davidwort

Well I've committed to the survey, £100 down, non refundable if I don't go for it, but if nothing else I get an EPC inspection/certificate out of that. My house is in an ideal position and no-one else will be able to see the south facing panels on the back of the house so now it really comes down to how many they say they can fir up there :) cost-wise as well as being a very good install price, It's easy for me to draw on what I've already paid off my mortgage without any penalty, so I basically end up with paying my mortgage off faster after a few years after having borrowed off my mortgage to invest in something, and it's all government backed for 20 years. The only way I can see losing anything is if I move in a couple of years which isn't likely, and even then it will raise the EPC rating of my house and give a future owner a guaranteed income so I should get something back on the value of the house. My son is going to have to get used to playing the Xbox in daylight hours only from now on :lol:

it's just wear on the arm mechanism, either replace the whole thing or it can be dismantled and sometimes fixed with a bit of fiddling, I managed to repair an early one but it was a bit of a fiddle trimming small bits of plastic and so on.

I've drained most of the coolant into a clean washing up bowl and reused before, using the bottom rad hose o drain, pouring back into the engine through a filtered funnel just in case of dirt. A smear of silicone sealant or grease on the seals can help seat them.

Thinking of getting some ikea solar panels, before you laugh, no they don't come as flat-pack self assembly! the current feed in tariff from the government ends in April next year possibly, and ikea are doing a good deal though Hanergy for an install, a 2.4kw system for 4 grand fully installed, 4kw about 6k, which I'd simply draw on some of my house equity to pay for. Estimated to give a 12-14% return on investment over 20 years, basically helping to pay off my mortgage, panels have a 25 yr warranty, inverter 5 years. I was always against the things based on mainly pay-back time, but I'm struggling to find a problem with this offer and the current FIT level if I get it done in the next couple of months, any accountants (o anyone) out there have a view :)

could even be a leaking HG, oil into the chamber, like you say, soon see what's what with the head off.

does it puff blue smoke on the overrun? that's when vacuum sucks oil down the valve guides yeah, just whack the head off, worst bit is the 6 manifold to downpipe nuts (easiest from under car with extension bars) otherwise it's a very easy job to do the HG/take the head off

might just be valve stem seals, I did mine (and the headgasket obviously) for about 30 quid all in, cleaned and re-lapped the valves while I was at it. In my opinion, unless you can get a 2l 16v engine, keep the 8v or find another 8v engine, digifant ('93 and '94 cars) and the later system on the '95 8v's aren't the most fantastic EFI systems but it's more fuel efficient than kjet, pretty bullet proof and the 2.0 8v will be much the same to drive the vast majority of the time.

Might as well get a new ignition switch if it's not been done

Make sure it's bone dry, heat the panels with a hair dryer or fan heater (not hot air gun!) as moisture in the metal will rust through straight away otherwise.

If you go back to my link to Yokohama, post #23 you'll see they warn of tyre failure if you go beyond the rim width range specified for each tyre.

Oh yuck, the straight pieces need a new length soldering in and heat shrink tubing over the section, the ones near the plugs really need new plugs or second hand plugs with a good length of wire to solder onto

Should be a very thick metal washer

is something missing? the weight should be firmly bolted in place on the raised part of the cable to lever fixing bolt.

just take a spark plug out, if it's running rich they will be black and sooty, give it a good run though if you usually do a lot of stop start town driving (which kills mpg anyway - lucky if you get over 25/30)

no, the steering lock is part of the ignition switch housing and released when the lock barrel rotates (sort of cam arrangement on the shaft of the lock which turns the ignition switch at the very end), they can stick and even fail altogether, usually though you end up with no lock at all. most likely needs a new housing.

yes, with the water temp too cold when you are cruising (stat stuck open) the engine will be running rich

One of my favourite underrated vw's the mk2 jetta 16v, better car than the golf.

What are you tightening to? Cam caps aren't very tight

no, the abf head is a slightly different casting again (from the KR and 9A) and has different valves, guides, collets, springs etc, it was built as a higher revving 2L and as the final 16v head revision from VW has a number of improvements over the previous ones.

ABF head is better than the 9A, slightly improved valvegear, but replacing the stud in the 09A head should be pretty easy???

That brings back memories, I came back from GTI International at the TRRL to Silverstone in one of the GTI Engineering Corrado 16v demonstrators when my dad was service manager at GTI, I think it was a grey 2.0 16v conversion to a 1.8, not the 2.1 though, it's what led me to do my 2L 16v conversion. I did have the pleasure of driving their 2.1 16v club sport mk2 GTI, and that was pretty wild, the best one was the golf G60 demonstrator though, converted to RHD and 1.9 I think.

jeeez, doesn't take much to stir you lot up :lol: how many of you vote anyway? :bomb:

it's in the bottom of the fuel tank, need to remove the lid in the floor, unscrew the cap ring and twist to remove the pump, there are two types on the VR6 depending on year, late ones share the 2.0 8v engine pump and a mk3 GTI/VR6 pump will also work providing you bend the float arm a little

:lol: but 5% are colour blind???

I tried one out the other day, very fast and responsive and that's compared to the ipad3 I use every day, very impressed, I just prefer a bigger screen for use at home as I do more web browsing than film watching or game playing and a small tablet doesn't seem a big enough step up from my phone for that.