1985 rebuld

RonJitsu

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Location
Central NJ
TDI
2005 Mercedes Benz E320 CDI, 1/2 of a 1985 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
G, you wouldn't have known what to do last night with the problems we encountered haha. Ended up really burning the midnight oil and making one off sleeves for the rear control arm bolt, nearly destroyed a non adjustable drivers side TRE, fighting with the swaybar bushings and various other bumps along the way.

I'm seeing a pattern with these diesels and I am not liking it haha. 13 hours we worked on the car yesterday. It was 12 hours to install your frost heater and battery tender. I told the young lad to not get ahead of himself Sat when he mentioned rear brakes; I think he see's why now...
I probably would have known exactly what to do, but I would have outsourced the work to you. Hahaha.
Yea my frost heater install was brutal too! Glad you were there for that one
 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
Ok boys and girls here is the update... The bearings are whisper quite and handles like a champ... As mark mentioned there was a bunch of issues... Of course there was... First off was getting the drivers side rotor off of the hub, then trying to get the drivers side tie Rod End off.... Aparently back in the olden days or at least on the 85 jetta the drivers side was crimped on and was not adjustable only the passenger side was. I that did not stop mark and myself from getting that ***** to turn with the use of the hot wrench. By the time this info was learned that tie Rod End which was already tired to begin was shot beyond belief. Next we realized there was alot of slop in the bolts through the rear control Arm bushings. Mark with his skill was able to fashion custom sleeve to fit the bushings... Replacement sleeves will be purchased well see if it's worth swapping. After we were done that night everything was completed except for the fact the tie Rod End was shot made driving very dangerous and it wanted to wonder... It was a chore to keep her on the road. Today I received a special tool I ordered and an adjustable drives tie Rod End, after I installed it she rides like a dream.... Enough talk time for the pictures
 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
This is where I left you guys last time... Hub and control arms off ready to start the bushing press...



Stubborn drivers side rotor fused to hub... I figure the intense heat from the busted hub bearing contributed to this..



As shown earlier in the week... We realized there was no swap bar end links in the kit, an oversight but an advanced auto parts about 40 min away had them in stock.... Me and mark ran to pick them up..



Mark decided to use the nuclear approach to get the rotors off.. He ground down the entire front of the hub.... If there is something I learned from working with mark the only tool he likes better then the torch is the angle grinder...



It was successful..



First thing we decided to attack was the control arms.. Pressed out the bearings one by one.... There is definitely much more prep and lining up of materials then I would have thought when using a hydrolic press..



 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
Bearing ready to fall out...



Upside down but you can see how worn out this bushing was...



Pressing in the new ones











Then we pressed out the old rubber front Control Arm Bushings...



And new ones in place...

 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
Pressing out the old hub bearings... Look here see the discoloration of the steel.. That's indicative of high heat... That's the drives side hub.... Bearing was horrible...



Hubs removed..



Now to attack the actual hub bearings...



Circle clip removed..



Mark may be a red neck... Lol



She's almost out...



Fast forward finally new hub bearings and hubs installed in the knuckles... Aren't they pretty.!!



Ready to mount up...

 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
This is when the wheels fell off the wagon, this is when we realized the slop in the control Arm bearing.. Look at these beauties mark fashioned up...



Tight as a crabs ass...



All bolted up on car...



At this point we were tired dirty and punchy.... But mark stuck it out we finished at 1AM work was just a few hours away.. We all know this was far more important...





Stay tuned remember the drivers side tie Rod is busted.....
 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
Today...

I ordered a special tie Rod removal tool... It saved me probably an hour of time and made the job super easy.. Best 40 bucks I've spent in awhile....

Here is the original non adjustable tie Rod End.. Beyond broken



Notice the busted up end.. It was all loosy goosy and provided no support...



The upper end of the rod was no better it made a grinding sound when moved and resistance could be felt... Remember people were talking 28 years on original wear parts..





Here is the tool... It's basically and adjustable super long socket...



This end screws down on the flat end of the tie Rod bold that attaches it to the rack..



Other end excepts regular 1/2 inch wrench or torque wrench...

 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
Since the end link was not removable I needed to cut it off to slip the tool on...







A fixed to tie Rod bolt.. I mean look how brilliant this tool is..



Tie Rod removed...



Tie Rod in tool...





Removed...

 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
The new one is a beauty..







New one screwed into rack...



Torqued down to 58ftlbs



Boot reattached



And spring clip reinstalled..



In closing I must say the car handles and drives in ways I didn't think was possible from this old diesel... An alignment will be on its way very soon...
 

mbatzel

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Location
Cream Ridge, NJ
TDI
MK4 Jetta
VERY nice write up and I'm glad we kept stopping every 3 min for pics haha. A ton was learned Sunday through trial and error. Pressing out the bearings and bushings took a solid 4 hours. It's a delicate process and one you can mess up fast if u press things in crochet.

I have to partly blame GAP for some of the problems we encountered. They make a "set" you buy that has everything in it to do one side of the car. The sleeves are 100% needed and are only $2 ea on their site. Why they weren't included, I have no idea. Another issue was like Doug mentioned was the tie rod. Half our fault, half theirs. It's assumed that you have the upgraded version. It should have an option below to allow you to buy the right parts. Is what it is now but still annoying.

Now we just have to do the rear brakes...


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AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
We do not blame GAP lol I didn't buy the set up from them it was wrdusa... Gap has never let me down and they ship super quick... Lol its true those sleeves should just come with the bushings... They are useless without them.... On a side note I called a local VW dealership today to just pock up the passenger side tie Rod upper.... The moron in the parts department says sorry parts obsolete... I promptly ordered from GAP... One more topic is of alignment.. I figured I'd get the lifetime alignment plan from Firestone.... Anyone have experience with there alignments?
 
Last edited:

RonJitsu

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Location
Central NJ
TDI
2005 Mercedes Benz E320 CDI, 1/2 of a 1985 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
I figured I'd get the lifetime alignment plan from Firestone.... Anyone have experience with there alignments?
It all depends on the actual guy there doing the alignment. Talk to the tech before hand and if you get the impression that his mother is also his sister, then grab your keys and head down the road to the next place.
 

mbatzel

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Location
Cream Ridge, NJ
TDI
MK4 Jetta
Maybe we tackle rear brakes next weekend...
I should be around to assist in the matter.

My sincere apologies to GAP. I didn't know you went to another source for the parts.

As for the alignment, I'd be interested to see what people have to say. I like the idea of lifetime alignments. I know a few jeep guys in NJ that have it and love it. They go ever 6 months or so


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mbatzel

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Location
Cream Ridge, NJ
TDI
MK4 Jetta
Great find the brake tool.. Lol
I'll call up the old man to have him pull it from the tool box.

It should also be mentioned that the new swaybar bushings put up a real good fight. It was like Apollo Creed from Rocky; making us go a full 15 rounds with it
 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
Rear drum brakes are complete... What a horrible design 5 springs going in every direction... Calipers and rotors just make so much more sense I feel.... But the most important thing is the car can now stop on a dime and give a nickel change.... Also got at alignment the car drives like a dream and handles even better... On left hand turns you could put your cigarette out on the street it's so wired down... Lol stay tuned pictures to follow.
 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
After having all the parts sitting for about 12-14 months they are finally in... Once again marks help was essential. He has the patients I don't, however everything we do together takes a minimum of 9hrs... This job wasn't without the stripped bolt and last minute run to the hardware store.... By the way tractor supply has everything a man could need. From chickens to m10 Allen head bolts... Ok on with the pictures....

Wheel off and hub bearing cap off if you remember 26k miles ago and nearly two years ago I repacked these rear bearings and you can see Ronnie's special lube looks like it did 2years ago.





Look how dirty and worn everything looks... The brakes shoes are basically non existent....



 

AWPGTI

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Location
Long Island
TDI
1985 Jetta
I took alot of pictures with played a vital role on reassembly... Once you understand it there pretty simple but still a pain to hang all those springs... They might be small but god damn there strong...





Here's the drum... Pretty beat.



We laid out the spring components before hand so we had an idea where they would all be going.



I'm not sure what it's called but the new piston valve part in place the old ones seemed pretty tired.



Missed a few pictures but there wasn't a free hand... Drum brakes remind me of one of those prank can of spring worms....





New drum in place...



Repeat for the other side lol....
We ran in to a jam getting off the valve on the other side... The Allen heads stripped so the bolt had to be drilled out... Tractor supply had the same bolts so it bolt right up... The other struggle was the under car proportioning valve... One of the brake lines didn't want to come unlocked, mark got it with strategic placement of the vice grip... We bled all four corners... The end result. Brakes that stop amazingly. The jetta is starting to feel more and more like my MKIV gti with 337 brakes. Firestone did the alignment today. The jetta is so quite smooth and handles amazingly, it's really impressive.... Next huge job will be new Corrado shocks, springs, and all new shock bushings. I even am contemplating rear sway bar and tie bars all around... Comments suggestions or advice on where to take this is appreciated!!!
 

mbatzel

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Location
Cream Ridge, NJ
TDI
MK4 Jetta
It's sad we didn't get pics of the proportioning valve. That was bear to get back on! Little forward, little up, ahh too much, little back, RIGHT THERE, don't you move, got er in! Also not mentioned were the two trips to the bathroom for fallen debris in said eyes.

All in all, she bled real good minis four different blender value sizes. The alignment was a must and knew it would really wake up the car.

Next is custom 2.5" exhaust fab'd and welded up by yours truly. Give the ole girl a nice tone to her...


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japedo

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Moncton New Brunswick
TDI
2013 Jetta TDI CL 6MT
Well, I managed over a period of about a week to read through this entire thing.

Was really interesting, exciting and at times I felt bad for you guys. But that's the way these things go. I have restored old vehicles, pulled many engines,trannys etc. and problems are par for the course.

It's a pretty awesome buggy you guys put together there! However I would really love to see I painted!!
If you have an air compressor, why not buy a auto paint sprayer and give her a coat of base and clear? It would really put the Icing on the cake after all the hard work you have done!

I dunno what color to recommend, a dark red would be nice, maybe with some metallic in it.
But the olive green, or burnt copper color you speak of would be nice to!

Great job guys! "Three stooges"???? ;)
 

RonJitsu

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Location
Central NJ
TDI
2005 Mercedes Benz E320 CDI, 1/2 of a 1985 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
Well, I managed over a period of about a week to read through this entire thing.

Was really interesting, exciting and at times I felt bad for you guys. But that's the way these things go. I have restored old vehicles, pulled many engines,trannys etc. and problems are par for the course.

It's a pretty awesome buggy you guys put together there! However I would really love to see I painted!!
If you have an air compressor, why not buy a auto paint sprayer and give her a coat of base and clear? It would really put the Icing on the cake after all the hard work you have done!

I dunno what color to recommend, a dark red would be nice, maybe with some metallic in it.
But the olive green, or burnt copper color you speak of would be nice to!

Great job guys! "Three stooges"???? ;)
Thanks for the kind words!
Doug just replaced a CV joint last week, I was hoping he would post an update on here. He's been busy working on restoring a 1985 Jeep Renegade lately, I guess he's too good for the TDIclub now... :D

I've also been on Doug to look into painting the Jetta. I suggested painting it back to its original color. Keep up the pressure, maybe he will go for it!
 

japedo

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Moncton New Brunswick
TDI
2013 Jetta TDI CL 6MT
I would probably paint it the original color myself as well.
The before and after would be nuts compared to the faded red.
I had a red Toyota corolla once, it was faded really bad. Polishing compound would make it look good for a month or so.
Update some pics if you guys do more to the car, does it even have a name? Did I miss that?
 

mbatzel

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Location
Cream Ridge, NJ
TDI
MK4 Jetta
Thanks for the kind words!
Doug just replaced a CV joint last week, I was hoping he would post an update on here. He's been busy working on restoring a 1985 Jeep Renegade lately, I guess he's too good for the TDIclub now... :D

I've also been on Doug to look into painting the Jetta. I suggested painting it back to its original color. Keep up the pressure, maybe he will go for it!
I thought about matching the jeep with the satin black. Offered to help mask and do it several times. Poor guy has Jeep on the brain and Ronnie as you know, it's a debilitating disease.

The heater core has gone so the poor guy is running with no heat now. That needs to be addressed soon too. Gonna get cold this winter me thinks...


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RonJitsu

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Location
Central NJ
TDI
2005 Mercedes Benz E320 CDI, 1/2 of a 1985 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
Wow, how long have you been running it with the wrong coolant?

I have a complete, turn-key rebuilt engine for that car for $2000 if you are interested. Early A2 1.6L solid lifter engine, same as what that car was born with. Pump, injectors, everything ready to go.

This pic was taken before the injectors and pump were put on:

Just some info on the engine I have:

It is out of an early 1986 Golf. The car was sold without and engine (and later tooefed). I totally went through this engine in the hopes of some day finding a worthy A2 to put it in, but so far have not found one and have plenty of other projects.

It was bored one size over and has new KS pistons, all new KS main, rod, I-shaft bearings, new wrist pin bushings. The head was professionally redone by the local shop I send all my stuff to that has done literally hundreds of jobs for me over the years. All new German parts throughout.

It has a new Febi oil pump, new Geba water pump AND housing, new OE lower plastic timing belt cover, upgraded one-piece valve cover gasket, new Contitech timing belt and tensioner, all new Rienz seals and gaskets throughout.

The block was hot-tanked and chemically stripped and repainted, all steel parts were media blasted, primed, baked, painted, baked again (oil pan, valve cover, etc.).

It has a remanufactured starter, new Mann air filter and oil filter, new oil pressure switches, rebuilt vacuum pump, and almost all the hardware was replaced or cleaned and refinished.

The injection pump was professionally rebuilt by DFIS in Oregon (the preferred Bosch shop on this forum) and the injectors are genuine Bosch reman (not some Chinese or Indian crap), and all the steel delivery pipes are new.
Hey all,
Doug & I have a question about the lifters in his engine. Oilhammer stated that they are solid lifters (in one of the original posts) which means that they require regular adjustment...
However I've read that VW started with Hydraulic lifters in all A2 Jetta & Golf models...

I always thought they were hydraulic until I recently started to think about it. At over 51K miles now, the Jetta has started to smoke just a bit, and has what I'll call excessive gasses coming from the PCV/Breather/Draft Tube... That's got me thinking that valve timing isn't perfect and therefore I'm looking into which lifters are in here, so we can adjust accordingly...

Oilhammer,do you have any advice?
 
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