Tough situation- car is in trouble(long)

[Rich Deede <rdeed@UDel.Edu>]

Well this is one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make because
it involves my Scirocco. Last september I was in an accident as many of
you know. Well I thought that everything was fixed and all was good. But a
couple months ago Peter(thescirocco@juno.com) noticed that I had a small
crack in my cross member. Well I didn't think too much of it at the
time(kicking myself now). Then just before the Cincy meet, my oil cooler
died and we had to replace it. Well when we pulled out the AC condensor
and radiator to install the new oil cooler, Peter showed me that there
were even more cracks that were underneath and were pretty bad. I decided
then that I would look in to get getting them welded up and Peter thought
of creating a custom bracket to reinforce the front end. The car drove
completely fine up until the drive home from Cincy when I was doing 115 mh
runs with Brett. I noticed that when I let off the gas in 5th gear that
the revs would jump and then settle back down. I asked Brett about it and
he said it sounded like a bad front motor mount. Well this made sense as I
had a poly mount in there and I thougnt it was on its way out anyway. So I
just planned on changing the mount when I got back. Well the problem with
the revs jumping only became worse over the next week after Cincy. I could
no longer floor it in any gear as the revs would jump but it wasn't quite
grabbing.(kinda like the feeling of a slipping clutch but my clutch is
brand new so I knew that wasn't the problem). I figured at this point that
I really needed to change my motor mount to fix the problem. So I changed
the mount but it didn't fix the problem at all. All the problem were the
result of the cracks in the cross member and would need immediate
attention. Well that night after changing the mount my coolant light
starts to flash. Part of the ripped cross member tore in to the lower
radiator hose and ripped it open. I parked the car at Peters house and it 
has been there for over 2 weeks now. The cross member has become extremely
bad now and I dont know if it can ever be truly repaired. The motor sags
badly and the car would need extensive front end fabrication to getting it
just moving again. I have driven the car like a old lady since Cincy but
even now it is undrivable. This is my dilemna. 
 
 I live in Delaware and have to drive 60 miles daily to work in
Philadelphia. So I need a reliable car. That coupled with the fact that my
girlfriend will be living 5 hours away from me now and I need a working
car to visit her made me come to maybe the hardest decision I have ever
made...Im done with the Scirocco. I thought about all my options and tried
to reason keeping the car but I just don't have any guarantees that the
car will hold up with the power it's putting out and the way I like to
drive. I am going to park it in my garage and sell parts as I need money,
but I am in no big rush to sell anything so I will listen to offers for
whatever stuff you may want but I would like to own a scirocco again one
day and could use this stuff again. 

I would like to publicly thank Peter Lindvall for everything, he has
helped me  with when it came to fixing my car and doing his best to get it
back together. He really knows his stuff and is always avaiable to help in
a pinch. If you live anywhere near Delaware I would highly recommend
getting in touch with him if you need any help fixing your Roc or any vw
for that matter.

In case you were wondering what did I decide to get...well I shopped
around a little bit and finally bought a 2000 GTI VR6. I got a fantastic
deal that was very hard to turn down. It's Black on Black and has a ton of
options that my scirocco never had.....like a working sunroof and AC! I am
still warming up to the looks of the car and the suspension could use some
definite tweaking but I'm loving the torque that is just always on tap. My
scirocco is(was) <snif> quicker but thats ok. Im liking this car more
everyday (I bought it monday) but I dont think it will ever replace the
scirocco. I'll put some pics of my new GTI up soon on my website if you
care to see it. Oh and buying this car is basically forcing me to live at
home until I turn 30!

Im going to stay on the list for a while as you guys all kick some serious
ass and I have enjoyed meeting all of you at the variuos get togethers. I
will still be going to Waterfest(how could I miss it) and would still like
to hang out with all you guys....scirocco owners are the best VW owners
anyway. I'll be getting there around noon or so on Saturday...see ya then. 
  

Rich Deede
1988 Scirocco 2.0 16v
1987 Scirocco 16v - R.I.P.
2000 GTI VR6
http://www.geocities.com/scirocco16v





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