Author Topic: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project  (Read 134014 times)

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #70 on: 26 April 2009, 02:08 »
how to: handbrake mechanism tightening



Tools required: piston winding tool, 16mm spanner, 13mm socket, big allen key

replacing/tightening the cables won't achieve anything short of bringing down the amount of clicks. it doesn't matter whether its 5 clicks or tightened to 3, when it hits the last click, the mech is still at its tightest.

the rear calliper handbrake mechanism is self adjusting for pad wear, if its not working right, it sounds like the self adjusting aspect has gone wrong.

you need to ...

1. jack and prop the rear end, release the handbrake and chock the front wheels whilst in gear. loosen off any cable adjustment back to almost 0
2. remove rear wheel(s) from offending side(s)
3. remove the callipers from the offending side(s)
4. grab a piston winding tool and wind the calliper all the way back in
5. refit pads and test fit the calliper, the slack must now be taken up
6. using a suitable sized allen key (big) wind the piston back out until you can only just refit the calliper around the pads
7. bolt the calliper(s) back on and pump the brake pedal 15-20 times
8. throw the wheel(s) back on then pop the handbrake on - see how many clicks you have now
9. grab a torque wrench and see if you can tighten the wheel nuts up to 110nm with just the hand brake holding the wheel - you should be able to
10. tighten/slacken the handbrake cable until you can only get 3-5 clicks

if it still isn't tight after the above, then try it again, if its still not, try it one more time. if it really isn't changing by the end, its new calliper time.

the above assumes the pads and disks are in good condition, pads and calliper slide freely and have plenty of meat on them. do not use a g-clamp in place of a proper piston winding tool!



« Last Edit: 10 October 2010, 19:39 by Ben Lessani »

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #71 on: 25 July 2009, 13:34 »
2 months on ...

its been a while since i last posted and in the mean time the old girl has been accumulating problems - i wonder if it would just be more practical to carry a notebook in the car to jot down the new faults that pop up each day.

  • central locking drivers side fallen off
  • bizarre whine (v. quiet) when driving along
  • wet boot carpet
  • rear registration light fallen off

its also burning oil a bit too much, so i'm going to try some other oil (fuchs xtr 10w/40) and see if it remedies it, otherwise, i'll just have to add using atf as a engine flush as a lesson learnt.

if i can kick this headache, these will be todays jobs.

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #72 on: 26 July 2009, 21:56 »
a few jobs down

i left the house, grabbed some fuchs xtr and a filter and went about some car fixage. as my step dads audi had been running like a dog, his car was also fixed up.

  • central locking drivers side fallen off
  • bizarre whine (v. quiet) when driving along - nothing obvious, maybe a brake shield, further investigation is requried
  • wet boot carpet
  • rear registration light fallen off

so i managed to tick all the boxes, the new oil actually has made a little difference, it runs a damn sight cooler - too cool for my liking. the oil temp is sat at about 85 on the m'way and the water temp gauge is only about a third up. it was still a little smokey and smelly in traffic - so we'll see how things go.

so much for my belief that oil was oil :|

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #73 on: 14 November 2009, 00:16 »
winter blues

so she started to play up a little bit, I found out the whine was a leak near the water pump. I came to start the car last week and the little water light was blinking - popped the bonnet and the expansion tank was empty :( So I just topped it up with water and took a 5l bottle to work with me so I could get home again.

Last winter I got stung for not having antifreeze in - so I'm not making that mistake twice. I didn't really look at what was causing the leak, but it was 1 of a couple of things, so I grabbed 2 new ring seals for the waterpump > block and plastic flange > waterpump.

I replaced these, topped her up with plain water and let it run up to temp for 20 mins, not a single drip - so I drained the water and put in 50% coolant mix.

I came back the next morning to start the car and find that lo and behold - there was no coolant again! Stupid car, wasted about £8 worth of coolant. So I topped it up with water and grabbed a plastic flange from the dealers this time round (read: Parts you should buy from the dealership. When I got home from work I replaced the flange and tested it, looked good again, so topped up with 50% anti-freeze again.

Well, the next morning I go to start her, and it was fine! No leaks. So lesson learnt, don't buy parts from GSF as they suck - well, most of them do!

Now its winter, the misty windows are starting to come back a little - so I need to sort the stupid leak in the boot, I have no idea where its coming from and I don't own a hose, so its a bit tricky to test.

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #74 on: 09 January 2010, 18:35 »
nothing to report

But just a few more snow photos! About 10" of snow over the whole car!






Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #75 on: 08 April 2010, 21:13 »
i grant you 1 wishbone

... for the captive nut not to break free. there's a few odds and sods that needed fixing up, the windscreen, the wishbone, g/box mount and rear strut top mount rubbery bits.

ECP only had the wishbone in stock today (the rest is coming tomorrow), so I went about fixing it after work, fortunately, it only took 1.5hrs to swap out and that was at a nice leisurely pace.


how to: change a front wishbone



tools required: 13mm socket and spanner, 17mm socket and spanner, 19mm socket

this really is much easier than you think ... as long as the subframe captive nut doesn't break free (which it didn't for me :) ). if it does break free then read this guide!



start by jacking up the side of the car and supporting on the chassis leg and rear beam. i've got a few jacks, so i supported rear subframe and gently lifted the body a fraction to take the pressure (if any), off the rear wishbone bush.



then i removed the lock pin from the ball joint (17mm / 50 NM) and the arb bush nut (13mm / 10 NM), then tapped on the wishbone with a hammer to free the ball joint from the wheel bearing housing.

then remove the front wishbone bolt (19mm / 130 NM) and slide it free, then tentatively remove the rear subframe bolt (19mm / 130 NM). the only real thing holding the wishbone in at this point is just the tiny metal sleeve that is pushed in the bottom of the subframe bolt hole. grab this and remove it, then wiggle the wishbone free.






you can see how the subframe and bits look without the wishbone attached.



now it is a case of removing the ball joint from the wishbone (or replacing) and fitting it onto the new wishbone. there is 3x bolts (13mm / 25 NM) and a retaining plate holding it. remove these, remember the orientation of the wishbone, and fit to the new wishbone.




then installation is virtually the reversal of removal. slide the wishbone back into place, push the front wishbone bolt back in and turn it a few threads, then push the rear bolt in and centre up the wishbone with the hole in the chassis leg.



once its squared up, remove the bolt and pop in your new wishbone bolt sleeve and push it into place, then re-insert the bolt and tighten it up. locate the ball joint into the wheel bearing housing and the arb bush into the wishbone.



now it is just a case of torquing up the bolts and nuts (to the figures outlined above) and dropping the car back off the axle stands, sitting back and smiling.
« Last Edit: 08 April 2010, 21:16 by Ben Lessani »

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #76 on: 09 April 2010, 21:31 »
rubbering up the box

there has been a growing amount of play in the engine, and considering i have a solid front mount, it was one of 2 others, the gearbox mount or rear engine mount. given the gbox mount can be changed relatively easily with the engine in-situ, i went for that one first.

how to: changing the gear box mount



tools required: 13mm ratchet spanner, spanner and socket; 17mm socket

looking below, dead centre of the image is the g/box mount, that is what we are going to remove. we leave almost everything in place and just remove the gearbox linkage bracket to get enough access to slide the old mount out.



start by jacking the car, support on the chassis leg, then support your gearbox with your jack, as you'll be lifting it up to get the mount out.



next up remove the main retention bolt (17mm / 60 NM) that holds the gearbox bracket to the gearbox mount.



then jack the box up and you have access to remove one of the mount > subframe bolts (13mm / 25 NM). access is a little limited, so use a 13mm spanner with another spanner hooked over the end for leverage.




now you need to remove the gear linkage bracket to get to the other mount bolt. there is 3x (13mm x 30 NM) bolts that pass through the diff into the gear linkage bracket - it is pretty obvious which 3. remove these, pop the plastic linkages off and then remove the linkage bracket




now, you can access the other mount securing bolt (13mm / 25 NM), and it you have about 2cm more clearance to fit the old engine mount out through. remove the bolt and extract the old engine mount



you can see the golf 1.3 solid rubber mount (left) and the original 1.8 hydraulic mount (right)



then installation is the reverse of removal, pay attention to the torque settings specified above ;)

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #77 on: 10 April 2010, 21:18 »
mounting up the rear

on my list of bits and bobs to do was the rear top mounts. i've had a new set sat in my spare wheel well for about 13months now and was too lazy to get round to fitting them, so today i sorted them out.

looking at the photo below: comparing new (left), old (right) for both bushes below. you can see the old bottom part was totally worn out, the upper half was still like new - but i binned it anyway and fitted the new ones.




there was also my stupid door leaking and the wet footwell has been bugging me - so i checked out the membrane (i use a camping mat cut to shape), which looked fine - so I'm definitely confused. i'm tempted to dot some litmus paper around different areas of the footwell to see where it is actually coming from!

the tyres were also starting to wear a little, so the obligatory tyre rotation was due, there was 3mm on the fronts and 4mm on the rears, so i swapped them over.

the interior was also a state, i'm not sure how it happens, but it somehow gets covered in leaves - so i gave it a thorough hoovering, carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and shined up the dash ... now its just the outside that needs doing.

when changing the rear mounts i noticed that the offside handbrake wasn't really doing much. pushing on the lever on the calliper seemed to work, so i guessed it was a snapped cable. just in case it was an easy fix, i removed the gaiter from the handbrake and noticed that the cable was just loose.

i went to nip it up when i noticed the pivot pin had pretty much fallen out of place - and it wasn't going to sit properly again - so a quick fix was in order.



so i removed the pin and tapped it so i could pop some thread bar inside and a nut on the end to secure it



after cutting the bar to size, i popped a little threadlock into the pin and secured the stud, then added a nut to the end. i repeated on the other side and re-fitted, its a bit overkill, but at least it will stop the handbrake coming off in my hands!




there is a leak in the boot, but i cannot spot where on earth it is coming from, so i thought i'd just change the rear clusters back to the genuine ones. there is only 1 hiccup, my genuine clusters were tinted all black (i don't really like the look!), so i fitted them up anyway, but i plan to white spirit off the bottom half - so i'll have some nice half-tints!

the crystal rears were starting to look a little lexus lighty anyway!



(at least the reflectors are still visible through the tint)
« Last Edit: 10 April 2010, 23:31 by Ben Lessani »

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #78 on: 10 April 2010, 21:19 »
how to: change rear top mounts



tools required: 14mm spanner and socket, 17mm spanner and socket, molegrips

please note. i followed the first assembly picture when i wrote this guide, but the upper half featured is UPSIDE DOWN. make sure you install yours with the ribbed edge facing the cup

this article is pretty handy too: http://forum.performancevwmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=40697



i got my new top mount set from ECP for £12, they should look something like this ...



first, start by jacking the car, supporting with axel stands and removing the rear wheels. pop the jack under the rear beam to support it, as it will drop when we remove the securing nuts from the top.



start by removing the parcel shelf, parcel shelf supports and the rubber dust cap from the top mount. you'll see an exposed nut (17mm) and giant washer. you may need to pinch the flats with your molegrips whilst undoing the nut with a spanner. you do not want the shock to spin as it will damage the seals.



next up you'll see another nut and a large cup washer, no.1 and no.2 in the picture above. undo this, in my case it was 14mm but on an original shock i think it is 17mm



lift out the top half of the top mount, it will have the large cup washer (no.2) on top and the small cup washer (no.4) on the bottom




then finally you'll see another nut (no.6) that covers the large barrel spacer (no.7), do not remove this if you do not have coilovers -if you do remove it, there is a good chance your suspension strut will catastrophically explode!

once you have done both sides, lower the jack slowly and the struts will come out of the body, lower enough so that you can reach up into the wheel arch and pull the old bottom half of the top mount out. slot your new mount on, then re-assemble in the reverse of above :)
« Last Edit: 16 April 2010, 21:28 by Ben Lessani »

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: bens ... 1986 MKII 1.8 8v K-Jet Golf ... project
« Reply #79 on: 16 April 2010, 21:25 »
mot time
yup, its that time of year again where i have to tediously present the car to a mean man bearing green or red paper. i took the car down for a quick pre-mot check and had a few jobs to do

  • horn
  • rear beam hard lines
  • front flexi hoses
  • rear nearside sidelight
  • emissions

the horn was an easy fix. the ring contact on the steering wheel had come loose - so i just popped a quick push button on the dash for the mot.

the rear beam hard lines were a doddle, old ones off, new ones made up and popped back on. front flexis were equally as easy. bled the brakes throughout and topped up with some fresh dot 4.

the rear sidelight was just dirty connections on the switch itself, i cleaned up all the spades with some emmery and i was good as new.

the car has been developing a little bit of engine play recently, so i thought i'd replace the last mount in the bay - the rear block engine mount. this turned out to be much more difficult than i hoped. i couldn't remove the engine bracket from the mount as a bolt sheared, so it meant access for removal was seriously limited. i had to remove the driveshaft - but to get enough clearance to drop that beyond the subframe - the front engine mount also had to be removed(!) typically, a bolt sheared off on that too just to ruin my day.

so many hours, blood, sweat and tears later - i drilled out the snapped bolts - re-tapped and replaced with some copper slip covered parts. a 1.5hr job turned in to a 6 hour job!

the last thing was emissions, the car has been burning oil since i flushed the engine with atf (bad idea!). i did replace the valve stem seals at the same time- but the parts were from ECP and i suspect, a pretty substandard quality. its either a toss up of crap seals - or crap workmanship (probably both).

but this time round i ordered up some valve stem seals from the dealers and went about changing them. the last one was in, a new timing belt fitted and i turned the crank by hand to check and all was good. until i noticed a spring seat sat lying on the floor! i could not believe my stupidity for managing to drop a spring seat - or for grabbing it in the first place! so i had to strip down each valve again to find which one was missing the seat. typically, it was the very last one i came to. but with the seat installed again, the engine was rebuilt - timed up and tensioned.

the old girl seems to be running a treat (touch wood!) and doesn't appear to be burning oil any more, or at least hopefully just for the mot.

tomorrow is d-day, but i can't imagine really having any difficulties. i also have her booked in for some 4 wheel tracking - for its annual set up.