New Owner, 70' Fasty

[wdollie6]

A long time no post. A month or so ago my Chinese made throw out bearing went kaput after 450 miles, amazing! Kknew it was coming, and to be fair when Colin told me it would get me through the fall he was right. The good news is that as soon as I heard the cruel noise I immediately stopped, got a ride home and grabbed my truck and tow dolly and brought the Fasty home. Unfortunately smacked the lower part of the front apron and yeah, some more body work to do...

The damage to the throw out bearing was complete, see picture below. It was locked solid and several pieces of it and the remains of the spring clips were in the bottom of the housing. Apparently the circ-clip on the shaft had popped out of its slot and the entire shaft had slid towards the drivers side. As I looked at it closer it appears that at some point that the bores for the bushings had been over-sized, when I originally replaced the throw out bearing everything else had looked okay. The smaller bushing was completely worn out and was much shorter, with a larger ID (see picture comparing to kit bushing). Had to shorten an easy out to pull it out of the bore. The drivers side bushing was also over-sized and has a very thin outer layer over the main bronze bushing (see pictures).

I ended up reclaiming the large bushing and after polishing and cleaning up it fit snugly but slid into place. The smaller bushing was completely shot so I ended up ordering custom bushings, 14mmx18mmx 20mm od , should have them (had to order four) in a few days. Believe it or not there is a company in MI, BronzeBushings.com that I was very impressed with regards to product and service provided, when I had a problem ordering from the website they provided outstanding support.

Hopefully the pictures will provide a better understanding.

Clucth shaft bushing and tool.jpg (2.31 MiB) Viewed 3862 times

Clutch shaft bushing size.jpg (2.04 MiB) Viewed 3862 times

Clutch Shaft bushing length.jpg (1.81 MiB) Viewed 3862 times

Clutch shaft bushing wear.jpg (2.42 MiB) Viewed 3862 times

outer clutch shaft bushing .jpg (1.44 MiB) Viewed 3862 times

throw out bearing trash.jpg (2.52 MiB) Viewed 3862 times

[wdollie6]

Forgot some pictures of the large bushing and throw-out bearing comparison.

[wdollie6]

A quick update, reassembled the new and old parts and pieces of the clutch shaft assembly and found that every time I tried to move the spring over the clutch cable lever, the new c-clips would pop lose, strange. There is no slop between the shaft and the bushings so that wasn't an issue. Either the new clips are not made well or the grooves are worn to the point of no return. I cleaned and filed the grooves slightly to improve the seating surface and installed E-clips, which seemed to work fine. I tapped and turned and tried everything I could do to get them to pop loose, couldn't do it. We'll see how long they stay in position under use.

The engine/tran is now reinstalled, unfortunately because of the snowy weather in Delhi could only test it going back and forth in the garage. Great news it feels like a VW clutch again, smooth with no grabbing or vibration. While the garage isn't the best test it is a good indicator, maybe when the sun comes back out in upstate NY I'll complete an actual road test.

After an oil change (nothing remarkable in the oil but only had a few hundred miles on it), and valve adjustment (none required) I verified that the fuel pump pressure was correct, it wasn't, stayed at 25 psi after multiple flips of the switch. Adjusted to 28 psi, hit the throttle once and the car came to life, wow, nice. I'll have to keep my eye on the pressure as it seems to be moving in both directions.

I also have decided to pull the seats and re-pad the bases as the original horse hair doesn't provide a lot of support, especially with 280 lbs of load.

Apologize for the lack of pictures.

[wdollie6]

Also, forgot to mention, I did pull the nose cone off the transmission,everything looked great other than the globs of sealant (?) that had run into the various working areas (the picture below is after initial glob removal). I cleaned this up, replace the nose cone bushings and front seal and with a new gasket and another thorough cleaning put everything back together. I added the case numbers just for information, assume they are original to the car, but who knows.

As I mentioned in an earlier post the shifting now works as I am accustomed to in a VW, gears easy to find and smooth. Hope to be able to test it on the road soon.

[Amskeptic]

Hey Wayne. All that, and I still did not get a definitive notion of what exactly failed/ caused failure.
Did the loose cross fork annoy the release bearing? Did a circlip pop, allow the release bearing to shift, annoy the cross fork? Is the crossfork not re-inforced at the forks that push the release bearing?

The transaxle nose cone bearings looked contaminated in your pictures, sawdust? They also looked weirdly dry. When I did all three of my buses, they were shiny with wet oil glistening on all the parts.

You have things to look forward to in the spring. So do I.

[wdollie6]

The circlip apparently popped allowing the shaft/forks to slide and shift to the left. The circlip that I used when I first reassembled everything was in the rebuild kit that I partially utilized. Clearly it was not of great quality. All that being said the assembler (me) didn't pay enough attention to all things clutch related as the passenger side shaft bushing must have already been worn (couldn't have done that in less than a thousand miles of use) and obviously not the correct one for the Fastback. That being said both bushings were oversized as compared to the standard replacement bushings, not sure why.

Also note that the "sawdust" you see was some type of stringy, dusty adhesive. It cleaned up easily, I replaced with the proper paper gasket and a light kiss of gasket sealer and reinstalled. On the first go around with the transaxle I had drained the lubricant and did not see anything that was concerning, no metal shavings or debris at all. Refilled with new and all is good. Not sure why they look dry in the picture. I am looking forward to spring in NY to get the Fasty out and actually drive it without the throw-out bearing noise, might bring it to FL, not sure yet.

Are you out and about or in FL?

[Amskeptic]

The circlip apparently popped allowing the shaft/forks to slide and shift to the left. The circlip that I used when I first reassembled everything was in the rebuild kit that I partially utilized. Clearly it was not of great quality. All that being said the assembler (me) didn't pay enough attention to all things clutch related as the passenger side shaft bushing must have already been worn (couldn't have done that in less than a thousand miles of use) and obviously not the correct one for the Fastback. That being said both bushings were oversized as compared to the standard replacement bushings, not sure why.

Also note that the "sawdust" you see was some type of stringy, dusty adhesive. It cleaned up easily, I replaced with the proper paper gasket and a light kiss of gasket sealer and reinstalled. On the first go around with the transaxle I had drained the lubricant and did not see anything that was concerning, no metal shavings or debris at all. Refilled with new and all is good. Not sure why they look dry in the picture. I am looking forward to spring in NY to get the Fasty out and actually drive it without the throw-out bearing noise, might bring it to FL, not sure yet.

Are you out and about or in FL?

Enjoy that Fastback and Beetle and Westy when the weather permits ... I am out and about in northern Florida with temps hovering at freezing at night and barely hitting 50 in the day. Am due back in Miami forthwith.
Colin

[wdollie6]

Two days ago I found myself in need of garage space to pull off a slow-leak tire on my truck. To do this the Fasty had to be moved out into the cold, single digit weather for a few minutes (which turned out to be a few hours). I was in panic mode because I had this feeling that I would have problems restarting in the cold weather as this VW had never operated below 55 deg F.

I put the charger on it, waited until it was fully charged and started it, fired up with no problem in the 60 deg garage. Now for the real test would it start after soaking in the cold outdoors. Not to worry, fired right up, I think it started easier than when sitting inside. In both situations one turn of the key, plus two more to ensure the fuel pump was doing its job, and I was motoring.

I was really tempted to take it on a longer spin but with snow covered, graveled roads didn't want to take the chance. The other good news was that the shifting was outstanding, no growling noises, smooth and all gears were easy to find. I am so looking forward to the spring.

Also I still need a replacement nose, I hate seeing the poor fit up of the front components.

[Amskeptic]

Two days ago I found myself in need of garage space to pull off a slow-leak tire on my truck. To do this the Fasty had to be moved out into the cold, single digit weather for a few minutes (which turned out to be a few hours). I was in panic mode because I had this feeling that I would have problems restarting in the cold weather as this VW had never operated below 55 deg F.

I put the charger on it, waited until it was fully charged and started it, fired up with no problem in the 60 deg garage. Now for the real test would it start after soaking in the cold outdoors. Not to worry, fired right up, I think it started easier than when sitting inside. In both situations one turn of the key, plus two more to ensure the fuel pump was doing its job, and I was motoring.

I was really tempted to take it on a longer spin but with snow covered, graveled roads didn't want to take the chance. The other good news was that the shifting was outstanding, no growling noises, smooth and all gears were easy to find. I am so looking forward to the spring.

Also I still need a replacement nose, I hate seeing the poor fit up of the front components.

D-Jet has always been a trouper in the fierce cold. So much so, that when it does not catch for any reason, your biggest problem is too much fuel on the re-start.

It is good to be tempted to drive it. I hope you find a nice new nose. We'll call it Debra Winger.
Colin

[wdollie6]

Completed on even better test this past week when the Fasty sat outside of most of the week. Lows in the single digits, highs in the teens. Once my new maple syrup arch was out of the way went out and attempted to start around 10 deg. F, after activating the fuel pump three times, fired up, no accelerator needed. The only concern is a lot of smoke, not sure if it was un-burned fuel, as I didn't let it run for long. Hoping it isn't something more serious but I suppose we'll know in the spring. If only Punxsutawney Phil hadn't extended winter. Again, may trailer it down to FL, or drive it (dare I say) and leave it down there.