My Smyth-Utes build thread

Day 62

Happy St. Pat's everyone! Don't drink too much. None at all would be best; your liver will thank you for that. But, to each their own. Remember the rest of us are counting on you to drive safely home.

Anyway, yesterday I didn't spend too much time there at the shop and what time I was there was in slow motion. Too cold still!

I am disconnecting stuff from the transaxle and getting it ready to drop out. The front is up on jack stands, wheels off. I disconnected the shift cables, and there's problems with the shift tower. Luckily, the replacement unit I have has no such problems. And I think I have a used Sigma 5 shifter in my garage; I'll check that before leaving for the shop.

Yesterday I was able to disconnect the inner CV joints and release the outer axle stubs from the bearing carriers. I'll have to refresh the suspension eventually, but I'm not doing that now because I'm saving that. We'll see. For the moment getting the halfshafts out of the way will be sufficient.

I also removed, or tried to remove, the dog-bone. One mounting bolt to the subframe decided it was more important to hang onto its nut than stay with the head, which twisted off. The other bolt came off as well as the two bolts on the underside of the transaxle. But the dog-bone itself is still firmly in place. I sprayed around the perimeter with PB blaster, hoping the overnight soak will loosen what is apparently firmly rusted into place. I can only hope the bolt shaft will come loose later as it will need replacing, of course.

There's other fasteners that are rusted, or welded in place nuts inside various parts that are rusted to the fastener more firmly than the nut is welded to the body part. I don't think I will ever again consider buying a car from New England for other than parts. It is just too much trouble to try and get everything apart. Good thing I'm moving south. And then there are various plastic weatherproof plugs, the problem child in this case being the reverse switch that is on the shifter tower of the transaxle. Why do these things insist on breaking instead of coming apart????

Anyway, there are also the fasteners around the exhaust to get the turbocharger out as well. I will check, but I'm thinking at this point the oil feed and discharge lines to the turbocharger will not survive this effort. Not looking forward to replacing them because they seem to be so precious to the sellers. Ugh.

Oh, well. At least I am on the downside of the electrical repairs to the house. Still need to replace a switch and run some cable, where the most fun part will be running it into the fuse box. Oh, joy.

Cheers,

PH

Day 63

Well, the reverse switch indeed insisted on breakage. Good thing I at least have a replacement with pigtail included on the replacement unit. There was also a similar plug for the VSS, but it cooperated.

I also installed a support rig. I made this about 10 years ago, used it twice, and since it has been rusting merrily away in my garage. But it still works. Now all that is left for this is finding suspension belts/chains/kevlar kite string/whatever to hold the engine up and allow the transaxle to be gently lowered to the ground.

If only.

I still have the one bolt holding the dog bone to the subframe. The corrosion around the bolt is such that I don't think even PB blaster is penetrating it. I'm not sure what to do. Maybe if I can find some safety wire I will pound it flat and use it to scrape around the bolt.

So when the above problems are resolved I'll be able to remove bolts and drop the transaxle.

Cheers,

PH

Day 64

I took a photo of the broken dog bone bolt. I should have flipped the photo as it is upside down. Sorry.



It doesn't do a good job of showing the corrosion around the bolt that seized it in place and caused the loss of the bolt head.

I ended up fashioning a probe by grinding down the end of a knitting machine needle. I just figured it would be a hardened metal and would last longer than a paper clip wire.

After 2 hours of digging out the corrosion, the dog bone finally came loose. Now we'll have fun trying to get the rusted bolt out of its hole. It will take a few days to get a new one to replace it, so no worries about taking a while to extract the rusted bolt.

I was able to remove the bolts from the transaxle, the trans mount, and get everything loose. I had also been able to get a couple of straps to use on the frame I made, one with a winch, so I'll have a way of easily raising and lowering the transaxle. Or the replacement, depending on where in the process I am.

Later this evening I'll need to go review old threads to get the helpful hints on dropping the transaxle. I am sure the install will be a reverse of removal. I need the hints because right now it is hung up and not dropping out. I'll probably find that unbolting the exhaust from the turbocharger will be helpful as well, and that is tomorrow. I was kinda hoping I could wait on that until the trans was out of the way, but nope.

Cheers,

PH

Powder Hound said:

Later this evening I'll need to go review old threads to get the helpful hints on dropping the transaxle. I am sure the install will be a reverse of removal. I need the hints because right now it is hung up and not dropping out. I'll probably find that unbolting the exhaust from the turbocharger will be helpful as well, and that is tomorrow. I was kinda hoping I could wait on that until the trans was out of the way, but nope.
Cheers,
PH

Click to expand...

I've done this a couple of times and had varying degrees of frustration. Sometimes disconnecting the sway bar is enough to get it out. Last time I just gave up and dropped the subframe. That always works.

You know I had a real easy time changing my 2001 to a standard. Bentley says to drop the drivers side of the engine about 2.25 inches. Watch the drivers side motor mount for measurements. Use a small jack to push the engine as far forward as you can. I had no troubles doing the r&r. There was lots of room. I used an engine bar and made a winch attachment for it to lift the transmissions. It was a piece of cake literally.

Lots of good info here
https://www.myturbodiesel.com/d2/1000q/a4/transmission-removal-mk4.htm

Yes, I think I just need to disconnect the down pipe and then jack the engine forward. No work today as I came down with a migraine and the weather did not cooperate. It has been a necessary lazy day.

Cheers,

PH

Day 65

The transaxle came out by doing just what I said: remove the downpipe, push the engine forward just a tad, then wiggle the transaxle around whatever it is hanging up on. Not too terrible.

Then I decided to check out the turbocharger. There is no axial or lateral play that is noticeable to a finger stuck in the turbine end. This tells me the turbocharger is OK. Other than rusty fasteners, and a rusted out vacuum can on the vane adjuster, it is OK. I'm inclined to see if I can just replace that adjuster rather than the whole turbocharger.

There's 2 small bolts that hold that vacuum can in place. 8mm is too small, it swims in a 10mm socket, and 9mm just doesn't really work either. It is making me think that the bolts are either SAE sized, or rusted to a weird non-standard size. I'll have to get a 3" adjustable end wrench and try again. I should have one in my bike tools box.

I also started to break down the intake end of things. Looking in the EGR, it looks like the intake is clogged. After futzing around with those bolts and finding that it is hard to get everything to come loose in an orderly manner since they're rusted together, I finally was able to get the EGR valve and vacuum can assembly off. It seems that in every set of these allen bolts one of them is too stubborn to come out. I eventually was able to get the EGR loose.



Yeah, even if the turbocharger was working, this thing would have been gutless. That buildup is hard, too. Interestingly, I stuck my finger in the hole and it seems that the 'plug' only goes into the intake manifold about an inch. I'll have to pull it since if I didn't, whichever intake valve was open would collect about 100ml of carbon chunks and break the engine when I next tried to start it, so I'll pull it and do it right.

Backing up a bit, here's the bolt that was holding me up last time. Because it broke so close to the bolt head, it left a good chunk to hold with my visegrip. I sprayed some PB blaster on it on Wednesday, and today it worked loose rather easily.



The bolt is on the right. In the center is some kind of insert. Here's another shot:



It was sitting on the ground after I got the transaxle loose on Wednesday. I don't know where it came from, so I have a problem in trying to figure out how to get it back into its proper place for reassembly. If anyone has a good idea, please let me know as it will hold me up if I can't figure this out.

So at this point, I'm trying to get the EGR cooler out. A couple of allen head bolts are not cooperating, one on each end of the cooler. I'm ready to just cut the plumbing and get this thing going. I'm not planning on putting the cooler back in, and I have not noticed an active market in used EGR coolers, so I'm not thinking this will be a great loss in potential parts sales. Probably I can do some careful trimming and welding, and a little metal forming of trimmed piping from the existing stuff I'll be removing, and I'll be able to make a bypass kit from the parts. It is nice to be working right next to a metal shop. I think the owner thereof has a roller to make the same type bumps and rings as are on the usual pipes you find on stuff like, oh, EGR cooler coolant stubs. Well, probably not for something this small though. But I'll still have the parts I need from cannibalized removed parts.

With the intake manifold out of the way then maybe I can get this ready to start putting back together relatively quickly. Luckily for me, I already have a cleaned intake manifold ready to swap in, so the only thing I'll have to clean is the EGR valve.

Cheers,

PH

Day 66

Got a few things done towards mechanical repairs.

I have the intake manifold out, which was after getting the EGR cooler out of the way. The EGR cooler will be handled separately.

I still have a couple of nuts on the main EGR port at the turbocharger that are stuck. I have a set of Irwin extractors (the type that works from the outside) but the one bit I need is missing. I don't know where it has run off to, but I suspect it is hiding in my messy garage somewhere. Murphy's Law of lost things kicks in here: if I just keep looking for it, I will never find it. But if I replace it, the lost item will magically reappear. So it looks like I'll need to go buy a new one.

I will check the vane operation after removing the old rusted actuator. If they're good, I'll go ahead with replacing the actuator instead of the entire turbocharger.

Here's the 2 intake manifolds side by side: the dirty one and the cleaned one ready for reassembly:



And while taking all this apart, I caught as much coolant as I could. I think nearly all of it came out of the head. About 2 liters.



Yumm - looks like punch, but this stuff will poison you.

And here's the damage so far:



That port right in the middle is the one with the 2 very stubborn nuts. I'll be working on them as soon as I find a new extractor.

Cheers!

PH

Day 67. Oh, bleep!

I didn't get near as much done as I had hoped, mostly because I surpassed my oh bleep limit.

I did find the proper place for that washer thing from a couple of days ago: it is an insert to a bushing for the mounts that hold the shifter cables. One of the three. So that part is ready to go.

And yesterday evening I found a replacement set of Irving extractors. So today I started out to remove the nuts from the studs on the EGR port of the turbocharger. One came out. Well, sort of. The nut was rusted tightly onto the stud, so the stud came out with the nut still on tight. It may never come loose. The other had the stud solid in the turbo casting as well, so the bolt broke. Oh, bleep.



Well, I'll have to figure out that one later I guess. The next thing is to remove the failed vane actuator for the turbocharger.



Yeah, no question that it has seen better days. The little modified c clip that keeps the actuator shaft onto the vane shaft was very stubborn and went flying when it finally let go. I think I heard it tinkle down into the sub-frame someplace under the rack, so probably I'll never see it again. Oh, bleep.

So then it was time to remove the spare actuator from the spare turbocharger, and...



Yeah. Oh, bleep. A $100 bleep. I might be able to think of some way to use it anyway, but I'm not terribly hopeful. It would be a temporary situation I am sure. Ugh, I hate rusty cars.

At this point, since the bleep limit is 1 and I was well past that, I gave up and went home before the snowfall that is predicted. We're supposed to be in spring, but it is New Hampshire after all. Spring doesn't start up here until the end of April.

Cheers!

PH

You could try one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JB78JK...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

or this one if you didn't want to wait so long
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0140PEB1...colid=Q7KUDT1MSN4P&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Nice find, thanks! We'll see how it holds up.

Cheers,

PH

PS: It is snowing, but it is supposed to quit by tomorrow morning. Accumulation looks to make things 'interesting'. Well, maybe not so much because of the very low traffic levels around here lately. And I still have the winter shoes on my Y2k Golf.

Yet another fine spring day in New Hampshire...



The DD is lower left, and the wife's TDI NB in front of the garage.

Not to worry though; today's high is forecast to be 50*F, as is the rest of the week. I'm not even going to bother starting up the snow blower.

Cheers!

PH

Day 68

Well, the broken stud frozen in place at the EGR port is still refusing to move. So I figure that maybe I should see if I can remove the turbocharger without shredding the oil feed line.

To do that, I altered a wrench slightly so it would fit at the bottom of that flare nut fitting. I have an unaltered wrench for comparison. The unaltered has a box end, while the altered one has a 19mm open end on the other side. It was the least interesting wrench so I figured I could do something a little destructive to it.



That didn't work too well as I can't generate much torque with my arms at strange angles and straight out. I haven't tried unorthodox positions yet, but that might be in the near future if something else doesn't work soon. In this case that means climbing in on top of the engine as I wouldn't do much better from underneath as I am doing now.

Next up is tearing apart the rusted out actuator trying to figure out if I can make some sort of repair so I won't have to wait 6 or 7 weeks for the one I just ordered.

This is what the bottom of the actuator vacuum can looks like when you tear it away from the stuff that it is welded together with.



If you flip this over, you find the two mounting bolts are not welded in place at all and have a very thin hex head.



I also need to do a little disassembly on the other one, but the adjuster thing is frozen onto the center bolt. So I am stopped on that for now. You know, it is really frustrating to try and do a project where every other fastener you look at is frozen in place by rust.

One other thing I was able to get done is to get rid of the golf club on the replacement transaxle. May as well install the new cable-shifter interface parts while I'm there:



Yeah, have a Sigma 5 shifter I got used from somebody several years ago, and I'm finally putting it to use.

Most of the snow shown in the photo of the previous post is melted. I figure by tomorrow evening the rest will be gone, except for very protected locations. So the weather will be back to the regularly scheduled tease of maybe spring is coming.

Cheers!

PH

Day 69

Some progress today.

First was the recognition that I can't get the supply line off the old turbocharger. It no longer has an actuator on it, so I'd need to find another. Trying to adapt the one from the spare turbocharger didn't work since one of the mounting bolts broke. And then I tried something: working the vane lever without an acutator on it. It should turn freely, but apparently the vanes are either too worn to work well, or they are so stuffed with carbon they are inhibited. So the CHRA seems to be in good order, but the vanes will need to be cleaned and a new actuator obtained. Still, if anyone wants the turbocharger in this condition, noting that you get a free supply line, just let me know and we'll work something out.

So on to the next thing: the turbocharger on the spare engine I bought a few months back seems to be in good condition. I checked it and there is no play in the CHRA, it spins OK, and vacuum applied to the actuator has the desired result as well as holding vacuum. Good to go.

After these checks, I decided to first remove the turbocharger from the spare engine. That went along reasonably well. Then it was on to getting the old turbocharger off the trucklet. That was a little more problematic. I left the supply line on the replacement, so this one could come off with the supply line and everything will be OK. Most of the nuts holding the exhaust manifold on came off both instances. There are a few of them that spun out the stud instead of just the nut, but there's really no worry there.



The real fly in the ointment was the drain line from the trucklet - it insisted on bringing the fitting into the block instead of letting it go. I ended up unbolting it at the turbocharger and spun it out after the turbocharger was out of the way. It took a very large vise and a wrench to get the fitting out of the drain line. But we're OK on that one.

So now I also have a drain line. It is a little rusty, but it appears to be OK. As with the other turbocharger, just let me know.

Spare turbocharger, drain line and supply lines attached. Ready for installation.




This is the problem child, not that you can really tell anything from a photo like this.




This is the exhaust gasket coming off the trucklet. Obviously, it has seen better days. Thankfully, I have replacements at the ready.



I did manage to add to my store of fruit punch. To take the supply line out of the trucklet I pulled the hose off the lower fitting out of the head where the coolant heating glow plugs are. The hose goes to the oil cooler. About a liter or so was collected.

And I wish I could have gotten a photo of this, but both hands were rather busy:

After the wrenches I showed previously, I inserted the one to hold the fitting and put the other one on the main nut. This was on the turbocharger off the trucklet. I managed to get a lever in there to match the wrench handles - they were about 40mm apart at the ends, and when the wrench handles matched up, they just bent (not to yield). No turning of the nut and fitting against each other. Those bleeping things will not come apart. Glad I have a work around.

So the replacement turbocharger is ready for installation. Tomorrow. Before I get everything back together I will be needing to visit a good hardware store and buy a few things. No worries, it is unfortunate, but not unexpected.

Cheers!

PH

Day 70

I decided since the flywheel mark is hard to see due to rust, and since it is all apart anyway, I should mark it. Some paint will do, and so I made a stencil out of masking tape. Well, masking tape doesn't do so well for this purpose, but I think it will work out anyway.

There's the stencil.



And the result:



The center part didn't turn out well. I'll need to go over it a little tomorrow to provide some contrast. Probably just some dirt will do the trick. But at least there's markers to point me in the right direction. I figure getting pretty close is easy, and this will help me out on those late nights when my eyesight isn't at its best.

Oh, yes, and I did get the turbocharger installed and the intake manifold in place. Used lots of anti-seize on the fasteners.



The transaxle is prepped as well. I took a good look at the throw out lever and it was looking great. I cleaned off the pivot point and well as the spot where the clutch slave cylinder pokes the lever. Very little wear, so I'm re-using everything there except for the throw out bearing. The old one felt fine, but those bearings are probably under the most stress possible, so this is one time where proactive replacement is a good idea.



As you can see, I greased the input shaft splines as well, proably too well. I'll need to wipe off some of that grease tomorrow as the only place the excess would go is to sling it out onto clutch parts. Probably not the optimum place to have random grease bits.

Anyway, I'm ready to go on this tomorrow.

I had some trouble with the EGR port on the replacement turbocharger and had to make a new stud since I don't have new one(s). I just cut off the head from a 40mm bolt. It isn't perfect, but it will do the job. I have another in case new parts that will be ordered later don't make it in time to replace one of the 3 studs on the exhaust flange of the turbocharger. I seriously doubt the shipping time will be a factor, however.

Here's the hardware I have left over from 2 turbochargers, and you can see my home-made stud. It's the one without dirt and rust.



So that's where things are. Some of the connections were not made. The air connections on the impeller side of the turbocharger are not done since the engine still has to move around to install the transaxle. And there's a couple of fittings in the coolant system that need help since the EGR cooler is nowhere to be found under the trucklet's hood at this time. And the connections that were undone to get the transaxle out, such as the reverse switch and speedo/odo connection are just hanging until I get the transaxle back in. There's more fun to be had...

Cheers,

PH

Day 71

Need help!

I installed the replacement transaxle. It shifted fine. I removed the output flanges in order to get it to install. They would not reinstall easily - there's springs on the flanges and those had to be compressed. But after that, the transaxle seemed to be locked up. It will only shift into reverse, no forward gear. And when in reverse, the engine will not turn over. (Hand cranking all this, and shifting at the gearbox without the cables attached.) When in neutral (the only thing it does when not in reverse), the transaxle is locked up. The flanges will spin against each other showing the spiders are working OK, but it looks like something went awry during installation. Oh, and to make sure I didn't get the flanges in too tight, I removed the center bolts and just left them in place.

So does anyone have any clues? If I can't fix it reasonably easily, I'll have to buy another replacement I guess; not that I want to do that right now while my income is extremely limited.

Thanks for any help.

Cheers,

PH

Hmm... looks like this scenario matches mine.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=490661&highlight=transmission+install

Time to look for another replacement unit. Anybody want a project transaxle? Internal 5 sp. transmission parts? Let me know.

Cheers!

PH

Day 71



At the end of today, I have this. It looks very similar to where it was at the beginning of today, but the underlying transaxle is different.

I was able to get the old one out in an hour, since there was just 6 bolts and lower it down after rigging the brace and suspending the engine. Getting the mount off the transaxle case is the worst part of the deal. For some reason, to me, since I don't have any power tools, those 3 bolts take about 100 turns each. Seriously, there's more turns in these 3 bolts than there is in all the rest of the bolts combined.

Then position the replacement replacement, rinse, and repeat. I did transfer the clutch lever and throw out bearing. The lever removed looks good - little to no wear, so I have an extra one of those. In fact, I have a bunch of extra parts now, so probably I'll need to put up a for sale ad later to sell the extras.

The replacement for the replacement came from a local source. I was lucky in that I was able to go pick it up the day after making the call. So no real waiting to get going, except for the migraine headache that kicked me out of bed way too early yesterday. It was a good day for checking the snow and taking it easy.

Total time was quicker than I've ever done a transaxle swap. At least for me. Some of you guys out there would be in and out, from pop the hood until done in 1/10th the time it takes me, but I've got no power tools and no gun to my head, so I'm slow. Anyway, it was just the 6 bolts to remove and going back in it worked well.

It appears that what really makes this go for me is to suspend the engine at a good angle so the lower end of the trans mount clears the frame member so that the 3 mount bolts are readily accessible. Then suspend the transaxle, separate from the engine, drop it out. The replacement is the reverse, but what makes it work is to get under the transaxle after it is rigged up for install and jacking it up close, then just manhandling it the rest of the way home. This works for me because most of the weight is carried by the suspension cable, chain, strap, or what have you, and the transaxle only weighs 85 pounds. Since the engine is disconnected from the exhaust, you can push it forward with one hand, and move the transaxle to fit with the other forearm.

And yes, some of you other guys out there have done much more interesting operations such as just pressing the transaxle into place without jacking it up. Well. the time when I might have been able to do something like that ended long before I bought my Golf (Oct '99), so doing this was a big deal for me!

No more photos today, since it was pretty mundane stuff, nothing new, and y'all have probably seen it all before.

And that's where I am. I have some air plumbing to reconnect. I still have the suspension to put back together - well, actually just the half shafts and LCA attachments to the bearing carriers to make it driveable again. The rear bushings on the LCAs are still intact, so I can wait a bit before re-doing the suspension. It will need doing, but not so bad as that on my Golf at this time. The real impetus is to get out of the shop I've been parked in all winter because the shop owner needs the space. So I'll take care of the suspension, and do as much as I can for the exhaust so I won't embarrass myself driving down the road. And I'll need to adjust the cables. The little plastic 'L' stick on the shifter is broken. I'll do a search and it should be OK to set it up for the adjustment.

Oh, let's see - and I need to finish the drain (the shop drained it for the most part - I think it's quite empty, but I'll check anyway) and fill the transaxle with new fluid. I'll make sure I get the outside cover with the 5th gear for good measure. An oil change will be appreciated by the engine I am sure.

So, lots to do for tomorrow.

I also think I have a solution for my body alignment problem, but I'll share that in a few days after I see if it is going to work.

Cheers!

PH

Keep going, Iv'e been following along since the beginning and find the process fascinating, you are adding a lot of detail here.

Day 73

Looks like I tried to do 71 all over again. Well, the second time worked out OK.

Today I started out by connecting the intake air pipes - into and out of the turbocharger. I also replaced the heat shield on that side of the exhaust manifold. I was going to leave it off, but then realized one of the intake pipes would run a little close and might soften or even melt. Worst case would be an underhood fire, but quite likely could be the intake pipe collapsing with the attendant loss of air flow. And I'll bet VW is really proud of those things, so I'd have to get one from my favorite auto recycler.

Anyway, it took longer than I wanted because of course I kept forgetting things and getting the band clamps wrong, so on and off a few times, but it all worked out.

Then it was time to work on the reverse switch. Now of course, I didn't really want to splice in the pigtail I got on one of the replacement transaxles, (and I'm sure it would take an hour to even find the dumb thing with my luck) so I figured I could make a couple of tools for releasing terminals from sockets and just use the socket on the same terminals already there. Took me a good long time. Sheesh. Maybe someday I'll save myself a couple of hours of grief and just do the splicing.

Then it was time to drain the transaxle. The drain and fill plugs were well and truly rusted in place. The drain was no problem since the recycler drained the unit before letting me have it, so it was already loose. It dripped a bunch, too. The fill plug on the other hand put up a serious fight. I had a 2 foot 1/2" drive rachet and couldn't budge it until I first tightened it just a smidge and then I could back it out. Ouch! (Shoulders not happy with that plug.)

Then I broke the end cover - just loosened the bolts and broke the gasket loose to drain that end. Not a lot there and the fluid looked good, so I figure the transaxle was well cared for (in spite of surface rust), as recycled things go. Buttoned up the end cover, and ready to refill the transmission. Have the Redline. Don't have a funnel.

Next!

Put the half shafts back in. This was pretty straight forward. All the grease is still there, except for that which I wiped out because of dirt falling all over the place and splashing onto the open joints. So I wiped out the dirty surface grease and replaced some.

The driver's side went in a reasonable straightforward manner. The passenger side was, of course, a little more problematic. Not too terribly so since I already had the hubs loose. So, when I was tightening up the 6 bolts at the inner CV joint, I found something interesting.



Interesting you say? Isn't this just a CV boot? Well, yes, but here's the interesting part:



Surprise! The boot is split. Now, there's no evidence that any grease has escaped. And it is close to the end, so under normal circumstances, maybe I could let this slide. BUT! Murphy lives at my house, remember? Do you think he'd let this slide? Hardly. I'll see what I can do. Yet another detour.

Which brings up a few other things that really may be interesting. First, a single photo testimony to the ingenuity of some insects, namely wasps.



Check out the roll bar connector - the grooves were stuffed by wasps who just glued sand together for the nest walls instead of using mud. They did not get a rental agreement however, so it is a good thing they already vacated.

And in the interesting part department: Does anyone know what this is? I found it under the car the other day, but for the life of me I don't know where it goes. I'd love to hear the proper location. Just don't tell me it goes inside the bell housing.







I left my hand in there for scale. It is a thin piece of stamped metal. Just no clue as to what exactly it is.

So we'll see about the half shaft uninstalled. Again. Fill the transaxle. Probably change the engine oil. Start on the exhaust. Oh, what fun that will be. At least the downpipe is already detached from the turbocharger. At this point, I'm taking any tiny advantage I can.

Cheers!

PH

it is a mount for a heat shield that goes on the turbo behind the plastic turbo inlet pipe. that piece mounts to the bottom of the turbo on the passenger side, under the nuts and spacers that hold the turbo on. the heat shield mounts into the slot near the stud holes in that piece and slides over the two studs that are on the exhaust manifold under the EGR valve.

Day 74

Ah, thanks, Growler! I put the heat shield on, but only on the 2 main studs out of the exhaust manifold. I'll have to do some checking before I decide to go back and put this lower piece on. It may not be worth the effort unless it starts rattling. Well, actually, it shouldn't be too difficult since I wouldn't need to remove the manifold, just the 2 nuts. We'll see.

Today I started out re-working the half shaft. A new inner boot was required. I knew I had a new boot, I just needed to find it, and I was able, in spite of the box having been hidden by persons unnamed. (No evil intention was meant, it just worked out that way.) Anyway, after removing the CV joint and the torn boot, I now know that yes, in fact the left and right inner boot is left and right, made so by the difference in shaft diameter. I learned something new today.

So, since I still didn't want to install a torn boot I went to the backup plan, which was to install a different half shaft I had laying around in my garage from the time when I bought the original replacement transaxle (i.e. the first one I tooefed). This is one of those cases when parts offered are best accepted. I'm glad I did.

That shaft went in OK, and the inner 6 bolts are torqued, and the outer axle nut is mostly torqued. It will get the final touch when Jettachero gets off the jack stands.

And on to the exhaust.

Since one of the muffler mounting bars had already rusted off the muffler, I was prepared for a loose collection of rust flakes resembling pipes. Such as this, the first wide clamp that goes after the catalyst and connects to the back half just before the middle support panel.



There was also evidence of previous corrosion problems and work done.



Such as this piece added after the cat and secured with a u-clamp.

Well, the wide clamp was in obvious trouble, evidenced by this which was done entirely by hand:



The good news is that the back half of the exhaust plumbing is in much better shape than I would have thought. Other than the muffler mount that already died, the mounting ears that hold the pipe in that middle pan are no longer connected to the pipe itself, but it looks like the entire piece need not be replaced right now.

So the original down pipe, the front half of the exhaust, has a leak at the flex joint, and a large rust hole under where the large clamp is. It so happens that the old front half from my Golf is in better shape except for a couple of rust holes right at the back of the catalyst. As it is, it seems that every piece I have is on borrowed time. That time will be a little longer if I can manage to get myself out of salt country. As it is, I'll use what I have and get myself out of the shop. I will need to save up to set up something to make new parts, and get that effort going in the near future.

For now, I have a real shot at getting out of the shop by Saturday. Or at least, starting to get out of the shop. I've moved so much in supplies and tools, a spare engine, now two excess transaxles (one in good shape but tooefed and locked up but entirely fixable) a spare engine that I find was good for a spare turbocharger but probably will be parted out to the extent that I can. Oh, and a cherry picker lift that I was going to use to swap the engines, but now I don't really need.

And there's this crated up used Audi transaxle for a 2007 A4 Quattro that is an entirely different story. That bugger weighs in excess of 300 pounds ( the bill of lading stated 350#, but I am sure that included the crate). Anybody want one?

Oh, and there was this plan yesterday of filling the transaxle. I fully intended to do so, and brought this funnel-like device that has a plastic tube for the fluid, a graduated container that can hold up to a quart with a top, and a valve at the bottom so you can stop the flow when you want. Turns out the POS is a waste of time. The transfer tube is too stiff, the bottom fitting won't stay where you put it, and the valve won't flow at wide open if the remaining fluid is less than 16 oz. The valve has a screen and when the fluid is somewhat viscous, as good trans lube tends to be at less than 50*F, it hangs up because of trapped air in the valve and below the screen. I found if I opened and closed the valve, some would drip past with every open and close twist pair. It seemed like I was milking the thing, but the flow was so slow, and the main tube was so stubborn, I put the fluid back in the bottle and threw that funnel thing in the corner. If there was a fire nearby I would have thrown it in and risked the ire of people who don't like the smell of burning plastic.

So the transaxle is not filled, and the engine is dry as well. What? Oh, yeah, I was going to change the engine oil too. Just the oil, not the filter. Not trying to be cheap, just that this was going to be a "rinse" and change the oil again in a month or so, this time with filter and new Redline oil.

The snag here was that after the old oil was drained, and the plug inserted, I was going to fill with the gallon of new oil I had there in the shop. Then, when removing the lid, I realized that it wasn't new oil; it was black as printer's ink. It was the oil I drained from my Golf a month ago before our little trip south, and brought it to the shop to pour in the shop owner's tank. He has a furnace that burns waste oil, not that he's going to need a lot of it now that it is warming up, but every little bit helps.

Anyway, in some respects I got stuff done, and in others I seem to have stepped in a cow pie. (This last comparison inspired by the small dairy about 2km up the road. When the wind is from the north, oh, my.)

Sigh...

Cheers!

PH

Day 75

On days like today, I am truly grateful for a very helpful friend that owns a metal fabrication shop.

I needed to repair the downpipe + catalyst for Jettachero. I asked my friend about what I had in mind and he dropped what he was doing and helped me. He pulled out a piece of scrap stainless and cut a piece off. Then we rolled it through a rolling machine he has. I turned the crank and he adjusted it as well as fed it through the rollers and kept it straight. Rolling SS in the thickness necessary to make a reasonable repair piece and to make a short sleeve for joining the downpipe to the other half of the exhaust isn't easy. Then after I checked it for the proper diameter, he ran a bead down to make the sleeve.



I trimmed it for length. The longer piece trimmed had the tack weld cut and I set it up on the downpipe. The part that needed help was on the end of the catalyst. Welding that on was a PIA. He started it and it started fine, but when the welding got onto the old pipe there, everything started getting ugly. Eventually I finished it up after he took a lunch break. We used 309 sticks. The slag on the welds was the toughest slag I have ever seen - it just wouldn't come off the bad parts of the weld. After the second try, I chipped off most of it and left the parts where there is probably still a leak waiting to come out. I sprayed the finished part with white exhaust header paint. I figure it will show any leaks that develop But given how tough that slag was, I'm not certain there will be leaks.



I'll let it dry until tomorrow. I also cut slices, 4 on each end, on the sleeve so that after working it on the pipes, I can use a couple of u-clamps to hold it all together.

Next, it is on to fixing the plumbing.

Where there was one ...



now there are two.



By looking at the one end, and noticing the fitting there, I am sure you will realize that this is the hose that did run from the heater core to the EGR cooler. Now it needs to run to the head - specifically the exit to the side of the water jacket heating glow plugs. I did a lot of cut and try and moving things around. The original hose at the exit of the head was leaking at that junction, so trimming it allowed me to fix the problem. That hose was also trimmed to length.

The junction was made from the two coolant ports on the EGR cooler, I trimmed them and had a friend weld them together. It is a 90* bend now. After playing with the pieces and cutting and trying and moving things around and cutting and trying and cutting and trying, I finally ended up with this:



Since the hose is tucked under/behind other stuff, it really doesn't show well. But I added some hollow red arrowheads to point it out.

And when you're doing this, it really helps if your band clamp tool does not end up looking like this:



Next up is to adjust the shifter cables. I have a DG 5 Sigma set, so I no longer have need of these:



And that's about it. During all this I also managed to refill the engine and the transaxle with their appropriate lubes. Funny how the engine oil, even though I haven't even turned it over yet, looks black already. Sheesh.

So tomorrow I have a downpipe to install. The back half might rattle a lot, but it didn't seem to before on driving it to the shop, so I think I'll get away with it for a while. Then there will be a bunch of little things to take care of. The new heater core hose routing I just installed is an invitation to disaster if I don't secure the two hoses so they don't wear each other out with vibrations. The ends of the LCAs still need to be bolted down as the new nut plates I already have wandered off somewhere. Probably partying with other temporarily ignored parts. And there is the rest of the stuff under the hood to be reattached and/or assembled after I adjust the shift cables, such as the airbox and battery, and the electrical mess on top of the starter solenoid. That will be fun. I will line up the shift knob in the car and then catch the one cable, then I'll be able to nail down the other cable. I have the transaxle set in 2nd gear right now, ready to go; it is just waiting for me to open the door and access the in car shifter.

Yay, the light is in sight, and it does not appear to be an oncoming train! OK, maybe the end isn't so close - there's still body work and painting to do.

Cheers,

PH

Day 76

Today I started by adjusting the shift cables. I knew I had to do this first, because if it became apparent that I needed to replace the shifter it would be much easier if the downpipe was not in the way. Since the plastic 'L' bar on the transaxle shift tower was broken off, I used Jim's (aka Dieselgeek) instructions. To do that you lock the shift knob inside the car at the reference position after putting the transaxle in 2nd gear. 1st gear would probably work as well, but 2nd is a bit more handy. I did not have a 5mm rod handy, so I used a 3/16 drill bit which was. And it is only about .02" small, anyway. Snugging down the one cable - the one that controls raising the shift post, you secure that one and then center the other cable so you bring the transaxle to the neutral locked location. You have to do it this way because the shift knob locks to the neutral spot between 1st and 2nd, but the transaxle itself wants to go to the neutral spot between 3rd and 4th. After you lock the cable that controls up and down, you center the other cable's lever and lock it down.

I mentioned I was installing a Sigma 5 shifter. Each of the clamps has 4 small bolts with lock nuts. I snugged the first one and then got into the car to ensure the shift knob was operating correctly and that the transaxle could find all the gears. Everything seemed OK, so I snugged the other 6 nuts and bolts on the cable clamps at the transaxle.

The next step was installing the dog bone. It was fighting me, and I stopped after a few minutes and looked, thought, and realized that the job would probably go a lot easier if I flipped it right side up. Duh!

Next, the down pipe. I had fun doing this as it is crowded in there around the turbocharger. It all slipped into place correctly.

Next came the sleeve that was made yesterday. It is very snug, and I ended up trimming some so that it would fit more easily. I got it into place and used a couple of u-clamps. It fits solidly, and there is no rattling against the middle hanger that has rusted free of that pipe. I will hope it stays that way until I can get back to re-doing a complete exhaust system.

Then I installed the 3 ball joint bolts at the end of the LCA. I used the bolts from before, but since the nut plates are still partying elsewhere, I bought some locknuts and washers from the local home improvement store.

Then I mounted the 3 wheels that had been removed while doing all this mechanical stuff. Both front wheels of course, but a couple of days ago I also removed one rear wheel just to make extra room to work on the exhaust. It was unnecessary in the end, but I didn't really know that at the time.

After that, I was able to lower Jettachero off the jack stands. Now on the ground, I could finish torquing the lug bolts and the axle nut on the two front wheels.

After this, there were a few little things. A couple of hose clamps needed to be set. The band clamps are a lot of fun with pliers. I like the band clamp pliers. I guess the one breaking was Murphy's dig on that day, and today as well since he knows I didn't have time to go round up another one.

I checked connections, finished routing cables that go above the starter motor over the solenoid, and then prepared to install the airbox and battery. The airbox was not a problem. The battery was a little more fun. I installed the tray, then when I placed the battery in there, I found the hold down bolt wouldn't tighten. Out came the battery and the tray.

The hold down bolt turns in a captive nut crimped into a small plate fastened to the underside of the tray. Seems mine corroded and detached itself from the plate, so there's nothing holding the nut. So I reinstalled the tray and the battery, and the hold down will just have to wait.

So the battery was reconnected, the car is alive, and it had a little trouble starting. But it caught, I carefully backed out of the shop (there's only about 1 inch on each side of the mirrors, and that is when they're folded in!) and took it for a ride home to show my wife.

It can now accelerate, all gears are working, and it is much nicer to actually drive it than wrench on it. The cruise switch seems that it needs exercise as it is reluctant to function properly. And the ECU has already figured out that the EGR isn't working properly.

So I drove back to the shop and packed up a load of tools to return to my own garage.

Here it is parked in my back yard.





Jettachero gets to see the sky again. Yay!!!

Cheers,

PH

Paint and finish work is still left, and the tailgate needs an adjustment I promised but hasn't yet been done.

The engine is a little noisy - I'll need to apply the computer to see what the injector balance looks like. It is all stock at this point, so probably it has been sitting too long and needs a Diesel Purge treatment.

And the suspension still needs work. The rear bushings of the LCAs need to be upgraded to TT type, and the shocks and struts could use a refresh. I already have a set of Koni yellows, but the suspension stuff can wait.

There's going to be a short hiatus again while I take care of house stuff.

And the black flies have decided that since us humans are out less, they'll work even harder this year. Yikes!!

Cheers,

PH

Congrats on getting the car home!

Thanks! It is actually the second time, but it runs MUCH better now, since the turbocharger is working and the transaxle has all 6 gears now (5+ reverse).

The appearance needs some help still, and I'll get back to that as soon as a few other projects get done. But I've got all month, right?

Cheers!

PH

Completely out of the shop

Today was the last day in the shop: I moved the cherry picker and the spare engine out, and gave my key back. Didn't do anything to Jettachero, I just wanted to show he's really working hard!



Cheers,

PH

Day 77 I guess...

Today was a day for getting some nagging problems out of the way. I needed to replace the front half of the console because, well...



yup, it's broken. I was able to procure the necessary piece from the same guy that supplied a replacement intercooler. I just happened to remember the console part when I was there.

And while I'm in the trucklet doing stuff, I figured it would be time to get rid of the extra mess left behind by the previous owner. I chased down a few cables squirting out from underneath various panels, and chased wires and mounts until half the dash was removed. I didn't want to just pull as some of the wires were substantial, and I didn't want to break something and then have a 2 week headache trying to figure out how to fix what I broke.

On the way, I found that a burned out glove box light has probably saved more than one dead battery as the off switch was just hanging out in the breeze instead of being where it would turn off the lamp. I replaced the switch, but not the light bulb. I probably have a spare, but I don't trust the switch at this point. Probably I just need to glue it in place, but then I might not be able to r&r the glove box without cutting wires. So the glove box will remain unlit for the time being.

This is the amount of stuff I pulled out of the dash:



Some of those things weren't just from the electrical games the PO was playing, but I have to wonder how a straw, complete with wrapper got in the dash, a soda bottle cap, and some other stuff. I did score a whole 71 cents (*WOW!*) and one of the coins is a 1942 penny in very good condtion. It would serve the PO right if it turned out to be worth millions, but I doubt that is the case. It is probably worth about a penny. And there was a very small bic lighter that still works.

Oh, and I replaced the parking brake cables. I noticed that the adjuster was really cockeyed in a manner consistent with one cable being at least an inch longer than the other.

Well, here's another proof that Murphy lives at my house. Of the 2 cables, one was corroded and needed replacement and the other was OK. I happened to have a couple of new cables, so I replaced the bad one, and found that the replacement was exactly as long as the bad cable. That means, the remaining old cable is not correct and so it needed replacement because of length.

So I have 2 new cables in place. I have left as much room as possible in the mechanism, the rear pucks are pretty new, the rear calipers are new, and with the adjuster giving as much room as possible, the rear brakes drag significantly when the parking brake handle is down as in all the way released. Not sure what else to do other than short trips until it wears.

Anyway, the interior is looking better already, the parking brakes work all too well for the moment, and I just need to look up on how to attach the shift boot correctly so I don't break something there.

Cheers!

PH