MKIV
Panzer
Plate Install Instructions
This is the install procedure for
installing the
Dieselgeek.com MKIV Panzer Plate Skid Plate Kits. These instructions
are for all
1999 1/2 through mid-2005 Jetta IV, all 1999 1/2
through mid-2006 MK4 Golf IV, GTI and
2004 R32, and all
1998 through
2008 New Beetles, regardless
of engine type,
transmission type or body type (sedan, wagon or hatchback).
These
instructions only apply to MK4 Panzer Plate kits
bought from
Dieselgeek.com.
Parts List
One
aluminum skid plate
Two identical black powder-coated steel posts with a two-hole flanged foot.
Nine 1.4" long bolts (17mm heads, 10mm thread x 30mm long with a 1.5mm thread pitch)
Ten
1.25 inch diameter 10mm
THICK washers for all of the bolts above
(one washer acts as a
spacer for the rear center skid plate bolt.).
One 10 inch long aluminum rivnut tool
Eight
gold rivnuts
(All 2008
Panzer
kits shipped after December 31st, 2007 include
eight gold rivnuts.
If you have a 2007 kit with black rivnuts, please use these
instructions.
Two
1.5 inch long Phillips head sheetmetal
screws with
stainless fender washers for the front
side skirt holes
Two
OE
Torx T25 screws
for rear side skirt holes
Tools
Required:
Torx
T25 screwdriver
17mm
socket and socket wrench (longer handles are better)
12
inch extension bar for socket wrench
Flat-bladed
screwdriver
Phillips
screwdriver
Torque
wrench for accurate rivnut setting
Car
jack and heavy jack stands and/or car ramps
Any
automotive grease
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 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 best
to install the first three rivnuts into the subframe since access is
the best
and you can get the knack of installing them without any obstructions.
To prepare to install all of the rivnuts, grease the threads of all nine 10mm x 30mm bolts and place one 10mm washer on each one. Insert one of these greased bolts with washer through the offset or centered hole in the rivnut tool and into a rivnut. Tighten the bolt slightly so that it is snug only. 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. Using a 17mm socket and ratchet, start tightening the 10mm bolt while counter holding with the aluminum rivnut tool. Maintain a gentle but steady upward pressure on the rivnut as you are tightening the bolt to ensure that it is butted up against the subframe. As you are turning the 17mm bolt, the center section of the rivnut will slowly mushroom out/expand to lock the rivnut into the subframe hole (The mushrooming action takes place inside the subframe and cannot be seen.). Once the rivnut is tight enough to completely stop turning in the subframe hole, finish tightening it with a torque wrench to 35 lb. /ft to fully lock the rivnut in place. Once this torque has been achieved, reverse the ratchet and remove the 10mm bolt and rivnut tool from the rivnut. Repeat the procedure using a second rivnut and install it into the remaining outside subframe hole and torque it to 35 ft.-lbs. After these first two rivnuts have been successfully installed in the rear outside subframe holes, repeat the process for the last subframe rivnut by using only the offset hole of the rivnut tool. Install this rivnut into the rear center hole of the subframe and torque it down to 35 ft.-lbs. Next, take a break and read the following steps carefully.
To
install the four remaining rivnuts into the underside of the frame
rails you
have two options. The first option is to use the aluminum rivnut tool exactly
as you have
for the first three rivnuts. The second option for installing the last
four
rivnuts is to install them by using the black mounting posts as
holding/installation tools. It turns out that the mounting posts make
very
effective and convenient counter-holding devices. To prepare the
passenger side
mounting post for installation, push two rivnuts through the 13mm holes in the
bottom of the frame
rail meant for the rivnuts. Next, place the mounting post up against
the two
rivnuts making sure that you orient it to where the post angles
slightly forward
in the car (the post is not welded perpendicular to the base plate).
Next,
thread one of the greased bolts through a hole in the mounting post and
into
one of the two rivnuts. Hold the post up against the rivnuts to make
absolutely
sure both rivnuts are flush against the underside of the frame rail.
Once you
are sure that the rivnuts are completely flush against the underside of
the
frame rail, tighten
the 10mm bolt
to 35 ft.-lbs with a ratchet, 17mm socket and 12 inch extension bar.
Repeat
with another greased bolt and rivnut. After both bolts have been
properly
torqued to 35 ft.-lbs slightly loosen them to aid skid plate
mounting/alignment. You will be able to tighten the bolts fully after
the plate
has been mounted.
On the driver
side of the car,
install the second mounting post using two of the remaining rivnuts,
greased
10mm bolts and 10mm washers. On the driver side of the car it is
helpful to attach
the rivnuts and greased bolts to the mounting post before
pushing the
rivnuts into their holes. Once you are sure that the rivnuts are
completely
flush against the underside of the frame rail, tighten
both of the
10mm bolts to 35 ft.-lbs with a ratchet, 17mm socket and 12 inch
extension bar.
After both bolts have been properly torqued, slightly loosen them to
aid skid
plate mounting/alignment. You will be able to tighten the bolts fully
after the
plate has been mounted.
After all
the rivnuts are installed and torqued, both skid plate mounting posts
should be
loosely bolted to the underside of the frame rails with their legs
jutting forward
in the car as 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 has been mounted.
Once all seven of the
rivnuts have been installed, the vertical plastic engine bay side
panels or
side skirts should be installed:
We
always highly recommend reuse of your existing side
skirts to reduce the
demand for more plastic in the world. Even if your side skirts are
damaged, they
can be reused if the screw mounting points are still intact. The
plastic side
skirts that are used with our replacement side skirt kits are the same
original
plastic Volkswagen parts that your car was equipped with from the
factory. The
side skirts provide absolutely no other function than to keep water and
dirt
out of the engine bay and to reduce engine noise. They are not
structural at
all when used with the Panzer Plate. The Panzer Plate
provides all
of the structure and load bearing capacity for striking any
obstructions in the
roadway. Furthermore, the required modifications to allow use of your
existing
side skirts are very easy to do and should take at
the most 15 minutes
by simply cutting them with a hack
saw.
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.
If you purchased a pair of
replacement
engine bay side panels from us,
install the new plastic 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
nuts 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.
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.
Adding
an Optional Oil Drain Hole to Your Skid plate:
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 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 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.
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, make sure that the remaining five 10mm
bolts
with thick washers are placed within reach under the engine bay. 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, install the last extra washer supplied with the kit as
it acts a spacer
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
35
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 35 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 two long Phillips
head screws
and black T25 Torx screws provided with the kit. The long Phillips
screws are
for the front side skirt holes. Use the standard Torx screws for the
rear side
skirt holes. After a day or so you can replace the Phillips screws with
Torx
screws as the side skirts will be molded to the new skid plate.
