This weekend was a big one! I hope you guys like photos...
Finally pulled the engine. Was hoping I'd have help but all my mates were busy
So I thought drokk it, got out the beers and got busy
Clearance was a dancer in the engine bay, probably because I didn't want to take the ancillaries off. Probably should have done in hindsight, as I've bent 2 of the ALB hard lines... I' either going to have to buy or make some replacements before I'm back on the road
The auxiliary belts had a tough time of it too, but they look pretty jobby anyway so will be replaced before the car goes back on the road.
Out she comes
Gold top goodness
Plenty of room in the bay now. I've started cleaning, but the grime was too thick for my car shampoo/water mix, so I'm going to get something a bit stronger, and clean the whole thing down before the engine goes back in. Might as well make the most of the engine being out after all!
Now the engine is out I just pull the starter motor away...
and then separate the gearbox from the engine. This was a muffin to get off, it was clinging on to the engine for it's life but I got there in the end
Here's the old clutch pressure plate, clutch and flywheel. I used a crow bar to hold the flywheel whilst I undid the pressure plate bolts, ideally I'd have used a ring gear holder but needs must!
And here's the old clutch. As you can see it's completely drokked, no wonder the car wouldn't move. Check out the difference between the old and new clutch in the 3rd pic!
Gave everything a clean with brake cleaner, then started reassembling. In goes the clutch assembly, aided by the alignment tool. I found that you had to tighten the pressure plate to the point where you could barely move the clutch in order for the alignment tool to work, any looser any it let the clutch drop as you tightened the pressure plate.
Next up it was time to break out some parking skills and get the Golf as close to the garage wall as possible in order that I had more room to work indoors. I took a photo as I was pleased with how close I got without touching the wall, using no mirrors!
After all that, it was time to do some gearbox related stuff in the comfort of my garage. Here's the old clutch release bearing, as you can see it was a bit past it. Rotating the bearing it seemed that it was 'dry', so was definitely up for replacement.
So out came the bolt from the release fork, then I pulled out the release shaft. This was tedious, as it was stuck fast, even using leverage it took a lot to get the thing moving. As more of it came out it got better though, and eventually (after a lot of swearing) it was out.
After that all came out, I got a brass wire brush and had a quick clean up. I've probably inhaled/consumed unhealthy amounts of clutch dust as a result of this
I'd recommend a mask if anyone else does this!
Hopefully my girlfriend won't notice I used the hoover to suck the dirt out the clutch housing
Then I put the new release bearing/fork combo together, and greased it up with some molybdenum grease. Had to be careful not to leave any excess as apparently it can fly off all over the shop when the car is running - not good news inside the clutch housing.
After that I just slipped it over the main shaft, which I pre-applied a thin film of grease too, again being careful to wipe up any excess once the release bearing was on. Then in went the release shaft, much smoother this time with fresh grease on it. Then I stood back and admired my work
Didn't admire it for long though, as I then had to nip outside and put the gearbox back on the engine. It was a ball ache doing it alone, but fortunately the clutch was aligned ok so once I got it lined up everything just slipped together
I did up the bolts, and all was well bar one which just spins without actually engaging a thread
So close, but so far! At any rate, by this time Laura had made me a nice risotto, so I've chucked a tarp over the engine and left it be for now. I'm going to have to figure out what to do about that bolt, then it's just a matter of servicing the car and getting the engine back in, and then I can forget about doing any work on this car for a bit.
All in all I'm pleased with the progress I made this weekend though!
tonight I decided to tackle a job that needs doing before the MOT, which is replacing a CV boot. Whilst nosing around under the car previously, I spied that the offside outer boot was completely severed, so seeing as the driveshafts are now out the car it's ideal timing to sort it. I've chosen to use universal stretch boots - whether they'll last we'll have to see, but at a 10th of the cost of boots from Honda I thought why not! No need to take the CV joint apart either, which is a result in my book 
