Re: My day of unporductivity... (long, but hopefully worth it)

[skerocdriver@juno.com (SHAWN C MEZE)]

On Sat, 20 Sep 1997 21:36:43 -0700 Greg Baxter <gbaxter@istar.ca> writes:
>
>Hi!

Hi! I prefer the long version. :)  Gives me more info to sort through!



>front! He pulls out the sways, and they look all beat to hell, but I 
>suppose that's the way that used swaybars are supposed to look. He 


Were they bent up, or were they just dirty and dinged here and there? 
As long as they're straight, no problem. 


>tells me that the only thing that I'd have to drill is on the rear axle,
no 
>wait, you're getting a 16v axle, so you won't have to drill anything. I 
>specifically ask him about the front a-arms, and he says nope, they'll 
>just bolt right up.


Heh, you have an 82, unless you get the front lower control arms, they
will need drilling...




>else. I ask about my fear of rear lock-up and he says that to avoid it,
I 
>should upgrade to 10.1" fronts. He also looks at the axle, and says to 
>get polyurethane bushings, that they'll tighten everything up
incredibly. 


If you get the 10" brakes then you will definitely need the MC and the
prop valve. Basically you would be upgrading to the 16V brakes. Simple as
that really. 


>While he was working on this, I was working on the rear axle, getting 
>at the bushings that I want to replace. The damn thing's rusted on the 
>bolt, so I try cutting it. I cut the fat edge off of it, and press it 
>through the mount, but the bushing is still rusted to the bolt. I don't
even want 
>to try the other one, (but it's not rusted on!) so we both head off to 
>the machine shop, getting there 2 minutes before closing. 


Um, did you think about the mounts that are on the car?? Maybe those
would work for you, no? Just a thought. 


>The guy there is 
>really helpful, and presses out the second one, but can't really help 
>with the first one that's rusted on. He heated it til it glowed, beat it

>with a hammer, but to no avail. We thank him anyways on the way out, and
he 
>sorta mumbles something about ...beer... We get the hint, and bring him
a 
>six pack from the local store... (Always good to make friends in a
machine 
>shop, right?)


So, did he get the old bushing out or no? If NO, then he would of gotten
NO beer from me. 


>With one bolt roached, and 5 minutes before the VW parts dep't (a half 
>hour away) is set to close, I try the local 'parts shop.' The guy there
of 
>course doesn't have any metric bolts.


What about the bolts you have on the car??? You can use those too you
know. 


>So much for putting the rear axle on tonight!
>I still had some daylight left, so why not work on the front sway bar? 
>He said that there wouldn't be any drilling... (He lied)


He Didn't know better probably. (The little liar!)


>Now comes the question part of the post:
>
>1. 'While it's out' (the a-arm, for drilling, I mean) should I replace 
>my ball joints? How about replacing all of those front control arm 
>bushings with polyurethane? If I do this, are there any surprises
lurking for 
>me?

Man, you jam pack each question, don't you? :)
Ball Joints. Well, that entirely up to you. Are they riveted on? If so,
then they are over 15 yrs old. I suppose by now they are pretty hammered.
(I know mine are!) It probably wouldn't hurt to replace them. 
Poly; I think that might be overkill. Ive not installed the poly in my
bushings mainly because i don't want vibrations comming through the
steering wheel putting my hands to sleep. I do alot of driving in this
car and its just not worth it to me, so I use the stock lower control arm
bushings. Again, im not saying you should'nt get the poly bushings. Its
up to you. It will make the front end much stiffer feeling. You choose!


>2. How do I install the damned bar? Looking at it, it appears to attach
to 
>the control arm on top? Is this correct? When I measure and mark the 
>drilling points, should there be a load on the arms (should the wheels 
>be on the ground? This would make sense to me, but how do I mark where 
>the drill holes should be? Is there a template to follow where to drill
available?


Man, loaded up with more questions!! (Fire away man!!) 
Installing the bar:
You will need the stock rear bushing mount for the lower control arm. it
has a provision for the middle swaybar to mount to the rear of the
bushing. (Did you get these from the kid genius??? I bet not.) Mount this
up first with the swaybar on top of the control arms. This will give you
an idea of where to drill on the lower control arms. If you look really
close, and the lower control arms are really clean, you will see the 2
places where the 2 holes get drilled on each control arm. (A-arms are on
chevy's ect BTW..) Then drill the 2 holes that are big enough for the
bolts to go through. 

(Hot tip!) Paint the 2 holes so the paint gets on the freshly machined
spots so the holes don't rust out!!

Mount the brackets into the lower control arms and set the swaybar heim
joints (AKA rod end bearings and for those of you who are clueless,
"lollipops".) into the brackets. Put the car on the ground, roll it back
and forth so the chassis settles and adjust the heim joint to fit the
bracket. (don't insert bolt yet, you gotta do the other side.) Once both
are adjusted, install the bolts and tighten to german torque. (Gutten
tight ect...) ALL DONE!!!!

I think I got everything covered, if not ask away!


>3. I guess I should take the arms off when I drill. Will this affect my 
>alignment?


Not if you don't remove the strut from the hub. There's no reason to do
that so the alignment will be unaffected.


>4. What should I lubricate the bushings with? (Assuming that I 
>actually DO get to the point of being able to do anything!)


Nothing. 


>5. Why me? I'm a good guy!


Because you ARE a good guy. That's why!


>Any hints, answers, or commiserating stories will be very welcome! 
>(Sorry, though, my beer budget was blown at the machine shop...)
>Greg
>82 Scirocco
>91 Jetta (With new GTLMA brake fluid! The one bright spot in my day!)


I think I covered everything. Just don't forget you have a spare axle
under the car that you can use parts/hardware from. When I swapped an
axle into my car (I bent mine, bad!) I ended up using the spindles and a
few other goodies that came handy for me. Saved me a trip or two to get
hardware. Good Luck Greg!!  Keep us updated. 


              Shawn Meze
86' Jetta GLi           82' Scirocco GTi
The Fastest, Quickest, Cleanest and
best looking Scirocco in all of San Diego!
http://www2.netcom.com/~trnsfrma/vws.html
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