Bilstein/H&R yappin' (long)

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After receiving my Bilstein Sport inserts and H&R springs from Potterman,
I installed the rears yesterday and did the front today. The rear shocks
were pretty easy, and I installed poly rear upper strut bearings. I had to
drill out the hole in the upper poly piece because it was smaller than
stock and the spacer wouldn't fit through it. The hardest part was getting
the rear sway bar to stop fighting me so I could get the shocks in and
out. I jacked up both sides of the car level, but that was tricky because
besides the axle beam, which you're not supposed to use for this job, and
the factory rear jack points, there aren't too many good spots for jacks
or jack stands.

I had a little trouble with the rear because somehow I ended up with two
sets of lower spring seats in the box with with my bilsteins. I figured
that they were upper and lower spring seats because I had four. I put 
everything together that way and didn't have any obvious trouble until I
let the car down off the jacks and one of the shocks poked up through the
rear shock tower. I knew something was wrong! I had previously left out
the circlip when rebuilding the strut because it looked unnecessary and
now I was thinking it was the curplit, but after I realized the upper
spring seat I was using had a hole that was the diameter of the shock
tube, much bigger than the circlip, I threw that idea out. After some
bickering and careful observation, I decided to reuse the stock upper spring
seat, even though the new springs were wider across than the originals.

This appears to have worked. Hopefully I did the right thing, since
Bentley isn't too helpful when it comes to installing aftermarket struts. 
I was amused at the large pile of yellow paint chips that developed under
my car from the painted rubber on the bottom of the shock peeling. I sure
hope Bilstein does a better job with their shocks than their paint jobs!

I did blow it once and forget to leave 1 wheel on at all times, left my
axle hanging by the brake lines - not good! Fortunately I realized my
mistake right away when the axle started to droop, but no apparent
long term damage. In the process I realized how worn my rear axle beam
bushings are and I was wondering if these are available in poly and if
they are recommended. Anyone? Anyone?

Today I tackled the fronts. I was told by some nutcase that I didn't need
spring compressors, I could just unbolt the shock in the car and jack it
up to relieve the spring tension. Well, not with stock springs. I didn't
unbolt the shock tube, much to the relief of my outer cv joint, but it was
obvious that this approach was not going to work. Since my brother didn't
bring up his spring compressors as requested, I called some auto parts
stores to try to borrow or rent one, to no avail. Finally, I drove to one
local place and they rented me one for a $56 deposit, at $6 per day. Of
course, it was the wrong kind of compressor (it sits in the middle of the
spring where the shock goes, but I made it work. I pulled out the struts
compressed and put the spring compressor on only one side (yes, dangerous,
i know), then cranked the fucker all the way down until there was
very little tension on the spring. The strut bearing came off in my hand,
but I pointed the spring away from my car when I pryed off the upper
spring retainer and it shot like 30 feet. Cool!

I had no trouble at all getting the old inserts out of the mounting tube.
I used a pair of vice grips on the little protuding piece that bolts to
the wheel bearing housing, and a pair of bicycle chain vice grips (these
are the best, ever! a must have tool) around the big ass nut. One light
tap on the chain grips with a 2 pound hammer and the nut was free. And
there was a pool of tuna smelling shock oil on my floor. Yum. It was also
all over the inside of the shock tube, so it was pre-oiled. I slipped in a
bilstein and went to tighten the big ass nut on it, but it seemed there
were two of them. I figured out that you're only supposed to use one,
depending on whether your shock tube is threaded on the inside or the
outside, then I slipped one off and used the special spanner to crank it
nice and tight.

I didn't need the compressor to put the H&Rs on, but I had to put my knee
on them to hold the strut bearing down so I could lightly thread the shock
nut on to keep them compressed. While putting the driver side strut in, I
noticed that my brake disc mounting screw was gone, and the driver side
tie rod boot was ripped. Great, more work! At least I got an extra boot
from Potterman last time.

I made an attempt to keep the eccentric camber bolt aligned the same, but
I don't know, I might have screwed it up. I used a punch to mark the
positions of the nut and blob shaped washer relative to the shock tube,
and counted the number of threads outside of the nut. Then I reinstalled
everything the same with the dots lined up. I'm still trying to figure out
just how the camber adjustment works, but at least it doesn't look like
its severely off.

I'm not unhappy with the new setup, but I'm slightly disappointed. The
springs didn't lower the car as much as expected (too bad the front
doesn't have an adjustable height circlip like the rear) probably because 
I replaced my severely sagging strut bearings :), and the ride isn't
_drastically_  improved, although definately better. I expected a little
better turn-in, but its about the same. I DO like the feel of the car at
high speeds much better, its like a go-kart! I'm probably just tired from
all the work and tomorrow I'll have a different opinion - I only drove it
around for a couple of miles tonight.

I was a little surprised the old shocks were Boges.. but i guess they're
VW original since they have a part number on them. They're green. Are
these the TurboGas or the ProGas or some ancient NoGas design? The rear
shocks were more "blown" than the fronts, to my surprise. They made some
really nasty scraping sounds, and had a few "loose" spots. The fronts
actually did "center" themselves, rather than just put up resistance,
which was surprising. I didn't expect that much from a 13 year old shock!

Oh, while I'm on the subject of strut bearings (sort of), has anyone
gotten the metal pieces from an old dasher or something and put poly
inserts in them? I think I can find a set of the metal pieces at my local
yard, how much do the poly inserts run, and is it worth the trouble, now
that I have my springs in and just bought new stock strut bearings ? Wait,
I think I just answered my own question.. :)

What should I do with the tuna oil? Theres not much of it so I could just
wipe it up with some paper towels and throw it away, is this stuff
hazardous? Will one of those motor oil recycling places take it as shock
oil, or do I have to mix it in with old motor oil first ? :D

One more completely random question. I ordered some headlight impact
covers from potterman pre-cut for scirocco 2 euro lights, and he sent me
86-92 vanagon covers. Well, they're pretty close, but the vanagon main
beams aren't as wide, so i'm afraid these are gonna look really tacky. Has
anyone else got the vanagon ones on and can send me a picture to show me
how they look? I don't know how "invisible" these things really are since
they have backing paper on them. I'm thinking about seeing if potter will
take them back so I can just get a sheet of the stuff and cut my own
lenses. A better idea?

Well, time for me to stop wasting YOUR time and go to bed, so I can go get
my $56 deposit back tomorrow! :) I have to decide what I am going to do 
- driver side tie rod boot, or pull all my v-belts and put on a new lower
timing belt cover to stop that aweful "squeak .. squeak .. squeak ..
squeak" from the crank pulley that is plaguing me from idle to 2200 rpm.

Adios,

-Toby

--
'87 16v

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