87 GTI Ignition Lock Cylinder Replacement

[ewidder]

I can't believe this bonicusheadicus (me) lent the car to my bro who lost the key & I can't find my master. I've found instructions that indicate to drill a 1/8" hole 12mm down & 10mm over from a given reference edge of the cylinder housing. The one detail that I'm unsure about is that the location appears to require the steering column be dropped to drill where I think this spot is (upper left of housing?). Could anyone confirm that this is necessary, or am I reading the picture wrong (OE manual 94.9 Fig 1)? Does this spot also line up relative to key slot? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[ewidder]

Not having seen any replies to this post, I presumed that the steering column does have to be dropped to get drill access to the spot mentioned (12mm down, 10 mm over). Drilling through the aluminum column housing allows the ignition lock cylinder to be pulled from housing. The key code is stamped on the lock cylinder.

[veedubmechanic]

You can also look at the lock cyl on the driver door handle and have a key cut per vw off the code.

But yes you need to remove the column covers and drill the hole to get the cylinder off.