davidwort

usually outer as the boots split there more frequently, lets in moisture and the joint corrodes and wears, plus they move more than the inner

they can look OK in pics from a distance, but the ones I've seen fitted look a bit of a bodged stick-on afterthought IMO

yep, around the slightly moveable inner part, the pressure valve, 'o' ring around it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8036748.stm

plug and play if you get one with OEM type connectors, plus a new live and earth connection to the battery, feeding through and tying in the wires neatly would take the bulk of the time.

^ I think that's due to the metal absorbing moisture, it's a pain but you need to leave the exposed steel for quite a while with some gentle heating (direct sunshine or a lightbulb near it) before priming, particularly if a large rust patch has formed in an area that's stayed damp for a while, wheel arch, sill etc. The other thing is fine hairline cracks forming in topcoats allowing moisture through to the primer and metal, still not sure why this happens, might be due to the thickness of coats or a poor match of primer and topcoat.

depends where it is, I've never had much luck with 'rust killers', best bet is to ensure the metal is clean and dry (steel can absorb moisture apparently) and all the rust is removed if at all possible, gently warming the panel if it's not warm dry weather is supposed to help remove moisture from the metal, then prime with a 80/90% zinc primer. If it's on the sills or underneath the car then the overpaintable underbody sealant needs to go on top of the zinc primer before top coats.

sorry for the late reply, Haynes just says ensure there are no outstanding fault codes and then connect up strobe light, no disconnecting temp senders etc...

general consensus is that Phillips exteme bulbs are pretty good, and at the standard wattage shouldn't bake your headlight reflectors, however relaying the power feed to the lights will cure the huge voltage drop the old VW wiring suffers from, and that alone will increase the brightness of any bulbs, you can DIY this with a couple of standard auto relays and some inline fuses or buy a made up loom, either way just make sure it's well protected from the elements as salt spray does exposed relays in within one winter.

can't remember on the 9A off the top of my head, but it's in my Haynes, will check when I get home this eve.

all corrados seem to use the same relay, part no. 191 906 383C (location 12)

pull it out and see if it has a VW number on it, then we can check.

if the lift pump in the tank is dead, then the main pump could be struggling and drawing too much current, just a thought.

really need a bit more of a description of the exact problem, the 1.8 16v has a warm up regulator that bolts to the RHS of the head (2 fuel lines going to it) and that provides fuel enrichment until the engine is warm, the CSV (cold start valve/injector) is usually pretty reliable but you can check the operation and the 12V supply to it pretty easily. does the car fair to start or fire but fail to idle? I don't thin diesel would casue a problem in the metering head but injectors could be affected I suppose.

Don't worry about it, my black one was fine for 10 years don't actually think I needed to change it I just thought the seal was probably getting a bit old and perished and the new ones were cheap from GSF. The blue ones just have a slightly redesigned pressure relief valve i think.

the VR hub nuts are torqued up and then turned like stretch bolts aren't they? rather than the highly torqued 4 cylinder ones, 12 rather than 6 points nuts IIRC. sounds like the outer CV shaft is damaged, possibly from the garage that did the bearing using the wrong info to torque up the hub nut?

sounds like a valve sticking inside the rack, try a fluid change, hopefully that'll improve it, worth a go anyway for the sake of a litre of PAS fluid.

they are, but the increases were announced for 3 years last year to be fair.

you need a new o-ring and don't over-tighten the little 10mm bolts, better to just nip them up with a bit of threadlock on them.

follow the bottom radiator hose to the block, it's in plastic elbow that connects the hose to the bottom of the water pump PITA to get at, need to remove PS pump and associated brackets

if you want the sense of achievement then do/pay for a conversion yourself. but I've seen some great looking V6 24v and 1.8T conversions going very cheap recently, pick a well done one and it could save you a packet over doing the job from scratch.

nope, can't use that, the 2L 16v has different hangars on the car and the exhaust has different 'hooks' on it, more like the mk2 golf style. TBH your best bet is to get a custom rear and mid section made and use a pattern mk2 16v golf front box and a mk2 16v downpipe if you need it (same parts) the 1.8 has a silencer box as part of the downpipe at the very front, so if that is shot you need a new full downpipe. what I refer to as the front box (same as mk2 16v) is a short straight pipe with a narrow silencer built into it. pattern rear and mid boxes are generally of dubious quality and there's few off the shelf systems for 1.8's, heard good comments about Jetex systems in the past though, think they still make a 1.8 system.

I vote(ed) remove/replace the whole engine, rounding that bolt has obviously left the whole lump only suitable as scrap, but only because I haven't got the option to drill it out first :mad2:

I was trying to remember your tip, definitely a good idea :salute:

:) don't make any difference, no valve in the matrix, it's all done with air flaps.