Ugobug Chronicles

[T3Squared]

door pulls look good man! One of my favorite MK2 upgrades!

[UGoBug]

Well I figure it is time to update my blog.  I've been plugging away on the GTI, seems like I can't ever make any headway.  I fix one thing and three other things break.  Grrrr.  So I have been dealing with the overall lack of having a reverse for quite some time, well it finally got down to no reverse at all.  you slip it in the slot and the poor ol tranny says NAHHH, NO THANKS, with its ever familiar grrrrrrrnnnnnch.  I drug the replacement tranny out from my "stash" and went to town with a wire brush and about 6 cans of brake clean.  i even had some cast aluminum-in-a-can at the ready, but once it was cleaned up, it looked almost new without any paint.  but I still dabbed some here and there just for good measure.
    So two weekends ago it was SWAP TIME!  I had drafted some help from a couple friends of mine with the "remember when i helped you..." trick, but wouldn't you know it, they're helping their in-law move that weekend.  how convenient...so I made a call to Todd, and we arranged a work day.  Saturday I spent tearing the car apart, and it was at this time I realized...how do I support the engine if I have to remove the mounts??  So, I used some good ol...nig.....I mean yankee inginuity and created my own engine support.  It wasn't pretty, but it did the trick.
 
I also went ahead and rebuilt my axles, swapped out the oil pan (that looked like one of those Jamaican kettle drums from the bottom  ;D ), worked on mounting my fog lights (which I promptly BROKE, more on THAT later!) and changed out the shift linkages and clutch...
   which leads me to another thing...I was talking to Todd about my plans a few days beforehand and he goes "so did you get a different clutch disk?" and I'm like WHAAAAA?  Come to find out...there is a difference in the input shaft on certain trannys.  So off to DIP I went...and then back from DIP I came with my jaw still dragging....80 friggin bucks for just a disk...luckily I found a brand new one on CL!  Yay (Sachs, still wrapped in plastic, $20!!)  And yes, I was just going to change the disc, for all you critics out there, because I just put a new clutch kit in a year ago, and when I pulled it apart, the FW and PP still looked like new...so THERE!!

At the end of the day Saturday, I was ready to load the new tranny.  So Sunday, Todd came over and we muscled the new unit it in.  and let me just say, one person pulling a tranny out of an MK2 SUCKS!!!
 
with Todd's help, the new tranny went in in like 10 minutes, a far cry from the 1+ hours and smashed fingers and colorful language!!  8).  So we pounded back a few Arny's and by the end of the day, the GTI was back on all 4s again.

So to continue my saga, the next weekend as I fought off the remnants of the flu, i figured what the heck, i better check all the bolts and whatnot to make sure nothing worked loose.  SO i break out the jack and crawl around with my wrench, and I see a suspicious bolt sticking its head out at me.  I laid the wrench on it and gave it a good twist, and it started to get tight, and then.....it happened....we all know that feeling....when its just about to stop turrrnnnninggg aaannnnd, whoooop!! it breaks loose again....Stripped...followed by that gut-wrenching sulk.  And of course this naughty bolt would just have to be the front A-arm bolt, with a hidden nut that is NOT REPAIRABLE...so once again the car is on jacks and now I am shopping for a replacement K-member :-[ :'(  oH YEA and I forgot to mention I discover a wheel bearing giving out too while we had the tranny out.  SO that is all fixed now.

WELP, on the bright side, I managed to finally decide on a color to paint the car, and now that we have our taxes back, I will finally have the funds to plunge into paint.  also, my front lip spoiler just showed up in the mail today, so I was kinda stoked about that.  I also got a chance to start on my sub boxes.  I included a few teasers. that and I managed to get some of my upholstery fixed and started to get creative with the painting (details to come later).   Might as well, the car is parked, right?

to be continued.........

[corradojeff]

get to work bud!!!!

looking good

[jbjetta]

I wonder how long that a-arm nut had been stripped out. I want nervous replacing my front bushings as I had to pull those bushings out. And according to the book they have to be torqued down to 98lbs. Don't quote me on that but it was in the 90's. But they went back in ok. The stabilizer bar only requires 18lbs of torque. So be careful not to over tighten those or they snap.

[jbjetta]

ok I broke out my Bentley service manual. I was wrong at 98 ft lb. States "Front control arm mount to subframe bolt 96 ft lb." The rear bolt is also 96 ft lb. So I'm assuming that has been stripped for awhile or was not ever properly tightened when ever who had it apart last. It took some muscles to get my torqued down haha.

And the stabilizer torques to 18 ft lbs at the bushing clamp to subframe and the link rob to control arm. Hope that helps. I don't know if you got the Bentley manual or not. If not I can bring it over sometime if you want to check it out.

[UGoBug]

Oh yes I have a Bentley. Was the first item I bought for the car when I got it over a year ago. Its the VW bible!

Thanks for the tips, always appreciated. I was the last ome that had this apart, in fact it was just a few months ago when I put the poly bushings in.

Oh yea and some of my mechanic friends call me the "torque-nazi"because I am an absolute stickler for torque specs.  Of course I work for an aviation company and my dad is a helicopter mechanic at the same company, and evrything is torqued.  They even have a torque spec for the windshield wiper!!  That and part of that name comes from me being German!!  My theory is the manufacturer came up with a torque spec for a reason, not just to sound good!

So those bolts were originally at torque.  Not quite sure why it gave out. Unless the threads were stretched from being overtorqued from a PO (usually an impact wrench is really good at this) and they just finally gave way from thw stress of me "carvin corners!!"  Either way, the frnt a arm bolt is a hidden thread, and you can't safely repair it, so back to the drawing board

[BusDriver]

I personally have never said Torque Nazi I just thought it. I just use the German Torque specs ;-)

Goot'en tight

Oh yeah, and my shirt says "professional technicians use locktite" But I am only a Jr. expert so I don't have to use it all of the time.

[jbjetta]

I can ask my buddy. He might have an a-arm laying around he could get rid of unless you prefer to go new.

And I got in trouble thanks to you Todd >:( I read your post and I laughed out in class at a bad time... busted ;D

My dad gave me a good laugh today too. My nephew asked how old my car was. My dad chirped up with "Farfromnewgen" (Far from new again). I almost died laughing because my dad does not usually come up with stuff like that. It is a play on the VW "Fahrvergnügen" slogan if you are confused or didn't get it haha.

[UGoBug]

actually the a-arm is fine, its the K-member that is bad, but thank you!!  I gotta make a trip to the junkyard Saturday to track one down.  shouldn't be too hard.....

well that nickname never came up in recent conversation.  that particular nickname came from the friends that conveniently had -Ahemm- "other things to do" that weekend.  I picked that one up from college  ::).

[jbjetta]

But doesn't that mean you have to replace the whole subframe? I thought all of that was together. I didn't know there was a k member you could replace. I have been rather sick lately and I can't seem to keep my focus or think things through haha. Sounds like you got a lot of work a head of you if so. I will come over and help when I can. At least watch and learn something haha. It will happen to me some day too I'm sure.

[UGoBug]

Actually the K member IS the subframe. I guess I may be wrong in calling it that, but really if you look a it it is shaped like a K...so yea I gotta change out the subframe. Gonna be doing that hopefully Saturday late afternoon or Sunday, as I am tired of driving my gas-guzzler truck everywhere. Its probably looking more like Sunday, with as much stuff as I yave going on this weekend. If you want an education or want to pitch in, you are more than welcome to :)  I'll be around.

[UGoBug]

Time for an update...I finally got the car back on the road again this last weekend.  what a PITA THAT was.  The Subframe (k-member) fought me all the way, and of course it probably did not help matters that I was doing the work by myself once again. I took a trip the the bone-yard Saturday, and chose the best unit of the bunch.
Hence why they call this the K-member...

Seems like everytime I ask for some help, people scatter like mexicans in a car accident.  But anyways...i got it done. 

Here's a shot before it all went together.

SO now everything on the front end is brand new or replaced.  it was comforting to hear the ol click of the torque wrench as all the bolts were properly put in their place and torqued.  Plus while I was at it I tossed on new ball joints, tie rod ends, and sway bar bushings...which I got lucky there!!

You never know what treasures you may find at the junkyard.  this time around it was a nice 25mm Neuspeed swaybar!  I paid 13 bucks for it.  SCORE!  nice little cheap upgrade.


While I had the car apart, I started assessing the body work that is going to be needed to get it ready for paint, and it seems I am in good shape.  I have a couple little dings that i have to fill in, and I need to do some light blocking to the roof (a few waves here and there, nothing major).  That and I need to replace the doors.    unfortunately my current doors have fallen victim to the typical MK2 door ROT, as all the seams of the doors are all rusted through. 

I thought about fixing it, but then I was poking around on the Tex and found a set of big doors in excellent shape...asking $100, but I walked away with them yesterday for $80.  Score again!  glass, mirrors, and door latches included!  however, someone grafted in Audi door handles, and did a pretty crappy job.  SO now I have to decide...repair these, weld the original panels in (from the old doors) or go SHAVED.  tough call...I really like the shaved look, but with the stock side moulding trim already shaved, i am wondering if it would be too much, Plus this IS my daily driver, so I have to figure out how "custom" i want to go. ( i already planned on keyless entry...should i go handle-less, too?)

Either way, some door work, and a bit of sanding and blocking, and I will be REDDAY!

oh yea and OF COURSE, as I was assembling, I noticed the rear engine mount is getting sloppy.  go figure...it never ends   :o

OH YEA, and I never mentioned what happened to my fog lights.  now that I am not as pissed off about it, I will explain...I ordered a new set of Amber fog lights for the big bumper.  The amber fogs are ONLY available in Germany and UK, and it just so happens I have family in Germany.  So my cousin, who knew a guy who knew a guy who has an ebay store, hooked me up.  I waited THREE WEEKS to get those lights.  I finally got them, and I was so happy, and the weekend I was working on  the tranny, I had the front bumper off so i figure it was time to mount the light brackets.  I had one light in my hand while I marked the location of the bracket, and it slipped out of my hand an bounced off the concrete.  it survived this fall without a scratch, but being the fumbling idiot that I am, I tried to catch it on the rebound, and it ended up flying across the floor and smacking the floorjack, which immediately CRACKED the lens all the way across.  DAMN!!!!  >:( >:( >:(  and of course I can't just order a lense or one light.  they are sold as a pair.  down the drain went $80 bucks........oh well.  i should get new ones in another 3 weeks or so.

[jbjetta]

Sorry I did not get a hold of you on Sunday or I would have loved to help. But I had to run out of town on Saturday. I did not get back home until later Sunday. I would have loved to help you though. Maybe next time :)

[corradojeff]

sucks about the fogs...atleast you can find them... one thing i hated about the corrado

[Thanney]

OH YEA, and I never mentioned what happened to my fog lights.  now that I am not as pissed off about it, I will explain...I ordered a new set of Amber fog lights for the big bumper.  The amber fogs are ONLY available in Germany and UK, and it just so happens I have family in Germany.  So my cousin, who knew a guy who knew a guy who has an ebay store, hooked me up.  I waited THREE WEEKS to get those lights.  I finally got them, and I was so happy, and the weekend I was working on  the tranny, I had the front bumper off so i figure it was time to mount the light brackets.  I had one light in my hand while I marked the location of the bracket, and it slipped out of my hand an bounced off the concrete.  it survived this fall without a scratch, but being the fumbling idiot that I am, I tried to catch it on the rebound, and it ended up flying across the floor and smacking the floorjack, which immediately CRACKED the lens all the way across.  DAMN!!!!  >:( >:( >:(  and of course I can't just order a lense or one light.  they are sold as a pair.  down the drain went $80 bucks........oh well.  i should get new ones in another 3 weeks or so.

What is teh diameter of the lens, I can work my skilz and find them in the US for you  8)