dinkus

Heh heh that's funny. My dad's got a credit card with something stupid like a £30k+ limit, but he plays a game whenever he gets a new card to see how much he can put the limit up by :lol: I don't think they've ever said no either! :lol: Was it the right colour blue though?

The rear axle bushes alone will transform the handling of the car. They are big rubber cushions between the axle and the car. They are designed to flex a bit so that the axle can twist very slightly independantly of the car when under load. But over time, the rubber goes soft and the axle wanders around of it's own accord. When I first got mine it felt very vague and wandery over about 50, getting progressively worse the faster you went after that. After I changed the axle bushes the thing felt super planted even up to 150 on the autobahns in Germany. You've got 2 of them in either end of the axle where it attaches to the car - the bushes are about £50, but they're a pig to fit and most VW specialists will charge around £300 for the job inc. parts. They need to drop the rear axle off to do them, which means you might as well do the rear brakes at the same time. If you're changing the rear disks, then you'll also need new bearings (they're pressed into the disk) and I'd also lash out the extra £5 a pop for the ABS sensor rings. They clip onto the brake disks and tend to corrode over time, which means there's a fair chance you'll bend one when you take it off, thus you'll get ABS problems. I'd do that first, then see how it feels after. Otherwise, at the front of the car you've got wishbone bushes (VAG only supply the whole wishbone with bush pre-pressed in), ball joints and ARB drop links that could probably do with replacing if they're still original.

Don't touch the brakes while you're still turning (even slightly) - the back end will come round and bite you in the arse. Having said that, it'll make things worse if: You've got stiffer suspension on the rear than the front The rear axle bushes are shot The brake bias is too far back A calliper is playing up and catching before the other

Indeed they are - hence the barely under 5 digit price tag :lol:

Annnd it is possible to get the screen out without damaging it, but not very easy as it's bonded in and all the glue has to be cut away. It actually might be cheaper to upgrade your insurance to fully comp and then use the screen cover, but it depends on how funny your insurer is about doing that.

Mr. Cheesewire has 304mm or somesuch AP brakes. But make sure you're sitting down when he tells you how much they cost :lol:

I think the screen is about £300 :(

My mum pretends she's all sensible, but she's got a 1.8T A4 and does rather like my C too :lol:

Sloppy gearstick probably just means the linkage needs adjusting, so a fairly easy fix. The fuel pumps do tend to get noisy before they die (not uncommon considering it's 10+yrs old) and new ones are around £80. It's probably a good idea to replace the fuel filter either way and it might prolong the life of the pump too. The problem is, the pumps do just die without any further warning and could leave you stranded somewhere. I changed the pump and filter on mine and it's been pretty much silent since.

2.0 8v vs a 1.8 16v.... But there was also a 2.0 16v I believe, so god knows where that fits in. Essentially, there's very little difference between the valvers in performance, but the 16v variants will cost you more to insure. I'd personally look at insurance and how much that's going to cost you - valvers are group 16, VRs are group 18 and the G60 is one of the two as well. The valvers have a fair number of options to tune them, but without spending big bucks, you're not going to get G60 performance. The G is the easiest one to tune and get 200bhp+ numbers out of with fairly standard hardware. Tuning the VR is an expensive task - the most bang for your bucks is a supercharger, but it's still a £1k+ mod...not to mention how much it would cost to insure a modified, 300bhp car at 21.

Standard tech specs are all in the Knowledge Base :)

Drove it 200 miles and spend a disturbing amount on petrol.

Anyone got an Audi 80 I can borrow for a week? :lol: I think that's what the CCGB should do with all their extra dosh - buy an Audi 80 and lend it to anyone thinking of selling their C. If they still prefer the Audi over the C, then they can swap it with the club :lol:

knew someone was going to say that! Indeed - I know it's a billion pages long, but can we please keep it all in one place as it's the same opinions pretty much every time - http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic. ... ve+exhaust

Bit of a tough one, but I'd keep persuing the insurance company about it. Van windows don't just blow out for no reason, so it was either a manufacturing problem with the glass/van, or the window had been damaged at some point. Either way, it's not your fault and someone needs to pay to put your car right again. Make sure you tell them that you'll be writing to watchdog and/or Sun and/or other papers if they don't take your claim seriously. I'd suspect there may be a clause in the van driver's insurace to say they don't cover 'acts of god', but if they try and squirm out of that one, get the nail gun out :D

I have to say that I'm generally not a big fan of bodykits, but that looks really good :)

If you have a search for something like heater AND controls you should get quite a few results. There's also an article in the wiki on late heater control panel repair :)

Don't drive a VR Corrado like 1.2 Corsa, particularly when it has 12yr old saggy suspension at the front and brand new bouncy stuff at the rear. Don't use wooden objects to slow you down. Don't assume someone is insured just because they've given you their details - make sure you see the insurance certificate. Most importantly - don't assume that there's ever going to be an end to your 'wanted mods' list :D

Cool, thanks chaps :D

If you've got a Momo knob, they do a ring that screws into the bottom of the knob and the gaitor ring clips into. Otherwise, I don't think you can :(

Aye, if either/both of you could that would be tip-top. I'm not gonna be home until Sunday now, but will email you guys the relevant pics (CF logos and fonts are in Forum Announcements I think). If you could do maybe a front cover and an example month of the calendar, then we can pick which one we like?

I think we should burn Jim at the stake for being a heretic :lol: The comments about it being 'just an Astra' also apply to any hot-hatch. They're mildly interesting, but nothing that warrants £10k on cleaning. At most, you'll get people saying "ooh that's clean" at a show... then move on and look at something else. If it wasn't that clean then it would hardly even get noticed. If it was rare exotica and/or new Ferrari/Zonda/Veyron, et al, then sure £10k on cleaning it is probably more worth it. Especially as you'll want a decent layer of wax on the car to protect the paint from everyone's drool :lol: At the end of the day - if that guy wants to spend stupid money on having the world's cleanest Astra, then fine. I'd like my car to look that clean, but only if it involved no more than an hour of effort and cost under £100 :lol: If I had £10k to spend on my car it certainly wouldn't be getting spend on wax tho...

Don't forget the bolts for the dashboard in the engine bay! There's uh 1 or 2 on the bulkhead that hold the dash it. Nearly everyone doesn't realise they're there and just undoes the inside ones and hauls on it :lol:

I think doing a 2008 one is more realistic :( If someone knows their way round Illustrator or similar and is willing to have a crack at designing it - please let me know!

As Walsey says - if it happens again - get some Contact Cleaner on it. Also good for cleaning MAFs :D