Finally some time to share my discoveries about my lovely car. All started at the entrance to the Broadmead multi storey when the clutch bearing gave up the ghost. The noise could be heard inside the shopping centre I was reliably informed.

As it turned out the clutch (original) was in great condition at 113k. Flywheel had negligible play. So ridiculous to have to perform major surgery to change a bearing, but that's life I suppose.

One thing lead to another, and in the last 7 weeks I have replaced the clutch (DMF was fine), the drop links, the anti roll bar bushes, the lower control arms, the rear window regulator (manual), a front strut, a headlight cluster, the complete rear brakes system and one rear bump stop.

I'll start with my thoughts on the clutch, which took 25 hours my wife tells me. My record for changing a Beetle clutch was 27 minutes, so I was optimistic to say the least before starting. The "notes for novices" were excellent, and the time consumption was mainly down to my trying to ignore the advice in the notes, plus the usual rusty bolts and nuts you get at 113k. Had to drill out one of the bell housing bolts completely and replace it with a longer one and a nut.

One thing I did discover was that I did not need to remove the sub-frame. In fact leaving it in situ was positively helpful. I only found out on reassembly. I started off with the gearbox rotated through 90 degrees, and then slid it across the floor (on a piece of plywood) until it met the sub-frame. I then rolled it onto the subframe (clockwise looking from the wheel arch) and used the subframe to hold it in place whilst I got the jack underneath to lift it into position.

After replacing the stud as described in the note, out of curiosity, before bolting it all back together, I though I would try doing my lean on subframe and rotate gearbox trick in reverse. Blow me if the darn box came straight out with the stud still attached!

Next time hopefully in about 10 years time) I will opt for removing the stud and my rest and roll method.

Next episode - the rear bump stop. Probably that piece of rubber/plastic that is rattling around inside the rear spring.

Sounds eventful. At least (I assume) you've dodged the labour charges there by tackling everything yourself.

What did the parts set you back in the end?

You could have just read my post on removing the box where I also mentioned that there was no need to remove the subframe

Altogether not dared to go through it until now, so here goes.
Clutch kit £110 from Euro Car Parts
Strut £40 on ebay (reclaimed from a 40,000k vehicle)
Drop links £13 each ECP again (they always seem to have a "30% off" code)
Control arms £32 each
ARB bushes £20
Rear window winder/regulator £17
Headlight cluster £45
Big box of stainless nuts and bolts £20 at Screwfix
Replacement screw from Fiat (front subframe to body - forgot to tighten it so it is on the road somewhere between home and work) £4
2 drums, shoes set, 2 cables £130 (again ECP using the "halloween30" code this time

glowplug said:

You could have just read my post on removing the box where I also mentioned that there was no need to remove the subframe

Click to expand...

Yes, all the posts on here were very helpful, and yours was one of the ones that convinced me to 'ave a go myself. There did seem to be a theme of even if you don't remove the frame, you should loosen the bolts on the nearside, but as it turned out for me, even loosening them was unnecessary as the sub-frame was in just the right place to hold the gearbox and roll it out/in.

So, chapter 2. The rear bump stop.

In the course of fitting the clutch, decided to have a look round the car, and discovered the off side bump stop sitting at the bottom of the spring - how long has that been there I thought?

Anyway, looked at the nearside one and realised it was OK, so with a bit of poking discovered the cone that held it is place was just pure rust, which crumbled to the touch.

Reading the relevant posts on here was depressing. The cone is part of the rear subframe, so I was considering getting hold of a suitable steel tube and welding it in place to simulate the original cone. Cover with lots of seal and hope the MOT man is happy. If that fails, fit doblo bump stops which have a built in metal cone.

Anyway, I decided to remove the rear spring and have a proper look. The actual metal work that holds the spring was fine, so I removed all the rust and hammered the rough edge flat. The remaining metal was sound, and easily held the top of the spring in place. I drilled the bump stop and bolted it through the convenient hole in the sub frame (presumably where all the rain came in that caused the cone to rust in the first place). Looks good, passed MOT and I might do the same to the other side just for the sake of it.

The learning part of the story is the spring removal/refitting. The rear spring is indeed a banana, and not having a convenient helper to push it into shape as others have mentioned, I had to get resourceful. First, use trolley jack under the bottom of the spring to compress it (just as if going over a bump). Then at the front of the spring (i.e. the shorter side of the curve) tie the top coil of the spring to the bottom one or as close as you can get. I used a luggage strap and just tied a double knot. Really good cable ties might work? Remove the jack, undo the nut on the damper and push the arm down so the spring falls out. The spring will stay beautifully banana shaped, so putting it back on is an absolute doddle.

Next chapter - a spring clip had failed in the headlight area, and the only fix was a complete cluster replacement. Dropping the bumper was not needed.

This is how I did my rear springs (second time around):

https://www.fiatforum.com/multipla/426516-shell-live-again-2.html?p=4091583

This worked very nicely. Because the straps are so thin, they don't get trapped by the spring as the tension is released and the spring seats itself. As you say, you need to get the springs 'banana'd' (i.e. curved to one side) to get them onto the subframe locator. It doesn't need much force - just a bit more than I could manage by squeezing the coils together with my hands.

I had my rear springs our recently... for the same reason incidentally... to cut out those cones. I left the bump stops out and it wasn't picked up in our mot .. anyway I found disconnecting the lower shock bolt allows the subframe fall down a few inches and you can get the springs in without having to compress them much at all.. trolley jack under the spring compress it about an inch and slip it in.
Marty.

So, the headlight. A.N Other had obviously bodged replacing the main beam bulb, and had separated the clip from the reflector. Not the long part of the clip, but the short fiddly part. They had shoved the new bulb in, and wiggled the clip around until it caught on something and held it in place.:bang:

Result. Failed MOT on headlight too low. Too low to adjust even. Being the offside, the unit is damn near impossible to access because of the washer bottle, but in the end I got the whole unit out fairly easily by removing (1) the obvious screw on the top (2) the one hidden behind the chrome part of the front bumper and (3) the lower screw which looked like I needed to drop the bumper, which was going to be a right pain with all those corroded screws.

As it turned out, I managed to access the lower headlight screw from behind just by removing the plastic liner of the wheel arch and reaching forward with a little patience and a 10mm socket on an extension. Very oddly, the other side of the screw seemed to be a different sized nut. The screw broke off in my case, so I didn't need to restrain the nut, and I imagine most will suffer the same fate. The metal arm that the 3rd screw connects too is a little flimsy in torsion I felt, so beware of twisting it out of shape (as I did). The resulting effect on headlamp aim was minor, but I did think the whole arm might shear off given enough rough handing.

A reasonable amount of jiggling later, and the headlight unit came out. To compensate for my luck in removing it relatively easily, the fates decided to make the headlight clip too mangled to fix. I cannot believe that this part (the clip and integral reflector) is not available as a spare, and the only realistic alternatives are some sort of origami with a paperclip or a replacement lighting cluster (£45 from a recycler on ebay). I needed the car for work the next day, so got out my wallet, but I will repair the original one day.

Refit was easy enough, apart from removing the broken lower screw I had sheared off. FOURTEEN drill bits and THREE multitool cutting blades later...screws all replaced with stainless from my ever useful screwfix variety box.

On the subject of the multi tool, that sets up Chapter 4 very nicely. The front anti roll bar bushes.

widemouthfrog said:

This is how I did my rear springs (second time around):

https://www.fiatforum.com/multipla/426516-shell-live-again-2.html?p=4091583

This worked very nicely. Because the straps are so thin, they don't get trapped by the spring as the tension is released and the spring seats itself. As you say, you need to get the springs 'banana'd' (i.e. curved to one side) to get them onto the subframe locator. It doesn't need much force - just a bit more than I could manage by squeezing the coils together with my hands.

Click to expand...

I knew I was reinventing the wheel. Nylon luggage strapping was made for the job, although I had used nylon rope (8mm x 3 pieces) the first time and just cut it off when finished.

There seemed to be a lot of advice about anti roll bar bushes, and as the car was quite noisy over bumps and I was doing the lower control arms, I decided the time was right for a change. I bought a pair of bushes on ebay for about £20, and was unimpressed at first, but when I got the old ones out I realised the difference was more in the feel of the rubber than the shape.

All four screws broke off at the slightest turn of the socket, but my intention was always to replace them with stainless, so aside from drilling out the rubbish and re-tapping, no harm done there.

My useful tip on this topic though was regarding separating the 2 halves of the metalwork that holds the bush. I read all sorts of ideas about large drill bits and hacksaws, but I found my standard £25 multi-tool with a metal cutting blade separated the two pieces in less that 30 seconds, and removed the lip at the same time. Very satisfactory indeed. I refitted using stainless screws (standard thread unlike all the other fine threads in the suspension). Can't recall the size (I had an assortment), but there was enough sticking up out of the welded nut to add a stainless nut for a little extra purchase and to make the job look finished.

If you go the stainless route, the original screws had pointed ends to make it easier to get them back into the nut (the head of the nut is inside the subframe, so you are working with a long socket or extension at this point). As standard stainless screws will have a flat top, I think is it essential that you tap out the captive nuts with a sharp tap and run the intended screw through several times so you an confident it will go when you are lying on the floor rotating the socket and wondering why the screw won't catch the thread.

Next instalment: rear drums, shoes and cables, and how to check you have overtightened the handbrake by putting the information display into m.p.g.

Left the story hanging. So MOT man had also pointed out the lack of an effective parking brake. Something I knew about, solved by parking in gear, and forgot to fix. Feeling flash after my 1% pay rise, I decided to change drums, shoes and cables. Only one part of this deserves comment for those coming after - the automatic adjusters. Dark was the day they became compulsory, and the Fiat ones seemed a little too clever for my liking. All the others I have encountered just had a simple tooth ratchet on the bar. Anyway, cautionary advice is to take the adjuster bar off, look at it, clean it, fiddle with it, clean it again, and play until you actually see how it works before refitting.

I did not do this the first time, and set off for a test drive. Reaching my destination (the supermarket) I opened the door and noticed a distinctly hot metal smell. Stupidly touching the rear wheels, I managed to burn my hand and run around the car looking for a puddle to stick my throbbing fingers in.

After light shopping to allow a little cooling, I decided ti head home slowly and carefully as the kids would not appreciate being sat in the car waiting for the caval.R.A.C. Out of curiosity I switched to MPG mode, and discovered, as often with modern cars, there was an electronic way to spot the problem as MPG was down to 12.

Anyway, made it home, stripped and rebuilt (taking my own advice about playing/looking/fiddling with adjusters) and all was well at the next MOT.