JonL's 8v budget track toy - now going to be a race car! ;-)

[JonLeeper]

Pics of the Hubs and discs - finally!

Hub Front:



Hub rear



Disc



I am about to go back into the garage and will get out the wishbones so will post a photo later.  Oh and as an aside how do you get the trackrod bush out?  It does not want to move even with non-gentle persuasion!

[JonLeeper]

Well I had good intentions when I went into the garage but the mess just had to be cleared up before I could even see where I had put the bits of the Passat I had removed!  Still at least I can move around in the garage now.

I did find one of the wishbones and gave it a quick clean with some degreaser and white spirit. It is in surprisingly good nick and could realistically go back on the car as it is!  It does look like a pressed steel wishbone that has been tacked together to form a hollow section.  I took a couple of photos, very badly with the phone (it didn't like the poor lighting and contrast) for any comments.

Wishbone



Side profile



Have I got the wrong parts or is this correct?  Do I need to seam weld the entire length of the join?  Any comments?

[VeeDubGTI16v]

yep they are the ones you want! i wouldnt bother welding them tbh, they arent as weak as the golf ones to start with

that bit of plastic can be chucked, theres a good 10 grammes there!

[Diamond Hell]

John, welding won't damage the control arm and should still stiffen it up, which will sharpen the car's responses a touch.  The construction is pretty much identical to the Golf2 units, but the form is a little different.  As I don't know the dimesions of the rear bush, I can't comment whether TT bushes would fit or not.

Unlike the current bush, the TT unit is 100% solid, so again, will improve feel.  Because it's bonded to the centre and the outer and then needs to be pushed in with a press provided it fits correctly it will suck up more slop than a polybush, as there's a small amount of absorbant material that's bonded inner and outer, rather than the poly material which has no bond either with the inner or outer component.  I've driven both, albeit in the second instance after I stitched the seams on the control arm, so actually have some practical experience here, like that counts for much in a discussion with Mark. 

[VeeDubGTI16v]

it does, but as said previously, your test was flawed and should be discounted, therefore you have no practical experience

the real test is to remove the tt bushes and refit the poly bushes, then see what the difference is

[VeeDubGTI16v]

if you want to weld them i would do it like in the 2nd pic, and cut off the spot welds

[JonLeeper]

Not sure if I will weld them, depends on how the time pans out I guess.  I have stripped both of the hubs back, I cannot get either ball joint out of either side, so they are done as far as i can so will be getting someone to see to them.  Is it worth changing the wheels bearings?  GSF sell a front kit for about £15 so not expensive to do and I am hoping not to have to take all this lot off any time soon. 

The same goes for the driveshafts and CV joints.  I have stripped down the shorter side and definitely need to replace the outer boot, it was ripped and totally unusable, will probably have to replace the inner as well.  Can I reuse the boots I fitted to the Golf, they have done less than 20 miles so should be good?  Also I have stripped and cleaned the CV Joint itself.  The old grease was quite hard and viscous but the cleaned joints look ok to me.  The boots are about £40 per side but the joints themselves are £40 each so much more expensive if I have to replace all of them.  What is the consensus, is it worth changing everything or can I reuse the joints and boots I have just bought and just buy new the two boots needed?

Many thanks,

Jon

[Horney]

You can certainly re-use the boots, just be careful when you cut the ties off you don't cut the boot as well.

If the joints are free of play then just packing with fresh grease and popping the boots on will be fine.

Do the wheel bearings while you have it all off just to be thorough.

Nick

[JonLeeper]

Just found these on flea-bay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-GOLF-MK2-1-8GTi-1-8-AUTO-CV-JOINT-NEW-84-93_W0QQitemZ130334397436QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item1e588913fc

Is this too cheap to be true and therefore cr@p or just really good value?

[Horney]

To be honest I don't know however I to have considered buying one from this ebay store for my track car and I think Mark was musing trying one to see what they're like.

Not much help I guess!

nick