MS motor mounts/ poly suspension stuff [long]

[Kevin <aventari@cts.com>]

Well, I did a bit of work on the old '81 daily driver over spring break and
I'd like to tell everybody about it, so listen up! ;)

	Lessse, firstly on the assumption that the rear axle bushings had never
been changed, I ordered a set of poly rear bushings from the Potterman. It
always seemed like the rear end was slow to respond with the rubber ones. 
	I dropped the axle fine, just six bolts and a jack under it and I had the
bushings out. In about 45 minutes I was putting everything back together.
Then came the fun part.. No matter what I would try, I could NOT get the
studs on one side to go in with out pulling them out of the other side.
ugh. I spend 2-3 hours under there removing parts to try and fit the axle
up. Finally my dad just dremil'ed  away a few mm's from each sides hole and
shoved it up in there. I have a very sneaky suspicion that my frame is
tweaked.. The front upper neuspeed bar was not easy to get over the studs,
and I cant put a lower bar on the car w/ elongating the a-arm bolt holes in
the stress bar. Is this curable for a reasonable amount of money, risk, or
time?

The verdict(rear axle beam bushings): The car felt a _bit_ tighter but
nothing dramatic. My stock bushings were in great shape, and I wouldn't go
through that again for the marginal results. But it's nice to have them now
that I'm done. ;)

I also replaced the shot rubber bushings on the 16.5mm front sway bar. This
was a fairly striaght forward process, the only problem is not being about
to get a socket on the nuts on the bottom of the a-arm. The studs never
stick far down enought either. 

the verdict(poly sway bar bushings): i noticed a lot less sway in cornering
and transitions, with a welcome small increase in understeer. now depending
on tire pressures, the car is neutral going to oversteer --> very fun ;)

The last thing I did was replace the rear motor mount with a VW motorsport
hard rubber one. Very easy.
	Of course then I replaced the infamous right hand side motor mount. This
was actually not hard at all. I had more trouble fitting the sway bar
bushings. of course having an 8v, non-A/c, non-P/s, non-timing belt shrouds
(at ALL) made it a bit easier. I just undid the front and rear mounts,
jacked the motor up about 1 inch, and pulled the bolts out. I had to grind
off 2 inchs from a 6mm allen to fit the upper rear bolt, but thats it. 
GOOD TIP!!!!!!---------|
                       V
The guy who pressed in my mount for 10$ said that he just threads bolts
through the back of the block to make a stud for the mount instead of using
the allen key! This seems like a great idea, but mine were so easy i didn't
try it. 
	the only reason I had to replace the mount in the first place was that I
put it in upside down last time.. whoops

The verdict(stiff mounts): The car feels a lot more solid, but no noticed
increase in traction or handling ;)
The only problem is the engine is very rough in the morning and with poly
frount mount and motorsport rear, it can feel like the engine is breaking
things. otherwise not TOOO bad if you can stand it. 

Kevin Fry -- computer nerd!
'81 Scirocco S 1.8l
'80 Scirocco   0.0l

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