My week ( clutch) (oh. it's gonna be long)

[juliemac57 at hotmail.com (Julie Macfarlane)]

Its 11:45 pm and falling asleep till I read your mail.
Jesus Cath, you should write for a living  :)
Still smiling I go to bed. And Thanks  !!!!


Julie Macfarlane
1981 MKI 2L 16v w 2Y
Amsterdam NY





>From: "C Boyko" <roccit_53@scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca>
>To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>Subject: My week ( clutch) (oh. it's gonna be long)
>Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 23:17:29 -0400 (EDT)
>
>Okay, here's a long one, better sit down. This is to maintain the former
>"feel" of the list. In case you didn't know, I'm the comic relief where
>tech stuff is involved, but unfortunately, I've gotten better at doing
>some things, so don't post as often about my screwups.
>So a few weeks ago, Denny finally dusted the Centreforce Dual Friction. I
>know some of you may have installed them partly on my reccommend, and I
>still think it's been a good clutch, it was just plain worn out and the
>one performance shop thought two years was pretty good. The car's a 2L
>16V, 133hp to the wheels, with a 3.94 final and a Quaife. A solid moderate
>build. It gets drag raced on slicks twice a month or more, and that's
>pretty abusive.
>
>So I head  out to find a replacement, and discover another Centreforce
>will take two weeks to get, which would have put me away on vacation. I
>opted to order a Bully Level 2 from a VWoT guy's business (H2Sport in
>Georgetown), partly to give them the sale. Of course, the guys who build
>the clutches were on vacation for half of the week, then I get "the phone
>call" Friday. "Your clutch is done, but there's a problem." I'm expecting
>this (of course), and tell him so, it's for the headache after all. There
>is always at LEAST one "problem". Turns out the bolts and so on went to
>one place, the clutch to another. This car as bad car-ma. But they'll get
>it all gathered up, and I have the WMD all ready to go and start tearing
>the bits off. I can only get so far, I'm too weak to handle the bell
>housing. That was Monday, I think. The main issues of the day had been
>finding MY starter bit, which the kid knew nothing about despite having
>done a starter two weeks ago, and the 19mm 12 point (crank bolt). It
>surfaced, I had to go to town to get the triple square, but by now, I know
>where to go for them. Must be the fifteenth I've bought. I put nailpoiish
>on them, but he still steals them. This one's red pearl.
>
>Tuesday: The kid's finally home again, he's a bit less hungover by mid
>day, so I get him to hoist off the bell housing, and discover I can't find
>any signs of a 9mm twelve point socket. There had been one, who knows what
>happened to it. No matter, I head to Dunnville, check each of the four
>possible places, come home empty handed. Only to discover that I had one
>all along in my toolbox. Off with the flywheel. We just can't toast a
>clutch as well as Brad, that one at Cincy should win a prize, he had the
>car for, what? two weeks? And my new clutch is all good to go. Just gotta
>go get it.
>
>Wednesday: Off to get the clutch. A beautiful day for a drive with a
>friend, and the green car (Klaus) sounds SO mean with the mighty Cherry
>Bomb. Got the flywheel done en route, and life was good till I got home.
>Somehow, the intermediate plate has vanished. Which means the first bolts
>in the "installation is reverse of removal" can't be put on. It's that
>flat washer like thingie.
>
>Thursday: I spent two hours or so cleaning  up, looking for the missing
>part, but it's ghandi. So is "Get Lost", our stray tomcat. He gets the
>blame. Damned cats. I'm dead in the water again, so I order one from the
>dealer, and busy myself with other things, a new cheapo deck for Klaus,
>put his K bar back on, a relay and some latch lube for the Beetle, that
>sort of thing. There sits the bitch, her engine hanging on one mount and a
>sling, up of jackstands, just the way she likes it. Though I think
>secretly she'd like her own private hoist.
>
>Friday: Off to the dealer, to get the missing part. I figured the old part
>would show up once I did this, but nope, it's nowhere to be seen. I get
>the flywheel all torqued to spec, and realize I forgot the "plus 1/4 turn"
>on the pressure plate bolts. I was likely too busy admiring that gorgeous
>new intermediate plate. (Look Dory, there's something shiny...) Off with
>the flywheel, torque as per Bentley, back on with the flywheel, and torque
>the first bolt....snap!!! Fuck!!! The wax from the weekend's stud
>extractions is still adding fragrance to the ambience of the Wind Tunnel,
>I'm fearing the worst. Of course it's all new and spins right out. I
>recycle one old bolt, give the torque wrench a bit of a reset, and finish
>the flywheel. Now I'm back to the whole "being weak sucks" concept of
>life, and eagerly await the arrival of my son. He rolls in with his
>friends later in the day, very involved with their new hobby, building
>potato guns. (goes well with the previous hobby of drinking) I'm trying to
>be subtle about the whole "blow your arm off AFTER you lift my tranny"
>thing, well, maybe I wasn't too subtle. So it's nearly dark by the time he
>lifted it up. He still has two arms, and I'm hiding my O2 tank.
>
>I got Denny on his back using his feet to push the tranny when I did the
>side mount, it was pretty funny to see him part way under the car.
>
>Today: Late start, and it goes okay till I get all panic stricken about
>the fact that the clutch doesn't hold when I torque the CV bolts. Quick
>call, to tech support, (1-800-CALL-DREW) and I'm calmed down again. I fear
>the worst at all times, it's my default position.  Pretty well everything
>else went okay, then the second to last and last things got me spinning
>into a downwards spiral of swearing. Followed by drinking...
>When I parked it, this car had the most even idle I've ever heard on a
>16V. It had been glass smooth. Very fishy. Well, I go to put the big air
>boot on, you know, the one I got from the dealer four years ago for $185,
>yeah, that one. And it would be 16V specific, and Scirocco specific. Yep
>that's the one. Big honking tear in it. I'm talking 3", in metric that's
>about a metre. Enough for the earth's whole atmosphere to pass through in
>a nanosecond. "Put my arm into it big" tear. It MAY cause a vaccuum leak.
>I'd know for sure if I could start the damned car. The final insult any
>car can throw at you, just to rub in the fact that it is a bitch? Flat
>battery.
>Perfect.
>The VERY last insult for the night was when I tore off half of my pinky
>nail instaling the K bar. No worries, I'm Canadian, I have good beer.
>
>So do I like my new clutch? No clue. It'll wait till tomorrow now. May as
>well make it a full week.
>
>Notes: The Bully clutch has a nearly identical pressure plate to the
>Centreforce, but the friction discs are different. Centreforce has quite
>traditional looking material on the PP side, but six pucks on the flywheel
>side. Mine was built on a LUK core, with four springs (two doubles) and 8
>flat chunks joining the centre to the friction part. The Bully has full
>coverage on both sides with a metallic friction material, though it has
>less grooves than the Centreforce, and it has 6 springs with six beefy
>looking chunks of metal to attach the centre and the friction part. We'll
>see how it feels, I'll give you a report, even if it flies apart cause I
>messed up.
>The Passat dual fan fits really nicely, though I haven't run it yet, it
>was another "while you're in there" install, since I got a free Passat
>from the fire hall. The position of the fan motor will make access to the
>starter a bit more difficult, but it's a slick unit, and more air is a
>good thing.
>
>That's it from me, it's always something with these cars eh?
>
>Cathy
>two Sciroccos, and a bunch of other crap.
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Scirocco-l mailing list
>Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l