Update...

Long time, no update. The old axle is removed from the car and disposed. Looked for a replacement axle and ended up buying a whole spare car, a 1.4 106 XSI. Technically sweet running thing, drove it 100km from the selling location. I love short stroke TU-engines.

Holidays in the sun interrupted a bit and the unusually cold wether (it's -15 now, that's more than 10 degrees less than normal for this time of year) makes fiddling with the spare car outside not so tempting. It was nice to enjoy week in +27degC and swin in +23degC seawater. All inc. Did not gain any weight however, due to active holiday.

Anyway something has been done, I changed the side mirrors (to s1) which were painted to body color and paint had started peeling off making them look ugly. Removed some parts from the interior (xsi), some for my use, other for sale. Wheels were also sold. Front seats reused in S2. Improved the lighting in the garage by adding extra 150cm length fluorescent lamps ('loisteputki' in finnish) to the sealing. One just on top of a engine bay, other just above the working table. The lighting is now as good as it gets.

Removing the broken axle

As I prepared for removing the broken axle, I measured the torsion bars and antiroll bar. Torsion bars were 18mm (original 19mm diameter, same in XSI&GTI). ARB was 18mm (original 21mm).

On a positive side, seems that no brake pipe work is needed. The brake pipe connectors opened just fine. And there is no load sensitive brake pressure adjuster neither.

Situation normal, all fucked up

This rear axle is FUBAR. I'm gutted. Have to find a spare center tube. Why an earth did I sell my spare tube few months ago !?

S1 Rallye work continue...

After what felt like a million small tasks (fitting door panels, blocking roll cage bolt holes etc) the S1 finally felt like ready for MOT. It was sunday however and I thought that I could do one more thing: put grease nipples to the rear axle. I drilled the right hand side first... When the drill went though the wall of the trailing arm - rust! I was completely surprised and must say - felt like an idiot! I had thought that the arm was ok condition. Time for a rethink.

After a brief thinking session, I was convinced I'd have to take the arms apart to see the condition of the bearings properly. The arb endplate was quickly removed from the drivers side with a help of 12mm (1.5mm thread) bolt.

To get left hand trailing arm first, one must hammer from the right hand side:

In that picture I have already taken the T40 torx screw and offset washer out from the end of torsion bar. The washer was a bit tricky to remove because the lack of space. Also the support for the brake pipe was released to gain space for hammering.

Before hammering, I marked the position of the t.bars with two methods (one would have been enough):

It helps if one lifts the trailing arm from the drum to release torsion from the bar. Couple of hits (with homemade tool) and the bar is loose

View from the drivers side - the stub pin is in very good condition:

A bit of archeology is needed :) Looks bad but in reality not so difficult, a bit of WD40 will do wonders

ARB should be removed (or just loosened) before hitting the other t.bar, otherwise it adds unnecessary friction. It is after all quite tight fit to the stub pin.

to be continued...