Junkyard Joneses of the Day!! YEAH!!! (long)

["RoccoPhil" <roccophil@mindspring.com>]

Ok, this has been a great day at the junkyard.  This little story should
encourage you who haven't ever gone to a pic-n-pull to give it a whirl.
Bear w/ the story for the cool ending.

So I am in the market for a cruise control system for my 16v.  After much
research, I find that most of the parts between 8v & 16v are the same,
except for some linkage and the vacuum diaphragm.  Same CC system used on
all VWs and most Audis, too.  Good.  My local yard has Jettas, GLis, and a
4000, along w/ a Golf - all CC-equipped.  Yippee!

So I go in today and start the process.  Mind you, I took a copy of both the
Audi & VW schematics for the CC systems (ETKA), along w/ Foxx's instructions
for removal (more on *that* in a bit).  Filled a tool box w/ screwdrivers,
sockets & ratchets, cutters, and a few of this and that.  Off I went.

Thankfully the GLi and 4000 are parked side by side.  What are the odds?
Good and bad news w/ that.  I hesitated between each car as to which parts
to pull from what! HA!!

OK, so I got everything from the 8v's that I could.  Even 'learned' the hard
way on a '85 Wolfsburg Jetta w/ the wiring harness (a key if you are
patient).  Went back to the GLi and yanked it's harness the correct way,
snipping only one or two wires in the whole thing.  Also, I farted up a few
actuators on the Wolfsburg, so I went back to the GLi and pulled those
correctly, as well as grabbed the control box from that one, which I felt
better about as to integrity.

Final tech point - to start the adventure, I was looking for the vacuum
pump.  Foxx's instructions relate that they are found on the pass side
firewall (he mentions on a Scirocco, to be fair).  Well, I looked UP AND
FREAKIN' DOWN for this pump.  On NONE of the cars in the lot could I find it
(no roccos there).  Doesn't occur to me that it sits on TOP of the freakin'
Audi engine higher than the sun, I see as I am walking around bitching.
BING - easy removal.  But still being curious, where was it on the GLi,
Jettas, and Golf?!?  **LISTEN** - it is located underneath the friggin'
coolant reservoir WAY down the firewall, underneath the O2 sensor box (the
'counter' thing or whatever).  HMMMM.  I thought, 'gonna let Foxx know about
that'.  In fact, I am gonna write up a techie on removal of the system for
the List, because it looks like they are somewhat plentiful.  Another
point - the control box (brain) for the system is located behind the center
consoles on these cars.  Foxx states, "remove under-dash panel from
passenger side by pulling out studs and un-bolt the bottom of the panel from
the floor."  That was confusing to me.  Just say center console, unless on
the Scirocco it IS different.  Seriously, your page was very helpful, Foxx!

The wiring harness and so forth I'll save for my tech page.  Maybe I'll do
that tonight, as well as working on my own page for my roccos.

******** HERE IS THE COOL ENDING & MORAL OF THE LONG-WINDED STORY
***********

I got everything (almost the entire system; many parts I haven't mentioned
here) for a big $8.48.  That is correct.  EIGHT DOLLARS & FORTY-EIGHT CENTS.

There were two keys.  First, I plugged the whole system together, pretty
much as it runs through the car.  It looked like a nightmare of parts &
wire.  So I was really carrying ONE big system in my hand, not lots of
individual pieces.  The other key was the guy I presented it to and how I
did it.  Just layed it up there, no real comments, he looked at it like,
"whoa!" and charged me for a wiring harness.  It looked like a nightmare,
but it was all together.  That is the moral of the story.  Do not have a ton
of different parts that you put up individually.  Of course, another guy
could have geeked me for a control box, control stalk, wiring harness,
vacuum pump, connectors, etc.  See?  Presentation...

Really sorry for the length, but I thought it was a killer deal and I wanted
to encourage others to hit the yards.  Now my 16v will have MFA, power
windows/locks, A/C & CC!!  But ditching that P/S!!  Wow....

-Phil Kerschner
'85 Scirocco (the Loyal One)
'87 Scirocco (sickee)
'87 Scirocco 16V (BIG ol' project)

"Sciroccos - 'til Death do us part!"



--
Email LIST problems to: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org. To unsubscibe send
"unsubscribe scirocco-l" in the message to majordomo@scirocco.org