Saving a Coupe

[BavarianTurd]

Wow. Definitely some dedication going on to this. In for more.

[getamongst-it]

We have a celebrity appearance from the man that supplied the grille I'll be using for this car

Wow. Definitely some dedication going on to this. In for more.

thanks man, I'm gonna keep at it.

[getamongst-it]

SO, tomorrow morning I'm heading down to OCMD and I'll be there till Monday. I'll be cruisin my old Honda scoot around or hitchin' rides with people so say hi!



When I come back I'm gonna finish the trans and put the motor/subframe in. Finish the wiring and Connor is helping me finish the body work and prime the car then it's off to paint.

[getamongst-it]

I'm sure you're sick of seeing transmission pictures by now but I gave this thing a good goin over with a hot pressure washer, let it air dry for a bit then doused it all with some PB just to coat it quick. She's ready to go back together, operating smoothly now.



The one hold up is I gotta find another one of these. You can actually put it back in broken, but I'd prefer a whole one. It's a VW revision part referred to as a conical thrust washer. It basically functions as a spacer behind the trans flanges/springs/washers to fill a spot that resulted in driveline noise in previous transmissions. You can see where it goes there. After talking with the guy at BrokeVW.com (who really knows his shit) VW sells these things for $30!!! holy crap. He has some used ones though so I'm gonna get one from him most likely.

[airkooled]

It was great meeting you in ocmd love what your doing with the coupe, keep it up I'm jealous!

[jacbo]

Those things are broken 9 times out of 10.

It annoyed me too but if Broke says its not necessary, it's probably not necessary.

[getamongst-it]

It was great meeting you in ocmd love what your doing with the coupe, keep it up I'm jealous!

definitely! Can't wait for SoWo to see all you guys again. This time with my car

So I realized I've lent my 12-ton H-frame press to a buddy, he's had it for so long I forgot I even owned one so I couldn't put the transmission back together tonight, but I'll be right back on that tomorrow night.

Tonight I got all of the wiring connected to the fuse block and ran the bulk of the wires inside. I used the rear harness that was already in the car, and just had to match up one color and splice that in. I also removed the circuit that doesn't let you start the car without your seat belt plugged in.

As for the rest of the dash harness, I've been pulling it apart and re-routing it as I see fit. When all is said and done it should snake much nicer through the dash than it did from the factory. Put the column in and hooked that up too.

[C-Hutch]

that wiring actually looks really tidy. mine is more like gay spaghetti just dumping everywhere.

[getamongst-it]

that wiring actually looks really tidy. mine is more like gay spaghetti just dumping everywhere.

If you saw how it was run from the factory you'd vomit. It went over & under & over everything, the vents, metal braces, etc. to top it off it was covered in these foam sleeves that do nothing but disintegrate into dust if you touch them. hence why they're gone

Also having a factory non-AC heater box in this car is wonderful.

[NorCalFocus]

Nice work man.

And thank you C-Hutch, I was unaware that spaghetti had a sexual orientation until now.

[C-Hutch]

If you saw how it was run from the factory you'd vomit. It went over & under & over everything, the vents, metal braces, etc. to top it off it was covered in these foam sleeves that do nothing but disintegrate into dust if you touch them. hence why they're gone

Also having a factory non-AC heater box in this car is wonderful.

Oh so you did that? Impressive!

Nice work man.

And thank you C-Hutch, I was unaware that spaghetti had a sexual orientation until now.

yeah it totally does. if it's a rainbow and just wiggling around everywhere, pushing its agenda on you, it's gay spaghetti wiring for sure.

[getamongst-it]

Oh so you did that? Impressive!

yeah it totally does. if it's a rainbow and just wiggling around everywhere, pushing its agenda on you, it's gay spaghetti wiring for sure.

indeed I did

LOL

[getamongst-it]

Clean from debris. A little gunk left but I'm not scrubbing something that will be filled with oil again in a week. I did however get my H-frame press back so tonight I'm putting the tranny back together FINALLY.

[getamongst-it]

So last night, I pressed the transmission back together, got it all torqued up all the new seals installed and was about to install the 5th gear (which sits outside the main casing) and what am I left with?

A HUGE KICK IN THE BALLS.

Apparently, I didn't notice this during disassembly, there was probably some crud packed behind it and also the washer was stuck to the top of it. This is the "driven" portion of 5th gear that sits atop the secondary shaft. As you can see it is lacking splines.

This pissed me off to no extent because I bought this transmission about a year and a half ago from some kid in PA, drove 3 hours to pick it up, and he sold it to me with a blown 5th. How on earth do you blow 5th gear? On top of that it's something I should have noticed before spending the time cleaning this and installing new seals. So now I have to find a parts transmission with an equivalent (.745 overdrive) 5th gear and see how it sits on the shaft. The splines on the shaft are a little rounded but they might hold a gear with good splines. Otherwise I'll need to take it apart again and swap the whole secondary shaft. I think this may be a situation appropriate for the term "FML".

[getamongst-it]

Been bummed out and not motivated because of this transmission issue. It's really put the brakes on things because my next move is putting the motor in. The front motor mount bolts to the transmission/starter so basically you need it on there. Although I have a few ideas of the direction I'm going now. Going to order a brand new 5th gear from BrokeVW and see how it sits. If it has too much play on the worn splines, my buddy wants it for what I paid for it. If that's the case I sourced another ACN transmission from a guy in Mass for $150 (which I hope is good).

In the meantime I finished all the interior wiring. The dash can go in as soon as I get the window frame primed. I think I'm going to do another coat of paint on the floor and I have a carpet picked out. No longer gonna use the fucked up stock carpet. I have a surprise in store for what the replacement will be.

Picked up the harmonic balancer I needed from a buddy, it's off an early "O6A" 1.8T motor to make everything line up. Got my accessory setup mounted and I couldn't be happier with money well spent on having 1 belt run this cleanly. :cheers: