[Vwdiesel] a v-dub kind of day!

[dennis pantazis]

greetings all:

i FINALLY got the car in the garage and got to working on it. p/o or p/o's
wrench was BAD, not that i am that good, but at least i know to use metric
fasteners where required... alternator had a 1/4-20 TOGGLE bolt and toggle
holding it at the front. bit and peices... it appears that the head/engine
has defenitely been apart before, the timing belt cover was mangled, white
and yellow paint marks 180 apart on the the cam gear.

loren: thanks for the tip of baum tools. http://baumtools.com/  i ordered a
few goodies, notably the valve bucket tool $45 and the eccentric adjuster
wrench. when offered brand choice, i asked for the house brand and got
stahlwilles. cool!

timing belt was breeze! it was only after i got the new one on that i
figured out why the outside corners of the old belt was rounded over: the
pulley that drives the intermediate shaft pulley had its flanges chewed
up/broken off. off to the parts place tommorow....is this pulley the same as
on the gassers?

pulling the rf tire was also a great help. thanks to whoever pinted that
out.

oil leaks/oil pan: po or some other meat head  did not install the two bolts
from the oil pan to the block at trans end, the one that are hidden up
there. oil pan had a DENT that actually creased and cracked the oil pan.
thanks to those who tipped me of to the parts place in michigan. they sent
me a used oil pan cheap.

questions:

1. on gasket adhesive: what do folks use to adhere the gasket to the mating
surfaces. specifically the oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket. i got
factory gaskets. i have in the past used rtv and glued the gasket one side
(pan or cover) it dry overnight. bentley book doesn;t say anything on this
???? advice please?

2. a/c compressor brackets: this one has me confused pretty good. when under
the car and looking UP at the water pump and bottom of the a/c compressor, i
see what looks like the yoke to the a/c condenser braket and its ears split
around another piece off the engine (??). yoke has two holes and braket has
one hole through it. it looks like they should be together, but the two are
displaced i would say about 3/4-1". there holes look like they want to line
up.

looking down from at the compressor, there appears to be 2 bolts on the rear
of the compressor, one next to the engine, and one near the alternator. the
alternator one has a broken flange on the compressor. there appears to be
yet another bolt at on the pulley side of the compressor inline to the one
on the back next to the engine.

should the yoke/braket on the bottom be connected?

where in the fs*$%^& are the adjusters for the a/c compressor? bentley just
says that there is a tensioning bolt, no picture ???? i found the one for
the alternator, but where is the one for the a/c?

3. door latch. the right rear door has the handle broken off. i got a used
handle assembly from the pick and pull. problem is i can not get the door
open to pull the screws to change the handle. i cannot release it from the
inside. it almost feels like its sprung somehow. any thoughts/advise?

thanks again for all your help. i look forward to your replies.

dennis