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Out of curiosity I went over to the Vintage board and found this post from 2006 that partly answers my question:
"SAAB did not go to metric on the chassis until 1975, and then only on some bolts. Many bolts/nuts used on SAABs are of such a size that similar metric and SAE wrenches can often be used ... 1/2" is slightly smaller than 13mm, 9/16" is slightly larger than 14mm, 5/8" is slightly smaller than 16mm, 11/16' is slightly larger than 17mm, 3/4" is very close to 19mm. This is why many people insist that early SAABs have metric fasteners ... because their metric wrenches fit on most of them.
According to a statement in the 2-stroke, V-4 and early ('68-'74) 99 factory repair manuals, all fasteners are SAE except for components from other manufacturers, such as Metric for Bosch and the German Ford V-4. (The Zenith-Stromberg carbs used on the 99 might even use British Standard threads, but I don't know for sure.) This statement was modified in the 1975 manual to say that chassis fasteners are now a mixture of both SAE and Metric. (I worked for a dealer in 1974-5, and this was one of the things that they stressed at the introduction of the '75 models.) Some SAE bolts were used well into the '80s. For example, even the early C900 (I haven't worked on anything newer than '84 and this might have changed in later cars) uses the same shoulder bolts to attach the ball joints to the upper and lower control arms as were used on the 93/95/96/Sonett. The thread on these is 3/8-24 UNF (Unified National Fine) and the wrenches used are 5/8" on the bolt heads and 9/16" on the nuts. Other nuts and bolts on the suspension might be metric threads, so if you try a replacement metric nut or bolt and it goes on hard, what you're trying to thread it into probably isn't metric."
To that guy's observations on wrenches, I'd differ, never use a 9/l6" wrench on a 14mm, it has too much slop, but feel free to use a l4mm wrench on a burnt-down or rusted-away 9/16 ". Also, 7/16" is about equal to 11mm, and he said 17 mm is close to 11/16; I believe it is about spot on, as are a 3/4" and 19mm.
posted by 71.173.66...
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