I'm currently in the process of taking the engine out of my 1.3 golf - First time I've ever taken an engine out of a car, and probably unusually the same one will go back in again eventually. Following the Haynes manual I came to removing the driveshafts and the nearside driveshaft inner bolts look like they're completely rounded which could become a problem if I want to get them out. So, I started contingency planning and wondering if it might be easier to cut the driveshafts off and replace them. After looking for replacement driveshafts with the inner and outer CV joints I seemed to be drawing a blank (just some links to buycarparts.co.uk that I'm not sure about buying from) - Am I wrong in thinking that this should be a part I can buy off the shelf, or in reality do I need to buy a driveshaft (custom or otherwise) with the correct length & number of splines separately to the joints? TL;DR - Where can I buy driveshafts for a 1.3cl Golf?
bit drastic, you'll probably have no problems getting the bolts out. clean out the bolt heads really well then hammer a spline tool fully home. if it wont go you can hammer a 12 point socket over the top, next size up spline tool, or maybe allen head tool. if you get the front in the air you can drop the whole engine out while still sat on the subframe with shafts and suspension still attached if you release the top mounts from the towers. or take the shocks off the wheel bearing carriers. that'll give you all the room you need to work on the shafts. cut slots in the bolts to get on them with a big screwdriver, use hammer and drift to bash them round, weld nuts on bolt heads, etc.
Thanks for the suggestions rubjonny - Really helpful and I'll give those a try before taking more drastic action Just out of interest, since I've been looking what is the deal with buying new driveshafts? Is there are reason I'm not seeing any available?
the main reason I guess is demand is so low, VW rarely break shafts so mostly the demand is for CV joints. plus people building project cars dont tend to do smallblock engines either! if you hunt around classifieds and conversion groups you'll probably get a set, plenty people doing 20v swaps and such the old gear usually just gets taken down the dump as no-one wants it
