UKSaabs

I posted this elsewhere and thought it might be useful here.

The type designation for a manual gearbox is divided into three groups of characters thus:
FM55 501 A12345
The three groups of characters are separated by spaces and contain various pieces of information about the gearbox as specified below.

The first group:
Pos. 1 - Drive F = Front-wheel drive
Pos. 2 - Type of gearbox
A = Automatic gearbox
C = ACS and manual gearbox
M = Manual gearbox
Pos. 3 - Number of forward speeds
Pos. 4 - Overall ratio in top gear (code, see table)


Code 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9
Gear
ratio 3.2 / 3.1 /3.0 / 2.9 / 2,8 / 2,7 / 2,6 / 2,5 / 2,4 / 2,3

The second group:
Pos. 5 - Engine/Car adaptation
5 = Manual gearbox adapted to engines B206I, B234I and B204L
6 = Manual gearbox adapted to engine B258I
7 = Automatic transmission adapted to B206I engine 8 = Automatic transmission adapted to B234I engine Pos. 6-7 - Development variant

The third group:
Pos. 8-13 - Serial number.
Manual gearboxes have a six character designation which starts with a letter which shows the line on which the gearbox was fitted. Each
number series consists of a five digit number.

Hi

Thank you for this great post, i need a new gearbox for my SAAB 900 - i'm currently trying to find out what gearbox my car is using, can i physically se the type designation on the gearbox??
Or can I use your method to figure it out?
My car is a 94' 900i - 2,0, the engine is a B206I this should meen the type designation is FM5x 5xx xxxxxx - how do i figure out the rest of the numbers? and how important are they?

I hope you are able to help. thanks.

Meik

Its on a plate, right on top of the gearbox, and is visible...just...especially once you clear the oil off

I have a 9-5 20t estate 03,with a 2.3t engine fitted in 09,fifth gear is now U/S.
The box is a FM55 B05,can I use a FM55 501 to repair fifth gear with,not that bothered about performance,just like it to run in fifth.