After months of sitting in my garage dissassembled, I finally put the engine back in the Sonett and got it back on the road. It got parked due to clutch problems. I think I solved that problem by having a pressure plate machined, then installing shims to get the release plate positioned correctly. You can read all about this clutch saga on the maintenance log.
I recently installed a bunch of fiber reinforced silicon collant lines on my RV. I had enough left over to replace all the 5/8" lines on the Saab. I got the hose from Flex Technologies, the hose part number is HH-062. It has a 0.625" I.D. (AKA 5/8") and 0.160 wall thickness. I like Silicone hose because it doesn't get hard and brittle over time, it doesn't weld itself to metal fittings, can be easily removed from fittings, and it looks swanky.
Once I had the engine and tramsission in, I went to go drive the car, pushed in on the clutch pedal, and broke the crap out of a bracket I made before. This bracket attaches the aftermarket clutch master to the OEM clutch pedal. I made it out of some thin metal and it worked fine so long as the retaining pin was all the way in. You can see my original fabrication here. Sometime over the last 6 months the retaining pin came half way out. So when I pushed in on the pedal, only one side of my crappy custom bracket took all that force, and it bent.
I made a new bracket out of 1/8" steel and let me tell you, it ain't gonna bend, ever. This thing is thick and was kind of annoying to make. Regardless, its done and plenty strong. Best of all, the retaining pin still fits, but just barely.
I have put about 100 miles on the car so far and all is good. The clutch works great. That said, my last clutch failed quickly and over a very short period of time. I won't call the clutch fixed until I can got a full oil change. Fingers crossed.
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