I'd rather be "freewheeling"!! (long, but maybe fun)) - Saab NG900 & OG9-3 Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
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I'd rather be "freewheeling"!! (long, but maybe fun))
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Posted by xq (more from xq) on Wed, 28 May 2003 20:11:54 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: Coasting in Neutral (A/T), Geoff, Sun, 25 May 2003 20:32:54
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The old Saab 93's, 95's and 96's (not to be confused with the year-- the last year for the 96's was in 1973 I think in the US) had a centrifugal clutch affair on the input shaft of the trans (that could be manually engaged with a lever under the dash). The purpose was to automatically disengage the input shaft of the transmission from the engine, if the engine revs fell below the "spin" of the transmission output shaft. This means for example, that if you are going downhill, your engine doesn't need to "power" the transmission, so the transmission disengages from the engine ("freewheels") as if you've either put the clutch in, or thrown the AT in neutral.
I've read that the reason for it was to help the 2 cycle gas/oil mix engines meet some sort of emission standard, the theory being that if your drive wheels are disengaged from the engine, you tend to let your foot off the gas, and thus aren't polluting the air so much. However...!!!
This being said, the true JOY of freewheeling was the wreckless abandon with which Old Saabs could be driven on ICE!!! I had a '71 Saab 96, (German Ford V-4 SWEET!!) and literally, when the freewheel was engaged, there was no freaking way that I ever skidded on ice or snow.
The physics were as follows-- skids are caused by unequal forces on wheels. Of course, G forces, speed, direction and weight distribution figure in, but assuming that you're not completely being an idiot, all you had to do if you lost control on ice was let your foot of the gas, stay OFF the brake, and since there was NO power or brake to the wheels, steer your way out of it. The car naturally wanted to go in the path of least resistance, which was where you pointed it.
The beauty of it was that you could feather/finesse the gas to get the freewheel to engage/disengage under almost any condition to maintain control. You could also have one hell of a fun time going down mountain roads at 600 rpm doing 90 miles an hour!!
To this day, especially in snow, I still use the clutch (this simulates freewheel) to get out of skids. There's nothing better, including ABS, if you know how to do it right.
The sad part of the freewheel was that it caused a LOT of stress on trannie bearings, especially when paired with the more powerful V-4 engine. It was nothing to have to rebuild these transaxles frequently. It did teach the willing how to truly drive though.

posted by 64.12.9...


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