davidwort

Nice cars, final and best development of the VW 1.8/2L 16v engine. Good high lift cams and more mid range than the Corrado 2L 16v. Most mk3 16v's out perform the 150bhp they're rated at. At that age it'll benefit from replacement of all the suspension bushes making it drive much tighter and more precisely, it has basically the same components as the VR6 corrado but better build quality. Check for the usual VW gearbox synchro problems on 1st and 2nd and the treadwear on the tyres should give some idea of any suspension/bushes problems. It'll probably be better if it's been driven fairly hard, they don't particularly like tootling about and few people drive them as they were designed (right through the rev range.) Like any car of that age it's individual condition and not really specific faults or low mileage that are the best to look for. David.

VW's have rubbish ancilliary tensioners, my golf 4 16v one makes odd squeaking noises mainly when cold and my neighbours Sharan sounded mental until he had the tensionner replaced. You'll only quieten them down for a short time if you try to lubricate them. The old V belts seem more reliable :roll:

so I think all you need to do is remove belt, rotate cam pulley 180 deg and swap the plug leads round. Are you sure the rotor arm is pointing to the mark on the dizzy body and not just the lead that happens to be no. 1.

Is there an ECP nr you, I'd go and check out the more expensive rad they list as only for the 16v, not the 50 quid one. I reckon it's not far off the VAG one quality and performance wise.

so what's happened to their web site then?, can't find anything other than general company info now, all the on-line product info has gone???

Bally, do you have no side repeaters now then, I'm pretty sure this is an MOT requirement on cars after 1986 ish.

think I'm right in saying that the flywheel can only go on in one position so it's the cam's that are out, you can fix this by removing the cam belt and turning the cam pulley round 180 deg (with the pistons a little way down of course to clear the inlet valves when open). which marks don't line up, flywheel to bottom cambelt pulley, mark should line up with arrow on lower timing cover Dizzy mark for rotor arm against mark on body and cam pulley mark should be vertical.

I think that's mainly because you can get away with a bit of over-fuelling by just tweaking the WUR, the ECU on the KE-jet tends to interfere with that, lambda etc... even if re-chipped, and it's not the most modern or powerful ECU.

:? KE jet adds gubbins under the bonnet (like the knock sensors and plug lead spark detection wire) and is more troublesome, if you want the plastic cover over the front of the metering head then just fit a KE jet one to a K-jet system.

have they checked the pre-cat emissions? Jim's car is too high on emissions but the pre CAT test is OK, so it's the CAT that is kaput. David.

Corrados in scrayards are very rare in this neck of the woods... :roll: there's 2 at intapart on the outskirts of Daventry, one VR6 with worn cream leather and a 16v.

idle figure should be 0.5-1.5%, but most 16v's on K-jet are happier with it around 2%, I've not found that this significantly increases fuel consumption. The UK MOT test has a maximum of 3.5% for this age of car. Timing should be 6 deg advanced at idle, but if you have sufficient grade of fuel available most 16v's will cope with up to 8 deg of advance, that will give you a bit more power and/or reduce fuel consumption a small amount. David. Note: if the cambelt is out by one tooth and the ignition timing based on that, then you will have major problems with fuel consumption

air gun them off or find a friendly garage that will buzz them undone for you! Do you also need the slotted tool for removing the spring top plate, I have access to one of those if you need it. Jim, top mounts are the worst for handling generally as you get such a pronounced side to side wobble, you can do both sides for under 20 quid's worth of parts and you don't even need a spring compressor as you leave the spring top plate in place. It's really only 4 nuts to do the whole job if you don't count removing the wheel! A long beaker bar helps if the strut bottom bolts are a bit siezed. If the front wishbone bushes are on their way out that's more of a job as you need to remove the wishbone and either press the old ones out or replace the whole wishbone with one with new ones in already, most garages will replace the whole wishbone as it takes less time even though the parts are more expensive. Rear beam bushes are best left to a garage unless you have access to a 2 poster garage lift yourself or the proper VW press to do it in-situ, probably one for Stealth. If you plan on doing all of this work, you might as well get the anti-roll bar bushes and drop links done too, all that will dramatically improve the tightness of the chassis and steering. David.

glad to hear you've got some things diagnosed Jim, front top mounts can make things pretty dangerous so they're def a priority, pretty cheap too, my old mk 1 used to drift suddenly like I'd been caught in a cross-wind when it's went. CAT is a bummer, I'm thankful I've got a pre-cat car every MOT, at least you can get pattern ones for the 2L. Let's hope you get that ISV soon, I'll keep a lookout for another anyway as i occasionally spot them and they seem to be a problem for everyone, think mine needs another clean too, last day or so it's been sticking at 1100 revs occasionally until you blip the throttle :roll:

It won't be a fun car if the charger goes, either you drive a 1.8 with very low compression which will be like driving a 1L :lol: or it costs you near what the car is worth to fix. They're really enthusiasts cars now and you have to be prepared to put money and time into them to keep them going as they should be. David.

ditch the KE-Jetronic system and go earlier K-jetronic (1.8 16v system) easier to set up for engine mods. Internally polish both inlet and exhaust manifolds and gas flow the head, you'll then be looking at 170-180bhp on KR cams.

# yep, but it's not as stringent as for a car with a CAT post 1992, 2% CO should pass OK, think 3.5 is the limit for a non CAT car.

don't know why, they look exactly the same and have same diameter piston, I had them side by side and the only difference is the spring for returning the handbrake cable, exposed on the early ones. But if one has siezed the other won't be far behind, my second one was about 6 months later! the mk4 ones are totally different, alloy and need different hoses fitting, not sure if they have to go on upside down so the bleed nipple is in the wrong place?

your tyres may have worn unevenly with the alignment/camber out, so it may be your tyres causing the problem now.

a lot depends on your driving style and journeys, a 1.8 in good condition on standard tyres driving on the motorway at a steady cruising speed can easily reach 40mpg, driving around town the torque curve, gear ratios and weight of the car mean you can barely reach 25mpg in some situations. Brim to brim is the best way of working out mpg, the MFA's vary a lot but are almost always over optimistic. With the K-jet system on a 1.8 16v warmer weather makes a big difference on fuel consumption through the warm up phase. There's so much that can affect mpg, wheel alignment, injector spray pattern, timing (ignition and engine), binding brakes, partially blocked/blowing exhausts, manifold vacuum leaks etc... David.

yep, cables and hoses fit fine, got mk3 ones on my 1.8 16v simply because GSF didn't have any of the earlier design in stock when I needed to exchange the old ones, they let me have the mk3 ones as we compared them and they were the same layout.

sounds like it is on back order from Germany, I'd have thought someone would have one in stock somewhere, maybe worth while going for the 16v specific one from Euro car parts, 86 quid with free delivery, they have them in stock, not the same as the 1.6 carb rads that sell for about 50 quid, they fit but aren't as good at cooling, that's what GSF sell. David.

have a search on the web, there's quite a few wheel circumference calculators about, found this from a link in the forum wiki (go near middle of long page) http://www.chris-longhurst.com/carbible ... bible.html depends on the profile and width of the tyre you choose, go low enough and the 17's may not be far off 15's, whatever the difference between 15's on 195-50s and the tyre choice you go for on 17's divide the diameter in two to get the amount extra they'll fill in the top of the wheel arch.

a golf mk3 rear caliper will go straight on with the standard hoses, only difference is a slightly re-designed handbrake release spring, doesn't sieze as easily as the golf2/early corrado ones.

as a rough guide I'd expect to get between 3 and four fingers in between the top of the tyres and the bottom of the wheel arch (195-50-15's), springs sag with age and the rubber mounts compress so they often sit lower than expected on standard springs. I've lowering caps on the front, eibach springs and rear koni's on their lowest groove (non-coilovers) and it sits level with about 30mm above the tyres, about 40-50mm lower than standard. The late VR6's seem to be the highest standard suspension so don't compare with them.