"Inherited" an unmolested 87 Scirocco 16v

[Teighlor O']

Holy. Shart. Man thats pretty corroded....

[silverspeedbuggy]

It sure does. It's not quite as bad in person, but the splash guard is virtually gone. Calipers look really bad too so I may consider replacing them.

[Teighlor O']

It sure does. It's not quite as bad in person, but the splash guard is virtually gone. Calipers look really bad too so I may consider replacing them.

Damn Cleveland and their over use of salt!

[silverspeedbuggy]

Damn Cleveland and their over use of salt!

This car came from CHARDON; imagine how much salt is used out there!

The car really hasn't seen salt in about 6 years, but once it takes hold....

[silverspeedbuggy]

Two pulley bolts stripped. Ugh.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Haven't had any luck with the bolts BUT look what I brought home today!



(There's actually 4 wheels; I just grabbed two for the pic)

My brother and I bought dad a set of teardrops years ago since his were looking so shabby. I didn't remember them being in this good of shape. They're far from perfect but MUCH better than the teardrops on the car currently.

[silverspeedbuggy]

PROGRESS!

Drilled out the two stuck pulley bolts. Once the heads popped off the studs came right out. Got all the belts (not including timing belt) and the lower belt cover off. Up next: water pump and thermostat.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Removed the alternator and a/c pump tonight. Gonna ensure cylinder 1 piston is at top of travel tomorrow, then timing belt comes off followed by the intermediate pulley, then the water pump.

Slow and steady, I guess.

[Beakersloco]

Slow going is better than no going, make a plan and stick to it fix/replace things a little bit here , a little bit there as your time and funds allow. I have had my rocco almost 7 years and for the first 5, I did not have the cash/time to fully fix or refresh some of the stuff my car needed. My car was bought to save on gas because the gas bill (suv) was killing our budget. I basically made a plan and fixed things as I could. Many times all I could do was buy the parts when I had cash but not the time for future use and that has paid off several times because when things happened I already had the parts . Check out
http://www.autohausaz.com/?gclid=CJT...FcXc4AodEGlMaw
For parts they rock because if you order $50 in parts shipping is free which has allowed me to get parts for future replacement. I have 3 vehicles to between them its pretty easy to get above the $50 threshold. Here are a couple of other site syou will want to look at as well.
http://www.germanautoparts.com/
http://www.parts4vws.com/
From looking at this thread it appears you have plan of attack already but make a plan for all the things you know you cant do right now long term. I did and it allowed me to still drive the car and to replace things as needed. In the past 2 years the car has really blossomed especially after I was unemployed for a year I had the time and a box full of parts to really take my time and work on her. She went from this



To this.


What I will add.
Brakes , if you end up replacing the calipers go on and paint them before you install them , while its only cosmetic , after you install them and if you ever go to an open wheel you will love how it looks. Also while in the area consider going on and getting the wheel bearings done or plan to get them done at the same time as you get your front struts replaced.

Timing belt
Go on and replace all the belts and the waterpump and hoses because as you can see the same stuff has to come of to replace them.

Also your old teardrops …. Consider polishing them or painting them for a nice custom look. Thumbs up for this project

[silverspeedbuggy]

Slow going is better than no going, make a plan and stick to it fix/replace things a little bit here , a little bit there as your time and funds allow.

Thanks man. Yes, it's slow, but this is a second car for me and it's more like a labor of love/respect for my dad. I've only done a little bit of work on previous cars, mostly cause they were daily drivers and I didn't want to screw em up, but this car is so much simpler than my most recent cars that I'm not afraid to wrench on it. If I screw something up I'm not taking the bus, you know?

My first goal is to get the car running. After that it's getting it to stop. After that will be suspension. At some point I'll have the rust addressed and a new paint job. I plan on keeping the car 100% stock and holding onto it for a looooong time.

What I will add.
Brakes , if you end up replacing the calipers go on and paint them before you install them , while its only cosmetic , after you install them and if you ever go to an open wheel you will love how it looks. Also while in the area consider going on and getting the wheel bearings done or plan to get them done at the same time as you get your front struts replaced.

Good idea. The car will only be a fun/summer/nice weather car, so it shouldn't see any salt after this, but it is a good idea to protect them anyway.

Timing belt
Go on and replace all the belts and the waterpump and hoses because as you can see the same stuff has to come of to replace them.

That's exactly what I'm doing now. I've had the car since November and I've resisted all urges to fire her up. I can't imagine needing to do a valve job on top of everything else just cause I was impatient and started the car and the years old timing belt goes. I shudder to even think about that.

Also your old teardrops …. Consider polishing them or painting them for a nice custom look. Thumbs up for this project

There's a place about 45 minutes from me that refinishes wheels to OEM+ standards. This will come a bit later, but I'll choose the 4 best wheels and get them refinished. Maybe I'll keep the other four and polish or paint them as 'back ups' or winter wheels (juuuuust in case it needs to go out in the snow once or twice). It's a good option.

[silverspeedbuggy]

I feel like I'm finally making some real progress on the car. With the exception of the passenger motor mount, I've got all the 'old' parts off. This has been a real learning experience for me as I have tried again and again to work around certain things (like the alternator mount) to avoid taking more things off the car. After struggling for a bit I give in and remove the parts (like the power steering mount and the alternator mount) and suddenly things are MUCH EASIER! Who'd a-thought?



Today I started reassembly. I bolted up the new thermostat, o-ring, and thermo housing to the new water pump. I then bolted the water pump to the block only to discover I really needed to pop the lower coolant hose to the pump before bolting up. So I unbolted the pump popped on the hoses, and started bolting it all together again. And then:


Oh snap. Literally.

Yep, somehow I sheared the water pump bolt. So much for reassembly tonight. Back to the parts store tomorrow.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Anyone have write up on replacing the motor mounts? I read one good one but I'm not quite understanding the need to have it 'pressed in.' I mean, I think I understand that the rubber fits very tightly into mount, but the instructions I've read are vague with this step. It sounds as though something in addition to the old rubber mount needs to be removed and taken to someone/where with a hydraulic press to press the rubber into it. But what is the thing to remove?

Is there a way to DIY this in my own garage?

[The Igneous Faction]

Anyone have write up on replacing the motor mounts? I read one good one but I'm not quite understanding the need to have it 'pressed in.' I mean, I think I understand that the rubber fits very tightly into mount, but the instructions I've read are vague with this step. It sounds as though something in addition to the old rubber mount needs to be removed and taken to someone/where with a hydraulic press to press the rubber into it. But what is the thing to remove?

Is there a way to DIY this in my own garage?

You mean these things? Here, read this:

http://www.vintagewatercooleds.com/t...engine-mounts/

[silverspeedbuggy]

You mean these things? Here, read this:

http://www.vintagewatercooleds.com/t...engine-mounts/

Excellent! Thanks!

[Blaines_Rocco]

Nope - 27mm.

Why didn't I see this thread last week... I just took the filter into autozone and started grabbing any wrench that might work. I found a 1 1/16 in. wrench worked for the 27mm that isn't easy to find

[silverspeedbuggy]

So when do you call the tow truck and get the car to a mechanic and let them reassemble?

I'm trying to get the passenger motor mount unbolted, but the 17mm bolt isn't budging. I was hoping to be driving the car already, and don't get me wrong I have been enjoying wrenching on the car, but it's just taking me so long to get things done.

Would it be dumb for me to get the water pump/timing belt/etc all put back on, get the car running, then let someone else do the motor mounts a few weeks later? I know they'll have to pull off the belts/covers and such that I just put back on, but the cost will be way less than them doing all the things I've done already.

[Teighlor O']

So when do you call the tow truck and get the car to a mechanic and let them reassemble?

I'm trying to get the passenger motor mount unbolted, but the 17mm bolt isn't budging. I was hoping to be driving the car already, and don't get me wrong I have been enjoying wrenching on the car, but it's just taking me so long to get things done.

Would it be dumb for me to get the water pump/timing belt/etc all put back on, get the car running, then let someone else do the motor mounts a few weeks later? I know they'll have to pull off the belts/covers and such that I just put back on, but the cost will be way less than them doing all the things I've done already.

Why would that be dumb? do it so you can drive already!... take it to the garage at Euclid Foreign Auto. The old guy, Frank is a great mechanic. He will get it squared away.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Why would that be dumb? do it so you can drive already!... take it to the garage at Euclid Foreign Auto. The old guy, Frank is a great mechanic. He will get it squared away.

Dumb as in "It's all taken apart so get that mount replaced while it's all torn apart vs. paying to have it all done again JUST to do the mount." Not to mention the mount is BAAAAAD. My rough estimate would be the engine is 1.5" maybe even 2" lower on the passenger side than it should be.

Thinking more about this though; I could get all the stuff bolted back up with the exception of the covers and such. Let the shop put them back on after replacing the mounts. Hmmmmmm....

[scidanw]

So when do you call the tow truck and get the car to a mechanic and let them reassemble?

My exact thoughts last weekend!

[silverspeedbuggy]

Oh snap. Literally.

Yep, somehow I sheared the water pump bolt. So much for reassembly tonight. Back to the parts store tomorrow.

So the part I ordered to replace the snapped stud is definitely NOT correct. No idea what the correct part number is.

[silverspeedbuggy]

I wanted to get something accomplished so I painted the headlight trim.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Started reassembling everything. Got the timing belt on, tightened, water pump, hoses connected, the a/c and alternator bracket, pulleys, and then started bolting up the power steering pump. That's when I realized I forgot the t-bolt that took me a week to source. Looks like I'll be tearing things back apart. Oops.

[silverspeedbuggy]

It ran!!!!!

I spent 4 hours or so putting the car back together and at 10:30 tonight I rolled the car outside and cranked it. It turned over but it wouldn't catch. The battery was pretty run down so I hooked it up to my GLI and let it charge up. After a few minutes it fired up and ran for a minute. It wouldn't idle, so I kept giving it some gas. Then CLANK! The water pump pulley fell off. In my haste to finish I guess I didn't tighten up the pulley bolts. I packed it in for the night ridiculously happy that it ran.

After work tomorrow I'll bolt the pulley back up and try it again.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Good news: it starts, runs, and idles on its own. Bad news: the radiator leaks.

[silverspeedbuggy]

I haven't heard this engine run in close to ten years. Is this much clatter normal?

[silverspeedbuggy]

Interior.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Would this be the radiator I need?

http://www.germanautoparts.com/productdisplay/1952

[silverspeedbuggy]

Edited to embed youtube videos.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Ordered a new radiator and began removing old one. Talk about simple removal; two hoses, two bolts, two sensors.

[silverspeedbuggy]

Just before cranking it up the other day (and just prior to discovering a stream of coolant coming from the radiator):


Old radiator removed:

[silverspeedbuggy]

I'm taking the afternoon off to install the new rad (in near 100 degree heat).

[Teighlor O']

I'm taking the afternoon off to install the new rad (in near 100 degree heat).

Dude, worst day ever to be out there!!!

[silverspeedbuggy]

New radiator, fan switch, and coolant level sensor are in. Wooohoooo! Car runs well, no leaks, and the temperature stayed normal. Ram the car about 30 minutes, revved it to 3000 - 3500 a few times but not going to go much higher than that until I can get the car out on the road.

Still quite a bit of lifter noise. Someone suggested adding some Seafoam to the oil. Thoughts?

[Teighlor O']

New radiator, fan switch, and coolant level sensor are in. Wooohoooo! Car runs well, no leaks, and the temperature stayed normal. Ram the car about 30 minutes, revved it to 3000 - 3500 a few times but not going to go much higher than that until I can get the car out on the road.

Still quite a bit of lifter noise. Someone suggested adding some Seafoam to the oil. Thoughts?

Marvel Mystery Oil!

[silverspeedbuggy]

Marvel Mystery Oil!

Excellent. Will do.