Hello from Thailand, But I still kept her!

[bmouthboyo]

Hi Guys,

Been a while since I was last active on here. Some of you may remember my restoration of my old Autosleeper that had a Golf Mk2 Gti engine. I moved to Thailand with the wife to work as an Expat for a while in July 2013. Almost 2 years gone already!! At the moment it is looking like we will be heading back after another contract so 2 more years, but back each summer so looking to get some more work done on her this July. She is Booked in for a respray as I just don't have the time to Rustolum her and I want to minimise any rust as she is sat covered on my mums drive! (no alternative unfortunately).

I wanted to pick some brains if I could as I only have 3 weeks back:

1) I was thinking about buying 2 X Dynamat Superlight Bulk, is this enough to sound deaden the entire van? Would the Dynamax extreme be better suited or Superlight fine?? If so how many bulk box's would that take?

2) Trickier one. A few years ago the clutch piston leaked and I had to get the camper up my after a drive drive, with no clutch. I managed to get her most of the way home but up the drive it was a first gear start and stall job all the way up with no clutch. When I got up into the garage it was firmly stuck in first gear. Being an idiot and in a foul mood I ended up using my strength to pull the lever out of gear without a working clutch. I remember hearing a distinctive 'Ping' and what sounded like a spring or bolt landing on the floor (engine was off) from what I thought was near the front so gear stick linkage area. After that it always crunches when changing gear, especially if I do not double clutch. The gear stick feels very loose and has a lot of play now.

I am not sure if it is worth replacing the gear stick linkage with with a repair kit like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-CAMPER-T25 ... 2c760c35ef or have I more than likely done damage at the gearbox end? If so any guesses what damage? How to fix?

Hope everyone one is well and looking forward to getting back into this forum when we return form the Land of Smiles in a few years time

Cheers

[Aidan]

boyo

re the gearstick, linkage etc....

I would recommend that you disconnect the linkage at the cup and ball by removing the rear bush plate from the gearbox noting installed position (front of boss) and then having a feel of the free play at the ball, there should be a mm or 2 of back and fro free play at the ball, if there is a lot more then the next obvious place is the splines the metal arm the ball is on and the splines on the selector shaft in the gearbox, is the excess play there ? Is nut loose, is fat washer present ?
If all good then if there is a lot of free play is it free play rotationally in the selector shaft and does that feel smooth or rough and jumpy, with the ball in the neutral position (sttaight down) push/pull the selector shaft in and out of the box, does it slide to and fro pretty smoothly with spring resistance or again is it lurching between the planes feeling like it is catching and freeing. If all of this good then not likely to be gearbox, more likely to be linkage or clutch issue

I'd recommend an oil change on the box anyway if not known history especially if you are laying her up again for a couple of years, then when you do come to use it you know it is a tick; I guess you come back once a year or more ?


You should get in touch with Khoo in Tailand if convenient he is about to do AGG instal in his syncro, see my wanted post (Sump) for Khoo's details you can pm him, there's a couple of 80-90 members there

[bmouthboyo]

Thank you very much Aiden for the detailed reply, unfortunately I will not know many of those answers until I am home in the UK for 3 weeks this summer.

I think the van was orignaly a diesel but has had a Mk1 1.8 Gti DX Engine put in at some point. The gearbox has 4 gears and it doesnt seem to rev too high, can anyone suggest what code it might be?

Lastly if the gearbox is kaput, how much usually is to recon or buy another 2nd working?

Cheers