Well, it has been a while since I have been "active" on the forum. Quitting, starting a new job, getting rid of one car and buying another, getting a house, and buying another car will do that to you.

But I am back at it. We'll start with the current condition of my car:

After a particularly abusive trip to Ottawa and back (including EMBARASING a new jetta on my favorite stretch of road), my engine decided that it no longer wanted to be described as "having compression". So, it sat at my parents house for a while while I moved and preped my new garage.

Which brings us to now. I have recently (with the help of 23Racer) picked up an '87 with a strong running motor. So the plan for this winter goes something like this:

1. Strip '87, sell what is not needed
2. Prep '87 motor: swap front cover and oil pan, ditch emissions, ditch OMP, clean and paint
3. Strip engine bay of my car, paint to match (or at least compliment) exterior, wire for S4 motor, put 12a trans back in, install new motor.
4. Finish interior: Mount 6x9's in rear fender covers, get dash lights working, possibly replace carpet.

That's the major stuff. Beyond that, I have to do the brakes and rear shocks, and if I can find a spare set of springs on the cheap, I might cut a coil all around to see how she looks/goes/rides.

Lets hope for a long winter, because I have a little more work to do on the VW before show season starts...

 

Jamie call me. I might have a set of 2 1/2 inch coilover setups available. These are universal mount ones off of a DSM. Just would need tofigure spring lengths and rates.

Besides I have way too much stuff on the go to put them on the Passat.

 

Atta a boy Jaime.... I still don't know how the "boss" lets you do all this!! LOL

2nd gen engine in a 1st gen... man, you're ambitious!

Is the new season here yet???

Lates,

 

Do you need a S4 n/a ECU? I have a spare some where around here.

 

Welcome back to the fray.

 

Man, I can't believe how crappy FC's are to work on until you get the fan and shroud out. I don't know why anyone would keep the clutch fan!

That said, last night was fairly productive for 2 hours work. Fluids are drained, rad, shroud, and fan are off, AFM and intake tube is gone, and my garage is a little cleaner, and my tools a little better organized.

Tonight I'll get the rest of accessories off, and start pulling the driveshaft. I'm hoping I can take the engine and trans out as a unit.

Speaking of pulling engines: Can anyone beat this price?

http://www.bosstoolsupply.com/index....OD&ProdID=3698

I need a new cylinder for my hoist, and this is the best deal I can find.

 

prinecess in hamilton has great deals, you cant buy the parts to make a cylinder for the price of some of their cylinders.

 

I retract my earlier statement. FC's suck to work on PERIOD! What a bear to get the power steering and AC off! But, all that's left is a couple of wires and the trans mount. That, and I need to pull the diff. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the new cylinder for my engine hoist to show.

In the mean time, we'll start taking apart the green car. I think I will wire in what I can from the stock harness (12a modified to fit GSL-SE 13b) and then run a new harness through the windshield wiper trough over to the ECU for things like the CAS, etc.

Overall, none too shabby. The painting will take some time, but once the motor is out, most of the hard work is done.

I was thinking of doing the engine bay white after reading some hot rod mags, but I think it will look less finished than if I were to do it black.

So that's it for progress updates. I had hoped to get the diff out tonight, but Ms. Feds and I are still recovering from a hockey game yesterday, so we weren't moving around too well in the garage.

I should probably take some pics, but... If you really want to see what is going on, my house is on the south side of the road with the P5 and the red pickup.

Forgot to provide closure on my cylinder anicdote: Princess has 3 ton cylinders on sale right now for $50. Problem is, when you consider the lever ratio of my hoist, a 3 ton cylinder would probably only support 500-1000 lbs. 8 ton cylinders are $99 plus tax, and they don't have any clevis bottoms in stock. Boss tools delivers an 8 ton cylinder to my house for $99, taxes and handling fees in.

Now princess did have some great sales on. Bench grinders and pipe benders were on for great deals. Now I just need to wait for the 50% off sale on the migs.

 

If you want to help me I can teach you how to drop the diff prettyquick, but good luck with the swap.

 

I think I've got it figured out, but what do you need? I'm generally a helpful guy.

 

LOL nah I should be ok, just have to to the turbo swap allllllll over again this year.

 

Bah, sucks to be you...

I need to apologize for my FC trashing... Just a little.

You see, I am still in GM mode, where everything is unnecessarly difficult: 4 wrenches to change the battery, removing 3 engine mounts to change a spark plug, or a serpentine belt... If you've ever had a v6-fwd gm car, you know what I am talking about...

Anyway, after wrestling with the diff all evening yesterday, I realized that the subframe is only held in with 4 bolts. So I dropped the whole thing today in about 1/2 an hour, and the diff came out no problemmo!

So that makes the motor ready to pull. I had a Purolator note on my door today. My cylinder has arrived (36 hours after I ordered it!). I'll pick it up tomorrow, and make with the pull-a pull-a pull-a.

Plus, another guy emailed about the VW! If I can sell that sucker, I'll buy a round for anyone willing to make the drive to Fenwick.

 

Well actually it's 4 nuts and a bolt. But you know what I am talking about. What trim is your FC?

 

The FC is a GXL. Actually, it is now a GXL-RT, as in GXL minus rotary and transmission. Came out pretty easily, so now all we have left to do is:

1. Separate engine and trans.
2. take manifolds, etc off engine
3. Clean engine
4. Re-assemble engine
5. remove engine from 1st gen
6. swap front covers
7. paint engine bay
8. re-wire engine bay
9. re-install engine
10 do burnouts
20 goto 10

 

while your swapping the motor, maybe install the FCs front brake system for a little added mmm.

 

hey, if you need help anytime, ive torn down 2 fc's and im 5 mins from your house, pm me if you need anything!

 

Thanks mike. you should stop by this weekend. I'll PM info.

Had a little bit of an unexpected surprise tonight... I came home and the "portable garage" covering my VW had blown over, scratched the hell out of the VW, and folded itself into a pretzel. 2 hours of swearing later, it was back up, and properly tied down. Now to see what it'll cost me to have the scrapes repaired. ****!

Beyond that, we cleaned up the garage, and got ready for the hard part. Took the hood off the 1st gen and...

Called it a night. We need to wash the car before we really tear into it so we don't scratch the car up too much.

That'll be it until the weekend. I think I'll take advantage of the weather and wash the car tomorrow, then take the mrs out for dinner.

 

Damn... When I read that I cringed (sp?). Sorry to hear about the portable garage and car getting scratched. Seems like you are as busy as I am. Just you are working on cars.

 

Stupid Wind!!

Just as you were getting a few calls on the dub too..... Hopefully those scratches will buff out...

Lates,

 

call carsmetics in St. kitts if you need to.

 

Thanks to a little help from Mike, Ms. Feds and I got the motor out of the green car in a couple of hours without damaging the paint too much. Plus we have the new S4 stripped down and more or less ready to paint.

I've emailed the FSM to work so I can print out the good bits and start the re-wiring. I love that the S4 FSM lists inputs and outputs so I can decide which wires I need and don't.

SO: where in niagara can I get my injectors cleaned? Any thoughts? We're going to take a couple of days off to get our lives back in order, talk to our lawyer about business startups, and register for the election, but within the next month, we should be running.

Oh, one more thing... Anyone have a light flywheeel they want to get rid of?

 

I could be wrong, but isn't it Mrs. Fed's now? I think she earned it, putting up with you and all.....

why are you painting the S4?

 

Jamie, I have all of the factory service manuals (in old tech paper) for the S4. I do have a light flywheel for the S4, but am using it until end of May. After that it will be available.

I also have the flowed intake, and AFM if you are interested in trying them out. Worked great on the race car. Sorry to hear about the scratches on the FB.

I agree with Leigh, she should be Mrs. Feds now. Actually she should be Her Royal Highness Feds.

 

I think it was scratches on the Vdub that he was worried about, due to the wind knocking over the shelter.

she's got Neo beat for turning wrenches

 

I was refering to when he said that he pulled the engine out of the green car without damaging the paint too much. After having pulled about 20 engines out of cars, I can tell you that I have yet to pull a motor that didn't cause some damage to the car it was being pulled out of.

My buddy in Vancouver with the Cobra R, places the car on the hoist and drops the full subframe including motor. That is the only way I know of to drop a motor without any body or paint damage, however this wont work on RX7's.