Yandards

It should mean at least a penny off a litre although this is a penny from fuel duty (which is calculated per litre sold), given that a litre is about 1.35 right now the VAT on the penny off also counts. Given that we were due for a rise of 1p a litre IIRC then this is in fact a cut of 2p a litre in duty alone. Although maths is not my strong point :)

VW, less than a tenner for a new one, there is a bracket that hangs down underneath so you need to cut that bit off with a hacksaw, very easy to do.

New battery pitched up and I jacked the car up this morning to have a look at the underside with the view to replacing the 2 front to rear solid brake lines that are currently an MOT failure. Underneath looks ok, few bits that need attention where the underseal has split but otherwise ok. The car has a set of braided lines fitted which is a bonus - full set of all 6 flexis have been done. Suspension is nearly new Weitec stuff, shame to take it off but I want the ride comfort more than anything and I already have the 16vG60 for more sporty fun (when that's back on the road :)). No other horrors lurking underneath with a quick survey, the CAT heat shield bracket is cracked on one side, but they usually are, I think I have found the source of the PAS fluid leak and the N/S/R hole where the ABS sensor passes through is a bit grotty but again will clean up ok. So 1st job was to get the brake lines off, all came undone ok without messing up the pipework or rounding any nipples - there is a copper pipe that runs to the drivers side front caliper so that solid line has been replaced in the past. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45644[/ATTACH] Next up was to bend the new pipe to match the old, first shot at this so it's not as good as I would like but it's not too bad and frankly is better than using copper pipe. Then it was onto the flaring process, I recently boughy myself a Flaremaster 2 kit which is designed to be used on the car and is rated to be able to flare OE VW pipe - steel flares. It uses a hydraulic piston instead of just tightening up a nut and after having a play with it when I got it it is very easy to use and gives good flares. Pics are of the assembly ready to flare, flare done but still in the tool and a comparison of the original pipe flare vs the new one. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45639[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45640[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45641[/ATTACH] Trial fitted the one pipe I managed to make up just to see if it all lines ok, pretty pleased with it and I tried making up the other solid line after, unfortunately I have run out of pipe to make anymore but had some more practice on the bits I had left. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45645[/ATTACH] Finally for today a quick check inside the car revealed this: [ATTACH=CONFIG]45643[/ATTACH] It was all coming from the underfelt I removed yesterday that was wet and had left in the car overnight, as it's nice and sunny I thought I would leave it somewhere to drip dry and get the heat from the sun. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45642[/ATTACH] More brakeline is now on order from VW, along with a heater matrix, drivers side bolster and a selection of new trim screws. Plan tomorrow is get the heater controls, dash surround and centre console out so I can prep as far as possible for replacing the heater matrix when it arrives.

Don't know but it's rare..

Back onto usual work pattern so I carried on with the strip out today. Decided I needed to get the carpet out, rear quarter door cards etc as it would be easier to clean up like that, the car also needs an alarm installing so it's easier with no trim in and I can do a decent job of routing all the cables. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45629[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45624[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45625[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45628[/ATTACH] All went according to plan until I got to the underfelt, the passenger side was pretty moist, I figured as the door plastic membrane was a bit of a mess it was probably just leaking when it rains. Closer inspection of the heater control box area showed some dreaded pink goo on the bottom clips - coolant leak :( [ATTACH=CONFIG]45627[/ATTACH] So I am now getting a heater matrix as well as changing the radiator - at least it will have been done and I am going to go for the genuine VW item as I don't want to be doing it again any time soon. Rest of the car looks ok with the trim off, started removing all the extra wiring people fit for ICE and old alarm fitments just to clean it all up and put it back to factory. On removing the passenger side boot carpet the rear suspension turret is starting to look a little funky, so it will be out with the wire brush to get it all back down to solid metal and then treated with Jenolite and painted with Zinga. The rest of the panels all ok for now but they will get a heavy attack of waxoil prior to the door card etc going back in. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45622[/ATTACH] New/old airbox arrived today so the old K&N cone filter is off the car and a factory airbox now sits in its place. Also had the new Sachs gas dampers for the front and rear arrive, just waiting on the original used springs to be delivered. Ordered 100ml of blackberry paint to see how that works out, the rear tailgate will need it as will the inner rear arch when I have attacked that. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45626[/ATTACH] Finally I had a good chat with the former owner who shed some light on a few things, it would seem that the car managed to bake the engine and had a 6 thou skim on the head to sort it out, he still has all the old history so will bring it over next time he is up my way - really chuffed about that as it's good to know what has been done. Pictures of work in progress and one of the central locking pump and central locking/electric window ECU for those folks who have never seen one. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45623[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45621[/ATTACH]

Try VW Spares. Prices are not too bad and the parts are usually at the top end of the pattern parts market (ie Febi, Sachs, Mahle) so will last longer than some bits and will fit unlike some of the ebay tat!

Agreed although depending on the use the flywheel could be nicely polished up, although again with removing the box to check it's a complete unknown.

More likely to be the new clutch, release bearing or fingers or even the release arm pivot being out of alignment slightly. Suprised it needed a new clutch at 70k though, should be able to get loads out of an 8v clutch. It could be the flywheel has worn to the old clutch and this is causing the judder on re-engagement, unfortunately it's not likely to go away unless you get it skimmed flat and replace the friction plate :(

Nah you keep the existing ECU and sensors just get a MAP table more suited to your own car - it works due to the massive variations in the power outputs of the G60s, throw in age and wear and it becomes huge and the ECU can't cope. Looking good Alex, you aiming to get her back on the road for summer then?

I've got 3 in Duffus (Elgin way) and there is another one at work.

No, that's the part number for the glovebox light. A boot light is part number 331 947 113 and should be about £10 from the stealer inc VAT.

Cracked on well during the last two days, got the drivers door handle lock re-tumbled so I am back down to a single key, rear boot repair filler has been flattened back to look a little better and re-coated with another layer on Zinga. Got the drivers seat out and had a good hoover of the footwell area, started cleaning the drivers side carpet and the headlining - both of which are coming up ok. So all in all some good overall progress but not a lot to show for it right now. I also re-electroplated some of bolts that hold the door gubbins in place, both the large screws that hold the inner handle on and the ones that hold the outer handle in place. Door handles have not been refitted to the car and the addition of some lubrication on the striker mechanism now means they both operate nicely -the drivers one was terrible beforehand. The plan next week as I was on late shift was to crack into the various mechanical jobs I needed to do, both solid front to rear lines need replacing as does the one that goes accross the rear beam. I also wanted to swap all the suspension bits over for the new parts, refit a factory airbox, drop the oil and coolant, replace all the brake line flexis, replace the brake fluid, tidy up the wiring on the MAF and fit the replacement radiator. However, thanks a unnamed North African dictator I now have to go into work tonight and am on 12 hour shifts for a while - not bothered about the extra work it's just the timing is lousy :) Anyway here are some pictures of what I have managed to get done: [ATTACH=CONFIG]45553[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45547[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45549[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45552[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45554[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45551[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45548[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45550[/ATTACH]

Humn, after owning 4 over a period of 6 years (still got 3) of various states of model, condition and age I would say they are pretty reliable in terms of stuff that will actually stop you driving them. However, as with any car with a large quantity of electrical bits - coupled with age and wear, things have stopped working on all the cars I own. The 16v electrical recarro heigh adjust switch on the drivers side was dodgy - that just needed the contacts cleaning up. My first VR6 had dodgy central locking which turned out to be a broken wiring loom in the passenger door. My nugget had a bust heater control valve and leaking O/S/F rear damper that meant I drove it home 350 miles with no heating overnight in late October. The current VR6 has a bust spoiler (won't auto raise or lower), poor idle with cutting out, bad paint, stiff heater controls (late control problem only) and more. So are they reliable, yes mostly, ironically it was my Mk 2 'rocco that actually broke down properly (dripping water from scuttle onto fuse box) and my nugget died on the way to BVF a couple of years ago (shorting lambda probe blowing fuse for fuel pump) but I think the question you need to ask is how many folks are still using them as daily drivers and what other cars of that age are also being used in that way? Not many I can thing off, most Mk 3s are very cruddy by now and when was the last time you saw a Calibra or a Probe?

A Blackberry VR6 that makes the garden shed look clean and tidy, work so far on the blog thingy - click the number of blog post thing underneath my post count to read progress so far.

Still got a carbon can and a standard airbox fitted? If not it messes up the idle and MAF readings and cause the behaviour you describe.

No its not. Get the VAG stuff as it does the job it's designed for and at £20 a tube it's a lot cheaper than paint to sort a scratched sunroof.

Always think its a shame VW never produced a set of smoked rears like the Mk 2s; that would really help the back end look a lot more modern. Don't know how could the smoked lamin-x type stuff is for the rear lights although there are some companies offering templates - might be worth a shot rather than a spray tint.

Yep, although its not a primer its a coating - Zinga. All the bare metal was treated with Jenolite jelly prior to Zinga application which is a chemical rust killer; so the combination of both products should mean it stops without any furthur issues. I will be putting another layer of Zinga on today (was getting dark last night) after I have tidied up the filler and then slapping a temporary topcoat on it until I get some blackberry paint.

Humn, well given I have just fitted a set of original units to replace a pair of inpros that were on there (similar to 2nd ones down on this list but not LEDs) I can't comment. But you can buy them off me for £40 plus the postage.. :)

Right, not really got the hang of that there blog thingy so I will do normal updates in here and also then blog the post with update - I think that's the way this is supposed to work anyway :) Ok, so today was the first day I attacked the car properly, decided as the weather was ok (ie not raining) that I would have a go at the poor paint to see how much work I had gotten myself into. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45512[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45520[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45513[/ATTACH] After 5 passes with the rotary with my strongest polish and cutting pad I was getting no where fast. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45507[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45516[/ATTACH] So I decided to try a spot of wet sanding. I soon ended up finding the original blackberry underneath the respray so carried on sanding so I could get an idea of how it was coming along. The plan was to only wet sand the top edge of the wing up to the 1st panel line, from there down the respray is not too bad. I needed to cut back to where the wing meets the door and A pillar so I could get an idea of what it was going to be like. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45521[/ATTACH] Suffice to say the original paint is in good condition underneath the poorly colour matched top coat and a single go with the rotary polisher brings it up a treat! I think I will be able to get away with only sanding the top of the wing for now but the door and rear quarter may need more work. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45517[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45508[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45518[/ATTACH] Satisfied that the paint was recoverable and how best to go about that I set to work on the interior, 1st thing to do was to get the passenger seat out, which revealed this: [ATTACH=CONFIG]45511[/ATTACH] Not too bad but definitely in need of some serious hoovering, so I cracked on with that and got the passenger side ready for cleaning. It was time for some lunch by then so I went in for a bit, just as I was heading back out the Parcelforce bloke delivered a set of original rear light fittings. As I am easily distracted I ignored the previous job and set about getting the mIngPros off the car. As I was stripped the rear lights off the boot I spotted some corrosion (or rust if you like) on the inside of the boot, so off came the number plate plinth to reveal this. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45515[/ATTACH] Complete with one that had gone all the way through! [ATTACH=CONFIG]45514[/ATTACH]. It looks like the welding guy at Karmann was having a bad day as both of these points are the strengthing bracket that supports the spoiler mech. So it was out with the dremmel to grind all that corrosion out which left me with this. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45510[/ATTACH] Finally all the bare metal was treated with Jenolite Jelly, a corrosion neutraliser, before being painted with Zinga, spray coating that gives a performance equivalent to hot galvanic dipping, prior to filling the bit that had gone through. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45509[/ATTACH] Luckily as it all lives behind the number plate plinth I don't have to worry too much about the final finish, which is handy as I don't have any blackberry paint!!