Well over a year ago I bought everything I would need for Defcon 4 from MCPi. The kit included Defcons, MKI front bushings, and new nuts/bolts.
I let over a year pass by, so it was high time to finally do the install. Since I already had the Defcon kit, I decided to take an unconventional (but more expensive) route and ordered a new set of MKII control arms from AutoPartsWarehouse.com, rather than replace the bushings in my old arms. (approx. $467 shipped.) The new arms came with front and back MKII bushings already installed, but this worked out well since the MKII front bushings would be easier to remove from the new arms than my nearly 7-year old original arms, and the Defcons would be easier to press into the shiny new arms. Plus I would have new rear MKII bushings already installed. I knew it would take me a few days to find a shop with a press or do the bushing swap myself, so having a new set of arms would allow the TT to remain fully functional up to the time of the actual arm swap.
I had talked with a shop about a year earlier about doing the pressing, but thought I'd try to do it myself first and maybe save some $. I wasn't confident they really understood the whole process I needed done.
So a couple of weeks ago I went to work on the new arms. I used a Dremel tool to remove a sufficient amount of rubber between the inner and outer sleeves of the front bushings....enough to torque the inner part loose and pull it out. The rubber made a sticky mess and smoked quite a bit while dremmeling. Definitely something you want to do outside. The outer sleeves were fairly easy to carefully drive-out with a hammer and screwdriver, since the arms were new and had no corrosion. Needless to say, the MKII front bushings were completely destroyed in the process of removal. But the arms were clean and ready to press the Defcons in.
I have a huge bench-top vise and was able to press the Defcons into the arms after applying anti-seize to the inside of the arm sleeves and putting the Defcons in the freezer for a few hours before hand. I pretty much stressed the vise to its limit using a 30" breaker bar. I was afraid the vise might self-destruct. In hind sight, I wouldn't recommend using a vice for this task, although I was able to get it to work.
Next, I thought maybe the MKI bushings would be easier to press in than the Defcons. This was not the case. The MKI bushings fit very tightly into the Defcons, so a large pressing force is a must. The vise was no longer up to the task, so I had to either find another way or take them to a shop.
I had a heavy steel frame sitting around that was a small contractor's sample of a steel railing for a bank I had worked on several years ago. (I'm an architect) I saved the sample with the intention of taking it to a recycler. The recycler wasn't paying anything for steel at the time, so I just held onto it and had it sitting in my shop for years.
I got the idea that if I had a jack that would fit within the frame, I could use the jack as a press against the frame. The heavy duty scissor jack from the Ford Escape was the perfect size. (The TT jack with its plastic parts would obviously be too weak) So using the frame/jack setup I was able to press the MKI bushings, lubed-up with Windex, into the Defcons/arms. I cut a short metal sleeve from a piece of heavy stainless steel pipe I had laying around, and placed it between the arm and plate steel of the rail frame to allow the bushing to be over driven and snapped into place. Mike (MCPi) explains all of this in his install write-up)
So that brings me to yesterday afternoon.....when I finally had time to swap the arms out on my TT. Using MCPi's instructions as a guide, and also reading the Bentley manual on the subject, the install went very smoothly. The hardest part was getting the 3 driver's side ball joint nuts loose. That took a bit of penetrating oil and hard cranking to get them loose. It took me about 4 hours, but I took my time and had a few breaks in between arms. I had to buy a few new tools including 16 & 18mm sockets (which I should have already had) and also a nice new 3 ton Craftsman floor jack ($60) My 25 year old 2 ton floor jack was overdue for a replacement. I also got to use my new jack stands.
After the install I took the car for a spin and would have to agree with the testimonials....the car feels like it shed about 300 lbs in the front, and turn-ins feel much more responsive....more point and shoot.
I marked the ball joint nut locations on the new arms to match the old, but I'm sure they are not absolutely exactly the same....time for an alignment.
Oh, and I have a set of used MKII arms looking for a new owner (with old bushings); e-mail me an offer if you're interested.
If I could do all of this over again, I'd just send MCPi the money and deposit, receive the new arms with Defcons and new bushings already installed, do the arm swap, and send my old arms back to MCPi for the deposit. But that would have been too easy! :-)
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