My Servo Resto

[Banishit]

well I think it turned out nearly new ? but is the vacuum elbow available for anyhwere?

cheers
Brian

[Dermot]

Looks great Brian.

What did you do to it?

[RUDDY]

You could always have bought a brand new one from Volkswagen for a mk1 Golf GTi , they are 99% identical and require an easy mod to the servo arm and bracket. Once the bracket is repowder coated they look superb . I did one and sold it to Mr Hoarder , if he reads this he might put a picture up.
Best part the servo is only about £90.

[arron]

Looking good Brian, the elbow is actually a non-return valve and I bought one off eBay a while back.

[Banishit]

chee4rs for the comments

what I did was get one of those paint removing disks cleaned it to bare metal and rustier bits I carefully sanded out and primed and sprayed even managed to save the original label

[dasadrew]

Hi Ruddy,

let me know more on the GTi servo connection! LHD servos have been no longer available for about 15 years now even from Ate etc. Do you have any numbers or specs? What "arm and bracket" do you mean? At least on LHD the bracket etc. is not part of the Ate servo, but is a Ford bit of tin.

I looked up GTi in the Ate servo catalogue but it seems nearly each month the servo was changed. Interestingly, Ate list RHD GTi servos, but not LHD any more.

I refurbished a servo like Banishits, only to have the diaphragm fail shortly after (a known weakness on Group 1 engines, apparently).

[RUDDY]

The reason the diaphram fails more often when running idfs is due to fuel contamination of the diaphram . Despite the non return valve fuel still seams to get back to the servo , when my original servo packed in I managed to find a genuine Ford (ATE) servo . A common fix to the fuel contamination problem was to run a longer metal servo to manifold pipe down and under the radiator then back up to the manifold. This forms a sort of dip leg or trap , it seemed to work on my car. As for the VW servos , when I went to my local agent they only listed 2 types for mk1 GTi's , I think one was 7" and one 9" , I think the RS is the larger. I believe the RS ATE servo as T51 stamped somewhere as does the GTi. The difference is in the 4 studs on the back of the servo. They are on a different PCD to the holes in the Ford bracket . I made a plate and had it spot welded to the front with 4 new holes in, then got it powder coated. The arm coming out of the back of the servo has to be modded to be attatched to the rod coming from your pedal . Very easy to do.

[dasadrew]

Cheers Ruddy! Just the info I was after. Unfortunately, those b***dy servos are damned expensive considering they're a tin can with a rubber sheet! I was wondering whether it's possible to prise open a servo and replace the diaphragm. I know the problem with the contamination, too.