Hello VW owners, this is my first ever post to a forum like this. Time for me to give back, I’ve been stealing information from here for years!
I’m getting close to finishing a DIY stage 2 ECS Tuning clutch, lightened flywheel and pressure plate upgrade in my 2016 Golf R. I’ve done this entire project on my own in my garage on jack stands and thought I would share some things I’ve learned to help everyone out a bit. The ACT Clutch DIY video online is very helpful but there are some mistakes in it and unclear steps as well. I’ll try to clear some of this up.
First off, I was changing my clutch because I was experiencing slippage like many other owners. I’ve had my car equipped with a JB1 since 3,500km and I’m at 94,000km now. I’m a spirited driver but never really launch the car too hard. My clutch actually held fine up until about 70,000km when I started to notice it slipping in the cooler temperatures of spring and fall when the car makes the most power (I’m located near Toronto Canada). I spoke with the dealer about possible warranty coverage for this issue, but you need to commit to them completely disassembling your car to examine the clutch. After that huge labour commitment you would have two possibilities: 1) pay the huge price to have it replaced with an OEM clutch at the dealer, or 2) possibly have them warranty it and install another OEM clutch with the same flaws. I wasn’t a huge fan of those choices and I was doubtful they would actually warranty anything for me. After disassembling my vehicle in my garage and getting the clutch out of the car, the true cause of my slippage revealed itself. I believe the majority of my issues were caused by the chronic rear main seal failure problem that is quite well-known with these cars now. As you can see from the pictures below, there were obvious signs of oil in my bell housing and on the crankshaft mounting flange. I believe some of that oil must have made its way on to my clutch disc, flywheel and pressure plate surfaces which most likely caused the slippage I was experiencing.
I installed a new “revision B” (according to ECS) OEM rear main seal that was supposed to fix the VW design issue with the part. The rubber oil gasket on the revised part was identical to my old one so this problem will likely occur for me down the road again. I’d suggest you don’t think twice and just order the iABED aftermarket upgrade rear main seal. I should have done that but had second thoughts about deviating from that OEM part when I was first planning this project. TIP: you need to ensure the rubber oil splash flange faces toward the engine when you install the rear main seal on the crankshaft. It will fold over on itself if you just push it on, don’t do that! It’s way too much work to replace that ‘POS’! I very lightly lubricated the crankshaft flange surface with some oil and slid the RMS over it. Then I used a plastic binder insert, yes basic office stationary, by wrapping it around the crankshaft and press the oil gasket forward into the correct orientation. When the crankshaft is lightly lubricated you are able to easily slide the RMS back a little and visually confirm that you have got the correct orientation. NOTE: do not buy the RMS installation tool that you see online at ECS Tuning, it’s specifically for version A and apparently will not work properly for the gasket orientation of the revised version B. My binder insert approach was really easy anyway and worked just fine on the first try. You will need some gasket sealant to complete this step. Here are some photos of the old rear main seal and the new one with the technique I’m describing.
I’m sure the clutch itself is under spec’d for the R, but like I said, I think my biggest problem was oil on the Clutch components. If you approach the dealer aggressively on this topic you might get luck with warranty, RMS failures on VW/Audis is well-known. That said, here are some side-by-side photos of the old vs. new clutch, one is definitely a stronger design.
Long post, stick with me though! Now for the tips:
1. When installing your flywheel, note that the bolt holes are not symmetrically spaced. You will need to rotate the flywheel on the crankshaft until all 8 holes like up correctly. I never would have guessed this and had to scratch my head for a while wondering how ECS designed a flywheel with bolt holes that don’t align. Anyway, it fit fine when I realized the issue. You can see the misalignment problem in the photos even after one bolt is threaded.
2. During disassembly you will need to remove a 6mm Allan bolt from deep inside the bevel box (aka transfer case). This bolt locks the pilot shaft into the transmission. The ACT Clutch DIY just says you should fabricate the tool needed or buy it from the dealer. The dealer won’t sell it to you and ACT doesn’t tell you what the tool is! A 3/8 socket/extension will not fit down the bevel box shaft so this was a challenge to figure out. I ended up using a 1/4” socket set with extensions to get this done, here’s how. Attach a 1/4” 6mm socket to an extension that gives you about 12 inches of length. Search your Allan key collection for a 6mm key that fits securely into your 6mm socket. Get your hack saw out and cut the 90 degree arm off that Allan key. Now put that Allan key back into the 6mm socket and tape your rig together with electrical tape to make sure everything comes back out of the bevel box shaft. Note, with all these extensions you will feel the torsional flex of the tools as you loosen/tighten this bolt. The bolt is secured at 24 ft.lbs of torque and my tool held up fine. Here are some pictures.
3. Make sure you have a 9mm and 10mm triple square (aka 12-point) socket for this job! You must have the proper metric sockets, the SAE equivalents don’t fit. The three driveshaft bolts that need to be removed are 10mm 12-point and the bolts that hold your pressure plate on are 9mm 12-point. Nowhere else on the car do they use these bolts, go figure!
4. Engine support bracket, don’t buy one, just make your own. A 2x6 piece of wood can easily support the weight of your motor and transmission during this job. Cut a piece 56 inches long and cut two 5 inch pieces to raise it up sufficiently in the engine compartment. Secure those together with quality wood screws. Add a front anti-tip support like I’m showing to ensure it doesn’t wobble on you. With ratchet straps and a floor jack I was able to maneuver the transmission in and out of the car. Be patient, this part is slow and annoying on your own but you can do it. The transmission is not that heavy, maybe 100 lbs, so it’s manageable when supported properly. You must tilt the rear side of the transmission upwards when removing and installing it in the engine bay, it will not fit if you try insert it in a level position. When you are reconnecting the transmission bell housing to the engine block, aim to properly thread the two 18mm bolts on the bottom of the bell housing first. You likely won’t be able to fully slide the transmission’s pilot shaft fully into the clutch receiver by just pushing and wiggling the transmission. Aim to position the transmission properly so that you can thread just the bottom two 18mm bolts first. Once those are threaded in loosely you can wiggle the top of the transmission to thread some of your upper bolts. Then simply alternate from the top to bottom side tightening a bit each time and your transmission will seat itself perfectly. This process took me 2 hours to complete on my own as a “first timer”, follow those tips and you will likely be a bit quicker. Find a friend to help and you will be even faster.
5. Passenger side driveshaft disassembly and reassembly. Do not follow the order of operations in the ACT DIY. You will need your brakes to loosen the CV axle bolts from the bevel box on the passenger/driver’s side. ACT pulls the passenger side axle out of the wheel hub before loosening the bolts on the bevel box. If you don’t have an impact gun this makes it extremely difficult. I used an expanding clamp to secure my brake pedal with the back of the steering wheel while I loosened these bolts.
Note: Despite what the DIY video shows, I would suggest leaving your transmission gear selector linkage installed until you are ready to drop the transmission as well. You will need your gears when disconnecting the 10mm bolts that secure the driveshaft.
6. Your flywheel bolts are on very tight with existing locktite. It’s difficult to loosen/tighten these bolts with hand tools only. To get it done I used a handle from one of my old floor jacks and wedged it between the flywheel teeth and the floor. Find something like this that’s the right length and play with it a bit, it works. If you are reusing you flywheel, make sure to have a rag or thick paper between your wedge and the flywheel teeth so you don’t damage them. Make sure you do this with the new flywheel! Your entire engine moves when you pry on these bolts so you will need to finesse that wedge into the perfect spot for tightening/loosening each bolt. See picture.
7. On the topic of flywheels, replace your dual mass flywheel with a single mass unit. If you have been driving manual for a long time, a dual mass flywheel is simply not required. It’s essentially a safety mechanism to prevent drivers from damaging their transmission internals when they accidentally dump the clutch. Dual mass flywheels cause your car to shutter off the line and introduce too much play into the clutch engagement process... and the springs in the dual mass mechanism wear out over time, mine was very loose. They are total junk in my opinion. This is the second dual mass removal I have done, the first one was in my BMW track car...what a huge improvement that was! Everything about a single mass flywheel feels better. On hot days you might hear a small amount of gear chatter, but who cares?! The drive ability improvement is definitely worth the change, just do it!
8. Bolt hardware, get yourself a bolt kit specifically for this job. There are several torque to yield bolts (aka stretch bolts) that you are removing during this job. Those are basically one-time use bolts. Once they have been “stretched” once they are not capable of providing the correct torque spec a second time. For the extra $100 just buy them and give yourself the peace-of-mind of knowing that you didn’t gamble on whatever issue might occur with those old bolts. The old ones are probably okay, but why chance it when you have invested so much time in this DIY? You can find these bolt kits at the stealer, ECS Tuning and others.
9. Fluids - holy heck is there a lot of different opinions out there about the correct fluids for our vehicle. Change your gear box and manual tranny fluids while you are doing this job, you might as well. The transmission requires a GL4 spec “manual transmission” gear oil. Do not use a GL4/GL5 compatible fluid or GL5 fluids, just get a dedicated GL4 fluid. Some of the GL5 fluids out there will not corrode your synchromesh gears, but that’s not the only compatibility issue. GL5 fluids have a different coefficient of friction and also a higher compression tolerance. Any fluid that complies with GL5 standards could cause your gears to not fully seat during shifts. This may just be a very tiny tolerance variation but it could cause excessive wear over time. Get your transmission fluid from the dealer to be super safe, or do what I did and order the new Redline MT-LV. Redline specifically sites the correct compatibility numbers for this fluid for the Golf R, so it should comply with all the correct specifications. For the differentials (not the Haladex, that’s a different unit) I used Amzoil 75w90 gear oil. I’m confident in saying that science has confirmed this fluid as perhaps the best GL5 gear oil on the planet. The report below was contracted by Amzoil, but I believe the science behind the tests that were conducted are completely sound, unbiased and accurate:
https://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/gear-oil-comparison.pdf
Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope this helps a few of you. I’ll try to answer questions if you have any. Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m getting close to finishing a DIY stage 2 ECS Tuning clutch, lightened flywheel and pressure plate upgrade in my 2016 Golf R. I’ve done this entire project on my own in my garage on jack stands and thought I would share some things I’ve learned to help everyone out a bit. The ACT Clutch DIY video online is very helpful but there are some mistakes in it and unclear steps as well. I’ll try to clear some of this up.
First off, I was changing my clutch because I was experiencing slippage like many other owners. I’ve had my car equipped with a JB1 since 3,500km and I’m at 94,000km now. I’m a spirited driver but never really launch the car too hard. My clutch actually held fine up until about 70,000km when I started to notice it slipping in the cooler temperatures of spring and fall when the car makes the most power (I’m located near Toronto Canada). I spoke with the dealer about possible warranty coverage for this issue, but you need to commit to them completely disassembling your car to examine the clutch. After that huge labour commitment you would have two possibilities: 1) pay the huge price to have it replaced with an OEM clutch at the dealer, or 2) possibly have them warranty it and install another OEM clutch with the same flaws. I wasn’t a huge fan of those choices and I was doubtful they would actually warranty anything for me. After disassembling my vehicle in my garage and getting the clutch out of the car, the true cause of my slippage revealed itself. I believe the majority of my issues were caused by the chronic rear main seal failure problem that is quite well-known with these cars now. As you can see from the pictures below, there were obvious signs of oil in my bell housing and on the crankshaft mounting flange. I believe some of that oil must have made its way on to my clutch disc, flywheel and pressure plate surfaces which most likely caused the slippage I was experiencing.
I installed a new “revision B” (according to ECS) OEM rear main seal that was supposed to fix the VW design issue with the part. The rubber oil gasket on the revised part was identical to my old one so this problem will likely occur for me down the road again. I’d suggest you don’t think twice and just order the iABED aftermarket upgrade rear main seal. I should have done that but had second thoughts about deviating from that OEM part when I was first planning this project. TIP: you need to ensure the rubber oil splash flange faces toward the engine when you install the rear main seal on the crankshaft. It will fold over on itself if you just push it on, don’t do that! It’s way too much work to replace that ‘POS’! I very lightly lubricated the crankshaft flange surface with some oil and slid the RMS over it. Then I used a plastic binder insert, yes basic office stationary, by wrapping it around the crankshaft and press the oil gasket forward into the correct orientation. When the crankshaft is lightly lubricated you are able to easily slide the RMS back a little and visually confirm that you have got the correct orientation. NOTE: do not buy the RMS installation tool that you see online at ECS Tuning, it’s specifically for version A and apparently will not work properly for the gasket orientation of the revised version B. My binder insert approach was really easy anyway and worked just fine on the first try. You will need some gasket sealant to complete this step. Here are some photos of the old rear main seal and the new one with the technique I’m describing.
I’m sure the clutch itself is under spec’d for the R, but like I said, I think my biggest problem was oil on the Clutch components. If you approach the dealer aggressively on this topic you might get luck with warranty, RMS failures on VW/Audis is well-known. That said, here are some side-by-side photos of the old vs. new clutch, one is definitely a stronger design.
Long post, stick with me though! Now for the tips:
1. When installing your flywheel, note that the bolt holes are not symmetrically spaced. You will need to rotate the flywheel on the crankshaft until all 8 holes like up correctly. I never would have guessed this and had to scratch my head for a while wondering how ECS designed a flywheel with bolt holes that don’t align. Anyway, it fit fine when I realized the issue. You can see the misalignment problem in the photos even after one bolt is threaded.
2. During disassembly you will need to remove a 6mm Allan bolt from deep inside the bevel box (aka transfer case). This bolt locks the pilot shaft into the transmission. The ACT Clutch DIY just says you should fabricate the tool needed or buy it from the dealer. The dealer won’t sell it to you and ACT doesn’t tell you what the tool is! A 3/8 socket/extension will not fit down the bevel box shaft so this was a challenge to figure out. I ended up using a 1/4” socket set with extensions to get this done, here’s how. Attach a 1/4” 6mm socket to an extension that gives you about 12 inches of length. Search your Allan key collection for a 6mm key that fits securely into your 6mm socket. Get your hack saw out and cut the 90 degree arm off that Allan key. Now put that Allan key back into the 6mm socket and tape your rig together with electrical tape to make sure everything comes back out of the bevel box shaft. Note, with all these extensions you will feel the torsional flex of the tools as you loosen/tighten this bolt. The bolt is secured at 24 ft.lbs of torque and my tool held up fine. Here are some pictures.
3. Make sure you have a 9mm and 10mm triple square (aka 12-point) socket for this job! You must have the proper metric sockets, the SAE equivalents don’t fit. The three driveshaft bolts that need to be removed are 10mm 12-point and the bolts that hold your pressure plate on are 9mm 12-point. Nowhere else on the car do they use these bolts, go figure!
4. Engine support bracket, don’t buy one, just make your own. A 2x6 piece of wood can easily support the weight of your motor and transmission during this job. Cut a piece 56 inches long and cut two 5 inch pieces to raise it up sufficiently in the engine compartment. Secure those together with quality wood screws. Add a front anti-tip support like I’m showing to ensure it doesn’t wobble on you. With ratchet straps and a floor jack I was able to maneuver the transmission in and out of the car. Be patient, this part is slow and annoying on your own but you can do it. The transmission is not that heavy, maybe 100 lbs, so it’s manageable when supported properly. You must tilt the rear side of the transmission upwards when removing and installing it in the engine bay, it will not fit if you try insert it in a level position. When you are reconnecting the transmission bell housing to the engine block, aim to properly thread the two 18mm bolts on the bottom of the bell housing first. You likely won’t be able to fully slide the transmission’s pilot shaft fully into the clutch receiver by just pushing and wiggling the transmission. Aim to position the transmission properly so that you can thread just the bottom two 18mm bolts first. Once those are threaded in loosely you can wiggle the top of the transmission to thread some of your upper bolts. Then simply alternate from the top to bottom side tightening a bit each time and your transmission will seat itself perfectly. This process took me 2 hours to complete on my own as a “first timer”, follow those tips and you will likely be a bit quicker. Find a friend to help and you will be even faster.
5. Passenger side driveshaft disassembly and reassembly. Do not follow the order of operations in the ACT DIY. You will need your brakes to loosen the CV axle bolts from the bevel box on the passenger/driver’s side. ACT pulls the passenger side axle out of the wheel hub before loosening the bolts on the bevel box. If you don’t have an impact gun this makes it extremely difficult. I used an expanding clamp to secure my brake pedal with the back of the steering wheel while I loosened these bolts.
Note: Despite what the DIY video shows, I would suggest leaving your transmission gear selector linkage installed until you are ready to drop the transmission as well. You will need your gears when disconnecting the 10mm bolts that secure the driveshaft.
6. Your flywheel bolts are on very tight with existing locktite. It’s difficult to loosen/tighten these bolts with hand tools only. To get it done I used a handle from one of my old floor jacks and wedged it between the flywheel teeth and the floor. Find something like this that’s the right length and play with it a bit, it works. If you are reusing you flywheel, make sure to have a rag or thick paper between your wedge and the flywheel teeth so you don’t damage them. Make sure you do this with the new flywheel! Your entire engine moves when you pry on these bolts so you will need to finesse that wedge into the perfect spot for tightening/loosening each bolt. See picture.
7. On the topic of flywheels, replace your dual mass flywheel with a single mass unit. If you have been driving manual for a long time, a dual mass flywheel is simply not required. It’s essentially a safety mechanism to prevent drivers from damaging their transmission internals when they accidentally dump the clutch. Dual mass flywheels cause your car to shutter off the line and introduce too much play into the clutch engagement process... and the springs in the dual mass mechanism wear out over time, mine was very loose. They are total junk in my opinion. This is the second dual mass removal I have done, the first one was in my BMW track car...what a huge improvement that was! Everything about a single mass flywheel feels better. On hot days you might hear a small amount of gear chatter, but who cares?! The drive ability improvement is definitely worth the change, just do it!
8. Bolt hardware, get yourself a bolt kit specifically for this job. There are several torque to yield bolts (aka stretch bolts) that you are removing during this job. Those are basically one-time use bolts. Once they have been “stretched” once they are not capable of providing the correct torque spec a second time. For the extra $100 just buy them and give yourself the peace-of-mind of knowing that you didn’t gamble on whatever issue might occur with those old bolts. The old ones are probably okay, but why chance it when you have invested so much time in this DIY? You can find these bolt kits at the stealer, ECS Tuning and others.
9. Fluids - holy heck is there a lot of different opinions out there about the correct fluids for our vehicle. Change your gear box and manual tranny fluids while you are doing this job, you might as well. The transmission requires a GL4 spec “manual transmission” gear oil. Do not use a GL4/GL5 compatible fluid or GL5 fluids, just get a dedicated GL4 fluid. Some of the GL5 fluids out there will not corrode your synchromesh gears, but that’s not the only compatibility issue. GL5 fluids have a different coefficient of friction and also a higher compression tolerance. Any fluid that complies with GL5 standards could cause your gears to not fully seat during shifts. This may just be a very tiny tolerance variation but it could cause excessive wear over time. Get your transmission fluid from the dealer to be super safe, or do what I did and order the new Redline MT-LV. Redline specifically sites the correct compatibility numbers for this fluid for the Golf R, so it should comply with all the correct specifications. For the differentials (not the Haladex, that’s a different unit) I used Amzoil 75w90 gear oil. I’m confident in saying that science has confirmed this fluid as perhaps the best GL5 gear oil on the planet. The report below was contracted by Amzoil, but I believe the science behind the tests that were conducted are completely sound, unbiased and accurate:
https://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/gear-oil-comparison.pdf
Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope this helps a few of you. I’ll try to answer questions if you have any. Good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
