Yandards

If you don't use the key to lock the doors then there is no reason you can't use a non-central locking handle, as Emu said, the only thing the wiring on the door handle does is give a signal to the central locking brain to activate the vacuum pump and shut the window (& sunroof depending on year). It is only a microswitch or two in the door handle so you might be able to retrofit the electrical gubins from the old handle onto a new non-central locking one. You could always use the passenger door lock to lock the car occasionally as well..

Any decent tyre fitting place should remove all the existing weights prior to fitting the new tyres, as Mr Lobitos mentioned the coloured dots on the tyre actually mean stuff, there are light and heavy points on the tyre due to construction so the idea is to align the lightest part of the tyre with the heaviest part of the wheel (where the valve stem sits) to try to remove the inherent inbalance prior to balancing the complete assembly.

Bought another one...

If you are getting a kick then your map is no good (unless you want a kick that is) A good map should ensure a nice smooth torque profile, I know when Crazy Dave of DG was doing mine I was getting a noticable kick around 4.5k and upwards, some tweak to fuelling ensured that I get no noticable kick now and the car is more responsive as a result of this. The MFA is also now pretty accurate which to me indicates that the injector pulse duration (which the ECU provides to the MFA) is now accurate for the quantity consumed and not being adjusted by the other sensors as much (lambda etc) this means the map in the ECU is good in my book. There are other factors with a G60 that you need to be aware of, first of all the standard MAP will open the ISV up to boost return at around 5.2k up to the redline of 6.2k to ensure a smooth arrive to the hard cut rev limit, this is done to protect the supercharger from shock loading which can destroy them (same reason you never want to fit a toothed belt conversion). The ECU will also dump boost if it detects knocking as well as pull the timing back - the quality of the fuel you are using will have an effect on the knock of the engine and you will be suprised at just how much a modern engine knocks - the optimal point is one just prior to knock so all modern ECUs will advance the timing to a knocking condition and then pull it back slightly. This process will also have an impact on how the car feels under WOT (wide open throttle). So if you have a boost return deletion or a re-route back into the 'supply' side of the boost system this will cause a kick as it messes with the fueling for a bit, but ultimately there should be no kick at all you should just get a constant hard pull - oh er! The other factor with the amount of mods you have, especially when you factor in the age and variable condition of the charger and engine, is that an 'off the shelf' map is likely to be way off in terms of fuelling when you go open loop (ie WOT and off the lambda probe). Try some acceleration runs on part throttle and see if it feels faster than full throttle - if it does you need some mapping doing.

Nice pics but I will never understand the need to slam and stretch myself - each to their own mind :) Most of those cars need solid bars not springs and dampers with the wheel to arch clearances!

Looking good, always nice to bring them back out of winter storage and clean all the dust off.

You will find that an newer knob will screw onto an old knob fitting without any issues. The early knobs are round items with either leather trim of plastic trim around them, I prefer the leather myself, the touch as you say is very different - I find it's easier to slip your hand underneath the early knobs and cup it that way whereas the later knob is definitely grabbed from the top.

Right, as promised earlier some pictures of said shed of a car. Bonnet cable has snapped at the stupid little clip that attaches to the release handle, paint needs a lot of work, centre console is snapped as per usual on a late car (got a plastic welding kit on order along with some steel rod to reinforce it) and its generally very grotty right now. It's had a two stage wash, first jet washed, then foamed with a universal degreaser (Megs universal degreaser 50/50 with warm water) jet washed again and then more foam but this time with Megs Hyper wash, then a quick wipe over with a wash mit before jet washing it all off. Had a play with some scratch X to see how bad the oxidisation was, not too bad as it is coming up better after one go so it looks promising for the rotary buffer to be able to do its stuff without too much effort. The bonnet is probably a lost cause though - large dent on it, both rear edges have laquer peeling off and there are a lot of odd bits of rust on it. Easier to source a replacement item and then paint it (I am going to have a go myself) although I will get some practice in on this bonnet first. Interior wise aside from very dirty it's not that bad, all the bits are there including the instrument binacle screw covers (although I have some new ones..) so it's just a question of a good clean and working my way through sticking felt on the back of all the trim bits and fitting new fixings in the process. Engine, dirty but looks sound, dodgy wiring onto aftermarket MAF needs looking at, luckily I have a proper VAG group wiring repair kit so it should be easy enough, the inlet manifold temp sensor is a new item so that must be a wiring fault and the radiator is completely shot to pieces, date on the sticker suggests and 05 produced radiator so it's not done well.. Running gear, not had chance to give that a good looking at but with a set of factory VR springs on the way shortly and a complete set of bushes and links to fit that's not going to be a problem. My intention is put all the bolts etc through my electro cleaner and then replate in Zinc with a yellow phosphate finish - have to see how they come out! Anyway, enough blabbering heres the pics.. [ATTACH=CONFIG]45500[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45491[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45495[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45496[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45494[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45493[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45490[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45497[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45492[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45499[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45498[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45501[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]45502[/ATTACH]

Thanks, will sort out postage etc via PM so I will lock this up.

Collected and it's now on the drive, frankly it's a bit of a shed but I suspect some serious action with the orbital and a new bonnet will help no end. Created a blog thingy to chart the work on this instead of a members thread, link is here

Collected the car this morning, in the cold hard sunlight as opposed to snow it looks terrible! Run back was good, suprisingly rapid although I did drive down to get it in Mrs Yandards' 1.9 TDI Passat (90bhp, downhill with a trailing wind) so it was always going to feel quick. Despite the camber being off the lowered springs were not too bad but I still intend to refit some factory items instead. Only snag on the run up was that it's stalling at junctions, factory airbox should help, and the spoiler does not operate automatically. Got loads of pics of the shediness of it, will be sticking them up so you can all have a good laugh at the amount of work I have taken on. I think this car used to belong to Laughingboy on here, unfortunately the only photo doesn't include a numberplate in it but the Tesco Insurance tax disc holder is a good clue! Will post up some pics later along with some post wash ones. Oh and I am after a mint black parcel shelf now, anyone?

Holy crap Batman!

Heh, it's just the extra parts I might need to horde now, have been collecting early stuff for ages and it's going to get silly with 5 sets of late indicators to go with the 5 sets of early.. ;)

Heh, I was going to ask you about that one, spotted it on Copart last week, was it in Westbury? How much for the seats ;)?

Yeah, it's more a car for Mrs Yandards than for me (although I will drive it obviously!) so the closer to factory the better really. He's not a bad bloke after meeting him and is a mechanic and obviously dabbles in trading. It is in a right state at the moment, camber is way off on the front after the new lowering springs were slapped on it, drivers seat is long gone and it's generally very very dirty. Couple that with a radiator that has more cooling fins that have fallen off than are left, the usual stiff heater controls, a bit of light surface rust on both inner wings inside the engine bay (battery tray and airbox area) and a O/S/F wing panel gap that is way too close to the bonnet, a ding in the bonnet that is going rusty so it needs some serious love. However, there is no sign of any other rust in the usual spots, bottom of the arches front and rear and around the side repeaters; the only bit I could find was the trailing edge rear face of the drivers door - again some surface which will clean up ok. All the electrics work as they should including a tilt and slide sunroof, newly refurbed speedlines, clutch feels good, new magnex exhaust (although that might get swapped out for factory at a later date) and the only fault VAG-COM threw up was one for the intake manifold temp sensor shorting to earth. It does look like a pretty well looked after car for most of its life until it got parked up a couple of years ago, it also looks like it has been left in factory trim for most of that time too which I prefer. Collecting it tomorrow at 10:00 with an MOT booked for the afternoon, will get some pictures and start one of them blog thingies to show the progress, suffice to say I have a pile of new suspension bits sat on the floor already, a set of original rear light clusters, an airbox, various service items, a set of Corrado and VR6 badges and more to go on. Then it's onto some serious buffing (weather permitting) and trying to source a good condition black/blue seat and any other things I find that need sorting out. Got a deadline of the end of this month for it back on the road as the nugget is due tax and insurance then so I might as well 'test' the VR for a month to check it's ok before handing the keys over.. :)

I have no idea either but as they are in a cupboard I guess you don't have any current use for them :) So how does £50 plus the postage sound? Yes, Hopeman us just up the road.

I am looking for a set of standard springs for a late VR, must have the smaller, 92mm in diameter spring cap; if you measure the top coil on the front suspension, it should be around 92mm and not around 105mm (outer diameter area). After a complete set of all 4 springs posted up to IV30 area, so given that most couriers seem to think I live in the Highlands postage will have to be via Royal Mail standard parcels. Cash/paypal/bank transfer waiting. Many thanks, Yan

Any of the usual sensors failing will put the ECU into limp home mode, this will give you noticably less go and less fuel economy as the engine is no longer on full adaption and is using safety defaults. VAG-COM checking should highlight areas to look into although I always find it is worth doing that, clearing the codes and doing it as soon as possible after you think the car has been down on power; that way at least you can prove to yourself you are not going mental! Although as Kev says you do just get used to it after a while, I find a run out in my wife's Passat TDI soon reminds me that the nugget is not slow, not going to work too well when the new VR arrives on Thursday to replace the Passat though...

Never been spotted at all..

You might struggle with any of that as carry on, hold luggage would be ok for any tools but the best bet is to check with whoever you are flying with.

Wierd, I got a set of VW dealer supplied rears about 5 years ago and they came in yellow passivate, must be the luck of the draw.

Well who would have though VW knew what they were doing when they introduced the 'off-road' ride height ? ;) Good to hear that it now works as advertised and the ride is comfortable, shame the windscreen wipers still don't work well enough - annoying that the LHD folks got an improved wiper mechanism and we had to stick with out rubbish one! You planning on doing the chains with the clutch?

VR6 airbox available and if so how much posted?

Yep, you just need to cut one end off as its the Polo style one, easy enough to do with a hacksaw!

Yep, Corrado number 4 in total. Needs a bloody good clean and I have little doubt I will find various things that need sorting when I get it home but it seemed a waste not to have a look given how close it is to me and far away from everyone else.