56 replies to this topic

[daljsd]

I noticed the chemical metal stuff was blocking one of the sump bolts so I removed the repair I made. Surprisingly it came off very easily. Probably because the sump was still leaking while I applied the chemical metal so it didn't bond to the sump properly. I really should have drained the sump and keyed up the surface before applying but you do what you can in an emergency.  

 

 

 

 

Looking at the damage. It's quite bad and we were lucky a chunk didn't fall off the sump.

 

 

 

Wonder if it can be repaired to keep as a spare. Looks like that bottom corner section needs removing and ally plate welded in or might not be worth it?

[daljsd]

Next step was to remove the old sump by removing the 26 5mm Allen key bolts. Started at the front of the block, one rounded off already, no bother as I can hammer in a Torx to remove. Bigger problem are the 3 bolts on the gearbox side. The Allen key socket won't fit in the gap between the gearbox and Sump!  :frustration: 

 

I guess the original R32 gearbox/mount bracket is moulded in a way that you can access these bolts easily?

 

 

Two options popped into my head after the standard swearing...

 

1. cut a groove in the bellhousing for clearance. 

2. get a longer Allen key socket

 

 

 

I went for option 2 and ordered some long Allen key and Torx sockets, threw everything into the boot then went inside for some Doritos, Jalapenos and Salsa dip 

 

 

Hopefully the weekend weather will get a little better to tackle this again once the new sockets arrive.

[daljsd]

Change sump Take 2.

 

Set of long Allen key and Torx sockets arrived so all systems go to change the sump. First I made sure the new socket was long enough so measured up against the replacement sump

 

 

Looks good to me. Jacked the car up and started to prep.

 

3 bolts on the gearbox side needed the longer sockets as seen here ..

 

 

Got the socket into position and tapped it in with a light hammer then proceeded to undo it. Came out straight away so proceeded onto the others

 

 

One bolt fell off the socket and landed in the bellhousing. Luckily I could see it so manoeuvred it using a small screwdriver and out it came.

 

 

Worked my around the sump but one bolt was inaccessible because of the aux belt

 

 

This was simple enough to resolve by removing the belt so released tension from the belt

 

 

 

Then took the belt off the power steering pump pulley and out of the way

 

 

With all the bolts off, sump was hit with a rubber mallet a few times to release and it fell straight off. Looks quite clean inside.

 

 

Cleaned up the old sump to reveal the damage from the inside. Not worth getting this repaired I think

 

 

 

 

 

[daljsd]

Next task was to make sure surfaces were spotless for re-sealing. Old sealant was removed with a blade, lightly went over the surface with some body sand paper and cleaned off with brake cleaner and a lint free rag. Brake cleaner was used until no dirt or oil was left on the surface.

 

 

 

One thing I noticed was the surface of the Crank seal was a bit eaten away so thought to add a little more sealant on this side.

 

 

Quick comparison between new and old sump

 

 

New bolts and VAG approved sealant to go on

 

 

Sump Allen key bolts from VW have been superseded by Torx bolts. I compared lengths before installing to ensure they were identical in length. New bolts are a couple of mm shorter but that's ok

 

Always nice to replace bolts where possible.

 

 

 

[daljsd]

Applied the sealant to the sump. This stuff is very sticky. Weather was a little cold on the day so I wasn’t worried about it drying up too quick. I also went around the outside of the bolt holes to stop any dirt or moisture getting to the bolts

 

 

Sump was slowly moved into position being careful not to matte the surfaces until the sump was square. All bolts were threaded by a few turns then tightened in a crisscross pattern. I did this carefully so the sump went onto the block as square as possible.

 

 

At one point I thought I had the socket in the bolt but was actually jammed in between the sump and flywheel so when I went to tighten it – it shattered the socket, oops!

 

 

Car had been off the road for about 8 months at this point so battery was completely flat. No juice registered on the charger

 

 

Battery was left on charge overnight. Next day, engine was treated with new oil filter and fresh oil.

 

Engine fired up with a bit of coughing and spluttering but was ok after a few seconds. Engine was left running until up to temp and no leaks observed. Happy days. Forgotten how good this engine sounds !

 

Just have the Master cylinder to replace next then I can get an MOT!

 

[MJVR6]

The Allen Key Bolts are F'in dreadful man.


MJ

[daljsd]

The Allen Key Bolts are F'in dreadful man.


MJ

 

yes, I hate them! 10mm bolts would have been good enough 

[daljsd]

Back again for more updates.

 

Been busy with home improvements over the last few months but time was nearly upon us for our annual Europe road trip so had to start prepping.

 

About a month before we set off I thought it a good idea for a little track day to ensure the car was tip top for the long voyage so I booked myself in to a session at Brands Hatch during Deutsche fest.

 

Brake master required fixing as it sprung a leak so this had to be rectified before the track day.

 

 

Brake fluid was leaking from the reservoir seal so I thought it a good opportunity to change the master for a 22mm 16V item. Fluid had leaked onto my nicely painted Servo and ruined the paint. It was too much effort at this point to remove the servo and repaint so decided to change the Master only.

 

First I drained enough fluid to empty the reservoir bottle from the driver side wheel

 

 

Once drained, I removed the bottle

 

 

Then went on to undoing the brake lines

 

 

Not sure how it happened but the seal had a horizontal split in the middle. These seals weren’t even that old. Maybe the rust cut into it or something.

 

Brake lines removed then fitted a new polished master

 

 

One thing I liked about the new master was that it came with a reservoir securing pin unlike the original one I took off. The MK3 reservoir has tabs that secure the reservoir to the master via the pin

 

 

The pin was a bit of pain to get in but once it went in it really secured the bottle

 

 

Brake system was then bled using an Eezibleed kit and some ATE Typ 200 fluid. This fluid replaced the popular ate blue racing fluid. I’ve used this fluid on various track days and has never boiled over or squeezed past any seals.

 

Fuel filter was also due a change so this was done. Replaced the barb adapter for good measure. This adapter is required when using 8V fuel lines on a 16V Pump/filter setup.

 

 

[daljsd]

Car was ready for an MOT which it passed with no issues.

 

 

A week later I arrived at Brands Hatch with a friend who is also running a V6

 

 

 

Both had a great day with a mix of cars and met a number of other MK2 owners

 

 

Cars ran really well. Nothing broke which is always a bonus!

 

[daljsd]

Now onto the Road trip!

 

The plan this year was to go from UK to Cannes, spend a few days on the beach working on our tans, make our way to Geneva in Switzerland through the French Alps then onto the Nurburgring via Germany Black forest, Phew!

 

Hotels booked and route planned out.

 

Getting to Cannes from Calais took approximately 11 hours and 2.5 fuel tanks. Spent around £100 on tolls! The drive wasn’t too bad, mix tunes, big bag of skittles, loud exhaust and sweaty back kept me company. My friend in his R frequently reminded me how cold it was in his car with AC!

 

 

Cannes had some interesting cars as well as other things

 

 

 

 

Drove to Nice one night for Diner then to Monaco.

 

 

Once we finished up in Cannes we had a 3 day drive to Geneva on the following French Alp passes..

Pass 1 - Col de Castillon

Pass 2 - Col de Turini

Pass 3 - Col Saint Martin

Pass 4 - Col de La Couillole

Pass 5 - Col de La Cayolle

Pass 6 - Col de Vars

Pass 7 - Col d'Izoard

Pass 8 - Col de l'Iseran

Pass 9 - Cormet de Roselend

Pass 10 - Col des Saisies

Pass 11 - Col des Aravis

Pass 12 - Col de La Colombière

 

 

There were a number of other passes on the Alps but would have been too much driving If we covered them all so we broke the days down as below ..

 

[daljsd]

Day 1 –

 

Day 2 –

 

we had to avoid some routes to reduce driving as it would have been too much. This day was quite scary as the heavens opened up at the top of the mountain pass. We were all on edge as there were no barriers on the end of the road to a vertical drop. Worse still, My Golf is missing the power steering belt cover so steering was intermittently slipping when the rain was real heavy. Hotel at the top of the mountain was a real treat though. We stayed in some ski resorts which don’t see many people in the summer months so were virtually empty.

 

Day 3 –

 

 

What I didn’t prepare for was the poo my pants factor!

 

Some of the mountain passes were barely wide enough for two cars with no barrier to a 1000ft fall of death!

Luckily not all the passes were like this. Majority of the passes were smooth windy roads with spectacular views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a night in Geneva before we set off the next day to Black forest in Germany. Black forest is lined with silky smooth fast flowing roads and like-minded car enthusiasts.

 

 

Amply supply of Ice creams were on order.

 

 

[daljsd]

Next stop was a 4hr drive to the Nurburgring.

 

Spotted a rather nice B reg MK2 from the UK

 

 

Surprisingly lots of Corvetts this year. They sounded monstrous!

 

Managed to get a couple of Paddock passes to the GP circuit

 

 

 

Got some really good snaps from the photographers around the ring ..

 

 

 

 

The Mk2 once again was such a joy to drive and didn’t miss a beat. As all good things come to an end it was time to go home. On the way to Calais I noticed my brakes were making a funny noise. Braking efficiency was still there but the noise was quit concerning. I looked through the spokes in the wheel and couldn’t see anything out of place on the discs or pads. The car drove home ok apart from the intermittent noise.

 

Next day I removed the wheels to take a closer look and found this. Bit surprised to be honest as the Ferodo DS2500 pads are designed to take a beating. Maybe it was the mix of Hot/Cold/Rain that did this

 

 

I had a spare set of DS2500’s so changed out and bedded in.

 

That’s it for this episode. Thanks for reading

 

[woby]

absolutely loving this thread

[Lamb32]

Wow what an epic thread journey's are wow.

[daljsd]

So a Europe road trip wasn’t enough. My wife had the brilliant idea of driving up to the Scottish Highlands for a week in the Golf. I wasn’t going to say no, any excuse for a road trip in the Golf!

 

We booked a nice cottage just north of loch ness and to the west of Inverness. It was a good 10hr drive to the place we booked so decided to break up the journey. Don’t think I would have survived once the battery ran out on the iPad with the kids in the back. We stopped half way in Carlisle for one night then continued on towards Loch Ness.

 

Next few days were spent around the Highlands and Isle of Skye. Roads were spectacular, views out of a post card and virtually no traffic. Summer Holidays are offset by a couple of weeks compared to the rest of England so roads were empty.

 

 

 

 

Had a bit of rain one day and remaining days was nice, slight overcast but pleasant.

 

 

Fairy Pools in Isle of Skye

 

 

Virtually empty roads meant I could open it up a bit.

 

 

 

 

[daljsd]

We visited a number of Castles. The most memorable was Castle Menzies in Aberfeldy. We went to this particular Castle as the last Sikh emperor of Punjab, India lived here in the mid 1800’s when taken from Punjab during British rule. Nice they had a plaque to Honour him

 

 

 

His one day old Son is buried in Kenmore Church which was 15mins from Castle Menzies so paid our respects with some flowers

 

 

 

Maharajah Duleep Singh himself is buried in Elveden Church, Thetford.

 

We then drove to Edinburgh for a day before returning back home.

 

 

Absolutely loved driving through the Highlands. That’s 4000 miles done in August alone! I’m now planning the Scottish North Coast 500 for next year, right after watching Braveheart

 

[Mr Whippy]

Wow great project thread, and then nice trips out!

That power output on Emerald is very good, I’m baffled at the OE power/afr on the engine as it’s slower than it could be and richer too.


Where did you recently stay near Inverness? My wife and I stayed at a small cottage just outside the Muir of Ord iirc, back in 2003.

It was a great location for driving out to places from but I think you’re better moving around in Scotland otherwise you do *too* much driving haha!
Going out/back to same place each day gets tiring.


I fancy going back soon as it is a stunning place to go drive!

Dave

[daljsd]

We stayed in a little cottage located in Drumnadrochit called River view cottage. 

 

Views around the Highlands were spectacular. I can see myself going more often.

 

 I find engine power output is subjective to what rollers are used. I've seen some very optimistic figures from some rollers and much less from others. I'm good with mechanics and wiring but when it comes to engine mapping I'm completely lost 

 

I'm currently debating nitrous oxide for this engine 

 

 

[Mr Whippy]

I’m deffo going to get my R32 mapped.

The power will he a bonus, but the throttle mapping and lag are somewhat annoying.

I think, as you’d seem during mapping, the variable intake can give odd characteristics if it’s not operating correctly.
I’m unsure if that introduces laggy feeling around 2000-3000rpm.

I’m suspecting it’s all just emissions bollox, torque maximising strategies vs response optimisations.

Or they mapped the throttle so top heavy at low rpm that they had to dial out response to make it less bunny hoppy.


You can’t beat a proper mapping with emerald! A friend had a caterham superlight R for a time on emerald... was very cool to just tweak stuff to taste.

[daljsd]

Funny you say that about lagging. Pre mapping, my variable inlet was stuck in the power position so felt very laggy until over 4K rpm. During mapping the Inlet was set to low end torque mode throughout the rev range and only produced around 230bhp. The trickery with the inlet makes such a difference. 

 

luckily anything required for emissions was binned 

 

I'm running a cable operated throttle. I've heard the original DBW is quite on and off

[daljsd]

Been a bit quiet on the build thread lately. Needless to say I’ve been working on odd bits on the MK2.

 

 

Power steering cover

 

 

For a few weeks I’ve been hearing this progressively worse noise from the driver side door when the central locking is working. Immediate thought is the solenoid is seizing up. It still worked so left it as is.

 

One day, some of the kids from the local neighbourhood carried my mothers groceries all the way home, you know why, because the central locking packed up!

 

Door card off, It’s funny, I’m so used to taking the MK2 apart it’s like second nature. Few screws later the door card was off

 

Solenoid had split appart like something out of Hostel!

 

 

Ordered a new generic one from eBay and replaced. All working again

 

 

Car was going great until one day I noticed a clackety clack noise from the engine bay. I drove to work and noise was gone. Hoping it was another car making the noise I ignored it. Later on – on the way home the noise returned with a vengeance. Something was broken. When I put pressure on the clutch pedal the noise would go away and return with the pedal released. Immediate thought was release bearing or clutch fork. Now thinking about it, my clutch pedal had been making a springy noise for a while and the biting point was erratic of late.

 

Only option was to remove the gearbox. I decided to do this on the driveway as there are a number of brackets that need repainting/chroming so thought I’d take my time with it.

 

The Start

 

 

Gearbox paint is looking a bit sad so will have to key it down and paint later on.

 

 

[daljsd]

One thing I always dread doing at home is the hub nut. I always see people online with 10ft scaffold poles trying to undo them. This was one of the reasons I bought an impact wrench. Cordless ones with good power are very expensive so I opted for a corded Clarke gun which cost around £70. It has a power rating of 450Nm which proved no problem (I know, I should have used an impact socket but I live dangerously)

Only downside to this gun is that it's the size of the Titanic

 

 

 

Next to come off was the Balljoint. I replaced this not so long ago so it came off with ease

 

 

Driveshaft bolts were removed with a smaller impact wrench. Electric tools make these kind of jobs easy peasy

 

 

Driveshaft was out. Not looking overly healthy I might add. One of my coolant pipes had a leak for some time and looks like the coolant seeped into the shaft. I’ll have to give this a real good clean and re-grease

 

 

Diff cup looks a bit crusty too

 

 

Other shaft bolts were removed with the help of the gun. This shaft can stay in place

 

 

Next was to start on the engine bay so battery was disconnected

 

 

Airbox off

 

 

Gear selector cables were removed and bracket removed from gearbox

 

 

Clutch actuator was next to come off

 

[img]https://farm5.static...e810_k.jpg[/img]

 

 

 

 

[daljsd]

I decided to remove the gearbox mount bracket for extra clearance. One of the bolts had rounded off but luckily my friend bought me a set of these bolt removal sockets which removed the rounded bolt with ease.

 

 

 

 

Highly recommend these sockets!

 

Starter motor off. I’m going to try and remove the back later to see if I can get it chromed

 

 

Front mount off. Looking tired so will be sent to the chromers

 

 

All bolts holding the gearbox removed.

 

 

Manoeuvring the gearbox out the bay is tricky. Those annoying diff cups get caught on everything. I should have taken them off but couldn’t remember if they were bolt or push on. I was worried about the rust on one of them so decided to leave them on

 

 

 

 

 

Blasted diff cup stuck again. Not much fun doing this in the freezing cold!

 

 

 

 

Finally after much swearing the gearbox was off

 

 

 

[daljsd]

Time to inspect the bearing and fork

 

 

As suspected, it’s Forked!

 

 

 

 

Common on O2A and O2J boxes. This will need to be replaced and will get a reinforced one.

 

Next was to remove and inspect the clutch

 

 

 

Clutch doesn’t look bad at all, bit of wear but looks healthy. This will also be replaced

 

 

 

Forgotten how Light the flywheel is

 

 

 

Time to order lots of new goodies and start piecing back together !

 

[P24LJP]

Brilliant thread (Y)

[daljsd]

So got the Gearbox indoors and started scrubbing off the flaky paint.

 

 

 

Next I decided to drain the gearbox oil. Why I didn’t do this while it was still on the engine eludes me. I got the Gearbox onto my prebuilt pro gearbox jig

 

 

VERY carefully tapped in the drain key

 

 

 

And drained the oil

 

 

 

I can make up these jigs for anyone that’s interested. I hold no liability for the box falling onto your foot though 

 

[daljsd]

Once drained, I started to remove the shift tower

 

 

Took a few knocks with the hammer but it came off

 

 

I noticed there was no Bush in here  .. 

 

 

Next was to clean up the box with some brake cleaner, mask it up and start spraying

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t look so bad. Can finished so I’ll get another one and give it a few more coats. Need to get this back on the road asap!