Todays Suspension upgrade courtesy of E-Bay and Fiddly bits.

[Peter Jones]

Now the sway bar.

Not too many dramas here. The fuel line had to be shifted around a bit to clear the brackets. Drilling the holes in the arms wasnt too bad. Still seems like a funny way to mount a sway bar. It's a bit close to the exhaust and when I started it up later on it's knocking against it. That can be tomorrows job. Yes I know there's a lot more cleaning to do under there! Those bushes didn't look too healthy either, will add some to the shopping list!

[Jarred]

looks good pete

[Oneofthegreats]

That's one of the draw back's with front sway bar's.

You need a GTI down pipe as they are shaped to go over the bar, or get your original pipe reshaped. Even reshaped it can still hit with hard acceleration & race/snap change's.

The ABD one's have a bend in the centre to help with this, but they can hang down very low to the ground.

I also found with the front bar fitted that it can be alittle noisey in the bushes.

[Peter Jones]

Now the paint is dry I can re-assemble the struts.

Too bad no-one added oil in the last rebuild, it would have stopped them from rusting! In case you're wondering why the oil? It assists heat transfer from the insert to the strut and thereby increases the life of the insert. (Hopefully it will also prevent rust!)



Tighten up the new cap.


All together now. The top bearings were OK but dry, so I flushed them out and regreased them.



Ready to install.

[Peter Jones]

Installed!






The back's still a bit high, but it should settle down after a few 100km. I haven't had a chance to drive it much yet. I'll have to book it in for a wheel alignment now. I didn't bother marking the camber bolts because the camber was stuffed (way positive) anyway. I'll have a search back over the forum for the best suspension settings.

Hope you find the pictures useful, I don't often get the time to write my little projects up in this detail.

Brakes next!

Pete

[Oneofthegreats]

A good setting for a street driven mk1 is standard toe setting & around 0.8-1 degree of negative camber.

Good turn in & not harse on the tyre's. I've set all of my mk1's like this & have never had any problem's.

I've got to say that, I don't think the back will settle as much as you think. From all of my spring's & spring's I've fitted to all sort's of cars it's normally about 15mm.

Excellent write up too!!

[Peter Jones]

Yeah, I'm not sure about the ride height. My other golf has the same shocks and springs and it's sitting level.

The springs are King springs - 30mm lowered but these are from a new batch using a different steel (according to the packaging.)

The front seems to be a bit lower than the other golf too.

I'll just wait and see how it goes for now.

What is the standard toe in for a golf BTW?

Pete

[Jarred]

nice little write up pete. This will come in handy the next time I put new suspension in! haha.

I will be insterested to see how you go fitting the new booster and rear brakes.

[gldgti]

standard toe setting is a teeny bit of toe out. just barely a little.

[Peter Jones]

Figured out the rear ride height. I'd reused the lower spring seats from the old shocks and installed the the same way they were installed on the original shocks - Upside down!

I'm not sure why they were upside down on the originals, the front always rode very high, perhaps the back had sagged and this was a cheap way to raise the back to match?

I realised when I discovered new spring seats in the bottom of the boxes that the shocks came in. A silly mistake, but easily fixed.

Here's a shot of the difference. Correct on the left and upside down on the right.





And a shot of the car with the shocks fixed up.

[ontarv]

looks much bettera
must drive like a new car
ride hight looks good too