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Thu Apr 08, 2010 4:12 pm

hey everyone. I got the tranny back together, and now Im having trouble with my axle tubes.

one side is fine and swings up and down great, but the other side's a different story. We have 6 gaskets between the side cover and the retainer, and every time we torque the bearing seal retainer down, then it won't move AT ALL. Do I just need more gaskets, or could something bigger be wrong?

I appreciate the help, I'm trying to get this thing up and runnign ASAP because we're headed to silver the first weekend in may, and I still gotta put it all together :o Any info will be appreciated! for now I'll order up some extra gaskets.

Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:46 pm

gaskets ordered, so far, I'm just gonna try and get some more in there and see where I'm at. If anyone has any suggestions, pleas, do tell :P

Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:29 pm

Update: just ordered up some desert traks for silver lake!

I'll keep you posted. for now, just waitin on the gaskets. I do have another small project for the meantime...

Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:39 pm

are you sure that you have the axle in the spider gear all the way with the special washer thingy and the cir-clip? also are the two side plates presed all the way on the trans? if you do end up having to put that many gaskets on there make sure you use a gasket sealer compound that works with gaskets. that will eliminate one more spot for that thing to leak!! good luck!

Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:50 pm

hey guys. I got the trans back together right, I just needed the thicker gaskets that came in the 2nd kit I got.

I got it in and the engine in with the help of my friend, and now its just doing little stuff and hopefully it will be running soon and drivable.

I also ordered some desert explorers for the rear when we go up to silver.

stay tuned.

Sat Apr 17, 2010 8:20 pm

Got the bug running today, got the brakes bled out, doing some wiring on the GEN light and the tach, gotta get my SVDA in there and set timing, and then readjust the carbs. I made sure the car moved forward and back too.

I got my sand tires on there too

I still need:
Spark arrestor
Inline fuel pressure gauge
Outerwears for my filters
ebrake cable retainer thngy's

Torque the axle nuts, and other odds and ends, then I should be able to test run it in the field.

I will be back with pics of it tomorrow

Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:01 am

Ok, to catch you all up with the pics:

Transmission re-assembly:

Tranny/engine install in 4 easy steps:
Ready your floor jack

Put in tranny and tighten all the bolts

take a picture of installed tranny

put in engine

:D

AND, the sand tires
came home from work, and they were in the garage waiting:

I haven't moved the bug back and forth far enough for the tires to settle yet, but it does move! 8)

There you go.

Sun Apr 18, 2010 9:43 pm

cool deal man that solid mount kit is the way to go, solved a bunch of problems for me, how was it putting the axle tubes in the spring plates because of the preload? now you just have to drive it and see if it leaks lol, all you can do is hope it dosnt because those suckers leak all over the place if it isnt right lol. the only down side to the solid mount is more noise in the cab while your driving but not too bad if you have insulation and carpeting, i cant hear my self think in mine with no carpeting lol.

Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:33 am

one thing I ran into with the strap over the bellhousing was that it doesnt' have clearance for the starter housing. I'll probably just end up cutting a notch out of it right there.

As for the transaxle, the axles weren't too bad, but now I can probably do it with my eyes closed. I had the suckers apart like 10 times per side. And.... I haven't even drove it, and it does leak some fluid, so I'll def. be bringing extra with me. Its not too bad though. I'll probably end up with a different trans in there eventually anyway.

Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:39 pm

yup sounds about right about doing it with your eyes closed, thats one thing about owning a vw is you will always be working on it. but i do have some advice and some people on here would probly disagree with me but if you put some gasket tack stuff in the seams and around the ends of the boots it helps keep the oil in, found that out today, when driving on the freeway the oil didnt want to stay in the boot, so i took it off and put that stuff on there and wala! no more oil leaking!! we will see how long it lasts but it was a quick fix for a busy day! you will definatly notice the noise difference tho with the solid mounts, i didnt get the complete strap kit just the lower mount and front mount, but it seems work fine. i was having a problem shifting and when i took it all apart i found out that the front stock mount had come compleatly apart in two pieces, put those new solid mounts on there and it shifts like a dream. also one other bit of advice: dont buy the empi shift rod coupling, buy a good german one from wolfsberg west or something, i had major issues with the empi one. good luck!

Tue Apr 20, 2010 4:43 am

yeah, when I replaced the coupler and bushing, I used a CB rhino coupler, and it seems pretty heavy duty. I'm just trying to get by with this trans the way it is for now, and it will probably come back out for a proper job later.

Sun May 02, 2010 7:39 pm

Hey everyone, heres a little progress update.

It still bogs down low in the RPMs, but I have to re adjust the carbs again because I was backwards in my thinking.