Hi Mikey,
From one newbie to another welcome to the world of A7’s. When I got my car it had already had the washers installed as a work-around. If you don’t have the time to pull the engine out to either modify the toggles or install new ones the washer trick works. But remember there is always a trade off for modifying the original design and in this case you reduce the maximum clutch pressure that can be applied, it should not be a problem for you but just remember you can’t keep putting more and more washers in!
I’ve attached a photo that shows the location of these washers, you’ll need to grind off one edge on all of them so as to allow them to sit inside the lip of the flywheel. Note that in one the photos there are internal tooth lock washers sitting over the ones you need to install, of course these end up on the outside of the gear box not adjacent to the ones you are going to install. When I’ve done them I tend to hold the washer on the end of a piece of masking tape while I manoeuvre it over the bolt. This reduces the risk of dropping it down in to the bell housing.
Don’t be scared of pulling the engine out and taking the gearbox off, it’s not nearly as difficult as you might imagine. In case you do go down this route I’ve attached a photo of the lifting tool I made to lift the engine. It simply screws in to ports that hold spark plugs 1 and 4. You’ll need to of course remove plugs 2 and 3 and just make sure that you put something there to stop anything getting in to the cylinders. The earth tape in the photo was there to make sure I didn’t get too keen and screw it to the point where it hit a piston!
Good luck mate, I know how your feeling! I’m only new to the caper but I’m pretty familiar with this issue so feel free to message me if you have any dramas.
From one newbie to another welcome to the world of A7’s. When I got my car it had already had the washers installed as a work-around. If you don’t have the time to pull the engine out to either modify the toggles or install new ones the washer trick works. But remember there is always a trade off for modifying the original design and in this case you reduce the maximum clutch pressure that can be applied, it should not be a problem for you but just remember you can’t keep putting more and more washers in!
I’ve attached a photo that shows the location of these washers, you’ll need to grind off one edge on all of them so as to allow them to sit inside the lip of the flywheel. Note that in one the photos there are internal tooth lock washers sitting over the ones you need to install, of course these end up on the outside of the gear box not adjacent to the ones you are going to install. When I’ve done them I tend to hold the washer on the end of a piece of masking tape while I manoeuvre it over the bolt. This reduces the risk of dropping it down in to the bell housing.
Don’t be scared of pulling the engine out and taking the gearbox off, it’s not nearly as difficult as you might imagine. In case you do go down this route I’ve attached a photo of the lifting tool I made to lift the engine. It simply screws in to ports that hold spark plugs 1 and 4. You’ll need to of course remove plugs 2 and 3 and just make sure that you put something there to stop anything getting in to the cylinders. The earth tape in the photo was there to make sure I didn’t get too keen and screw it to the point where it hit a piston!
Good luck mate, I know how your feeling! I’m only new to the caper but I’m pretty familiar with this issue so feel free to message me if you have any dramas.