Club 80-90 Forums

The tricks (if you don't already know) with the relay plate are to release it, theres a pivoting catch on each side, then before you try to remove any plugs, release the sliding latch which run between the two rows. Reach up and unplug absolutely everything you can before pulling the engine-bay harness through from the engine side. Immo is behind the light switch. If you leave the plugs on, it can help you identify what's what, as the CE2 relay plate is highly standardised. Plenty of resources out there, eg.
http://www.a2resource.com/electrical/CE2.html
(Though this is US info most of its the same as EU cars.)

syncroandy wrote:The tricks

... Thanks Andy

Past a point of no return.


Tools of the day - engine crane and those 2 sheets of OSB.

Wish of the day - a garage of my own to work in. Although the weather is ideal the 50 minutes today spent unpacking tools at start of day and putting away at end is a pain.

I use the vehicle being worked on as its own shed, but rely on cctv to protect things

Not much progress today.
Split gearbox and engine. After that managed to tip engine over in its strop cradle and more coolant and oil burped out. An unholy mixture that spread quickly. Took ages to clear up.
Reassessed my lifting kit and went out to buy more lifting strops and shackles.

A one man enviromental disaster! Exxon Valdez all over again!
Patrick all wbx engines have two lifting eyes, all you need is a couple of cheap snap-gate karabiners and a 4 foot loop sling.

Did you remove the plastic bit of the oil filler tube or the whole thing. No amount of tugging on it will budge mine (oo er missus )

Looks like the whole tube will have to be removed.

Best off unbolting it, once the plastic tube has been removed (a hot air gun helps) they never seem to go back the same and you end up with a jubilee clip to clamp it.

Cheers Silverbullet, I thought as much. The Haynes manual implies you just tug on the plastic tube & it pops off. No such luck.

Good tip on the lifting eyes, I have not discovered them on my engine yet as am not quite ready to remove it but am guessing from some pics that they are front and back along the centre line.

Its not called thw Book of Lies for nothing...

Yes, the wbx lifting points are a pair of drilled lugs on the crankcase split line.

Plastic bit of oil filler slipped off, so perhaps it had been previously touched? Left metal part on engine and it didn't get in the way when engine dropped, but I had already removed exhaust and tinware along rear valance so that might have helped with clearance.

With decent lifting kit, back in control now.
Van engine properly drained of oil and parked up under a tarp. It will be for sale at some point.
Gearbox draining. Had to remove bell housing to make it small enough to fit in boot of an MX5! I'm driving it to Aidan's on Wed for input shaft swap and health check.

Make sure the plastic to metal filler tube is well sealed when wading, I think that's what caused the 'mayo' at Salisbury

take the vacuum unit off don't want that getting broken in transit,bring the bellhousing to check it over, protect the oil thrower

Brave man doing it yourself! All looking good so far though

Will do Aidan.

When separating van gearbox from engine I noticed a thick wad of blue sealant between them. I think Andy Mc put that on when he did an earlier like for like engine swap for me. I guess I'll need to put that back on to provide a watertight joint. Any idea what it is and where can I get it from?

Spent rest of day arguing with the Golf for 6 bolts and 6 nuts.
Offside inner CVJ is a pig to get to. There's a black block in the way which once removed gives better access.
The 6 nuts holding the exhaust downpipe to the manifold - grr. Get yourself a 17mm deep socket and a good selection of wobble connectors. With these, the front 3 are relatively easy, while the back 3 are challenging, especially the middle one. In the end used an Irwin bolt grip nut remover on it as with all the wobble connectors I just couldn't get the socket firmly onto the head.
Someone else may have taken an angle grinder to the downpipe and lopped it off, but I'm working on my own and don't feel safe with rotating power tools, upside down in a confined space.

Tool of the day - Halfords 5 minutes drive away for the one thing I didn't have. Tools of the day - well, they work there! More interested in gossiping and polishing bike frames than serving me.