Need advice and tips on repairs I'm about to do

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm about to replace a fair number of parts (wheel related) on my VR6 and I wondered if anyone could give me any tips as I'm a novice when it comes to this kind of thing.

 

I've got the Bentely manual so I should be able to get the gist of it but I'm just looking for any gotchas or tools I will need for the job.

 

Here's what I'm replacing:

* 288mm Brake discs, calipers and pads for the front

* replacement pads for the rear

* replacing standard shocks with Vipertech to match my Vipertech springs

* powerflex rear axle bushes

* rear bearings

* goodridge braided brake hoses

 

I think that's about it.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Phil

CCGB#1851

'94 Blackberry VR6

[munkay 0]

bushes will be a bitch to do...and suspension can be a sod to remove bolts

 

Brakes should be ok if you are handy.

 

I just got very similar work done to that list today.

 

Cost me 600 odd quid tho and included new rad and all timing/charger/alt belts

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Thanks munkay.

 

Anyone know if I'll need any tools. I've got a socket set plus all the usual screwdrivers, alan keys, hammer(!) etc but wondered if I needed anything else. Oh and I've got axle stands will this be enough to do the bushes?

 

Thanks again

[steveo29 0]

bushes are a sod.....really need to remove the back axle...the brake lines could snap...treat em with wd40 a few times ,and dont forget to have an anlignment done after the suspension work

[munkay 0]

to be brutally honest..the fact you are asking all this I would recommend you got it done at a garage.

 

Maybe do the discs yourself but allow a day at be VERY careful.

To do bushes you will need more than axle stands IMHO

 

Not the sort of thing you want make a dogs dinner of

 

Hammer + bearings is a dangerous combination ;)

 

also the fact you have got decent parts..is it worth comprimising them??

[vr6storm 0]

if your changing the rear bearings you'd be as well to replace the rear discs and rear abs rings too(unless they've been done in say the past couple of years).....approx £40 for discs +£16 abs rings(you could spend ages trying to get the rusted ones out btw so for the sake of £8 ea just get new ones),you'll need to wind the pistons back(as opposed to lever/pushing them back) if your doing your rear pads you'll also need to dismantle a fair bit of interior trim to adjust your handbrake after doing them,idealy its better if you have an extra set of hands too.........just having the bentley manual doesn't mean that you'll cope without a problem either.....though if your doing it for the first time i would at least get a mechanically minded m8 to help too or just bite the bullet and pay a garage to do it......cos if you feck it up :oops: you'll have an added cost of getting it to a garage

hth

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Yea actually I forgot to mention I was doing the rear discs as well. Didn't think about the ABS rings though.

 

You're right I could feck it all up completely but you've gotta start somewhere :?

 

That's the problem with the Bentley manual, it doesn't tell you about things like adjusting the handbrake :) But then it's meant for specific VW use. Think I need a more general repair manual.

 

Halfords tomorrow morning then :)

 

Probably be back later to tell you how (badly) I'm getting on.

 

Cheers,

Phil

[munkay 0]

A golf mk2 manual would be more helpfu (haynes) but still go to a garage ;)

 

you sound eager..but not meaning to be rude..naive.

 

I was once of the same moind to save money

[vr6storm 0]

this might help you too..........i had my rear discs,wheel bearings and abs rings replaced last year...my mate done it all while i "assisted"

anyway he suggested that i also bought 4 bolts(can't remember what they were for :? ...but have the part no's)

anyway here are the part no's for abs rings and the "mystery" bolts

 

abs rotor/ring.................1J0614149 approx £8.40 ea

 

bolts x4..........................N0199123 approx £0.84 ea

 

all plus vat and discount from a stealer

 

hth

[G60 0]

i dunno munkay.. i cracked open the front end and did cv joints the first week i had my c with no experience.. i still have the mindset to save money. maybe some people are just more mechanically inclined.

 

i'll be doing poly bushes, wheel bearings and koni adjustables all around very soon. i have a few different cars i can drive while i mess with the G60 tho..if you need your c to get around maybe a garage is a good idea.. or borrow mum's car.

 

it helps a lot to know the exact procedure and possible problems you might run into before you start so you can buy/find what you need to overcome problems before you take your car apart. it also helps to have a friend who's had mk2 experience!

 

i would say that you better have a bar, impact, heat, something for those bugger bolts.. :x

[Banana Man 0]

I wa sgoing to look up those mystery bolt numbers on ETKA but I think your missing the last 3 digits which will make it hard to find them VW part numbers are usually 3 sets of 3 numbers

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Just been to the stealers and the parts numbers check out ok. They didn't have the bolts in stock though. Have to wait till thursday. Doh! :(

 

I need to do the shocks ASAP as my nearside rear shock is leaking and the MOT is due. Might just do the shocks and leave the rest till later.

[PhilsLadyC 0]

I've now got ETKA but the part number for those bolts doesn't seem to match up. Any ideas?

 

Not used ETKA before so could be my fault :oops:

[2cc 0]

Could these be the caliper retainers? I know VW recommend replacing these with new if you take em off, they are pre-loctited (how do you spell that?)

[vr6storm 0]

Could these be the caliper retainers? I know VW recommend replacing these with new if you take em off, they are pre-loctited (how do you spell that?)

 

 

yip 99% sure thats what they were

[Scott 0]

I'd also recommend getting a manual from haynes for the Golf / Jetta VR6.... this will help you in a bit more step by step when doing the stuff you mention - I have one myself and find it fantastic... but I only have bentley on CD... too be honest bentley holds a lot of info but it assumes you know how to do the job... which when you dont know can be confusing....

 

Brakes are easy - did mine in half a day for the lot and that also involved changing bearings, abs rings and drilling retaining screws out on front discs!!!!

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

[GazzaG60 0]

bushes-think a ramp comes in handy, maybe a press just depends.

 

fronmt brakes are easy job. dont be suprised if the disc retaining screw snaps. v.v common. just leave it off-the wheel clamps the disc down. push the piston back in with a G clamp. if the pads look good it doesn't mean they are. put pads on for safe measure if you are doing the discs.

 

rear brakes- you Need a tool to wind the piston back into the caliper. basically its on a ratchet and you have to wind it anticlockwise and push back into the caliper for the psiton to be sank back. give um a good clean too as the backs are v v prone to failure through seizing. like it was said before thew rear discs contain the wheel bearings so if you replace rear discs then do the bearings too. no tols other than a big socket and a screw driver to knock and reseat the bearing shells.

 

shocks are ok. you need spring clamps. the top mount is a pain to remove the collar and the bottom bolts that hold it to the hub can be ruined so much that you need to cut them off. bout an hour a corner

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Thanks for all the tips guys. Well the weekend is upon us and it's time to get down and dirty (ooh err!).

 

I've got a couple of G clamps but they are really small I take it I will need some decent sized ones.

 

Someone mentioned the Caliper wind back tool to me so I'll be getting one of those.

 

Also, spring clamps. I suppose Halfords would do those?

 

Haynes Manual - Thanks for the advice Scott I'll be getting one of those.

 

Could these be the caliper retainers? I know VW recommend replacing these with new if you take em off, they are pre-loctited (how do you spell that?)

 

Yea someone on the Yahoo Group mentioned you should get new caliper bolts with the pads but not the caliper carrier bolts. Not checked whether I've got the bolts with my new pads I'll check when I get home.

 

Thanks again to everyone for the help and advice. Fingers crossed I get it all sorted.

 

Cheers.

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Got a problem regarding the bolts. My local Breeze doesn't have them. Anywhere else I can get them from? Tried GS&F but they don't stock them.

 

Also I need four right? What are these for? One for each corner or are they just for the rears? I was looking on ETKA and it seems two bolts match the description on each corner but the part numbers don't match the one posted by vr6storm.

 

Cheers,

Phil

[Scott 0]

Haynes Manual - Thanks for the advice Scott I'll be getting one of those.

 

no worries - if get stuck then give us a shout - should be able to help *:)

[vr6storm 0]

Got a problem regarding the bolts. My local Breeze doesn't have them. Anywhere else I can get them from? Tried GS&F but they don't stock them.

 

Also I need four right? What are these for? One for each corner or are they just for the rears? I was looking on ETKA and it seems two bolts match the description on each corner but the part numbers don't match the one posted by vr6storm.

 

Cheers,

Phil

 

 

phil,

you definately need 4 of them(2 on each side at the rear) and they are calliper retaining bolts(as you'll more than likely f*** them up undoing them),also the part numbers have probably been superseded though if the stealer's parts man has any idea he will be able to check them with the "old" part number that i've given you....according to my mate who uses etka a lot this is seemingly a common problem with etka,if your etka edition is recent then some part no's will be different to say an earlier edition of etka,though as i've said the stealer should be able to check the "old" numbers out

a wee tip from my mate who did mine last year is to pack the holes for these bolts with grease etc as its going to make it a lot easier for doing in the future

hth

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Well I took the plunge today (read: Sunday) but didn't get very far. After nearly breaking lots of important looking things I gave up and put it back together!

 

Well, actually it wasn't really that bad. I'm still waiting for the stealers to phone me and tell me they've got my caliper bolts but I really need to do the shocks as I've gotta get the MOT sorted.

 

The main problem I had was getting the bottom bolts off of the shocks. It's like they were welded. Anyway, I sprayed a load of PlusGas onto them and did everything back up again. Tomorrow I'm gonna get some spare bolts just incase I destroy the old ones. Anyone got any bright ideas for removing these?

 

I found this article that mentions you need a torque wrench but I've never used one before. I take it Halfords would do them? Can anyone recommend one (local shop as I need it tomorrow)?

 

Although I didn't actually DO anything I did remove the top strut bolts and have a good old poke around and what's more important fit it all back together again (Although it took a while mainly due to everything being rusted together). So I'm feeling a bit more confident that I can continue at least with the shocks. If all goes well I'll carry on with the rest of it.

 

Cheers for all the help and advice. I'll post some pics when I actually do something!

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Thanks Roddy didn't see your post until I just posted. As I said I'm still waiting for the damn things to arrive at the stealers. You are right they do seem to know what they are. Actually maybe that's why they don't have any in stock. There are four bolts on the diagram in ETKA so maybe I'll ask for that part number instead. As you say if they've been superseeded perhaps there is a bit of confusion.

 

"Hang on a minute lads, I've got a great idea!" - Italian Job

[Banana Man 0]

The bottom bolts of the struts can be a nightmare to get off if they are rusty, but firstly I might point out to you that a torque wrench should be used to do the bolts back up again to the right torque settings as when the desired torque is hit it will click to let you know the right torque has been achieved, what you need to use is a breaker bar to get the bolts undone as you get better leverage than just a standard ratchet. I dont know weather you noticed when you were trying to get the bolts un-done that there is a nut on the other end of the bolt intside the trailing arm you'll need to get a spanner on that to stop that from turning with the bolt when your un-doing it.

[PhilsLadyC 0]

Thanks banana man.

 

Just bought the torque wrench now. They're not cheap are they. I saw the breaker bar there too but would that help as the normal ratchet I have was just shearing the bolts anyway. Well I went to the stealers but needless to say they didn't have those bolts in stock so that's another wasted weekend. They're on order now. Should be in Wednesday. One day I'll actually finish what I started!

 

Yea that bolt inside looks a bit odd. It seemed to have some extra lip on it and I couldn't get my spanner around it.

 

Oh well at least next time I'll have all the tools and know a bit more about what I'm doing. Plus it's a satisfaction and thing and knowing you've done it with care and attention. :D

 

When I first had the lowering springs put on the car a friend of mine told me that his mechanic would do it really cheap. It cost me sixty quid and the guy didn't even put the damn spring caps back on so I was driving a death trap until I took it to AmD for it's 60K service and mentioned that something didn't sound/feel right. When they looked at it they nearly had a heart attack and I had one when they told me how much the service would cost :shock:

 

Such is life!

 

Right I promise I won't ask anymore questions and Nike it (Just Do It!).