'85 Passat (32B) GL5 Estate - Now Breaking!

[Alain]

passatman said:

two gold gl5 pissrats...........


where would you find them?


looking good mate............



do you still have the other engine?.....my bro. has got the brown mk1 and wants to see if it'll take a 5 banger

Some fool pointed me in their direction

Yep, still got the other engine... she runs like a goodun too. 90k ish on the clock

The shortened/stiffened shocks arrived today. Just waiting for the springs now ;D

Going to give it a full service tomorrow

[Alain]

Did a few more bits and bobs over the last few days...

Fixed the rear windows. One switch was duff and one motor

Changed the oil, plugs, filters and coolant

Got the stereo working in all four speakers ;D

Also made plans for a load cover for the boot (including speakers...)

Oh and got rid of the side trim.

Still friggin waiting for the springs though

[Alain]

I figured I should probably update this now I've lowered it.

Well if you didn't read my thread in the general chat I had a bit of a nightmare doing it. One of te main reasons for sorting the suspension out was that there was a broken spring on the front o/s shock. This meant that it had popped over the upper cup and was pressing directly on the shock tower, which in turn meant there was a huge amount of force on the top shock mounting nut, which wouldn't come undone. I ended up drilling it out

Anyway, after a few hours of effin and blinding, i got that side off, includng the wishbone (with the intention of changing the bushes). I then managed to get the other side off in no time as all. After a short while I gave up on the idea of changing the bushes, with no chance of getting them out without mangleing the wishbones. Having seen they are only 27.50 each new (with new bushes) I figured it would e easiest to buy new ones. I also resorted to getting the front wheel bearings (which I was changing as a matter of course) pressed in/out by my friendly garage

The rear end was a pain in the ass too. The shocks I had bought from Germany were useless. It seems they are designed to be used with a longer, narrower coil over type spring, as the springs i've got fouled on the tyre (due to the bottom spring cup sitting about 4" lower than on the shock shock. I resorted to using the shock shocks, for now, as I needed to get it back on the road for this weekend (and at this point it was already thursday).

Anyway, All in all it was a bit of a pain in the ass, but I got there in the end. The front wisbones really need changing now, as they sound pretty bad and knock abit in certain situations, but the car is much more repsonsive to corner. In fact somehow I managed to suprise a TT on the country roads on the way home last night (as Junglist can vouch for). Good Ol' GL5 power ;D

Hopefully it will be even better with half decent suspension anchor points!

So here's a few pictures of it just before, during and straight after. I'll go and take a couple in a minute as I'm sure the 200 mile drive home would have let it settle a touch more.

This is before (remmeber the front had a broken spring, so alread sat about an inch or more lower...)



Drilling out the top mount:



The strut and everything off...



New spring Vs old spring...



Straight after:

[Alain]

Some taken just a moment ago:

[VWDan]

Looking good - have you tried it with 'The' wheels on though?

I hope they fit

[Alain]

vwdan said:

Looking good - have you tried it with 'The' wheels on though?

I hope they fit

Not yet... I literally finished it, got in it and drove it 200 miles home for the weekend. I'll be trying the wheels next week

I have a feeling the arches might need a little flaring ;D - Lets just hope they aren't too crusty, else I'll end up with some slightly odd looking arches!

[racingdave]

wagons are cooool ! back in the late 90's all the US mags were banging on about caprice wagons and the like. maybe some inspiration to be had?

[Alain]

I popped the wheels on yesterday to see how clearances were



I need some shorter bolts, but otherwise it's pretty good! I'm still gonna roll the arches and flare them a touch though, just to be sure

[VWDan]

Soo glad they fit.

[Alain]

vwdan said:

Soo glad they fit.

You're telling me!

As it is, there's no rubbing even on full lock and the tyres clear the arches even when there's a 14 stone person sat directly above them.

I'm sure they'll rub if I was turning up a curb or something, bu hopefully a bit of arch flaring will stope even that.

Just need some new bolts, and to paint them black

[VWDan]

I'm after some bolts too for my Wellers and already had some spigot rings made for them. Just bought a set of G60 steels, so might paint a couple of the Wellers up to match, get some tyres and then sling them on the rear ;D

[Alain]

vwdan said:

I'm after some bolts too for my Wellers and already had some spigot rings made for them. Just bought a set of G60 steels, so might paint a couple of the Wellers up to match, get some tyres and then sling them on the rear ;D

Yeah I could do with some Spigot rings too really....

Any clues on where's good? Or just a local engineering place?

As for bolts... I'm planning on using stock pre '67 Bug/Ghia ones (M12 X 1.5, 15mm long). Machine7.com sell them for £1.75 new, or you could probably get some dirty old ones cheap from a breakers (Volksheaven?)

[VWDan]

Had to get them made as 60 to 57.1mm wasn't available anywhere - well, not that I could find! Cost me a fiver each, made from scratch.

I do have a load of very stubby bolts, but they are the curved, original type and i need the straight type so they sit in the bolt holes right.

[Alain]

vwdan said:

Had to get them made as 60 to 57.1mm wasn't available anywhere - well, not that I could find! Cost me a fiver each, made from scratch.

I do have a load of very stubby bolts, but they are the curved, original type and I need the straight type so they sit in the bolt holes right.

Tapered instead of radius? Like this:



I wasn't sure... I did think about tapered ones, but there's no way near enough depth on the hole for them to be tapered...

[VWDan]

Yep - couldn't think of the word!

I think there are different degrees of taper - did find someone on ebay who was local and said he needed to see the wheels to make sure the taper was correct, but not managed to get in touch with him on mobile - need to email him again.

On the Wellers I had on the Jetta i got hold of some Vauxhall bolts from local tyre fitter which have a taper and fitted quite well. Might have a look at the scrappy.

[Robinxr4i]

Those steels are sex!

[Jez]

That looks awesome!!! Thought it wasn't low enough at first, but it looks spot on with the Wellers ;D

[Mike D]

Mahi Mahi! ;D

Good work Chief, i look forward to seeing it next weekend

[grizz]

Bloody lovely man, bloody lovely.

[Alain]

v8mike said:

Mahi Mahi! ;D

Good work Chief, I look forward to seeing it next weekend

Sadly I think it might still be on the stock wheels next weekend. Unless I get my ass in gear and get the bolts and spigot rings sorted ;D

I'm having a few troubles though, after my overheating episode...

retrorides.proboards86.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1173989944

No friggin where makes the hose I need

Luckily we've got a spares car, so I'll have to rob it off that ;D

It's typical that this happens just after I changed the coolant too... more money down the drain!

I also ordered 2 new front wishbones, so I might even change them before next weekend, as the worn bushes in the current ones make a might noise