So a few bits today! The misus was round to paint canvas' and that so I sat and fiddle with the new downpipe and manifold whilst we were round there..
Split the 2 rather easily, suprisingly everything just undid in no time! Gasket faces were covered with crap so have been scraped down with a screwdriver and then emeryed, awaiting new gasket! Can't decide if it's worth upping to a 16v DP or not atm, will the extra .25" actually be worth the extra cost, when the possibility of it being mated to a 2.25, or even 2.5" system is there.. hmm? Anyone care to suggest?

Manifold and downpipe pre and post cleanliness..



Fuel pump seal, old and new. The old one was seeping slightly so was replaced, it had gone quite soft and was covered in dirt as was the inside of the housing aroudn the mating faces. After a good clean up and scrub out, the new seals in and a new filter bolted onto the side..
Old vs New

Reassembled..

Have also got my gearbox finally, with starter to follow.. It's a late 8V box afterall, not the 16V 2Y but an AUG. No second crunch, very clean looking, though it will get seals and whatnot as a matter of course with me..
Using this box still means I can use the CHE 0.80 gear I had waiting to fit but will not be using the locking clip to fit the grooved face of the gear, but will need to use an 8V shaft circlip instead.. BrokeVW.com details the swap and has this bit of information regarding such swaps:
16V codes and MK3 codes up to June 1st, 1997 will only accept the 0.80 and 0.91 5th gear sets. Those gears are the ones that use a deep groove in the top face of the gear for the output shaft, which secures the special locking clip. The locking clip has a tab that fits into the groove to stop it from sliding off. If you get a gear and machine a groove into the face for the special clip to lock in, it'll work just fine.
For 8V shafts, they use the circlip, because the groove is 16.5mm OD. The 16V gears fit the 8V shafts no problem, as the circlip can secure the 16V gear just fine. So, why not use a circlip with the 8V gear in your 16V? Because the circlip is too big to fit the 15.5mm OD groove in the 16V shafts. If you find a suitable circlip for the 15.5mm groove, the correct thickness, and hardness, then you'll be able to rig something up. Until then, you're forced to use the 15.5mm locking clip on the 16V shaft, and that forces the use of a deep groove gear set.
So now I require a new circlip as wlel as the 5th bolt I've already purchased which luckily isn't too much of a hassle! Have also tried revving around 3.5k, 3.0k and 2.8k on the current 1.3/085box combo in 5th. The difference in noise and revving from 3.5k to 3k is very significant to my ears so should make things more comfortable. Wether the 0.80->0.75 rev drop (200 or so more rpm) makes any more difference is not really noticable if at all though.
So next will to be to get the 5th housing off, clean up, swap gears, reassemble with the new gasket, seals, circlip and bolt on top of the 0.80 pair. Then bolt up to engine with clutch and fly! As I previously had a 16V clutch kit to take advantage of the pressure plate, the friction disc then became irrelevant due tot he fact I needed an 8V one, 24 down to 22mm input shaft size being the changing factor. So a quick call picks me up a fresh friction disc for £13, swapped into the kit for the 16V one means everything is ready to go on with new pressure plate bolts et flywheel bolts

Then it cna be shoved into the corner out the ay whilst I wait for bits to come in from Germany.. oh and of course Uni will now take prime seat!
