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THE TOOLS. |
A FOREWORD. |
Tools Needed:
- Jack stands/floor jack
- Stock scissors jack included in emergency kit
in trunk
- a socket wrench
- 16mm socket
- 14mm socket
- Torque wrench
- 8mm allen wrench (VFE only) (socket is better)
- 7mm allen wrench (VFE only) (socket is better)
- Block of wood or a lot of cardboard
- Replacement stretch bolts if you are
reinstalling the old mount.
Front mount-to-tranny bolt - N10246603 (need 1)
Rear mount-to-tranny bolt - N90597001 (need 1)
Mount-to-subframe bolts - N10268302 (need 2)
- Replacement bushings (inner and outer) if you
are reinstalling the old mount.
- Optional: Breaker bar for any tight bolts,
just in case. Not necessary however. |
The pendulum mount in the MK4 chassis serves to
dampen the axial movement of the engine. The
mount itself is not really a load bearing member
(there are two other mounts that bear the
weight). It serves only to cancel movement of
the motor. There is actually a lot of movement
it has to cancel, and especially with the VR6 powerplant, this can become squishy and lead to
all sorts of bad things, in the worst case a
cracked exhaust manifold or downpipe. |
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STEP 1. |
STEP 2. |
Jack the car up. I like to use the method
espoused by VgRt6 where the stands are placed at
the stiff section of the frame rail near where
it bends up to the subframe. Once up, lube up
the four stock stretch bolts with penetrating
lube and let sit. If there is a lot of transaxle
gunk then the bolts might be a pain to get off. |
Take
the floor jack, and a big wad of cardboard or a
block of wood, and place just a slight amount of
force against the back of the transaxle housing
just behind the drain plug. Since you have the
front of the car jacked up, the engine will want
to roll axially with the head moving towards the
back of the car. This prevents that. Now, start
removing things starting with the two bolts
attaching the mount to the subframe. Next, do
the forward-most bolt on the transaxle, and
finish with the large center bolt that attaches
to the transaxle.
SUB STEP :
You may have just had a "Oh No" moment. For me,
the motor began to actually move backwards,
about 3/4 of an inch. Relax. Go to the trunk and
retrieve the scissors jack and place between the
front sway bar and the top of the oil pan. Be
VERY CAREFUL applying force. For now, just get
it on there and do not worry about moving it
back. Note that there is a "special" VAG tool
for this that does the exact same friggin thing
(VW 3300 A). |
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STEP 3. |
STEP 4. |
Take
the new or refurbished mount and attach to the
subframe, but only get the bolts started at this
point. Check the position of the center
(longest) bolt hole in relationship to where it
attaches on the transaxle. You will probably
have to adjust the scissors jack and the floor
jack to get this to align perfectly, but do this
in small increments and carefully. Just concern
yourself with getting the long bolt started. Be
careful as the transaxle is cast aluminium, and
cross threading is easy. One trick if you are
having trouble is to "back thread": lay the bolt
against the hole and press very lightly while
turning backwards until the bolt "drops" down,
at which point you start turning forwards. Last,
start the front most bolt. |
Tighten the bolts starting with the transaxle
first. Do not torque anything quite yet. Start
with the forward transaxle bolt (blue arrow),
then the center transaxle bolt (red arrow).
Finish with the yellow and green bolts that
attach to the subframe. |
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STEP 5. |
STEP 6. |
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Remove the jacks (remember that this is not a
load bearing device per se so we can torque last
with no ill effect). Now, break out the torque
wrench and tighten to spec. The VFE unit has
15lb/ft for the subframe, and 30lb/ft for the
transaxle. Stock according to Bentley is the
same, except with the stretch bolts you have to
give them an extra 90 degree (1/4 turn). |
Check your work and enjoy a beer. Note
that in this picture, the VFE Unit rear bolt end
is poking down. I think I installed it backwards
as it seems to be almost the lowest point in the
center of the car now. Note: don't do what I
did. |
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INITIAL OPINION. |
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With
the first start it felt like the motor was
welded to the chassis. After a 40 mile commute,
it softened a bit but is not "soft" at all. At
idle there is a definite rattling vibration that
will shake anything that is not firmly attached
to something (change, tapes, your flimsy
glovebox, etc). But, above 1000 RPMs the
vibration is gone, replaced by a growl when
accelerating or engine braking. All negative
characteristics due to this mount that my car
has before are gone: throttle lag, jerking on
sudden stops, sloppy high speed shifts, sloppy
downshifts. It also seems to handle high speed
bumps better, and in general feels more firm in
the front end. One bad characteristic, which is
probably due to old worn main mounts, is that
high speed lane changes seem to need a lot of
fight. I might be on crack with this one, but
that was my opinion. One technical note, the OEM
mount controls movement axially (up and down in
this case) and also along the axis (left to
right). This unit only controls the axial
movement. I am not sure if this is where I get
the feeling of "fight" in lane changes. |
VW TECH BY: Daris Drake |
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