hello,

i dropped a nut down the timing hole on my project scirocco. not much luck trying to fish it out with a flexible grabber stick.

are there other options than unbolting the gearbox?

if its a gearbox off is there usually enough slack on VW 'boxes / drive shafts that i can just separate them (3 bolts + starter removed) and try that way? without needing to detach the shafts?

i've since bought the green plug thing...

cheers

toby

Is there no place you could fish in a small flexi magnet?

trouble with magnets i've found is they really like the flywheel so it has to be on something sturdy enough to keep pushing the magnet off the flywheel as you push the thing down. sort of rules out a hard disk magnet on a string sadly.

a very thin one would work but i have no idea where to get something like that. the one is tried was too thick at maybe 7mm diameter.

Is there a hole in the bottom of the bell housing ?

trouble with magnets i've found is they really like the flywheel so it has to be on something sturdy enough to keep pushing the magnet off the flywheel as you push the thing down. sort of rules out a hard disk magnet on a string sadly.

a very thin one would work but i have no idea where to get something like that. the one is tried was too thick at maybe 7mm diameter.

bloody hell that is small isn't it

would something like this not be any good?

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1366&bih=667&q=telescopic+magnet&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=6555l10944l6l11053l23l12l2l8l9l0l174l1293l5.7l22l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9124165938552829751&sa=X&ei=ngsrT-PAFs2w8QOXwMDtDg&ved=0CGYQ8wIwAA

i couldn't see a hole - theres a panel covering the lower part as it steps up from the sump - i hoped this just falls off and the nut rolls out. no such joy.

that might be exactly what i'm after? i'll have a test with some straws or something to see if i can go straight from the timing hole down to the very bottom of the bellhousing (not been able to do that yet) but certainly given me an idea.

thanks,

toby

Which gearbox type is it? If it has the cover plate bolted onto the bottom/back of the gearbox try rotating the engine by hand using a spanner, it might just be lodged up onto of the clutch somewhere and it might drop out... Failing that you could also unbolt the starter motor and lift that out to have a mosey round inside.

not really sure what gearbox it is, came off a golf mk2 ryder model i'm led to believe. its got a removable panel at the bottom of the join between the block and bellhousing so i'll try and separate the two by a couple of centimeters, remove that panel and hope it falls out. taken the SM off but not a lot to see in there sadly. i think this is the only way now - i'll let you know how it goes.

too cold to do it this weekend though...

cheers,

toby

if it's the one I think it is the panel comes off completely, it's a separate piece of pressed steel and it's just bolted to the gearbox with a couple of m6 bolts, it's purely there to protect the flywheel, it's not sandwiched between the engine and gearbox like it is on some.

not really sure what gearbox it is, came off a golf mk2 ryder model i'm led to believe. its got a removable panel at the bottom of the join between the block and bellhousing so i'll try and separate the two by a couple of centimeters, remove that panel and hope it falls out. taken the SM off but not a lot to see in there sadly. i think this is the only way now - i'll let you know how it goes.

too cold to do it this weekend though...

cheers,

toby

If you unbolt the panel (1 bolt), it should just pull out IIRC.