axle nut vs. breaker bar + worst repair nominations

[scirocco25 at gmail.com (Eric Person)]

My vote:
Seems like a simple one, but replacing the damn front swaybar bracket on 
the passenger side  that connects to the control arm.  I swear there is 
no damn room between the axle and the bar, and the damn thing never 
seems to want to line up, and the bar is one big spring so fat chance 
getting it to move anywere permanently.  I must have spent 3 hours 
saturday wrestling with the damn things, has to be the most frustrating 
day working on the car I have ever had.
   Ive come to the conclusion that most things on the scirocco were 
designed exceptionally well to be serviced, except where VW had to add 
new options to the A1 chassis.  So we get stuff like the half-ass ac 
system with associated radiator hose clusterfuck(16v), power steering 
pump mounting system, front swaybar/bracket mess, rear disc brakes with 
always-frozen ebrake,  all these were things tacked on to the original 
design of the car, and bound to have compromises in their design.    But 
these compromises really show through, as I just spent all weekend 
taking care of 3 of the 4 in that list(deleted ac system, replaced every 
ps mounting bracket becase all had broken, and the swaybar brackets that 
I have broken at least 5 or 6 times, finally got the EM billet ones)

Eric Person
86.5 16v

Foxx (in a box) wrote:

>   okay, so i need to swap the boge's and metal master pads from the 
> parts car to the daily driver and replace the wheel bearings. since it 
> had a recent alignment, i'm thinking i might try and just swap them on 
> the daily along with the rack. everything seems okay on the passenger 
> side. the driver side, however, the axle nut refuses to budge. bring 
> out the 4' pole and...bend the pole. wtf? okay, bring out the thicker 
> 4' pole and...breaker bar shears off at the socket. take the bar to 
> the hardware store and exchange it (lifetime warranty). soak the nut 
> with penetrating oil for two days, try the new breaker bar and...have 
> to take the new bar back because it broke as well. so, any ideas on 
> breaking the damn nut loose? i'm thinking i might just swap it to the 
> daily and take it to the shop and let them go at it for a while. it's 
> closer than the hardware store and i would only have to make one trip 
> there.
>
>   and, i've been thinking about this, does anyone have or know of a 
> list where worst repair jobs can be listed? i only ask this because i 
> replaced the p-side motor mount tonight (amidst the oil from the 
> p.o.'s leaky valve cover gasket) and it was a pain in the ass even 
> though i've done it before. at any rate, my top three picks would be:
>
> 1) replacing the steering column to rack boot on a scirocco with power 
> steering
>
> 2) replacing the alternator on an A1 with the alternator located on 
> the bottom & air conditioning (in sub-freezing temperatures!)
>
> 3) replacing the p-side motor mount on an A1 that just doesn't want to 
> cooperate
>