So for those who are interested I'll try to recount what was done, however some of the details may be 'sketchy' and missing measurements as I had a computer crash last year which meant that I lost many of the details that was stored on it.
When I bought my 412 from Tim it had the characteristic front end wobble that ti initially put down to a wheel imbalance, you know the sort of vibration through the steering wheel when your front wheels aren't balanced correctly. When I got the car home I had the front end balanced numerous times to no avail.
I then started to trawl the internet to learn as much about these cars as I could, I'm still no expert but am a little wiser, and it came to light that I was not the only Type 4 owner to suffer from this complaint on their car. My research eventually led to shoptalkforums 411/412 pages and in particular to work carried out by the aforementioned Ray Greenwood (whose knowledge seems to be vast relating to these cars). I read as much as I could find but the wobble was bearaable and I couldn't justify the expense of the work required.
However as the winter went on the front end started making some crunching noises over the speed bumps in the village which I was advised was a build up of ice in the front struts due to the contamination of the oil due to failed 30 something year old seals. Therefore come the summer of 2008 I convinced my wife that something had to be done and found a local VW mechanic prepared to do the work (he is no longer trading due to personal reasons).
The first thing to do was to source all the parts required for the rebuild.
1. A pair of front Audi 80 inserts (I'll have to find the part number but they are gas and a vast improvement on the old ones)
2. Enough tool grade steel to machine extensions for the above inserts to make them fit
3. A pair of super beetle top strut mounts
4. A pair of lower ball joints (sourced from the US via ebay)
5. Enough Delrin (plastic used for bushing material) to get machined to replace the front bushes
6. Super beetle strut brace (because it would fit!)
7. Front gas shocks from an early 80s Ford 3/4tonne Econoline van to replace the rear 412 shocks
8. Some Mk2 Golf anti roll bar bushes (not happy with how these have worn so am looking to replace with a less worn pair of Type 4 ones soon)
9. Replacement front rubber bellows and spring seats from a German retailer
10. Bronze to make up a replacement ldler arm bush
I'm sure there was other bits as well but I'll to the list as I go.
Any way whilst the front end was being stripped down the new struts and a better diagram with measurements that I have lost was passed onto a machinist
and this was the result (sorry about the quality)
As you can see the external dimensions of the Audi insert are quite different from the Type 4 insert but it works very well making for a nice firm ride with greater stability. The Audi insert also requires a spacer of just over an inch in the bottom of the 412 strut to make it fit. It could also benefit from a strip of rubber to act as a bushing wrapped around it.
