My week ( clutch) (oh. it's gonna be long)

[roccit_53 at scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca (C Boyko)]

Okay, here's a long one, better sit down. This is to maintain the former
"feel" of the list. In case you didn't know, I'm the comic relief where
tech stuff is involved, but unfortunately, I've gotten better at doing
some things, so don't post as often about my screwups.
So a few weeks ago, Denny finally dusted the Centreforce Dual Friction. I
know some of you may have installed them partly on my reccommend, and I
still think it's been a good clutch, it was just plain worn out and the
one performance shop thought two years was pretty good. The car's a 2L
16V, 133hp to the wheels, with a 3.94 final and a Quaife. A solid moderate
build. It gets drag raced on slicks twice a month or more, and that's
pretty abusive.

So I head  out to find a replacement, and discover another Centreforce
will take two weeks to get, which would have put me away on vacation. I
opted to order a Bully Level 2 from a VWoT guy's business (H2Sport in
Georgetown), partly to give them the sale. Of course, the guys who build
the clutches were on vacation for half of the week, then I get "the phone
call" Friday. "Your clutch is done, but there's a problem." I'm expecting
this (of course), and tell him so, it's for the headache after all. There
is always at LEAST one "problem". Turns out the bolts and so on went to
one place, the clutch to another. This car as bad car-ma. But they'll get
it all gathered up, and I have the WMD all ready to go and start tearing
the bits off. I can only get so far, I'm too weak to handle the bell
housing. That was Monday, I think. The main issues of the day had been
finding MY starter bit, which the kid knew nothing about despite having
done a starter two weeks ago, and the 19mm 12 point (crank bolt). It
surfaced, I had to go to town to get the triple square, but by now, I know
where to go for them. Must be the fifteenth I've bought. I put nailpoiish
on them, but he still steals them. This one's red pearl.

Tuesday: The kid's finally home again, he's a bit less hungover by mid
day, so I get him to hoist off the bell housing, and discover I can't find
any signs of a 9mm twelve point socket. There had been one, who knows what
happened to it. No matter, I head to Dunnville, check each of the four
possible places, come home empty handed. Only to discover that I had one
all along in my toolbox. Off with the flywheel. We just can't toast a
clutch as well as Brad, that one at Cincy should win a prize, he had the
car for, what? two weeks? And my new clutch is all good to go. Just gotta
go get it.

Wednesday: Off to get the clutch. A beautiful day for a drive with a
friend, and the green car (Klaus) sounds SO mean with the mighty Cherry
Bomb. Got the flywheel done en route, and life was good till I got home.
Somehow, the intermediate plate has vanished. Which means the first bolts
in the "installation is reverse of removal" can't be put on. It's that
flat washer like thingie.

Thursday: I spent two hours or so cleaning  up, looking for the missing
part, but it's ghandi. So is "Get Lost", our stray tomcat. He gets the
blame. Damned cats. I'm dead in the water again, so I order one from the
dealer, and busy myself with other things, a new cheapo deck for Klaus,
put his K bar back on, a relay and some latch lube for the Beetle, that
sort of thing. There sits the bitch, her engine hanging on one mount and a
sling, up of jackstands, just the way she likes it. Though I think
secretly she'd like her own private hoist.

Friday: Off to the dealer, to get the missing part. I figured the old part
would show up once I did this, but nope, it's nowhere to be seen. I get
the flywheel all torqued to spec, and realize I forgot the "plus 1/4 turn"
on the pressure plate bolts. I was likely too busy admiring that gorgeous
new intermediate plate. (Look Dory, there's something shiny...) Off with
the flywheel, torque as per Bentley, back on with the flywheel, and torque
the first bolt....snap!!! Fuck!!! The wax from the weekend's stud
extractions is still adding fragrance to the ambience of the Wind Tunnel,
I'm fearing the worst. Of course it's all new and spins right out. I
recycle one old bolt, give the torque wrench a bit of a reset, and finish
the flywheel. Now I'm back to the whole "being weak sucks" concept of
life, and eagerly await the arrival of my son. He rolls in with his
friends later in the day, very involved with their new hobby, building
potato guns. (goes well with the previous hobby of drinking) I'm trying to
be subtle about the whole "blow your arm off AFTER you lift my tranny"
thing, well, maybe I wasn't too subtle. So it's nearly dark by the time he
lifted it up. He still has two arms, and I'm hiding my O2 tank.

I got Denny on his back using his feet to push the tranny when I did the
side mount, it was pretty funny to see him part way under the car.

Today: Late start, and it goes okay till I get all panic stricken about
the fact that the clutch doesn't hold when I torque the CV bolts. Quick
call, to tech support, (1-800-CALL-DREW) and I'm calmed down again. I fear
the worst at all times, it's my default position.  Pretty well everything
else went okay, then the second to last and last things got me spinning
into a downwards spiral of swearing. Followed by drinking...
When I parked it, this car had the most even idle I've ever heard on a
16V. It had been glass smooth. Very fishy. Well, I go to put the big air
boot on, you know, the one I got from the dealer four years ago for $185,
yeah, that one. And it would be 16V specific, and Scirocco specific. Yep 
that's the one. Big honking tear in it. I'm talking 3", in metric that's
about a metre. Enough for the earth's whole atmosphere to pass through in
a nanosecond. "Put my arm into it big" tear. It MAY cause a vaccuum leak.
I'd know for sure if I could start the damned car. The final insult any
car can throw at you, just to rub in the fact that it is a bitch? Flat
battery.
Perfect.
The VERY last insult for the night was when I tore off half of my pinky
nail instaling the K bar. No worries, I'm Canadian, I have good beer.

So do I like my new clutch? No clue. It'll wait till tomorrow now. May as
well make it a full week.

Notes: The Bully clutch has a nearly identical pressure plate to the
Centreforce, but the friction discs are different. Centreforce has quite
traditional looking material on the PP side, but six pucks on the flywheel
side. Mine was built on a LUK core, with four springs (two doubles) and 8
flat chunks joining the centre to the friction part. The Bully has full
coverage on both sides with a metallic friction material, though it has
less grooves than the Centreforce, and it has 6 springs with six beefy
looking chunks of metal to attach the centre and the friction part. We'll
see how it feels, I'll give you a report, even if it flies apart cause I
messed up.
The Passat dual fan fits really nicely, though I haven't run it yet, it
was another "while you're in there" install, since I got a free Passat
from the fire hall. The position of the fan motor will make access to the
starter a bit more difficult, but it's a slick unit, and more air is a
good thing.

That's it from me, it's always something with these cars eh?

Cathy
two Sciroccos, and a bunch of other crap.