non-Q, Golf Transmission (long)

[Andrei Talalaevskii <andrei@grad.physics.sunysb.edu>]

Hi All

the post below is exclusively about '86 Golf transmission job. I want to
appologize to those lister who are zealous to keep the list free of
non-quattro topics. Until now I was mostly writing on my 4kq. It's now
time for a Golf job and I know that there are many qlisters who own
and/or know VW's very well or whose general automotive knowledge would
be enough to help me out. I have posted a copy to A2 list but that list
is by far less active than this one. So, I am equally hopeful to get a
helping hand from fellow q-heads. 

Now to the topic. Currently I am in the process of replacing a clutch in
my '86 Golf (non-GTI). The clutch started to slip about a month ago. I
left the engine in and removed the transmission which is now on a bench.
I removed the old clutch and noticed that the disk was badly worn (a car
has 190K).  The flywheel is in good shape, though.

I got the new clutch kit that includes a complete set of parts (even a
bearing and a center tool) just for $90 from www.forparts.com. I noticed
that there were clear traces of oil in the clutch housing. I had no idea
whether this was the engine oil or gear oil and decided to change both
the rear crankshaft seal and the front mainshaft seal. Also, the big
gasket in the transmission (020 301 191 F) is in bad shape. I see the
torn gasket pieces sticking out of there.

I already replaced the crankshaft seal that appeared to be a piece of
cake. To put the new clutch in won't be a problem either.

I got a complete transmission gasket/seal set 020 398 001N  for just $46
from Rick at www.importpartsspec.com and now want to replace as many
seals/gaskets in transmission/differential as an amateur mechanic can
do.

And here is my first question. What "must have" special tools I need to
order/borrow/rent to do this job? As far as I can judge from the book,
VW tool 3042 is a must to separate the rear cover from the main
transmission case. Is that right? Anything else? Any recommendations on
where to buy tools? If you answer soon you would do me a big favor. I
would like to order tools to have them by the weekend.

The large gasket (020 301 191 F) is definitely screaming to be replaced
and it seems to me that the transmission must have to be taken apart
gear by gear to do it.  Am I right (second question)? Would hate to do
it but there seem to be little choice. PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG!

The smaller gasket (at rear housing) is trivial to replace. If driveaxel
seals a are hard to do (opinion wanted!), I could postpone that job
since it can be done later with transmission in the car. But I would
very much like to replace the front mainshaft seals and the big gasket
now while the transmission is on the bench. It took me and my friend
several hours to get it out and will probably take a day to put it in.
Would hate to do it again because was lazy to replace the gasket now.

TIA to all who would respond. Please email or Cc me privately since I am
couple of days backed up at the list.

Thanks again,

Andrei
Golf & 4kq

Appendix on why I decided to do the job myself (just flaming)

Not only to save money although this is of course one of the reasons.
Also, I don't feel a car work is a waist of time and quite enjoy it
especially when I succeed :). Besides, I have good friends around to ask
for help. These of course are important factors.

However, the main reason is that of all my friends who use mechanics,
not a single one avoided the problem of mechanic having the car screwed
up completely (in the worst case) or to some extent once in a while. And
in all cases it was because of a mistake that could have been avoided
easily if more care had been taken.

IMO the problem is not that mechanics are incompetent although some
certainly are and many! The reason is that most of them don't care as
much as a I would care because this is my car, not theirs.

My car has seen a mechanic twice since I got it. At first, when I was
completely ignorant, it could not pass the NYS inspection when I was
registering it because back-up and break light switches were broken. 
The mechanic put some POS switches in and I had to replace them on my
own within a year because they stopped working! The second time I
brought it for alignment after I replaced struts. The yahoos in Pep Boys
charged me 50 bucks, rounded off the nuts on tie-rods and told me that
it could not be alligned! It was quite an undertaking for me to loosen
the rounded off nuts with a vise-grip, WD-40, vise-grip, torch,
vise-grip, WD-40, etc. It must be said for the sake of the truth, that
Pep Boys aligned it for free after I brought it back with the new nuts.
Perhaps I and most people I know simply had bad luck but I do not want
to gamble anymore. I am too attached to cars I drive to risk that they
end up in the hands of someone who would use a pipe wrench on tie-rods.

Please don't get me wrong guys.  I know that there are some honorable
good people who run the repair business on this list.  I was probably
not lucky to get known to a single good Euro car mechanic here, on Long
Island. I would be happy to hear recommendations.