I can only guess as to why the bolts were broken: if they were loose, or loosened, they might shear off.
We have a winner! The bolts were definitely loose. The threads were in pretty bad shape. It looks like I reused them, and I am kicking myself, because I never should have done so.
The car is finally back in Savannah. I managed to get 2 of the 3 bolts out and replace them with socket head screws. (how'd that Meatloaf song go? '2 out of 3 ain't bad'
) I found the hardware with 12.9 stamped on the head, which should have a tensile strength of 170ksi. The M8x1.25x25mm worked best. Some really rough math says that it should take 13 kips to make one of those bolts yield. I wish I was making that kind of torque
I can tell you that it runs better than ever. The clack is less noticeable at idle then it has ever been. This leads me to believe that that bracket was never properly secured. Kudos to VW and Giles for making a pump/engine that would keep running with the pump literally falling of of the engine block. Variable static timing = no problem
As for the repair itself, the one bolt that still had a head (top left) was pretty simple to get out, I just took it easy on it because I was afraid it would break. The second one (bottom left) I was able to get out with some PB blaster and an automatic center punch. That trick really does work well if the bolt is not seized in there or damaged too badly. The third bolt (right middle) actually broke twice! the head had sheared off and I could feel it in the hole of the bracket, so I was hopeful that I would have plenty to get a hold of, but when I took the bracket off it was just a piece of the shaft and it had quite an ugly break down in the hole. I worked at it for hours, but I did not have a drill with me or a decent torch, and I could get the bracket very secure to the block with the two new bolts so I decided to get it back home where I have access to more tools, not to mention level ground to work on. I will be going at it with a drill and bolt extractors in the near future.
Aside from all that it was a nightmare repair. You know one of those where Murphy's law is in full-effect. The worst was that I dropped the clip that secures the cold start advance cable to the pump when I was trying to hook it up, and it fell down to an unreachable place wedged between the block and the coolant pump. I actually had to remove the IP, the IP bracket, the alternator and the water pump (for only a second to minimize coolant spillage) to get a hold of it. The Bentley says to hook the coldstart cable up after you have bolted the pump in place and hooked up the injector fuel-lines, which leaves no room to work. The second time around I hooked up and adjusted the cable with the pump sitting on the radiator, and then slid it into the bracket and bolted it up. That was so much easier I can't even tell you.
But the kicker is that when I went to put the alternator back I noticed something jiggling around inside of it and it was making a ringing sound when I turned it by hand as though something was catching a little on one of the cooling fan blades within. Needless to say the alternator light was on or blinking most of the drive home, and now my YellowTop is spending a spell on the charger. I have the ABF setup, so it is not a cheap or easy to find alternator. I bought this one from a guy new (not remanufactured) in December of 2009, so it is just a bit out of warrantee. He was totally awesome and did cut me a deal on another one though.
I guess while I have it all apart to get the final bolt, I will for the sake of caution put a new timing belt and tensioner on. I am debating grabbing some of those ARP M8 Accessory studs to really make it bullet proof, but that may be overkill.
Thanks for the help everyone. I have some photos I will get up later, because my camera battery is charging at the moment.