Part 8 - The Big Swap

   After weeks of false starts, bad weather and general laziness, I finally took the big leap with Project Hole-In-One and started The Big Swap, which involved transplanting the suspension and brakes from my long in the tooth '85 Jetta to the new car.  Driving the Jetta since 1993 has given me the opportunity to do many upgrades to it, including a 4-wheel disc brake conversion featuring Corrado G60 11" front rotors, and a New Dimensions suspension kit utilizing Boge Turbogas struts and Neuspeed springs.

Past the point of no return...

   Work started around 10 am on Saturday morning, as the back end of both cars were put on stands to swap over their rear beams.  This part of the task was the knuckle-buster of the day.   The brake lines on the Golf were rather corroded, and every attempt to brake fitting free resulted in broken hard lines, stripped fittings, or other minor disasters.   Fortunately, the corresponding parts on the Jetta were in much better shape, and eventually all of the hard lines were harvested as part of the parts transfer.

Almost halfway there...

   While putting the rear suspension back together, a rot hole was discovered in the driver's side rear fender well.   Fortunately, the rot appears to be isolated, and easily repairable.  After some considerable tugging and dragging, the Jetta's beam bolted into the rear of the Golf, and following the instructions in my Bentley manual, the proper pre-load was put into the rear beam bushing.  One of the critical pieces that was brought over, and that will allow the brakes to work, is the variable proportioning valve.  When I originally upgraded the suspension on the Jetta, I made sure to replace this unit.  This single component and its recent installation made disassembly of the hard lines in the Jetta possible.  Had they been rusted up like the Golf's lines, Project Hole-In-One would be spending the Winter in the driveway.

Just ignore that hole.

Mmm...shiny...

  After buttoning up the rear suspension, and with the sun setting, I went after the front corners.  By this time, the donor Jetta was completely up on jack stands.  This little issue made air tools worth their weight in gold, and after a quick trip to Home Depot for an impact gun, I went at it.  The front suspension actually went much quicker than the back, since  it could be done one side at a time.   With some assistance from my camera operator and my young nephew, the front end on the Jetta came apart quickly.

   Since I was taking apart the front suspension anyway, I decided to take an extra step and upgrade to VR6 strut bearings.  The swap was actually much easier than I though it would be.  Since the Neuspeed springs have a much shorter installed height, I didn't even need a spring compressor.

   By this point, you're probably noticing that the parts I'm installing are almost as grimy as the parts I'm replacing.  There's a very good reason for that.   During its life with me, my Jetta and I had a lot of adventures; including some Rallycross and lapping days, not to mention a couple New England winters after the upgrade.  Once I get the brake lines installed and everything nice and bled, I'll douse the whole suspension with some Simple Green or engine degreaser and give it the old hose job.  That should brighten up things.  The rust on the rotors will go away as soon as I get the car back on the road.

  As quick as you can say, "Dang Jim, you sure got dirty doing The Big Swap!" I buttoned up newly suspended Golf, bolted on some wheels and put her back on the ground.  There were actually a couple key parts that were left on the Jetta, mainly the control arms and their urethane bushings.  The bushings still look like new, and while I never heard them squeak, I did notice some bad tire wear from an alignment problem.  This is my fault, as I neglected to reinstall the bushing inserts inside the metal sleeve of the urethane bushing.  This allowed the control arms to move around over time and trash the front tire something awful.  Before the car sees the road, I'm going to order up a set of Dunlop SP9000s for the steel wheels that will eventually grace this car.

Sizable difference between the stock Golf brakes (l.) and the Corrado brakes (r.)

   I think the results speak for themselves.  When the car finally hits the road, it will handle and stop better than most cars, it lowered without looking lowered, and most importantly the look is low-key; perfect for a daily driver.

    I went back Sunday to pull the 22mm master cylinder and the hard lines from the Jetta.  Next week those parts will go into the Golf, along with several under hood items.  Specifically, I'm swapping over the alternator, radiator, and all of the under hood air conditioning components into the Golf.  Depending on time and weather, I might replace the cylinder head and install the Techtonics exhaust system.   If I can get all of this done, the car will run one week from now.  Keep following Project Hole-In-One as the mechanical phase is completed and the cosmetic phase begins.

Honest, they're safety sandals!

After

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