Front refurb/suspension. My experience

[MacColl]

I'm planning on doing the following to my 89 GT over nine days as of this Saturday for the National..

Full front end refurbishment with bushes and new suspension also new suspension on rear (rear bushes will be done when I refurbish a spare rear beam later)

Front bearings have been whining for too long and I figured I'd get assertive with the car again and get a long of list of stuff attacked as I am going back to Uni in Sept and I will need to have it solid for winter.


I have sourced..

Wishbones with bushes
Ball joints for wishbones with the three bolts
Anti roll bar bushes outer and inner
Have a spare anti roll bar that I can refurb not sure about bolts??
Made my own outer roll bar clamps
Front bushes that I believe will need to be pressed in to hubs
Front and rear shocks (fronts are inserts with caps) I know a bit of oil in the strut will help.
Front and rear springs
Top mounts
Bump stops
Dust covers

Have hopefully sourced second hand..
Hubs for new bearings
Back plates
Struts to take inserts

These will be attacked with a wire brush cup on an angle grinder and painted with black Rustoleum if I can get it.

So will I be ok with the original track rods? they look rusty but I take it should pop off and the wheel bearing kit has new castle nut/pins

What nuts/bolts/washers should I buy from VW? the car has captive bolts I take it where the wishbones pivot and bolts at the front?
I take it there is a chance of shearing and obvious stubborn bolts. Also rear bolts for struts can be a pain?

Any pointers/extras that I need to consider?

I'm pretty sure the bearings will need pressed in and I'll need the tracking done once fitted.

I'll add pictures as I go with hopeful progress

[Risocco]

Front bearings do need to be pressed in idealy, but apparently not impossible to DIY, never attempted it myself.

I'd also get one of these...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mk1-Golf-OMP-Lowe ... 415b5b7453

Biiiiiiig improvement.

Best of British for saturday

Alex

[ianaudia4]

When I changed all the bushes/front and rear suspension on the scala I bought all new nuts and bolts from the dealer, much easier to work with and the correct size etc.
I think they cost somewhere in the region of £30.

[MacColl]

Thanks

The strut brace is definitely something that will be purchased but will have to wait as the funds are quickly drying up.

As for nuts/bolts I'll try and replace all of them at the front and the two that hold the rear struts on to the rear beam.

Anyone else got anything to add? It seems as long as I have spare bolts etc I should be fine and obviously the tracking is important.

[MacColl]

just another thing, Camber? One of the bolts that holds the strut to the hub has an adjustment on it.

Can any camber issues be sorted with tracking? should have new bolts in there which would no doubt help.

[MacColl]

OK so not much achieved today but separated struts from hubs and had fun removing the rotten back plates. It seems that I'll be going without the backplates because they would have to be fitted with the hubs new bearings and I can't afford them just now.

Donor struts without plates ready for wire brush attack..

Removing rotten back plates was fun involving welder..

Some scrap not prepared to pay around £50 for the Crazy Quiffs ones..


Paint tomorrow

[DT1]

You can get them from VW Heritage for £37 a pair delivered (when in stock).

Probably not as cheap as you would like them.

[MacColl]

Yes cheers I thought that they might supply them also but I'll go without.

Been attacking spare ARB with a twisted knot wheel on an angle grinder, Is this pitting going to be ok for bushes once painted?



Managed to source a tin of this only five minutes drive from my shop! which I can apply straight to the ARB and other suspension..


Some rust removed from struts/hubs in car to get the bearings pressed out at a garage..

[Old Mac Rocco]

Your working well.
I worked on the assumption that the paint (Hammerite) when hard would cancel out any pitting ?????
Are the struts getting the rust treatment ????????

[MacColl]

Hello mate How are you doing? I'll give you a call at some point, I'm hopefully going to get a bunch of stuff done while I'm off till a week Monday.

I think as long as the pitting is smooth enough to touch before paint it will be fine. The Rustoleum needs a key to adhere anyway and I'm told should be better than Hammerite.

The Struts will be getting a bit more de-rusting with various wire brush wheels then a coat of the same Rustoleum. I'm going down to Hoods in Kilmarnock who have bolts for me and I'm going to ask their opinion on the struts condition and if they will press out the old bearings. They are the only garage I really trust, very friendly and know these cars.

[Old Mac Rocco]

ALIVE an kicking but still very sore and tender.
Holidaymakers arrive back tomorrow (Monday) and eldest daughters birthday on the 19th but could maybe manage to escape for a couple of hours (Wed, Thur or Friday) if you need a hand.
Just pop your availability on a PM as I have no idea where I'll be over the next two days.
Chees mate.

[MacColl]

I'll let the pictures do the talking..


The Rustoleum paint goes on great with a brush, did two coats..

Febi Bilsten bearings pressed in by local garage..


These brackets were quite pitted and had pin holes. I stupidly thought that welding a bolt internally (someone else actually suggested it) would add strength but rendered them useless because of interference with the wishbone bush. Just hope the ones on the car are better.


Car will be off road as of tomorrow for the main part of the work.

[MacColl]

Old Mac rocco came round and helped me prepare struts and wishbones. Nice to get a bit of input and encouragement thanks mate.

I'm on phone so no pics just now. Everything is ready to go on to stripped car tomorrow apart from a serious issue with the tie rod end which I can't remove! I've tried everything and need to get it off as I had to cut the ball joint to get the hub off.

This must be sorted tomorrow. Serious heat might be required, any other ideas? Removing the rear suspension bolts was bad enough again they were seriously seized. Pics and hopefully better news tomorrow.

[Nate]

Front bushes that I believe will need to be pressed in to hubs

bush pressed into hub?! or did you mean bearing?

as for your seized on track rod end, what have you currently got on the steering arm? i'm asuming it's the one with the adjustable end on it, so you've got a ball joint screwed onto the end of the rod with a locking nut screwed tight against it. if so, this is how i've done them in the past:

first of soak it in plusgas (much more effective than wd40) then soak it in some plusgas. when you've done that, soak it in some plusgas, and leave it to soak in for a while before giving it a good soaking with plusgas.

get a pair of stilsons on the flats on the steering arm, and a good tight fitting spanner (preferably a split ring or crowfoot) onto the nut. give it a good solid yank. if it doesn't moove, try tightening it up slightly first to break the rust, then undoing it. if that doesn't work, get a nut splitter on it to get it out of the way.

next up, get something to twist the balljoint with. this may have flats on the side you can get a big spanner on, or may just need another pair of stilsons or mole grips on it. try to get it to move. if it does, work it back and forth half a turn, then undo it a bit, then rock it back and forth, just like you would if you were cutting a new thread. don't forget to keep soaking it with plusgas.

if that fails, you have 2 options: either warm it up (gasaxe isn't essential, a butane / propane plumbers blowtorch works just as well, but takes slightly longer) or very very carefully cut a slit down the side of it with an ultra thin disc on a grinder. you don't need to cut right down to the thread. take your time and do it very carefully - you don't want to damage the thread on the arm. cutting like this will do 2 things - it will warm it up a bit, which will help break the rust, and it will also help to relieve the tension in the metal which is being forced to expand slightly from the rust between it and the steering arm.

hopefully by now, you'll have the end off the arm. clean up the thread as needed by running a tap down it or carefully using a needle file. before putting your new track rod end on, apply a very slight smear of copper grease, which will stop it all corroding together again so you get an easy job next time. this is good practice on all of the bolts that will be exposed to the weather. so long as it is just a tiny smear, it won't effect the bolt holding (providing it is torqued up correctly to start with!) but don't use it with locking nuts.

if you're still struggling, or if you would have needed to buy tools to attack the track rod end with, consider just replacing the complete steering arm. thay are available from all god and many bad motorfactors.

[Old Mac Rocco]

Sorry I couldn't stay longer to assist.

All good advice from Nate.
Sometimes it just takes a little bit more persuasion than normal.
Sometimes a bigger impact applicator than normal.
I have no doubt you'll get there in the end.
Unfortunately I don't have any spare bits for this area.

Carb arrived today, well pleased.