Re: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[trnsfrma@ix.netcom.com (Shawn C. Meze)]

At 08:22 AM 4/15/97 PDT, you wrote:
>
>Greetings all.
>
>My clutch went out on my 86 8v Scirocco this morning.........at a very   
>inconvenient place (wheeze, wheeze), and at a very inconvenient time ( on   
>the way to work, 1.5 miles too short)


cars and parts rarely ever break down in the driveway for you. its part of 
that other rule that says, "any tool you drop will immediately hide in some 
deep dark corner of the car being worked on. Those tools that drop to 
the ground, will immediately roll to the center of the car and stop". 
The other rule I have found to be true is that if you do a job and -DO NOT- 
somehow cut a finger or two, it simply wont work right. Either that or I 
simply manage to cut myself everytime! :)


>I have been debating whether I should buy a kit, and attempt to put it in   
>myself (with a friend with VW engine experience), or to save time, have   
>someone else put it in for me.
>Any ideas, and if I have someone put it in, what is a reasonable price?   
> I have had dealers quote me 650-700 (which I find outrageous), and my   
>normal mechanic quote me 450-500 worst case scenario.
>
>Thanks in advance for the help
>
>Jason Rappaport
>1986 8v Scirocco



Id consider myself extremely expereinced in the art of replacing a clutch. 
Well, the easy part is the actuall part of removing and installing the clutch. 
The bitch is getting the tranny in and out of the car. Depending on
 your experience and tools available, you can do the clutch yourself and save 
yourself major coin! I struggle to put the tranny back in the car (I usually 
end up bench pressing the damn thing. I must need the exercize or 
something!) almost everytime I do a clutch job. But, it gets put back in.  
As far as parts, all you need to do is get ahold of a good parts source. (I 
always use the Potterman for parts but since hes in Mexico City <EWW> this 
week, try our good man Mark <Chime in Mark, so he can get your E-mail 
address> who has access to the right parts at good prices. All you will need 
are the usual Clutch disc, pressure plate, clutch bolts, flywheel bolts. Thats 
the minimum parts to buy. If I were you, id also get the 2 tranny seals. 
Theres a small input shaft seal that almost always should get replaced no 
matter how good it looks and the larger shaft seal only needs to be closely 
looked at. its very reliable. Any deviation on conditon of the smaller seal 
and I replace it. Its a good investment.
Start to finish should take you 4-5 hours tops. (You said you have a friend 
who can help, right? use him!) What will take longer is having the flywheel 
resurfaced. This is a must or your new clutch is only as good as its 
weakest surface. (That means you can and will get clutch chatter if you dont 
have this done) Depending on the machine shop, it will take a few hours to get 
done. (It only really takes a couple minuted to actually do, it takes a couple 
hours for them to get around to doing it.)
If you run into problems or have questions on this job, just ask.  I can give 
you a rundown on some tips I've picked up along the way also, if your 
interested. (Might save you some time and make it a little easier for you.
HTH



Shawn
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