOD,£5 AND IVE GOT MY CLUTCH BACK,THANKS,SAM

ok so i'm a novice car diyer how easy is it to do and can i have the part numbers for the pedal cable and spring please

I got a second-hand pedal off ebay but I don't think I got the spring with it. Is it possible to modify the Saab one?

Also, what is the part number of the Vauxhall cable I need please?

Cheers,
Chris

Very interesting thread on changing the clutch cable.
Mine squeeks, feels heavy and needs to be depressed almost to the floor to change gear in 3rd or reverse so the symptoms are all there.

A quick search came up with this Astra cable
https://www.rapidcarparts.co.uk/#ind...rio%20III&year=

I was thinking the first in this list of 3 looked a likely candidate.
Can anyone confirm before i buy?

I need a pedal from the sound of it, but could not find an obvious vendor.
Should I just go to a breakers?

thanks

just been reading more carefully
it is suggested the astra part no i need is QCC1818

found it here for £18
https://www.rapidcarparts.co.uk/vauxhal ... tml#index/

is this the right one?

Ta
S

How the **** do i get the clutch pedal off?
I bought a cable but am stuck at first base.



I was able to remove the split pin and the nut but not the bolt.

You lot make it sound so easy.
HELP!

HI
THE CABLE IS THE SAME CAR ??
ASTRA MK 2/3 ,
IL TRY THIS FIX
YOU WOULDENT HAVE A PART NUMBER FOR THE CABLE??
THANKS FOR THIS TIP
JUGTRADER

Once the nut etc is off just tap the bolt out with something. I think I just used the end of the spanner?

You might need to 'wiggle' the pedal at the same time to free it all up. Also remove the cable if you can get to it already - less to obstruct it!

To help a few confused people:

You can use a pedal from a Mk2 or a Mk3 Astra, or a Mk3 Cavalier or a Calibra. They're all the same and it doesn't matter what engine it has, but I'd stick to a petrol one to be safe.
The same is true of the cable.
For reference, I simply got the pedal and the cable from a 1.4 single point injection Mk3 Astra LS from the local breakers. The only check I made was that I could easily press the pedal to the floor with my hand. Quite a lot have frayed, or the grease has simply dried up.
Annoyingly if the pedal spindle has been dry for a while, it can have a groove worn into it by the pedal. If you can't knock it out as suggested (as happened to me in my 1.3 Mk2 Astra) then you have no choice but to remove the whole pedal cradle. I didn't look too closely at the arrangement in my Saab, but on the Mk2 it involves removing the clocks to get at a couple of nuts. There's a couple more down in the footwell, then it'll drop out. Retreat to the vice on the bench and drive the pin out. Clean up, thoroughly grease up, and refit.

Glad my little bodge has been useful to so many others!

(BTW I sold my beautiful NG900 to a guy at work as I now have a 100 mile a day commute. I've got a nice Mk4 Astra that takes care of that comfortably. But, now, I fancy a C900. Mmmmmmmm.)

Just to let people know, on a Mk3 astra I have just changed the clutch cable on my astravan the pin/bolt/shaft holding the pedal in the pedal box can seize onto the pedal. This happened to me so I couldn't remove the pedal without removing the whole pedal box cue much swearing while changing the cable as had to do it blind with my hand up behind the dash.

I must admit i thought it was a bad design but i now know its pretty good after trying to change the clutch cable on a renault clio. That is far far far worse! Still not managed it after many attempts! Clutch needs to be replace too and I am struggling to find the energy to do it.

hi from a new member just carried out this mod on my 96 900SE turbo took me a couple of hours but well worth the effort and pain.car drives like new cheers
ray

Hi thought I'd bang this post back to the top as I had my cable snap on me in Cardiff, a whole 180 miles from home, after much messing around with a local backstreet garage over there and them struggling to get hold of a saab cable I decided after talking to Wes at Notts Saab to just drive it home and I must say driving without a clutch isn't as hard as I thought
Right first off thanks to Astra Dan for this and after rolling around in the mud at my local scrapy I got myself an astra pedal and cable, got home and attempted to remove my saab pedal and to my surprise it had already been changed to the GM one so all I had to do was fit the cable which only took about an hour from start to finish and I now have a perfectly working clutch, mine was stiff since I bought it but I can only put this down to the old fraying.

So if anyone wants to attempt this but doesn't fancy rolling around a scrap yard I have a spare pedal and spring, just PM me and I'm sure we can strike a deal

Hi all,

ive got a saab 9-3 2001 2.2 tid with a clucth problem. Over a space of a couple of days my clutch biting point has dropped almost the floor. There is alot of free play with the pedal, it drops down about 4 inches until i can feel the clutch engage and the biting point is about an inch from the floor. This has happened over a few days as i said but is still drivable.

Im new to this so please be gentle, any ideas at what the fault could be? master cylinder? slave? or even clutch itself?

Cheers all

Could be either. If it's the slave you might be able to see fluid leaking out between the engine and box.
BTW, this thread is about cable clutches on GM900s.

Duncanwh wrote:Hi thought I'd bang this post back to the top as I had my cable snap on me in Cardiff, a whole 180 miles from home, after much messing around with a local backstreet garage over there and them struggling to get hold of a saab cable I decided after talking to Wes at Notts Saab to just drive it home and I must say driving without a clutch isn't as hard as I thought
Right first off thanks to Astra Dan for this and after rolling around in the mud at my local scrapy I got myself an astra pedal and cable, got home and attempted to remove my saab pedal and to my surprise it had already been changed to the GM one so all I had to do was fit the cable which only took about an hour from start to finish and I now have a perfectly working clutch, mine was stiff since I bought it but I can only put this down to the old fraying.

So if anyone wants to attempt this but doesn't fancy rolling around a scrap yard I have a spare pedal and spring, just PM me and I'm sure we can strike a deal

Sorry guys but I should mention the pedal has now gone, but seriously do it even if your old cable is just on its way out as the price difference is well worth the rolling around a scrap yard!

Duncan.

Did this conversion on a LHD '98 900. Must be one of the last with clutch cable. Pedal from a Kadett E (Mk2 Astra) from eBay, no spring available, went to order the spring at the Opel dealer but that was impossible (too old). Ordered a Mk3 Astra (Astra F) clutch cable, not the cheapest one - ATE 590711 (37 euro incl postage)

The plastic nut lasted exactly 10 km before it popped off.
Luckily near a DIY store where I could find M7 nuts and washers for it.

Stopped at a local garage where they suggested installing a new clutch set for 823 euro (250 for the set itself + work) but reading the internet the clutch is always this heavy. On American sites they talk about using a cable from a Nissan Sentra (B13 Sunny) which should be stronger, but actually it has M6 bolts so I'm not immediately changing the ATE cable for it.

Did the conversions here last long with that plastic nut?

This is really my only problem with the car, besides the headlight wipers not returning properly, disconnected them. No rust at all. Always has been reliable, but the first owner was a maintenance freak.

Well the plastic but (on the clutch arm?) is on million of cars wordwide. Was it a genuine cable? Mine was fine for the next owner for the next 4 years till it was written off.