How hard is it? Any special tools needed? A buddy of mine needs some work done and I'm trying to figure out if this is something I can accomplish myself. I have done timing belts before but have never worked on a VW. Also, he needs the waterpump replaced and the oil pan gasket is leaking pretty bad.

 

 

I changed all the coolant hoses, timing belt, painted some shit, thermostat, and water pump and housing on my 87 golf. took about 4 or 5 hours. i dont remember needing any special tools. i dont know how different a 93 is either but it cant be too much different.

 

OK I'm at my wits end with this car... I put it all back together and the bitch won't run. I replaced the valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket, timing belt, and repaired the broken PCV system. It has spark and compression and I tore the front all back apart to ensure I had the timing set up right and it all seems kesher. I have the "O T" on the cam pointed straight up and the crankshaft sproket dot lined up with the dot on the distributor sprocket.

 

timing is off... check it again... vw's are bad about that...

 

Well after about an hour of searching the intraweb I found a VW timing belt guide that someone had made. Apparently the timing mark for the fucking crankshaft is on the fuckin flywheel. Neither Chiltons or Alldata made any mention of it. No wonder the Germans lost WWII. It runs now.

 

a friend of mine had a hard ass time with the timing on a mk1 rabbit convert