Suspension restoration

[WreckTangle]

Just got these back from being blasted and powder-coated. I now have nearly all the bits to restore the coilover suspension on my GTII back to stock. That has also involved tracking down a daunting collection of nuts, spacers, washers, etc. One question though. Do the rear springs have a right way up or are they symmetrical?

If folk are interested I’ll post some more pics as I assemble the struts. Probably won’t be for a few weeks though due to other priorities.

[james butler]

as far as i recall theres isnt a right way up for them.
will have to double check the manual tho to be sure.
powder coat looks awsome

[mark1gls]

What shocks are you going to fit?
I would avoid standard Boge gas shocks as I’ve found out they don’t seem to last very long, my last 2 sets the fronts have only lasted about 3 years /30,000 miles each before they need replacing, it is on my daily car, I’m very disappointed with them and not going to buy another set....

Avoid these... avs spares is a good place to get those washers, nuts etc you may be missing...

https://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info ... ts_id=2363

[WreckTangle]

I’ve got Boge oil pressure shocks for both front and rear. I’m after a more forgiving ride than the coilovers. The front inserts are p/n 27-229-1 and seem widely available. The ones I’ve got say made in Turkey. The rears are NOS p/n 27-832-0 made in Germany. The rears were harder to track down.

I’m planning on putting a bit of ATF in the front struts to aid future removal of the inserts although dismantling the originals (bought from a local scrapyard) was not particularly difficult once I’d obtained the correct cartridge gland nut tool.

[james butler]

bilstein b4 would be a better choice and last much longer than the boge and a good match for standard

[WreckTangle]

So, I’ve managed to make a little bit of progress in that I have constructed the new front struts. The starting point was the powder coated items in my first post, namely strut housings, springs and retaining cups. To this I have added new Febi top mounts and protection kits; Boge 27-229-1 oil pressure strut inserts and the two special washers ordered new from VW Heritage as some of these were missing from the second-hand struts I started with. With the parts I used, a new spacer insert came with the top mounts and a new gland nut came with the strut inserts.

Special tools required are: spring compressors, the strut gland nut tool, and a strut nut socket-set which enables you to insert the allen key whilst tightening the strut nut. I’ve included the picture showing all the bits in order as this would have been really useful to me at the start of this project.

It was all reasonably straightforward. Getting the bump stops connected to the dust covers was a bit of a pain. I resorted to using a screw-driver to prise them in. At first, trying to persuade the strut to remain extended long enough to attach the top nut was also annoying but I solved this problem by cutting some pieces of thick cardboard to wedge under the bump stops.

Protection Kit = Bump Stop & Dust Cover





Special Tools



Torque Wrench

I couldn’t find a torque wrench setting for the gland nut so I went for 50ftlb which seems about right.



Work Bench



Exploded View



Finished Struts

[mark1gls]

Looks good so far. When you fit the strut check for knocking on the strut, lift car in the air and place a bar/wood underneath the wheel and lift it up and down and check the top mount bush is not knocking as to need to squash/grind a little off the metal bush and pack it with some grease as you might hear a knocking noise when driving on a rough road.

[WreckTangle]

A bit of progress this weekend. I’ve assembled the rear struts ready for installation. I decided there probably was a way round for the springs as one end looked slightly different. From the picture in the Haynes manual and trying both ways I concluded the straighter end that appears to stick out slightly is the bottom and engages with the strut casing best.

Top?



Bottom?



Completed struts



The shock absorbers are NOS Boge 27-832-0. Pity they’re not black too.

One lesson learned is that where it tells you in the Haynes manual to remove the circlip - don’t. It is actually really easy to slide the new bump stops over the circlip if it is already installed. It is a PITA to install a new circlip.

[james butler]

learn something new everyday, i didn't know the spring has that flat bit.
nice progress

[WreckTangle]

This weekend I managed to fit three of the four struts. There is one front one left to fit which hopefully I shall do one evening during the week. In addition to the Haynes manual, which is quite brief on the subject of removing and refitting the struts, I found these videos about the MK1 Golf quite useful.

Front

https://youtu.be/LZMvTLjqprE

Rear

https://youtu.be/FD2TS7mNPII

Now, I know these guys may seem odd by British standards but I found their videos helpful to watch before launching into this job for the first time.

I had a helper while I did the rear struts. The front ones are quite easy to do single handed as you can reach above and below simultaneously.

I learned several more things so far. Firstly, not to underestimate how tricky it is to jack the car up and secure it on axle stands. If you’ve never done this before don’t think it will be a thirty second job even if you’re using a trolley jack. Also, for undoing the lower suspension bolts, an impact wrench is probably essential. My 18V Makita rechargeable struggled with the eccentric camber bolt at the front. Despite the coilovers I’m removing not having been on the car very long, this bolt was rusty and very tight? Reckon on replacing these if they are original. Finally, my plan to measure the camber angle before removing the coilovers and replicate it with the new struts was rubbish. The new struts are a different length when the wheel is off the ground. I ended up putting the camber bolt in roughly the same position as before and will book the car in for an alignment when I’ve finished. I think I may have roughly 2 degrees less negative camber on the one I’ve done so far, but it’s impossible to measure in any meaningful way with the car on a jack and when comparing different length struts.

[mark1gls]

Some copper grease on the bolts for the rear shocks will save them from getting stuck in the shock at a later date, I also cover the front strut bolts in copper grease as well.

Yes the car needs to be on a level surface and on its wheels to check the camber angle, you also need to move the car backwards and forwards to make sure it’s flat on the floor before taking a angle measurement.

I’ve tried 3 methods of checking/adjusting the camber angle,
1. take it to a garage and get it tracked and angle adjusted.
2. Take a wheel of and use a low trolley jack on the end of the wish bone (you need some wood to stop the trolly jack hitting the brake disc), get the car level by adjusting the height on the trolly jack and use a camber angle gauge on the brake disc to adjust the angle.
3. Use a adjustable camber gauge on the wheel to get the current reading and make a note of it, jack up the car and remove that wheel then place the adjustable camber gauge on the disc and set it to the measurement you last took and adjust it so it’s right... about 1 degree is what you want.

You do need to make or find something to fit across the Wheel so you can fit the gauge on to get the reading. I’ve found my Montreal (bottle top wheels with out the centre cap on work great with a spirit level across and then the camber gauge on the spirit level)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Ma ... Sw8FBbKHz-

[mark1gls]

Front I use the back of the wishbone bracket (with a bit of cardboard to protect the paint) to place my front axel stand.
Rear, I use the rear beam.

[WreckTangle]

Thanks for the helpful advice. I have a camber gauge similar to the one linked above. My plan is to swap the other strut and then see how far out the camber is. The steering was very heavy on the coilovers which makes me wonder if the tracking was ever properly adjusted for them. The top mount bearing on the one I’ve removed was quite stiff too, so I am hopeful the car will end up much nicer to drive. I used copper grease on the front bolts. For the back ones I bought stainless bolts from here.

http://www.liquidmetalrefinement.co.uk/ ... olts_.html

[mark1gls]

You will need to leave the car on it’s wheels under its own weight for a few days so everything settles before you can get an accurate reading, try and get it somewhere near and see if any thing changes later.

[WreckTangle]

Managed to remove the remaining coilover and install the final front strut tonight.





This was much quicker and the Makita impact wrench coped very well with the rusted lower bolts.

I do need to get the wheel alignment done though. I will probably try to improve it myself first. I went on a short test drive and was getting a lot of tyre squeel. I’m sure the camber is out but it looks as though I’ve now got excessive toe-in too.