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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 13 Apr 2021 :  17:32:55 Show Profile Reply with Quote
A project thread for our 1973 95 V4. It's been having a lot of works over the last 18 months, including an engine rebuild, full brake overhaul, and a great deal of welding. Some may have seen updates on the UK Saabs thread, but I'll post them again here.



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate

Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  08:37:55 Show Profile Reply with Quote
*From January 2017*

The 95 has been giving superb service as a weekend workhorse, carrying all sorts of things to and from hither and thither. The MoT was looming in September, and I knew it would fail on a blowing exhaust, and I suspected a little corrosion. In the end it did indeed fail on a gaping hole in the rear pipe, but also on a non-existent handbrake on one side, and a binding drum on that same side. So drove it home and stripped it all apart.



All came apart easily enough, and it quickly became apparent that most of the braking system was knackered. The binding rear brake was caused by a collapsed flexi hose, meaning that pair of shoes were virtually down to the rivets. The front calipers were functional but scruffy, front discs pitted, and pads were low. So I decided to renew the whole lot.

Similarly the exhaust was truly knackered, but I had a Jetex system safely stored away, waiting to be fitted.

BillJ sourced a very nice set of custom made HEL flexi hoses for the car, after I sent him approximate dimensions, in a very tasteful transparent red. Must get a photo of those as they look great 8)

The front calipers all stripped down and came off without too much of a fight, but as they looked like something from the Deep Lagoon, I sent them off for a rebuild. New seals, pistons, and a coat of paint later, they are like new. Fitted them with new discs, pads & fitting kits.

Rear drums were in good order internally - gave them a clean out, and a sanded the surface to take out some of the deeper grooves. New shoes were fitted with new springs & fixing kits, adjusters were removed, cleaned and greased, wheel cylinders were good so they stayed. Handbrake was adjusted up, and now it's very good.

Bled the system out with an Eezi-bleed, but no matter what I did I couldn't get a firm pedal. Tried pressure bleeding and pump bleeding at the same time, but no good. Noticed black mist and particles of rubber in the fluid then - master cylinder seals. John Green kindly sourced me a kit to rebuild the master cylinder.

The exhaust was literally scrap, so it was chopped strategically with a grinder. Taking the downpipes off was a little nerve wracking, as the nuts stubbornly refused to shift - liberal blow torching, wire brushing, and Plus-gassing finally saw them come loose. The inner one on the passenger side still refused, and I ended up taking out the whole stud. Getting the new Jetex downpipes to meet the headers, and match up below the car, took a couple of hours to sort out, carefully tightening up each downpipe clamp equally against the manifold studs in stages, otherwise the whole thing binds up.

This system is intended for a 96 saloon, but the only difference is that the 95 requires a six inch extension piece after the middle silencer, and the back box needed custom hangers welded on. Also, the rear wing horizontal support bracket needs modified to clear the back box. I think the tail pipe looks fantastic! The car looks like a bit of a rat rod, but not intentionally.

It's almost there - I'm badly limited for time because of work, but hopefully over the next couple of weekends I'll get the master cylinder finished, fitted, brakes bled, interior refitted, give it all a tidy up, and take it for another MoT.




1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate

Edited by - Doive on 14 Apr 2021 08:39:01
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  08:40:35 Show Profile Reply with Quote
*From October 2018*

Well it's been something of a while since I updated this thread, partly because life has been ridiculously busy, and partly because the little V4 has been a reliable little workhorse. Completely rebuilt the brakes about a year ago with all new discs, pads, shoes, flexi hoses, reconditioned calipers & a resleeved master cylinder. Also fitted a Jetex system for a 96 with a little extension piece. Been using it as a weekend runabout, and occasionally pressed into service as a standby work vehicle - it's been up to the deepest Highlands west if Inverness a few times last spring, a couple of 500 mile round trips without complaint.

Anyway, driving the little beast on a regular Sunday skip run, fully loaded with a pair of tonne sacks full of garden waste, we turned the corner into the road where the recycling centre is, hit a tiny pothole, and the engine suddenly went *clunk*... WHIRRRRRRRR. Pulled up & popped the bonnet, it immediately became apparent that the pulley had sheared off the water pump. Ah. There had been no sign of it, no nasty noises, the fan pulley has always run slightly eccentric, but nothing other than that. Emptied the bags, and drove carefully a couple of miles home, one eye permanently on the temperature gauge.

Parked up & began the strip down. Our Sonett water pump started leaking a few months ago, and I'd put off the job as it looked so horrendously awkward. The Sonett is an occasional summer show car, so we haven't really missed it, but the 95 is our everyday reliable workhorse estate, so I don't want to be without it for long. Bite the bullet & get on with it.

In about 20 minutes I had the bonnet off and headlights/grille out. Realised later the whole front panel comes away with six screws...


The offending article. You can see how greasy & oily this engine is, first purchase was a gallon of industrial degreaser.


Thermostat housing with two sheared bolts, one of which crumbled to powder. That's going to be fun to fix.


Front panel & radiator completely removed. I was very surprised how easily the whole front of the car came away, amazing design.



Water pump sections finally removed. That most awkward bolt behind the pump did cause a few problems, some guides suggest removing the engine mount to get at it, but with creative extensions on a 1/4" ratchet, it's possible without. Back plate looks in good condition, as does the engine bracket. On removal, rotating the pump revealed why it's failed - the bearing is horribly gritty and rough.



Replacement pump should be here on Thursday, then the fun of reinstallation begins...

1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  08:48:29 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Managed to get on with a bit of work today on the V4, after nearly a week of miserable wet weather. Decided to attack the snapped bolts in the thermostat housing. The first one had snapped below the surface level, which meant the only realistic way of getting it out was to drill down the centre of it, then attempt to get it out with an easy out. I've used these with success in the past, so I was moderately optimistic. Drilled down in steps, then had a go with the easy out. Heated the housing hot as I could, then ever so gently applying torque to the easy out, until it started to squeeeeek. Heated some more, Plusgas on the stud, squeek squeek... didn't budge a micron. Felt like the easy out was going to snap, so backed off and thought again.



Second bolt had broken with 1/4" proud of the surface. Ground it flat, welded a washer to it, then a nut to the washer. *Ting* Nut sheared off. Welded a bigger nut. *Ting* Bugger. Turned up the welder. *Ting* Maxed out the welder, heated the housing with a blowtorch & cooled the stud with penetrating fluid... *Ting* Oh dear. Ground it flush, drilled it out, tapped it. Tapped the other one too.



Cleaned up the water pump housing with a scraper & a nylon flap wheel, came up lovely.



Fitting a Kenlowe electric fan kit & removing the mechanical cooling fan. The bearing was starting to fail on the mechanical fan.



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  08:53:39 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Bought a few presents for the 95, new oil pressure gauge & adaptor, full set of coolant hoses, and various stainless fixings for all the brackets, etc.



It's a fairly cheap gauge & electric sender, so I'm not expecting startling accuracy, but indicative is good enough.


New hoses were far from cheap, but the condition of the ones on the car mean it's a false economy to refit them.


It's a completely miserable, dreich day here, and the car is outdoors, so it won't all be getting fitted today sadly.

1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  08:56:05 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Finally an update for the 95. Fitted up all the new bits of cooling system, and ran the car up to temperature, keeping an eye on my newly fitted oil pressure gauge to see what the psi values were. Cold idle was ~20psi - not great. However, once the 'stat opened and the car was properly up to temperature, the oil pressure dropped to ~5psi, and both warning lights were flickering. The old stat had always run cool, so the car had never really ran hot. Suspected the balance shaft bearings, as there was a bit of play in them. Rebuilding engines is slightly beyond my capabilities, so it was shipped off to the guys at Dirty Hands in Kirkcaldy to poke it with big sticks.





On stripping down everything appeared in reasonable condition, but the bearings were quite worn, and evidence of shell in the sump. Oddly enough the balance shaft bearings were in fairly good condition, no obvious signs of degradation or breakup.


One of the big ends had picked up slightly and scored it's crank journal.


The bores were also quite worn, with ovality and evidence of a lip around the top. The block was taken to Agra in Dundee, where much sucking through teeth was done on inspecting the block. They advised a 1mm overbore as a minimum. Speaking to Steve at Malbrad, he could source oversize pistons, but only in the shorter skirt 1700 size. Given the scoring to the crank, we decided to source a 1700 crank from Melle and parts to suit from Malbrad. Agra cleaned and machined the block to suit. The cam was also found to have worn lobes, so John Green kindly supplied a good one from his stash of spares.


The clutch was found to be in serviceable condition with a bit of life left, but we decided to replace it anyway. BillJ at Saabits was able to source an OE spec Sachs clutch set from Germany. The original will be relined and kept as a spare.


Finally with all the parts sourced and machining work done, the rebuild could commence. Er, well not quite. The pistons supplied were found to be 91.835mm, while the overbore was 91mm - 1mm oversize. So the block went back to Agra with pistons, to be bored to match. Works out that with the 1700 crank, this should give us a displacement of 1770cc.


The engine ready to go back into the car. Decided not to spend lots of time and money cleaning and painting everything to as-new condition. The car itself is intended to be a presentable and reliable workhorse, not a show queen.


Running the engine in now, so gentle trips around town and a few longer ones out and about. Fitted the electric cooling fan, and tweaked the carb settings to richen the mixture slightly. Runs well and pulls cleanly. First impressions are a noticeable increase in low down torque, and it seems so much more tractable at low speeds. Keeping the revs down for the first few hundred miles, so driving gently. Feels great to be behind the wheel again!

1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  08:58:44 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Been using the old lady for gradually longer and faster journeys, so drove 60 miles round trip to work last Friday. Cruised happily at 65mph on the motorway with plenty left, engine feels like it's freeing up nicely now there's 250 miles on the clock. Tweaked the mixture and idle speed again as it was pinking slightly uphill in top, but it doesn't half pull well. Oil pressure seems good too - over 50psi cold idle, only dropping to 40ish psi when hot. Another 250 miles and I'll give it an oil change from the 'running in' oil, do the valve clearances again, check various torques.





1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  09:01:33 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Now up to 500 miles on the rebuilt engine, been running it on Shell V Power with Castrol Valvemaster Plus lead additive and octane booster - it now pulls happily uphill in 4th gear, where before with the old engine it would have laboured and struggled. Time to give it a service. Been taking it to site visits with work, which have been a source of much hilarity. Most of younger guys (under 40!) have no idea what it is, and quite a few of the older guys remember them from their youth. Arriving at one site I was greeted by a welcoming party - apparently they could hear the Jetex exhaust coming over a mile away...

When parked at the office, one colleague remarked to me "you like your Saabs, have you seen that old Saab in the car park? It's falling apart, more rust than metal, and most of the paint has fallen off... the seats are falling apart... it must be ancient, it can't be safe." I assured him it was perfectly safe, thank you very much, with all new brakes, tyres, an engine rebuild, and everything was firmly attached and secure. This is the same guy who is 'nursing' an eight year old Peugeot 207SW to avoid having to replace the front wheel bearings, which are howling like wolves and at risk of imminent collapse. It's barely done 56k miles, and is riddled with electrical and mechanical faults. Old Saabs are much more dependable than modern Peugeots!



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  09:03:47 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Dropped the running in oil for a service, and am fitting an oil temperature gauge - probably overkill, but you can never have too many gauges. Was also wiring in the indicator telltale by means of a small extension loom between the column plugs, as the original setup was wired off a separate take-off from the mechanical flasher relay. The modern LED type flasher relays are so sensitive that the tiny 1.2W grain bulb is enough to trigger the relay, so the telltale needs to wired into the switched lamp side of the circuit. Easily done with a couple of diodes.

Whilst upside down under the dashboard with the seat out, I casually removed one of the warning lamps, and realised I had the right replacements in LED available, as they also fit an Austin Allegro... and thus spent a somewhat cramped two hours trying to contort hands into all sorts of positions to replace them all. Gah. Half of the illumination bulbs hadn't worked previously, so the LEDs made a big difference. All except the alternator charge light, which needs to remain as a filament bulb to allow charging.



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  09:06:48 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Revising the gauge installation on the 95, originally I installed a vacuum gauge, rev counter and voltmeter. Then I installed an oil pressure gauge in place of the voltmeter, when the low oil pressure showed up and led to the engine rebuild. Now I'm paranoid about monitoring the condition of the engine, so decided to install an oil temperature gauge in place of the vacuum gauge, and re-install the voltmeter, with moving the rev counter into a pod on the driver's screen pillar. Lots of wiring work! Decided to use terminal blocks for ease of installation, instead of bullet or spade connectors. Much neater job & easier to add to if required. All tidied up now and tucked away behind the gauges with cable ties.



Night picture after installation, with new LED bulbs. Everything is intended to be reversible, so no holes drilled anywhere.



After a 20 minute drive of mixed roads - oil pressure around ~30psi hot idle, and oil around 100C. On a longer motorway run to work it gets up to around 110C on an uphill climb at 65mph, but quickly drops away again when the load is removed. Oil pressure never drops below 30psi, so I'd say that's healthy.



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  09:10:22 Show Profile Reply with Quote
One thing I've always felt missing from the 95, and older cars on the fleet, is intermittent wipers. Fitted a kit previously to our Bond Bug, so bought the same thing for the 95 and followed a similar install for the 95. Made it so it's all reversible and no original wiring is cut or modified, could be removed in about five minutes. The dash light rheostat was completely kaput, and happily the rheostat for the intermittent kit fitted the hole exactly. I've wired it in such a way that the first position on the wiper stalk is now intermittent, with positions 2 & 3 are Speed 1 only. I would never really use Speed 2 in normal driving, so that has been isolated. It could be reinstated with an additional switch somewhere if required, but I don't think I'll miss it really.


https://flic.kr/p/2iHu6QJ

Put together a quick sketch of how the intermittent wipers were wired up - retaining all the original wiring and making it fairly simple to do.



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate

Edited by - Doive on 14 Apr 2021 09:14:02
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  09:16:19 Show Profile Reply with Quote
*From October 2020*

The 95 V4 has revealed this little bit of corrosion hidden in plain sight under the rear seat base, so that will need attended to before it sees the road again. Right through the floorpan and down beside the rear offside jacking point. Hopefully not too involved a repair.



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  09:56:25 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Well these turned out to be Famous Last Words... the more I cut, the more car that disappears. In fairness the 95 has served us well for five years with minimal welding, and coming up to 47 years old it's only fair to expect a few bits of rust appearing. This one stayed particularly well hidden though, disappointed not to have spotted it sooner. Obviously couldn't use the jacking point to get the car in the air, so drove it up two ramps on the offside, then jacked the front up and turned the ramp round to give me unhindered access to the underside. Safe & secure, and shouldn't be applying too much unusual loading on the weakened structure.

The first pass with the knotted wheel and grinder - I cut the outer sill out completely up to the B-pillar, to get access and assess the condition of the inner sill and floorpan. The back end of the closing panel disappeared in a shower of rust particles and underseal - shows how well underseal hides corrosion... upper sections of the sill looked sound enough, and a patch I let in from the outside in 2017 is clean and rust free.



Thankfull the trailing arm mount is solid, just a little light surface rust. Obligatory inaccessible rust above the exhaust into the box in front of the rear axle. Plus the rear end of the sill had rusted right through the inner, middle, and outer panels. Nasty.



Made a start on cutting out, had to extend the outer sill removal beyond the B-pillar, to deal with some further rot in the floorpan in front of this. Managed to cut out above the exhaust by releasing the clamps & carefully levering the pipe sideways on it's hangers.



Finally started cutting and welding in patches. Felt like it took ages to get to this point, and it took me all afternoon to do five patches... the back of the sill was the most awkward, it had rusted right up behind the outer wing bottom, so some blind welding resulted. Also I had no reference for what the back end of the middle sill was meant to look like, where it butts up to, and where the flanges are, so I had a guess at what seemed sensible.



These dark evenings and inclement weather don't help in getting this done...

1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate

Edited by - Doive on 14 Apr 2021 10:19:43
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  09:59:07 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Finished the welding on the rear section of floorpan and sill on the 95 V4 - a few scruffy little patches but solid enough. Once painted and undersealed on the outside it should look presentable enough. Planning to fill the sills with Dynax S50 cavity wax as well once welding all complete, so should hopefully last a long time. Jacking point cleaned up nicely and was welded back on.



While underneath the front offside measuring the distance between the jacking points, I noticed a small brown scab up behind the rear edge of the front wing. Poking with my finger quickly turned it into this hole. Hmmm. Still, better to find these things now. Removed the screws inside the door aperture to release the trailing edge of the wing to give access, but then removed the upper screws to give more access, then investigated how it was held on at the front - amazingly the wing was off in under ten minutes, without disturbing any other panels. Excellent engineering. Means I can clean and treat the inner arch as well. Of course rust creeps, so ended up removing quite a chunk of inner sill, lower sill and inner wing. Also punctured a little hole above the centre of the jacking point with the 'inspection' chisel.




Welded in the small section of splash guard first, then the lower section of the outer sill. Cleaned up and rust treated the sill above the jacking point, then formed a patch to fit over the whole rear of the jacking point from inside the sill, and welded it from above and below. The jacking points like to go soft in these locations, so hopefully strengthened this one now and won't need to go back to it any time soon. Formed a folded closing panel for the inner sill into the driver's footwell, then finally formed the panel for the inner wing closing, during the welding of which the welder ran out of wire. Typical! Plenty of zinc galvanising spray everywhere, followed by a thick coat of Electrox zinc rich primer. Next I'll clean up the inner arch and give it a couple of coats of paint & rustproofing, then get the wing back on.



I'd like to give it all a couple of coats of hammerite or similar, although we do have a gallon tin of Cromadex coach enamel that was purchased to paint the tailboard of our Austin K2. Unfortunately it quickly became clear that this was not a good colour match, and so a further batch was sourced, meaning this plum coloured paint is now spare. However, the original Toreador Red paint on the 95 has faded and discoloured to such an extent that it almost appears plum coloured, so it might not be such a bad match. I don't want to go painting too much of the original patina, as that remains part of the charm of the car.

1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  10:03:20 Show Profile Reply with Quote
Tidied up the driver's wing over the weekend. The front end of this had been brush painted in primer by someone years ago, and rust was starting to show through from behind the light. The bottom of the wing I had roughly spray painted back in 2017 in an attempt to offer slight protection against the dreaded corrosion.



Inside the wing was covered in a mixture of dirt, loose underseal, and surface rust. Cleaned both the outside and inside up, and applied a coat of Rustbuster FE123 converter all over. Once this had gone off, sprayed a coat of zinc galvanising spray, followed by a coat of Electrox zinc paint, followed by a coat of red oxide primer. Eventually it will get a coat of Dynax underbody sealant.




The outside of the wing received several coats of zinc galvanising spray, followed by several coats of red high build primer. Rummaging through my aerosol drawer, I could have sworn I had a tin of Toreador Red 'in stock', as I had used it back in 2017 on the outer offside sill repair. I couldn't find it, so the closest I had to hand was Cherry Red from our 900. Typically enough this ran out after two passes across the panel, so as a last resort I had to dig out the Henna Red I still had from my first Chevette - that car was scrapped in 2009, and I bought these tins on ebay when I still lived in my flat in Edinburgh, so they are at least 15 years old. Henna Red is more of a red oxide orange colour, but given that this car looks like something from the Sergeant Pepper album cover, I don't think an exact colour match is going to be much of a concern.



Moving on to the floorpan, ground it all back to find lots of frilly metal under the driver's heelboard. No surprise as the windscreen and door seals leak, so when it rains the floors are covered in water. Have ordered new door seals to hopefully cure this. The old bitumen underseal on the floorpans came away in great sheets, to reveal largely pristine factory finish across most of the underside, so that was a very pleasant surprise - obviously good stuff. Will replace it with the Dynax sealant, it has a very good reputation for longevity. Investigated in around the fuel line with a delicate chisel, to see if the floorpan was soft, and ended up puncturing through in two places...



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate
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Doive
V4 Fan

United Kingdom
160 Posts

Posted - 14 Apr 2021 :  10:06:27 Show Profile Reply with Quote
One side of the 95 V4 now complete, car is back on it's wheels to give access to the garage to get the Fox out. Plan going forward is to get on to the passenger side to tidy it up - hopefully(!) there will be less work on that side than there has been on the driver side.

The completed floorpan was treated inside and out to a coat of zinc galvanising etch primer, then Electrox zinc primer, then red oxide primer, then the outside received a coat of Cromadex coach paint, and finally two coats of Bilt Hamber underbody wax, while the inside received two coats of clear Dynax wax. If this starts rusting again I'll be very disappointed. The rear floor received the same, except I used the dark wax instead of the clear.



Our neighbours really love us... car still looks scruffy from above, but is now pleasingly solid underneath.



1970 95 V4 van
1972 Sonett 3
1973 95 V4 estate

Edited by - Doive on 14 Apr 2021 10:06:52
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