davidwort

thinking of setting up a company 'We-buy-any-car-for-a-tenner-more-than-We-buy-any-car.com'

'fuse box cover' get the flashing gauge checked out, could be as innocent as a dodgy header tank sender or wire/connector to it, or it could be waterpump or radiator/temperature switch/thermostat related, you don't really want to cook it and end up having to do a head gasket.

that's the general idea, or you might as well get an airfix kit :lol:

Anyone tried this, PMSL-ish at the beep... beep... beep... count of how much my petrol I'm using is costing, one penny at a time, especially the rate it went up coming down the motorway this am :nono: You stick in your cost per Litre, town and motorway expected MPG values and it gives you a cost counter for the trip. Keeps you focussed on cost/economy though, apparently the OBD2 lead they do not only displays the ECU info for revs/temp etc (like Supercharged mentioned a while back), but actually ties in with the ecoroute software :dorky: anyway, I now have Garmin proof that I drive less economically in the Corrado compared to the golf. http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/uk/ecoroute 09.gif[/attachment:3az558yw]

TBH, if you don't use them for pizza deliveries etc then the warranties are very good, puts most european cars to shame. Even if the car is worth next to nothing after 7 years you can get a lot of trouble/worry free motoring out of one which is all a lot of people want from a hatchback.

more angular lines please, curvy rear ends and windows don't do much for me... perhaps I should rephrase that :)

what do you think VW will do with those Karmann panel presses? Sit on them forever, or sell them to China :shrug:

your electrics sound like a bit of a nightmare, you need to check ignition advance at idle and make sure it goes up with revs (timing light), if the ignition ecu has a dodgy earth then who knows what it doing. I'm assuming your engine timing marks are all spot on too.

try calling your local DVLA office, they should be able to tell you everything, don't go down there until you have to, you'll queue for hours :)

easy really, although if rusted up they can be a fiddle to brace as you undo the bolt, but then yours has snapped anyway. you'll need a set of rubber bushes and washers for them too, sometimes you get just the link with the bush in it's eye and not the pair of doughnut bushes and their washers.

If demand is low, after the 10 yr (EU law?) manufacturers drop parts, VW seem to continue supply if there is sufficient demand well beyond this, so as has been said on here before, if we all keep buying door handles they'll keep making them, once demand drops to a trickle they'll either discontinue or only have more manufactured when there's sufficient back orders. TBH for a 20yr old car I've found parts supply pretty good, hardly surprising that items like door seals that tend to last 20 years anyway have been dropped. I think we are getting into that point with an old car where pattern suppliers start to pick up on the need for items, unfortunately there's not as big a market for them as there is for golf 1's and 2's.

springs and shocks changed from year to year with modifications VW made, although VR's do share dampers with 2L 8v and 2L 16v cars. Most springs are shared too, although there are some VR specific ones.

might soon be a good time to buy a Toyota though :)

am I the only one getting pi55ed off with this, 'The Press' are just scaring people for no reason at all, from interviews made in the street by the good old BBC it seems the general public has been reliably informed that toyotas are now the most unreliable and dangerous car you can buy. What a load of complete horse manure, even had a knob from Parkers price guide on TV yesterday saying how they may reduce their book prices for second hand toyotas becasue of this :brickwall:

a lot depends on the overall quality of each system stainless expands a lot and so can be more difficult to fit without knocking, even if it's a good quality system, being harder, stainless is often boomier as it seems to resonate more although it very much depends on the design of the silencer boxes. An original VW system is not stainless, but is such good quality steel it may well outlast a lot of stainless systems simply because they crack or faults develop inside the silencer boxes. In general you get what you pay for and an initially cheap system can be a false economy. Don't believe the hype about power increases, the VW systems are fine for a standard car and may well produce better torque than a straight through system that deletes the 'suitcase' unit, or poorly designed aftermarket systems.

throttle cables do need changing from time to time, some of the Corrado ones take quite severe bends as the cars were designed for LHD pedal positions a new cable will make it so much better gear linkages on the corrados can vary a lot, the early ones especially can have a lot of play in them which can be improved by re-bushing the gearlever and swapping components at the selector tower on top of the box VW modified the parts every year from release of o2A boxes to the end of the mk3 production and beyond, later the car the better generally, although worn selector forks or synchros can't be fixed as easily and cheaply.

AFAIK the 'non copper' washers aren't steel but alloy, so they are about as soft as copper ones and can be treated much the same. In theory one use, then replace, but in practice you can get away with reuse.

warm up regulator should have a small 's' shaped hose connecting it to the vacuum system (idle valve pipework etc.)

not sure what decent mid size 4x4's you'd get for this money, probably not a good/recent rav4 etc, but how about a touran? they start in 2004 at around 4 grand and are really practical without being much longer/wider than a golf.

:salute: always a great sense of satisfaction doing something like that yourself, glad it's nearly all sorted.

what exactly is it you're up to? :) any pics? why are you removing a steering lock mechanism?, don't you just need to change lock barrels over?

£2m :lol: Austin Powers Dr Evil moment there, more like £2bn :)

4cyl cars don't need a massive battery, anything from 45 amp/hour to 70 odd will do, although most people go for something in the middle 60-65.

nope, but a polo one will, it's a commonly used VW part, only the Corrado column tube is unique to the C

you can get a VW switch (passat maybe?) that has a rocker switch built in, but is otherwise the same as the Corrado boot one and plugs straight in, handy if you leave the hatch open for a long time.