Todays Suspension upgrade courtesy of E-Bay and Fiddly bits.

[Peter Jones]

What a series of adventures! This is going to have a couple of chapters. Here's the first.

One of the inserts was seized into the strut. Very, very seized. I had to get extreme bush mechanic on it!



This was my first attempt. Note the large screwdriver through the strut hole at the bottom. It got bent!

For attempt 2 I fabricated a crossbar that could take the 2.5 tonne that the jack is good for but 2.5 tonne wasn't enough to shift it! I lent on that jack as far as it could go, it wasn't until I started apply a fair bit of heat that it finally moved. Even then I had to use the jack to pump it out of there for about the first 6 inches.



Stand by for more tales of daring do!

Pete

[Peter Jones]

The next problem was when I realised that the spring caps from the car weren't going to work.

The original spring and cap is in the centre.

The new spring is on the right.

And the spring and cap on the left is from a mad dash (just before closing time) to the wreckers. Lucky break there.

[Water Boy]

Sure did! Thanks for the tip! I owe you one.

Pete

Thats all sweet mate... BTW im James

[Peter Jones]

Now while the freshly cleaned and painted struts are drying. I can tackle the anti-sway bar.

[Peter Jones]

BTW im James

Sorry 'bout that! I should have checked back to see who alerted me to PPnG. I'll edit in correction above.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

Not too many dramas here. The fuel line had to be shifted around a bit to clear the brackets. Drilling the holes in the arms wasnt too bad. Still seems like a funny way to mount a sway bar. It's a bit close to the exhaust and when I started it up later on it's knocking against it. That can be tomorrows job. Yes I know there's a lot more cleaning to do under there! Those bushes didn't look too healthy either, will add some to the shopping list!

[Jarred]

looks good pete

[Oneofthegreats]

That's one of the draw back's with front sway bar's.

You need a GTI down pipe as they are shaped to go over the bar, or get your original pipe reshaped. Even reshaped it can still hit with hard acceleration & race/snap change's.

The ABD one's have a bend in the centre to help with this, but they can hang down very low to the ground.

I also found with the front bar fitted that it can be alittle noisey in the bushes.

[Peter Jones]

Now the paint is dry I can re-assemble the struts.

Too bad no-one added oil in the last rebuild, it would have stopped them from rusting! In case you're wondering why the oil? It assists heat transfer from the insert to the strut and thereby increases the life of the insert. (Hopefully it will also prevent rust!)



Tighten up the new cap.


All together now. The top bearings were OK but dry, so I flushed them out and regreased them.



Ready to install.

[Peter Jones]

Installed!






The back's still a bit high, but it should settle down after a few 100km. I haven't had a chance to drive it much yet. I'll have to book it in for a wheel alignment now. I didn't bother marking the camber bolts because the camber was stuffed (way positive) anyway. I'll have a search back over the forum for the best suspension settings.

Hope you find the pictures useful, I don't often get the time to write my little projects up in this detail.

Brakes next!

Pete