Same color as my 85, good looking car. Good luck with it :) I love mine and drive it everyday.

Nice work, especially with your 17 month old helper! How bad of a job is replacing the hatch struts? I'm holding mine up with a stick while I address the more important issues, like patching the floor pan so my a$$ doesn't spark off the ground going down the road... Once I can drive it without pretending I'm Fred Flintstone, that hatch replace is tops on the list.

Hatch struts are a little tedious but patience and some guidance through searches helped me. I bought the correct 8mm triple square from autozone to remove the bolt holding the one end of the strut. Basically you remove the rear plastic speaker cover/light housing. Thats the first challenge so you have to be careful with old plastic. But undo the screws, pop the light out, and slide it back an inch to release the top 2 catches. Then pull the sides out from the rubber window moldings. Gives you access to the triple square (12pt) bolt through a little hole in the headliner. I thought removing the speaker would give me access to the back but there is just the roof frame so leave speakers in place. My bolts where tight but not hard to release. Then you go to where the strut connects to the tailgate hinge. I pulled the little clip off the end of the pin with needle nose pliers, then used a phillips head and a hammer to drive the pin out (the pin has a divit in the end to drive it out). Now I was stuck trying to figure out how the heck the actual strut comes out????? Its tight. You have to open the hatch further then you think it can go. I released the pin on both struts then pushed up slowly with the top of my head (get a helper!) to open the hatch as tall as it can go. Then the strut can be pulled out towards the middle of the car when your looking at the opening. Install reversing the steps and you good to go. You'll be frustrated at points but take your time. If you can weld a floor so your not flintsoning it then you can handle struts.

Broken air cleaner mount: To prevent your new mount from breaking, fashion a rubber bumper to mount between the valve cover and the air cleaner housing, so that the rubber is just tight. This makes the air cleaner housing move with the engine, and reduces stress on the mount. Also helps to have a really smooth idle and new engine mounts (all three).

So a rubber hose or something squashed between the air cleaner housing and the valve cover? I can do.

I have motor mounts on my summer list! It is not violent but Im sure they need to be done.

My next two projects are front brakes and brake flush, then oil leak track down. I believe its coming from the back of the valve cover. I put a new VC gasket in my last order of parts. I'll search for a little how to on the VC.

I use a rubber shock washer, it works perfect.....Rich

Thanks! That doesn't sound too bad, especially since I have a couple teenagers who aren't yet jaded on the idea of helping...wonder if making them stand there with a hatch on their heads will change that? :D

Ok, before I really start driving I want to knock out the somewhat major oil leak. Its enough that it drops a 2-4" spot pretty quick after parking. My first quess is back passenger side of the valve cover. There was a layer of grunge/oil/sludge starting there and coating the entire rear and passenger side of the engine block. It is thick and wet with oil sludge. I put cardboard down and it appears to be dripping from that region, its definitely engine oil.

Here is a pic of the area even though you cant see into the block:

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps814vohri.png

Is there anything else over there that could cause that?

I went ahead and changed the valve cover gasket... Nothing as easy as it looks.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psnabsyw4t.png

I managed to mess up the linkage....

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psmig0myri.png

I'll have to review my other photos to see what I did. Initially everything looked ok??? It moves a little but not much. I undid 4 ball joints, bowden cable? IP joint, and the 2 balls on top. Maybe I mixed up the 2 on top?

Also did the little return lines in between injectors, the old ones turned to dust as I pulled them off. They weren't wet at all though.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psh4ayextr.png

Anyway, I tried as best I could to spray some degreaser on the back passenger side of the engine block to start removing the sludge. I didnt start it up since I messed up the linkage somehow. Hopefully we will be dry.. when I get it running.

Hopefully I'll figure out the linkage tomorrow night and be ready to drive a little this weekend. I had to button up before reviewing the linkage to much, a pop up storm just rolled through. I cant see how I could have messed up the 4 linkages though. Maybe I damaged the main rod coming from the firewall rotating the other way to get the valve cover on?

Before pics are a good idea, certainly.

Hope some of the attachments help.

Thanks for those pics and pdf. I do have some before pics and video so I'll have to compare when I get home from work. So lots to compare now. I want to do some driving. I have a nice drive to do saturday. Im hoping I get this figured out and get to do a little valve cover leak check tonight. If not we'll have to take my wifes CRV. Where is the fun in that!

Fixed. Bowden cable on wrong ball. See pic. Also, suggestions for tightening up linkage. I noticed my IP rod still has 3-5mm till full depress. Should I adjust the main acc shafts bolt I have circled first?

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psxvtm15pe.png

Put some time in trying to clean the bottom of the engine. Need to track down the oil drips Im getting. I dont like marking my spot that much. I made a little error when I put the oil filter housing cover back on, I let a zip tie get under when tightening down. That had me trying to figure out why the heck the housing was leaking..... oh ya, look at that zip tie that snuck its way under on the back side. Anyway. Now Im trying to find out if I have residual drips from that spillage or if the housing to block gasket is going. After replacement, the Valve cover gasket appears to be dry all around.

Took the wheel off to get some better under car access and saw I have Ate front calipers so new rotors/pads on order for the front and rear. New front shocks on order while I was at it. The ones installed look like originals and feel like it to.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...pscnrbirgt.jpg

I would look into replacing your calipers too....that rust on the rotors, looks horrible and doesn't look like the pad is being applied evenly...

I would look into replacing your calipers too....that rust on the rotors, looks horrible and doesn't look like the pad is being applied evenly...

I'll monitor the new pads/rotors/brake feel. I went ahead and replaced everything this weekend. I had a big order from here come in. I went with the Ate rotors, MB pads, Emergency brake kit, Ate fluid, Bilstein front shocks.

Did the shocks first. Very easy. If you think you need them. Just do it. Only takes a few minutes per side. I did hit everything with penetrating oil the day before to make sure it would be easy. Just took a quick look at the DIY

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psi2ql1bwf.jpg

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psdvecvuzn.jpg

Did the front rotors/pads next. Not to bad of a job. Once again previewed some DIY's and took my time.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psvoum2n3t.jpg

Then did the rear rotor/pad/emergency brake shoes.... I've owned old VW's before so I've done shoes before and had a basic understanding of the springs and the shoe holder springs. I went and just used a flathead screw driver and pushed and twisted to remove and install the holder springs. Was frustrating but got it done. I'm sure the MB tool or cutting the groove in the screwdriver head would make things easier but I got it done with only a few choice words shouted out. Again, DIY's on the rotors and pads always help me see things first.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...psfcwug7mk.png

So, I buttoned it all up late Sunday night and haven't had the chance to give it a good test run yet (just a few back and forths in the driveway). My wife reluctantly helped me bleed the brakes and the pedal firmed up. She loved my old MB but is a little slow to come around on this one. I went to give it a good drive last night and the weak battery finally gave out. So a few hours on the charger and I'll give it another shot tonight or tomorrow. All in all if I had to do it again it would be much easier.

Did some more work this weekend. Went to take my first glorious test drive and test out these brakes I spent many greasy hours replacing..... and the battery was dead. To many quick test starts and not enough driving. So first order of business was to let it have a long overnight charge on the lowest charge setting.

Next morning took a nice drive, even had the wife drive it for a little and it ran (and stopped) great. I then went to take a quick trip to Lowes and there was a clicking from the driver side rear wheel. Luckily the Lowes is only a mile from me. I jacked it up and pulled the wheel when I got home. I could hear/feel the clicking as I turned the rotor. Pulled the caliper and rotor and I saw that I didn't get the emergency brake linkage on the shoe correctly. Fixed.

Next was the cluster lights. I did quite a bit of reading about the rheostat and other causes. I also read a bunch on cleaning and replacing bulbs. I was prepared to do it all. Went to pull the cluster and could not get it to budge more then 1". I pushed from behind and it just wouldn't go. Followed the speedometer cable and it wasn't held down with anything, just seemed to short to move?? After some frustrating moments from what I thought was going to be a quick project, I pushed it back in and went to plan B (which should have been plan A. I read that sometimes the rheostat can be hung up and moving it slowly back and forth could release it to work...... well, it worked! Dash, HVAC, and console lights all work.

Next issue, put the lower interior panel. Noticed an old alarm under the dash. I pushed it a little to get the panel back on and must have tripped it. The LED for it lit up and I heard a relay click. No sound, the siren was removed. Tried to start it.... no start. I remembered a little slip of half ripped paper in the glove box. Partial instructions for the unit. Just enough of a schematic to see what I needed to bypass. I pulled the (from key) wire and the (to starter) wire. Made a blade connector up with a thick gauge wire. Hooked them together and was back to starting. I think I found the no start fault the PO was telling me about.

Put it all back together took my little guy for a nice ride and all is good so far.

Plan on putting in some time detailing it this weekend. I wanted to make sure it was running nicely before I put time into detailing. A good wash/polish/wax should bring it back nicely. The paint has some shine so it shouldn't need to much elbow grease. Hit the carpet with the Bissell Green machine should do wonders for the interior.

I'll take pics soon.