MK4 Panzer Plate Install Instructions
This
is the install procedure for installing the Dieselgeek.com MK4 Panzer Plate Skid
Plate Kits. These instructions are for all
1999 1/2 through mid-2005 A4 Jetta, all
1999 1/2 through mid-2006 MK4 Golf, GTI and 2004 R32, and all 1998 through 2010 New Beetles, regardless of engine type, transmission type or body type
(sedan, wagon or hatchback). These instructions and the parts list only
apply to MK4 Panzer Plate kits bought from Dieselgeek.com.
Parts List
One
aluminum Panzer skid plate
Two
identical black powder-coated
steel posts with a two-hole flanged foot.
Nine
30mm long bolts
Ten
1 1/4 inch diameter, 3/8" or 10mm 1/8" THICK
washers for all of the bolts above (one washer acts as a spacer for the rear
center skid plate bolt)
Eight
OE VW rivnuts with
one given free as a spare
Two
1.5 inch long, #10 Phillips head or hex head sheetmetal screws with
stainless fender washers for the front side skirt holes
Two
big headed black Phillips
screws for
rear plastic side skirt holes
Rivnut Install Kit
includes (click here for kit picture):
One
10 inch long, 1/8" thick aluminum rivnut tool
Two
black 10mm studs
Two
10mm or 3/8" external tooth lock
washers
Two 10mm nuts with 17mm
flats
Tools Required:
On all cars except 2.0 gasoline powered vehicles, there is one
bolt that is tricky to
reach with a standard 10" or 12" extension bar. Therefore we
recommend that you have one of the
following special tools on hand to make this one bolt reachable:
10 or 12 inch wobble extension
(click for comparison
to standard extension) Available at Sears or auto parts
stores.
17mm or 11/16 socket AND universal joint adapter
17mm or 11/16 universal joint socket
17mm or 11/16 crow's foot socket
Socket wrench (longer handles are better)
Safety glasses
Torque wrench for more accurate rivnut setting
Torx T25 screwdriver
Flat-blade screwdriver
Phillips screwdriver
Car jack and heavy jack stands and/or car ramps
Any automotive grease
WD-40 or equivalent lubricant spray
A hack saw is useful for modifying your stock side skirts for skid
plate use.
Getting a safe start:
First, jack up
the car and place the car on ramps or sturdy jack stands. For manual shift
cars, set the handbrake and put the car in gear. For automatics, make sure the handbrake
is set and make sure the car is in the "Park" position. Use the floor
jack as a third "safety" jack
stand in the middle of the subframe. You can also do the install on a
vehicle lift if you have access to one. Once the car is safely raised into the
air, remove your center factory plastic air deflector/sound deadening plate by
removing all of the Torx T25
screws. Next, remove the engine bay side skirts by either simply pulling them
downward or by unthreading the flat star speed nuts with a long screwdriver
(two per side) by placing a flat bladed screwdriver in one of the star nut's radial slots
and turning the nut counterclockwise. On turbocharged cars and especially the
TDI, it may be easier to remove the passenger side skirt after the hose leading
into the lower part of the intercooler is removed or the 6mm nut holding the
rear of the intercooler hose is removed. Be careful to save all hardware and
reattach the hose at the end of the install. The OE T25 Torx screws you remove
can be used in place of the Phillips screws we
provide with your Panzer kit.
The rivnuts are the anchors for the skid plate and provide the super
strong and secure attachment points for the skid plate. During this procedure,
you will install seven rivnuts into preexisting 13mm holes on the car's
subframe (picture 1,
2,
3)
and on the underside of the driver side and passenger side frame
rails on either side of the engine bay. (The subframe is below and behind the
engine and has the steering rack and sway bar mounted on top of it.) It is very
highly recommended that you install the first three rivnuts into the rear
subframe since access is the best and you can get a feel for installing them
without any obstructions.
The very first
step for installing the rivnuts is to load the rivnut tool with a rivnut. This
is done by first greasing all of the
threads of
one of the supplied black studs and then threading it into a rivnut using the shorter
threaded end like this. Fully tighten
the stud into the rivnut by hand only and then loosen it by 1/8 turn. Next,
place one of the external tooth washers on the stud and slide it down against the head of the
rivnut. Next, insert the stud through the centered hole in the rivnut tool and then place two of the thick
washers on the stud. Make sure there
is plenty of grease on the exposed threads of the stud. Finally, thread one of the 10mm
nuts onto the greased stud. Tighten the 10mm nut by hand so
that it keeps the rivnut from turning. This assembly is a "loaded rivnut".
All seven rivnuts will be loaded in the same way prior to being installed.
By using the rivnut tool as a handle, insert the rivnut into one of the rear outer subframe holes until its head is completely flush with the bottom of the subframe. Tighten the 10mm nut using a 17mm socket or hand wrench while counter holding with the aluminum rivnut tool. As you are tightening the 10mm nut, be sure to maintain a gentle but steady upward pressure on the rivnut to ensure that it is butted up against the subframe. As you are tightening the 10mm nut, the threaded tubular section of the rivnut that is inside the subframe will slowly pull down toward the 10mm nut and mushroom out and expand inside the subframe to sandwich itself around the subframe hole (Since the mushrooming action takes place inside the subframe you will not be able to see it.). Tighten the 10mm nut until it becomes noticeably harder to turn. At this point, you may either tighten about 1/2 to 3/4 turn beyond this point of greatly increased resistance to fully lock the rivnut in place or finish tightening the rivnut with a torque wrench set to 30 lb. /ft. Once this final tightening has been achieved, loosen and remove the 10mm nut, washer, rivnut tool, external tooth washer and finally the10mm stud from your first expertly installed rivnut. Reload another rivnut in the same exact way as the first and then repeat the procedure for the remaining outside subframe hole. After these first two rivnuts have been successfully installed in the rear outside subframe holes, repeat the process for the last subframe rivnut by reloading the rivnut into the offset hole of the rivnut tool. Install this rivnut into the rear center hole of the subframe.
Installing
the four remaining rivnuts into the underside of the left and right frame rails
is pretty much the same as installing them into the subframe but the newly
designed Rivtool and stud system makes it even easier than ever. You will use
the end of the rivnut tool with the offset hole to install the remaining four
rivnuts. Also, you will be loading two rivnuts at a time on the rivnut tool to
install them into each of the frame rails. First, thread the short end of the
two black studs into two rivnuts and place star washers against the heads of
the rivnuts as before. Insert the studs through the rivnut tool on the side
opposite of the stamped letters like this. Place washers on the studs and
make sure there is sufficient grease on the threads of the two studs. Next,
thread the two nuts onto the studs but leave the nuts
slightly loose so that the rivnuts can move. This will make it easier to align
the rivnuts with the two holes in the subframe. Next, reach up with the loaded
rivnut tool and insert the two rivnuts into the two holes on the underside of
the passenger side frame rail. The "tail" of the rivnut tool will go
toward the rear of the car like this. Helpful hint:
A star washer from your plastic side panels (if you have them) can be used to
hold the rivnut tool firmly up against the frame rail as shown in the previous
picture. Tighten the star washer with your fingers by rotating it clockwise.
The star washer will help keep the rivnuts firmly against the frame rail when
you tighten the nuts like this. Tighten both of the 10mm nuts with a ratchet, 12 inch
extension bar and 17mm socket until you reach the point of greatly increased
resistance. Finish the process by tightening 1/2 to 3/4 turn past the point of
greatly increased resistance or by using a torque wrench set to 30 ft.-lbs.
After both nuts have been torqued, remove the big round star washer if you used
one by unthreading it from the stud. Remove all of the other parts including
the black 10mm studs and please be careful to retain the external tooth lock
washers as they will be reused on the driver side of the car. Repeat this
process on the other side of the car in the driver side frame rail
(New Beetle shown, Golf/Jetta similar). On New
Beetles there may be a power steering-related bracket very near the rivnut
holes so you will need to insert the rivnuts into the holes first before
threading in the two studs. Also, you might need to flip the Rivtool over on
the driver side to get the needed clearance for the power steering bracket.
After
all four of the rivnuts are installed and torqued into the frame rails, you
should spray the female
threaded hole of both of the front mounting posts with WD-40 or equivalent
spray as they are degreased during the coating process and have very sticky
threads if left dry. Next, lightly grease the threads of four of the 10mm bolts
and place the large fender washers onto them. You then attach the front
mounting posts to the underside of the frame rails using the greased 10mm bolts
and thick washers. Leave the mounting post bolts slightly loose. The posts
should be oriented with their legs angled slightly forward in the car
(the post is not welded
perpendicular to the base plate). The skid plate will not fit otherwise. The
four mounting post bolts should not be tight at this time as the slack will
be used to align the plate when is mounted. You will tighten all of the bolts
fully only after the plate and side panels have been mounted.
Once all seven of the rivnuts have been installed, the vertical plastic engine bay side panels or side skirts should be installed. If you bought our "Full Metal Jacket" aluminum side shields you should now switch to this install manual instead.
You may
use your existing plastic side splash guards with the Panzer Plate if the
bottom screw mounting points are still intact. The side skirts are needed keep
water and dirt out of the engine bay reduce engine noise and protect the engine
drive belts. The required modifications to allow use of your existing
plastic side skirts are easy to do by simply cutting them with a hack saw
or Dremel tool as described below.
Modification of your original equipment engine bay side panels or side skirts: To modify your existing side skirts, there are a total of five cuts required per side skirt. The first four cuts will remove the yellow shaded area in this picture. Cut A should be the first cut made with a hack saw. It is 2 inches beyond and parallel to the last gusset (marked with D in the picture). Cut B should be the second cut made with a hack saw. To make cut B, simply cut right down the 90 degree crease in the skirt to the point 2 inches beyond the last gusset which is also the end point of cut A. The last two cuts C and D are simply to finish removing the gussets. It is not necessary to cut them very close to the side of the side skirt. The finished product of the first four cuts looks like this. The final cut is simply removing the tail section as shown here. Repeat the five cuts for the other side skirt.
Install the side skirts by sliding the front rounded edge into the slot in the radiator
support
and then pushing their star nuts onto the threaded stud
on the bottom side of the frame rail. You can tighten the star nuts further by
placing a flat bladed screwdriver in one of the star nut's radial slots
and turning the nut clockwise. On turbocharged cars and especially the TDI, it
can be slightly tricky to install the side skirt on the passenger side of the
car with the lower intercooler hose rear mount still attached to the frame rail
(with a 6mm nut). Removing the hose mount does make it a little easier to
install the side skirt but it is not absolutely necessary to do so. Personally,
I have never removed the intercooler hose or mount during a skid plate install.
Your needs may differ and that is fine.
All
Panzer Plates are manufactured with a trapezoidal keystone shaped cutout for draining your oil through
the bottom of the car. This cutout is meant for four cylinder cars only
and is marked as such on the skid plate. Cars with the VR6, 1.8T gas turbo
engine or the 2.0 liter gas engine will still need to remove the skid plate to
remove the oil filter. TDI owners who have elected or will elect to remove the
keystone cutout will not need to remove the skid plate to change the oil
since the filter housing is at the top of the engine bay.
If you
have a four cylinder car and wish to remove the keystone cutout you
will need to obtain a loose
hack saw blade (shown wrapped with paper towels) or an inexpensive $5.00
Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware, etc. keyhole saw to remove
the keystone cutout like
this picture shows. Cutting the two connecting webs of
aluminum takes a couple of minutes apiece. The trapezoidal hole left in the
plate will work perfectly to drain the oil without removing the skid plate,
assuming the oil is lukewarm. Just put a 19mm or three quarter inch
box end wrench or socket on the drain plug to loosen the drain plug.
Installing the Plate:
Before you lift the plate into place, lightly grease the threads of the five remaining bolts. Place washers onto these remaining five bolts and make sure they are within reach under the engine bay. Thread a lightly greased bolt in and out of the mounting posts to make sure the threads are well lubricated prior to installing the skid plate. To install the plate, center the plate on your chest and lift the skid plate up into place and while supporting the center of the skid plate. Loosely thread two of the 10mm bolts into opposite corners to hold up the skid plate. These two bolts will hold up the skid plate while you are installing the three remaining 10mm bolts. Next, slip the last extra washer between the skid plate and the rear center bolt hole. After the spacer washer is in place, thread a bolt through this skid plate hole and into the center rear rivnut. Finish threading the remaining three bolts. After all of the bolts have been threaded a few turns each to make sure they are threaded correctly, finish tightening them with a 17mm socket and torque them to 30 ft.-lbs. The passenger rear of the skid plate will distort slightly as you tighten the passenger rear bolt. This is o.k.! Next, finish tightening all four of the mounting post bolts to 30 ft.-lbs using your 12 inch long extension and 17mm socket. Once all nine of the 10mm skid plate bolts are fully tightened, attach the side skirts to the skid plate with the four Phillips screws provided with the kit. The long Phillips screws and small fender washers are for the front side skirt holes. Use the short black Phillips screws for the rear side skirt holes.
