Wow, much respect for making your own parts! There are a few 99's on here so the best of luck!

 

Yeah and it was kind of fun too. The alternative was to either make do with a degrading who-knows-how-old bushing, pay ungodly amounts (if I could find one) for a NOS bushing or the solid aluminum racing version from the UK. These turned out very well and am happy to help others with the same issue.

edit: where in Connecticut are you?

 

Very cool!!!

 

I'm in Greenwich, but will most likely be moving to California later this year.

 

Can you p/m me your e-mail addy? A friend of mine has a pair of 99s, and might be interested in these, I can pass your e-mail along to him and you guys can communicate there. He doesn't do the online forum thing.

 

P.M'd

 

Nice work. I've been sitting on a brand new D rubber that I got out of Finland back in 2003. My intention was to do exactly what you've done, but I never followed through with it. I've also resisted the urge to install it in my 73, since I figured it was the last new one still in existence in the US. Since there aren't many 99's left, mass producing didn't seem to be that profitable.

 

Yeah, it would have been nice to have a nice original to make the mold from. Of two "D" that I had, one had a cracks along the top I had to fill in and the other had some wearing along the bottom I added some more material too to thicken up. Most of the imperfections in the cast pieces are just from the originals.

I'd encourage you to check out http://www.smooth-on.com/ if you ever want to go down that road and make a mold. If I had a better original and a better vacuum set up, they probably would come out perfect...but really it is a bushing that is pretty much under the car. You just want it to last and perform well.

 

Very cool. I'm not spending car money at the moment, else I'd take a set.

I'll keep this in mind.

 

Well I can make a set any time so let me know.

 

You might want to post this over at Saabrally.com as there are some 99 owners over there too.

-Chip

 

It's already posted over there, and its actually been posted to the saab 99 mailing list as well.

Paul

 

Where exactly do these go, and what do they do? These for manual racks, or power racks? Seems like every bushing on my 99 is shot, I bet these are too. Would be nice to replace while the motor is out if these are something I need.

 

These are the bushings that go on the rack where they mount to the body. I think the power steering mounts are different but I'm not positive because I've never looked up close at a power 99 rack. Both bushings are no longer available and without them steering feels mushy and the rack can actually bang around. Both racks that I removed from cars had The d-bush cracked and thinned in areas, and the tubular bush oil soaked and disintegrated.

Thanks Chip, Yeah, I actually came from the SaabRally site, I'm part of the original crew. I made these to go on my multi-purpose racer.

The rack definitely needs to be removed to install these, the bushings have to slide on from the tie rod end (with gaiter removed) and stretched over the mounting casting. Here is a picture of the prototype fitting: