A1 wheel hub and bearing discussion verification

[pedles]

Greetings everyone,

My bro and I just bought our firs ITB prepared car minus engine and tranny. I have a complete running A1 GTI that is mechanically sound but got banged around in NYC so it's a perfect powertrain donor car. I've been reading old posts in here for hours and the info. is incredibly valuable so mucho, mucho thanks for passing on your knowledge.

I have two initial questions:

I read over old posts about the hubs and bearings in A1 cars failing and many people recommended greasing the bearings up with high quality grease and torquing the axle nut 'til it practically breaks--I got that part. But I thought we were talking about the front bearings that are sealed, no greasing necessary--or possible for that matter-- right? I know there is a simple explanation but I couldn't get it right in my head even after reading all the posts.

#2 What should I take from the old GTI before I scrap it? Obviously the powertrain but anything else in particular? Besides hubs :-)

thanks a ton for any info.

philip

[Greg Amy]

<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">...I thought we were talking about the front bearings that are sealed...?</font>

Philip, the flat plastic seals on the edges of the bearing can be pried off. This allows you to squeeze grease in one end, displacing the old grease in there. Once you see it squooshing out the other end you can re-install the seals and install the new bearings.


<font face=\"Verdana, Arial\" size=\"2\">...What should I take from the old GTI before I scrap it?</font>

Everything that you can, espcially anything GTi-specific.

Go on eBay and check it out: Rabbit GTi interior parts, bumpers, wheels, springs, swaysbars, etc are all selling for good prices. If you're willing to deal with removing, cleaning, and cataloguing the interior parts, for instance, you might be able to pay for the car itself. Hell, I just saw a pair of ragged out GTi seats go for $150! The aluminum bumpers are good for $50, wheels for $150, dash panel $50, door panels $50, plus you'd be surprised at what all the little trim pieces will go for.

As for what you'll need for your race car: everything mechanical. Engine, tranny, suspension, brakes, plus it wouldn't hurt to keep the extra body panels as spares (fenders, hood, hatch, doors.)

As I found out the hard way, if you've got a local u-store-it, you can probably get a parking space there for $60 month. Note that if you disassemble the whole darned thing you'll probably need a 10x10 storage unit for $120! Thus, you're better off letting it store itself under a car cover some place...

Good luck, and let me know if you've got parts off to you want to give or sell!

Greg



[This message has been edited by grega (edited July 27, 2003).]

[Bill Miller]

You should pack the front wheel bearings. You can remove the seals. Check Greg Raven's book (VW Watercooled front-drive performance handbook), p. 145 for a good explanation.

As far as the other car goes, if you can just keep it around, do so. Otherwise, take pretty much everything off of it that you can. Now that you have a race car, you essentially need enought parts to build two other ones! Seriously, if you have useable spares on the street car, it's better to keep them than have to buy new stuff. To try and list all the stuff that you should keep would probably take a couple of pages.

Here's some stuff off the top of the list:

control arms, calipers, master cylinder, radiator, rear axle, FI controller (KJet box), all the FI stuff, fuel pump, tail light lens, fenders/hood/hatch/doors, steering rack, pedal cluster, wiring harness, etc.

I left off any engine/tranny related stuff as you said you're going to swap that over.

Good luck and welcome to VW IT racing!

------------------
MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI (sold)
SCCA 279608

[RSTPerformance]

I was reading post and thought that keeping the pedal cluster part was funny... if you have dmaged those then a lot has gone wrong or you are pushing the pedles way to hard, the car will only go so fast, pushing the pedles through the floor will not help http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/wink.gif !!!

But in all seriouseness... the posts are right keep as much as you can, and put as much as you can in boxes bags all labled... bring the parts to the track... When you use the spare parts - get more, you will need them again!!!

Big mistake we made... we broke an axle (Inner CV Joint) last year at the runoffs, replaced it on the car but not in the spare parts box... wasted an entire test day a couple weeks ago because we had no spare http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/frown.gif

Raymond
RST Performance Racing
www.rstperformance.com (http://www.rstperformance.com)

[This message has been edited by RSTPerformance (edited July 28, 2003).]

[racer_tim]

Each time I work on an axle, I just replace the whole side. Then fix what ever was wrong (boot, inner CV, etc) and then put it back in the spare parts bin.

BTW, I also dilled out the inner bolt heads to safety wire them. Trust me, you don't want the inside of the axle swinging around like a sword.

It's also easier to check the safety wire then to re-torque/check all 12 bolts.



------------------
Tim Linerud
San Francisco Region SCCA
#95 GP Wabbit (Bent)
http://linerud.myvnc.com/racing/index.html

[Bill Miller]

Raymond,

The reason I mentioned the pedal cluster, is that A1 VWs are notorious for having the part that holds the clutch cable break off the pedal (crappy weld). Had it happen to me, and I've sold pedal clusters out of 2 parts cars to people. But I agree, to the uninitiated, it probably does sound pretty funny to keep that. http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/biggrin.gif

------------------
MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI (sold)
SCCA 279608

[racer_tim]

Or, buy a few of the rubber grommet things that fit in the loud pedal where the cable attaches.

Mine still has about 1/2 Lb of safety wire around it. That's after the 1 lb of duct tape failed.

Hey, if it's not broke, fix it better.

Tim


[This message has been edited by racer_tim (edited July 28, 2003).]

[RSTPerformance]

Bill-

Interesting... You learn something new everyday http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif

when we first built our Audi's we took the gas pedal stop (that is screwed onto the floor) out thinking hey who needs that??? a little more gas wont hurt http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif well actually it did it would stretch the cable so far as to pull the gromit out of the firewall causing the entire cable ot then be loose... didn't work so hot http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/frown.gif luckaly we had a parts car (daily driver) at the track!!! we try to have one (parts car/daily driver) at each event http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/smile.gif

Raymond
RST Performance Racing