VW Golf improvements
Today I finally got around to installing some things I’ve been neglecting. When I first purchased my car, I bought a couple items: OEM HID lights, various switches, a Neuspeed 28mm rear sway bar, and a DieselGeek short shifter. It took me a year before I installed the HID lights.
Tonight, I installed both the short shifter and Neuspeed sway bar. For the past year, I’ve had issues with shifting into first gear. I’ve just gotten used to shifting into second, then into first before releasing the clutch, since it went into first smoothly that way. Since I had spare time and I had a short shifter waiting to be installed, I decided to do both installations.
The short shifter install was pretty easy (I forgot to take a picture of the short shifter kit):
I just followed the instructions that came with the shifter. I had some issues with adjusting the shifter cable, but for the most part, I think I have it figured out. Shifting into first gear is much better! It takes noticeably more effort to shift into the gears, but the distance needed to move the lever is much less, and it seems firmer. I definitely liked what I’ve tried so far.
The Nuespeed sway bar installation didn’t go so smoothly. I read several directions online detailing how to install the sway bar and thought it would be straightforward. It actually would have been very easy, if the two brackets would have snapped into place like they should have! I spent probably two hours trying to get those damn brackets in place. For my first attempt, I picked up some C-clamps from K-Mart to try to force the bracket to lock into place. That didn’t work. I searched online for a little bit and found a post at vwvortex describing the use of a plumber’s pipe wrench and a jack, so I bought a big pipe wrench from K-Mart.
If I had known about the pipe wrench and jack trick prior to starting the installation, I could have finished in less than 30 minutes. Instead, after three separate attempts throughout the night, it took me about 3.5 hours. I used anti-seize on all the threads, and selected the middle hole for the sway bar (medium firmness). Andrea and I drove around for a little bit after I finished putting tools away, but I couldn’t make tight turns because of the snow.
Here are the sway bar install pics:
Now the snow just needs to clear so I can test out my upgrades!