DUBSTAR'S PROJECT - Weiss Hase - 1976 Golf LS

[eltonking]

Hey Bryce where did you get your rotors/pads from?

[Mk1@4Motion]

On mine I will weld the strut brace to the struts

[sports racer]

Not a good idea. You need to have it removable so that you can drop the engine out whenever you have to.

[dubstar]

Perhaps move this discussion elsewhere?

Elton, I got the pads from Demon Tweaks they are EBC Greenstuff and it was much cheaper than local. The rotors are from GSLrallysport a few years ago. They are DBA sport (slotted) and they were bargain basement $89 for the pair.

[dubstar]

After a year and a half of driving on a 4 speed box, I decided to upgrade to a 5 speed. The box I have is an AMC with ratios 3.45, 1.94, 1.28, 0.97, 0.80, 3.67 (1,2,3,4,5,Final). I believe it came off a Mk3, but may also be found on SEATs. The big difference about this box is that it has a 24mm input shaft, instead of the ‘standard’ 22mm input shaft.
There’s a few things that are needed for a 5 speed conversion:
1) 5speed gearbox mount. This is the mount that bolts to the left hand chassis rail. I received a genuine one with the box.



2) 5 speed linkage. You can either find the full 5 speed linkage from a mk1 (cabby would be the most abundant in Aus) or you can buy an adjustable set-up and 4 speed extension from MissingLinkz. You can see the setup all bolted in to my car here:





3) 100mm drive flanges. I want to retain the 90mm driveshafts and uprights that I have, so I switched the 100mm flanges in the AMC box for brand new 90mm flanges from GAP. Note: your old 4 speed flanges will not fit.



4) Clutch. I am using the full 24mm clutch setup (flywheel, pressure plate, disc) that came with the box. There are lots of options to mix and match.

5) Speedo drive. You will need to match the speedo drive to the final drive ratio of the gearbox. Mine is a 3.67 final drive which means a ‘red’ speedo gear is needed.

One thing that wasn’t an issue was the reverse switch. Some boxes have a bigger threaded switch, however, the AMC has the same thread as the old 4 speed, so I could just use the 4 speed switch.



I’m using all new gearbox mounts and also the OEM style dampening rings that Mk1autohaus sell. I’ve spent a bit of time scrubbing my nuts (and bolts and hardware) with kero and a toothbrush so that everything is nice and clean.

At the moment it is now ready for the box to be lifted into place, just need some quiet time when I don’t have my 18-month old ‘helper’ around.

[eltonking]

Great write up Bryce,

I'll hopefully be following in your footsteps sooner rather than later.

Looking good!

[dubstar]

I thought I should update this thread now that I have completed the 5 speed swap. I have taken it for a good blat on the back roads. It is quite a nice match to the little 1600. I know close ratio is meant to be the rage, but it felt great and was a good compromise. A few issues still to resolve:

1) I have a really (I mean REALLY) noisy reverse gear. All forward gears are perfect, but reverse sounds like a bag of bolts. There was no metal in the oil I drained, so either someone has drained it previously, or the noise is a bad bearing. I will just deal with it until I do the engine swap. Then I will either swap to a new gearbox or pull it apart and swap the reverse idler (if it is that).
2) The speedo is over-reading. I need to do a run with my iphone speedo on, but I would guess 10-15%. I looked up the final drive and it should be 3.67 which matches the ‘red’ gear. I will need to count the teeth on the red gear I have and make sure it is 15T. I may end up having to mix and match until I get the right one.
3) The front mount is still ‘skewed’. I have read this has happened to a couple of others and that it can be solved by going to the larger drivers side mount. I will do this when I swap ion a new motor. I would do it now, but the 1.6 needs the alternator support that is on the older, smaller engine mount.

A few things to document for posterity:

When you do the swap you need the correct shift lever on the gearbox. I found that neither the mk3 5 speed lever nor the mk1 4 speed lever worked for me (may work for others). There may be some cases where it works, but don’t believe that it is right until you can get it to work.





The shift gate under the gearstick is different from a 4 speed to a 5 speed. Apparently you can get it to work with a 4 speed if everything is aligned perfectly, but, luckily, I picked up a 5 speed gate at the wreckers. Here is a spot the difference photo for those who are looking to modify their 4 speed gate (4 speed is 38mm, 5 speed is 30mm). I think you could cut back the 4 speed gate and just fold up a reverse stop using vise grips.





There is a slight difference in the later front mount ‘cup’. The holes are bigger and allow more adjustment.

[Water Boy]

Could be noisy reverse is due to not coming to a complete stop before selecting reverse gear and chipping a tooth.
My mk3 had this issue.

[dubstar]

Yeah, exactly. VW never made much of an effort to make the reverse stronger in golfs, its the same reverse gears all the way through.

[dubstar]

Been a while since my last update.

At the beginning of the month I completed an 8 week panel restoration course at Docklands TAFE. My goal was to pick up a couple of tips for repairing panels and maybe actually repair a couple of parts on my car. It turned out that another vw watercooler had the same idea.

Anyway, after a few weeks of the basics, like beating out a hubcap, oxy and mig welding, we got to start bringing our own panels in.......

First up was my bonnet which had two little holes by the washer jet. After making the hole bigger myself, the instructor took over and welded them up. Ground down and painted, it looks spot on. No photos as it was done in a single session

Next was a part I had been dreading. Just on the boot lip there were 2 sections that were like Swiss cheese. I was allowed to bring my car into the class. We cut out the sections, folded up new metal and then it was welded in. I've just finished grinding it and painting it. Pretty pleased with how it came out

Old metal:





And finished: