karmannghias.org Blog for the Alken D2 and Sonett 3

Adam(me) got to put the trunk back together. Fairly simple task except finding the glue took some time. Heres some pics.

We had been waiting for the fuel sender and then on Wednesday it finally came! Unfortunately we didn’t take any pics and we installed it back into the car on Thursday.

With the Saab now running we will only post when new activity occurs.

We replaced the clutch line from the reservoir to the master as it was leaking. A 1/4 inch hose was used, it was really tight and we loosened it with a screw driver in the end so it would go on easier. This should end the fluid on the floor.

We were so happy it ran we didn’t do anything the rest of the week. Still waiting for the sender and need to look at the noise from the right front wheel. Actually, dad was out of town for work.

I had an idea driving home from work. The clutch and slave cylinders were replaced and the slave had some corrosion. I cleaned up the grove for the clip so I wonder if it moved. Sure enough, the clip pushed out of its postion. The allowed the cylinder to move too close to the pressure plate when double pumped. I put and extra clip in the slot that was slightly larger and it worked better. Maybe I can get a little more out of the clutch adjustment.

Good day to relax and enjoy Easter. Adam and I had a lot of fun yesterday with the Sonett. It fired up on the first try and kept running on the second.

Getting the clutch to break free was hard. We put the car on blocks under the bottom A arm to keep the car a close to the ground as possible. After about 25 tries with the car in second gear and the wheels spinning it fianlly broke free. The problem with the pressure plate was still there, it didn’t return out the whole was to meet the throw out bearing so something must be bent, but it shifts.

We taped the little one gallon gas can on the front bumper strut. Our main tank is still out waiting for the sending unit. With about a quart of gas in the can we went for a drive. Since the front cover was not on we didn’t go real fast but we needed to check everything else out. It ran good.

Brakes still don’t seem fantasic but the work. A noise comes from the right front when braking hard. Maybe it is something in the caliper of a bad bearing. More investigation is needed.

When double pumping the clutch the fork wants to hit the pressure plate, don’t know why yet.

The top of the carb leaks a little. This is the original FOMOCO carb and it performs great. We blocked off the decel valve. We took the top of the carb off, cleaned it more and put a little sealant on the back edge (there is no screw there). This along with dropping the float a little improved the leaking greatly but we can still see the gasket get wet.

It looks like the original radiator cab needs to be replaced. The plug wires from NAPA did fit, coil wire was too short. So when we take it back we will look for a radiator cap.

Well we beat Day 60 on getting the car started and driving. So heres our first strtup drive and a quick walk around.

Spent some time with Chris this morning. I asked him a question about my clutch and he was prompt to give me a call to help me think of some safe ways to free it up. Really nice person, we must have spent over 1/2 hour on the phone talking about Sonetts.

Our approach now will be to take the wheels off the car, lower it on to blocks under the front jack points, start the car (hubs will be rotating), to push in on the clutch and then hit the brakes to see if we can free the clutch from the flywheel. This would seem pretty save as a first approach.

If you have not visited his site you will enjoy his Sonett collection tucked away in the remote corner of the USA known as Maine.

Chris’s Sonett Site

National Saab holiday. No work done on the Sonett since I was out of town.

We spent some time on the fuel sender today. After some emails back and forth with Palo Alto speedometer we decided to simlutae the resistance value of the sender to make sure the gauge would display correctly. Here are some notes on what we found.

Fuel sending unit uses three wires:
black for ground – tank to body
brown for low level light – W terminal
gray for the level – terminal G

Gas Guage test:
Pull gray wire, leave it open, and turn on key, gauge should show full
Ground gray wire and turn on key, guage should show empty
Pull and ground brown wire, turn on key and red low fuel light come on

Hook 1K, 10 turn resistor between gray wire and ground. At 10 ohms the gas guage should just start to move, turn it up to 200 ohms it should peg at full.

Sender test:
Pull gray wire from G terminal on sender and leave open
Empty tank should read about 10 ohms, meter connected to ground and “G”
Full tank should read about 200 ohms, meter connected to ground and “G”
Level in between should be 10 to 200 ohms

Palo Alto couldn’t easily determine the ohms from the level sender data punched into the top of it. This is why Adam and I used the resistor to tell them the actual values. They believe a 10-180 ohm unit will work. The manual listed two part number so maybe some gauges are different.

LATER WE FOUND IT TO BE 12-178 OHMS IS A STANDARD UNIT. 12 ohms put our needle about 1/2 of the way up the red, and 178 ohms just reached the full. We told them to go ahead with the rebuild.

It looks like the low level warning is some type of contact switch to that when the level is low the brown wire grounds which in turn lights the red low level light.

The cost of the rebuild since our reistor was open will be about $200.

Here is a resource from on-line that is a good explanation of how the gauge works.

Sending Unit

In the drawing below, we simply put the 1 K resistor in the cirucuit in place of the fuel sender. When you want to measure the resistance fo the pot, you have to take it out of the circuit (remove the at least one wire) and measure across it to know the reading. We did this to confirm that the standard 12-178 ohm sending unit resistor would work.

We took some measures for the fuel sender and sent them over to Paso Speed Shop

From: Hartmut Mees <hartmut@paspeedo.com>
Subject: RE: Lipnichan Fuel Sender for Sonett III
To: “Jeff Lipnichan” <lipnichanj@yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, April 6, 2009, 7:39 PM

The way that we do it here is with an resistance substituter. We will power up the gauge and simulate the fuel sender operation. This way you can make note of the ohm values at FULL and EMPTY. The G is usually the GAUGE connection, and WK the warning contact. I usually turn the ignition on, and dial in the ohm value at the sender connection. Call me if you need any help with this.

Hartmut C. Mees

Palo Alto Speedometer, Inc.

718 Emerson Street

Palo Alto, California 94301-2410

tel : 650.323.0243

fax : 650.323.4632

www.paspeedo.com

---

From: Jeff Lipnichan [mailto:lipnichanj@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 4:56 AM
To: Hartmut Mees
Cc: Adam Lipnichan
Subject: Lipnichan Fuel Sender for Sonett III

Hello, We recently sent our fuel sender in for repair. Adam has been trying to convey some of the requirements (this is our project car) and I thought I could help. My backgound is electrical so I can try to get some more specs to help calibrate the sender/gauge if you explain what I need to measure. The gauge is part of a multi gauge in the car. Adam was going to scan and send a picture. Back at the tank, we have two wires and a ground. One wire must be for the low fuel indicator and the other for the sender. I don’t know which is which but I think the sender has a W and G and I can see from the electrical diagram which color went to which terminal. Can I hook a variable reisistor between either of these wire to ground, or between these to simulate the sender for the gauge? If you tell me the approx resistance and wattage I can try it (I don’t want to burn out the gauge). I looked through both manuals I had and the resistance was not specified, just the sending unit part number which I think Adam already supplied. I can call later if that is more helpful. Thanks, Jeff