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From your Club President
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I have had a whole lot of fun last year. I have a few tangible items to show for my efforts however those items are not the whole story. As I gain in age I appreciate tangibles however I am starting to enjoy the intangibles more and more. I find myself wanting to do more socially, things you spend time doing without having something to show for it. I am looking for- ward to volunteer my time to some or- ganiztion or charity as I seem to be thriv- ing to make time more available to me, I am really starting to put myself out there to share with others my knowledge of what I have gained in the 60 years of life.
Take our Saab Club for instance. I have really enjoyed gathering as a group to tackle our Club project. Great group of friends! We all have a common interest in our cars and that is what makes us strong. If we did not have the same common in- terests, we would not have a Club. Take for instance the V-4 transmission party, It was a wonderful time to have all show up for a common cause. There are many more examples.
As long as we keep it fun, our Club will thrive. I want to thank all who put their
The Jan 14th meeting will be held at the Colorado Plus Brewpub: 6995 W 38th Ave. (38th & Reed) at 7:00PM. Topics include the Denver Auto Show, 2 club auto showings, proposed club drives, videos of the past SCNA convention and recent club projects.
hard efforts into our club also. You know who you are.
I am looking forward to many more years to come.
(Photo by Tom Nelson)
RMSC Meeting Minutes December 6thth 2013
by Jerry Danner (photos by Charles Stoyer)
The Rocky Mountain Saab Club of Colorado held our Annual Holiday Dinner event at the Fresh Fish
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Company in Denver, Colorado December 6, 2013. In recognition to all 45 members hand selected to
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attend by our Board of Directors, we wanted to ex- press our sincere appreciation for all of their hard
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work and efforts put forward to make our Rocky
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Mountain Saab Club a national success. We espe- cially wish to acknowledge everyone who helped in making SOC99 & SOC09 a huge success. We espe-
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cially want to thank the wives who diligently helped out.
This is the benefit from our hard efforts: 25 couples and 5 singles attended.
Our Rocky Mountain Saab Club paid for this spe- cial Holiday event. Cash Bar, though.
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Recall by Dave Huch
In August 2011 Kathy and I were visiting family in Southern California. I had just filled up our 2006 9- 7x, started the car, and noted that the gauge read empty. I literally got out of the car and looked under- neath to see if we were sitting in a pool of gasoline, but no; it seems the gauge was giving a faulty read- ing. We were miles from home, just ready to start our return trip and the failure occurs. Naturally.
Also, the car was now out of warranty. Naturally.
Fortunately, I knew my gas stops on the way home and in fact, the gauge started reading the more we drove, but did become intermittent.
A short time after we arrived home, on Oct 6, 2011, I brought it in to Mike Shaw and drove away $618.03 poorer but with a new fuel sensor.
The very next day someone sent out a notice on our Saab group that GM had just announced a recall no- tice for 9-7x's wherein "the NHTSA had just reached an agreement with GM that the sensor, being subject to early failure, would be replaced by GM and 50% of cost refunded to customer." I had just missed the recall and therefore, I had to apply for reimburse- ment. Naturally.
I called Mike Shaw and they hadn't heard of the re- call yet, but would research it. A week or so later I actually received a recall notice from Saab in the mail with a form to request reimbursement for repairs al- ready accomplished. I called my contact at Mike Shaw and he confirmed the recall and stated my pa- perwork was already submitted, approved internally and that I should receive my check in a couple of weeks. I told him I had the actual recall form from Saab and asked if he wanted it. He did, so I filled out the paperwork and emailed it to him, confirming his receipt of same.
The form stated that if my request is approved, I would receive a check from my dealer; if denied, I would receive a written explanation from my dealer; if incomplete, I would be advised what other docu- mentation is necessary. And if I have waited more than 30 days, I should contact the Saab Assistance Center. It was beyond thirty days and I had received none of the above. Naturally.
I called Mike Shaw first, but my rep was out that day,
so I called Saab. The man I spoke with was very helpful but stated he could find no record of my recall paperwork from Mike Shaw. He stated he could send me the check immediately, but needed to confirm how the dealer was handling it. I gave him the name of the dealer rep and he said he would call him the next morning.
The next morning I happened to be at Mike Shaw for warranty oil change on my 9-5 so I spoke to the rep in person. He said he did have a message from the Saab Center and asked what it was about. I explained I had not received my check yet. While they worked on my car, he took another copy of the paperwork from me and had his people resubmit. When my car was ready, he confirmed that the check would come from the dealer, that his person had redone the form, would walk it to the front office, and I would get my check by Thursday (today was Tuesday) or Friday.
...or Monday by next Tuesday for sure. That fol-
lowing Wednesday we were heading out to California again and I heard on the news that Saab had declared bankruptcy. And no check. Naturally. When we re- turned home, I was advised by the dealer that I was probably out-of-luck.
The following Spring, I read an article about Mike Shaw receiving an award for good customer service and I was contemplating writing him. But by the time I got around to it, he had sold the dealership to John Elway. Naturally.
That Fall (now a year after the fuel sensor repair) I was again at the dealership and spoke with the ser- vice manager. He remembered my situation and stat- ed he would again submit my paperwork. Saab North America was starting to gel again and so I agreed. A couple of weeks later, he told me that he was running into a roadblock because the system kept saying that my request already had been submitted. Indeed it had
-- several times. But no check was ever issued. He suggested waiting until early January when the GM rep would be in town so he could speak with him in person. He did and advised me later that the rep stat- ed it was a Saab responsibility.
Coincidentally, I received in late February 2012 a recall notice from Saab regarding 9-7x vehicles
Recall by Dave Huch (Continued)
which involved the driver door module which could in worst case cause fire. It only applied to vehicles in certain states due to salt air, moisture, etc. and not Colorado. [Mine was eventually inspected, deemed not to need replacement, and coated with secret sauce to prevent such a failure]. But the notice did tell me that Saab was back handling recalls and gave me a phone number to call which I eventually did. I ex- plained to the girl that I was calling not about the cur- rent recall but the earlier 2011fuel sensor recall. She stated she would be glad to help and had me scan and email the form and invoice. I received a confirmation on March 7. On March 21, I sent an email requesting status. I received a reply that they were working on the reimbursement review and that it could take 4-6 weeks for the process. So on May 1 I again asked for an update and was advised that my reimbursement was currently in review and sorry for the delay. On May 22 I emailed another inquiry and on May 24 re- ceived the response: "Your reimbursement has been processed by our warranty department and is current- ly under review by General Motors. As soon as this review is complete, you will receive a call from one of our Customer Service Reps." I never did receive a call from a Customer Service Rep, but when I checked my mail later that week in May, I was puz- zled by an envelope from North America Distribution
Services. Opening it, I was pleasantly surprised to see a check for half the repair cost for the fuel sensor.
But wait. There's more!
About a month after I received my check, I was re- searching the internet for 9-7x topics and saw a post- ing that GM had just decided to pay 100% the cost of prematurely failing fuel sensors. Naturally.
The posting quoted the revised recall notice as stating that individuals who had already been reimbursed 50% for a failure should contact the reimbursing agency. So I sent an email to Saab.
Didn't hear anything in August. Didn't hear anything in September. Didn't hear anything in Octo- ber...until...on Nov 2 [more that two years after the repair] I was puzzled by an envelope in my mailbox from North America Distribution Services. Opening it, I was pleasantly surprised to see a check for the remaining half of the repair cost for the fuel sensor.
The letter enclosed with the check stated in part: "We apologize for any inconvenience you may have expe- rienced We have reviewed your request for reim-
bursement and are happy to inform you that you are being reimbursed for the full amount of the repair.
...At Saab Parts North America, our commitment to customer satisfaction is a top priority."
Naturally!
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1958 93B Engine Swap
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Bob Buck & Tom Nelson)
My 1958 93, ever since I purchased it, had a loud en- gine growl and when you let the clutch out you hear an additional noise in the transmission. I wanted to be proactive and not destroy a perfectly good engine.
Bob Buck, Paul Bottone and myself removed the engine
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and transmission December 18, 2013. I took the en- gine out, dissembled it and found the only thing wrong was the front main ball bearing was bad, the only bad one. All the others feel very smooth. The front bearing on the crank shaft is the only bearing that can be pulled off and replaced without rebuilding the crankshaft. All others OK. Rods OK. If I needed the crankshaft rebuilt, I would send it to Tom Don- ney. I cleaned the block, pistons, honed the bores, reassembled, painted and it now looks new. I placed this engine in storage until a further date.
Transmission, after inspection, the needle bearing in the 4th gear failed taking out fourth gear and the in- put shaft. Replaced 4th gear and input shaft, inspect- ed all other bearings, replaced two syncros and put it back together.
I own a 1963 GT850 which I purchased 7 years ago. It was burned in a fire. This car was in a garage which outside his garage a car caught on fire, burnt his garage and when the fire was out only the back end of the car got burnt. The front was OK. I decided to borrow the engine to upgrade mine.
The engine in my 1958 93 has already been upgraded to a 850CC (Block # 709484 – Head # 709483 – Sin-
gle carb 44HP, Beige) and the transmission to a 4 speed steel driver and disc brakes. Until time permits for me to restore the GT850, I borrowed the engine from the 63 GT850 engine (Block# 716503 – Head # 716508 Three Carb 57HP, Red) to install in the 1958.
I noticed the #3 carb in the GT850 had the jet miss- ing. It got me curious where it went. It either was re- moved or fell out while the engine was running and went through the engine. The engine turned over eas- ily with the plugs out indicating the jet was not in the engine. I decided to take the engine apart as precau- tionary measures to inspect. Correct choice!! The #3 piston was hammered and the head was not that bad. Block was not scored. The jet was spit out at some time. I had another piston which was the same size. The crank bearings were perfectly smooth. Stripped the block, honed the cylinders, reassembled it and painted the engine red (the correct color).
Tom Nelson, Bob Buck and I came to my shop, Mile Hi Body Shop, Inc., Monday December 30th to spend
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a day to help me install it. We installed the head gas- ket, flywheel, exhaust & intake, distributor, oil pump, mounted the transmission to engine and installed the engine in the car. Installed the oil injection tank, we got it fired up. I installed a sport muffler from Tom Donney and it sounds great.
January 2, 2014 I finally took it for the first test drive and had a power loss at higher RPM. It peaked and then fell off like fuel starvation. I only had ½# pres-
1958 93B Engine Swap
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Bob Buck & Tom Nelson-continued)
sure from the original pump. I will install a inline pump to get more pressure and volume. No change. I could get the engine to starve out at ¼ throttle under
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no load and when I applied Carb cleaner from an aer- osol can directly into the carbs, the engine raced up indicating fuel starvation. After consulting Don Wol- lum & Chip Lamb, their advice was to remove the original three individual carburetors and replace them with the three carb set up with the common throttle
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plate. Don Wollum’s knowledge on carburation is remarkable. He e mailed me a diagram of his findings on the Solex Emulsion Jet Towers and explained the early carbs with the three individual carb set up, the emulsion jet tower only has 2 of the 4 fuel flutes drilled to supply fuel to the engine. The later model
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carb’s with a common throttle plate, the emulsion tube has all 4 fuel flutes open delivering more fuel to the engine. Don’s alternative option is if you want to keep the car original and pristine, the emulsion tube tower is a press fit and to remove the emulsion tube tower from the late model carb’s, which has 4 flutes, and install them in the original three individual carb set-up. To me the car was not original so I decided to upgrade to the late model 3 carb setup. The car now screams!!
I want to thank Tom Nelson, Bob Buck, Don Wol- lum, Chip Lamb, Tom Donney, David Baugher & Tim Lepar for all the help and advice to make this Saab Scream!!
The next item of concern is to figure out a larger cooling system capacity for warmer weather driving now I have more power!!
V-4 Transmission Party
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Tom Nelson)
Two of our club Rocky Mountain Saab Club of Colo- rado members were in desperate need of a transmis- sion for their V-4’s Bob Buck & Wayne Brewer.
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Wayne was not in a hurry however Bob Bucks trans- mission was about ready to self-destruct at any mi- nute. It made more noise in first gear than I have ever heard a V-4 transmission make. I felt sorry for Bob as I told him not to go farther than a one mile radius from his house. Bob Buck and I assembled his trans- mission earlier.
So we had a transmission party at Jerry Danner’s home.
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I collected three of the 12 transmissions I have, dis- sembled them to inspect, clean up and get ready to assemble as a group. We corralled 11 of our club
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members to come over to see how transmissions are assembled. Our farthest attending members were Dave Finley from Cheyenne and from the South West Wayne Brewer Cotopaxi, Colorado.
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David Snider and I met a couple of days earlier to prep for the event. We cleaned pre-assembled and did
V-4 Transmission Party
by Jerry Danner (Photos by Tom Nelson-continued)
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preliminary work to make the day not turn into a long day for the group.
Saturday morning we gathered around 9:00 AM. The main goal of the day is to show how there V-4 trans- missions were assembled, shimmed and inspected
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and be out at a reasonable time. We broke off as a couple of groups to do separate chores. I showed the group how to make gaskets from scratch. I demon- strated shimming of the pinion shaft. What the mark- ings on the ring & pinion means. Another group took apart a transmission from who lives in Cheyenne. We had transmission parts everywhere.
We broke for lunch to have Hot Dogs & Chips & a few beverages.
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By the day was over, we assembled Wayne’s trans- mission and he took it home with him.
Overall it was a remarkable gathering. We learned a lot about V-4 transmissions and most of all, we had a lot of fun spending garage time amongst us guys.
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