Geo

No the cam chain is driven off the intermediate shaft so if it isn't timed correctly then the cams won't be right. The garage who did it originally mustn't have put it back correctly. See here: Incidentally, why did you get the chains done? I thought the highline golfs had the later type tensioner pad and you didn't have to change it?

Any suggestions for a team name will be taken on board btw ;)

Paid and registered today. Car number 64/67 or something like that, will be a 1990 jetta turbodiesel 8) :lol: Looking forward to this now...

Luk are an oem so it should be ok. I am currently rebuilding a G60 engine and I got the crank seal in GSF, but I took one look at it when I was building the engine and decided it looked too sh1t to put near the engine so I left the old one alone, it didn't look like it was leaking anyway. Some of the stuff in GSF is really poor quality, particularly seals and gaskets.

I am not sure about the turbo technics thing, I suppose you could take an oil feed from the oil temp/pressure sensor. I know the 1.6 turbo diesel engine uses the same oil filter housing as the GTI and takes the oil feed for the turbo from where the temp sensor goes in the GTI. I don't know too much about 8v turbo applications, the only 8v turbo engine I personally know anything about was built by a mate and is based on a G60 block. It is definitely the best block to use as apart from the extra oil feed point it also already has the low comp pistons in it and also has oil jets to cool under the pistons that the standard 8v block does not have.

My golf doesn't have any issues and is standard, it's not a corrado admittedly but it uses largely the same parts. I suppose what you are saying makes sense, if the car is lowered then the forces on the steering rack will be totally different than the designers took into account when designing the mounts etc.

The blocks are definitely different, the G60 block has an oil feed on the front of the block for the charger and also other differences in the casting on the front of the block for breathers or something like that. I thought the PB 8v and PG G60 heads were the same except for the PG exhaust valves were sodium filled? And the cams are obviously different. If that was the case you could swap over the valves and cam from the cracked head. Maybe someone could confirm whether or not this is the case. But PG heads are easy enough to pick up anyway without resorting to messing around with a PB one to make it work.

Ok I'll try and explain to you where they go. If you imagine where the bolt goes up through the wishbone rear bush the sleeve should fit into that hole before the bolt goes in. As Jay said they are longer than the wishbone bush sleeve is deep so they stick out either side and hold the bush in place in the subframe to act as a guide for the bolt. Look at part number 8 in this picture, it is described as a 'fitting sleeve' http://www.auto2.ru/epc/etka/B067/097100.png

They are definitely supposed to be on oe bushes but aren't always there. I always make sure they are fitted when replacing bushes as I have seen wishbones come loose and move around without them fitted. The strange thing is that of the 2 local dealers that I buy parts off, one of them gave me the sleeves no problem when I bought bushes for my mk2, but when I went to the other one to get bushes for my mates corrado they didn't know what I was talking about and said they couldn't get the sleeves at all.

Just an idea that occurred to me: When you did the wishbone rear bushes did you replace the little metal sleeve that the bolts goes through? Sometimes if they are left out it can cause problems, and not all the dealers supply them with new bushes or even know what they are.

I don't know, can't be exactly great after 160k. My vento had 119k with full service history when it let go.

That is exactly it. The model I got the rack out of was a 01 cordoba so any similar shape ibiza or cordoba should be the same. An old caddy van (96-04ish model) one will also work. Not sure on the polo ones think they could be different. You then need a 22 spline UJ either from a later corrado or an old model seat toledo one will also work (93-99 shape, steering rack from this model toledo will also work incidentally) The cordoba UJ is different at the steering column end and won't work.

It's highly likely that unless the garage is familiar with VR6 engines that they just looked at the chain and said it was fine (which it probably is) without looking at the top tensioner pad at all.

Yeah it's the same thing. The chain doesn't have to snap to damage the engine. When the lining disintegrates on the tensioner pad it can cause the timing to slip and bend valves etc. Happened my Vento VR6. The chains were intact but the tensioner pad had fallen to pieces. On any VR6 with 100k ish miles on it it is definitely worth taking off the cam cover and upper timing cover for a look, but as someone said it's not as easy a job as it sounds as you have to remove a lot of other stuff first, not difficult just time consuming.

Well all I know is it fits a 16v, I don't know what the difference is with the VR6 racks. It is from the ibiza model from around 2001. The old caddy van one will also work and they made those up until 2004 I think. So you could have a rack that bolts straight in and is only 2-3 years old for far less than the cost of reconditioning your own 15 year old one.

Guys why would you go to the hassle of making the Mk4 rack fit when one from a Seat Ibiza/Cordoba will bolt straight in as I said in my post on the first page of this thread?? My mate is running a Seat rack in his corrado since the summer with no problems whatsoever.

Wrong way round :wink: They reduce the pedal travel as the larger cylinder doesn't have to move as far to displace the same amount of fluid, while the effort required at the pedal is increased.

Just adding my 2p to the debate.... I fitted a steering rack out of a 02 Seat Cordoba to a mate's 16V corrado during the summer. The racks are almost identical externally and have the same ratio (going by number of turns lock to lock) He had his old rack reconditioned 3 times (by 2 different companies) before that and it leaked within days each time. I think it lasted a week or so one of the times. His old rack had 36 splines on the input shaft and the Seat one had 22 so I had to swap the lower UJ to a 22 spline one. But the Cordoba one is a different setup so I couldn't use that one but I found a suitable one in a 96 Toledo. The difference is where the UJ connects to the steering column, in the corrado it connects inside the car via another splined shaft but on the Cordoba the shaft splits in 2 with a pair of bolts. Anyway the car has been fine since (as it should with a relatively new rack) And best of all was that the secondhand rack and 22 spline Universal joint cost less than half of the cost of reconditioning his own. Seems to me to be the best way out of the problem. I don't think that reconditioning old steering racks is a very good idea, I'll certainly never get one done again after Steve's experience during the summer and what Jay has said about his recently recon'd rack giving trouble has confirmed that it's not really worthwhile to me.

Ah just drive the feckin thing back Dec and don't be worrying about it :D

Sounds like a clutch disc problem to me. Sometimes one of the springs comes loose or even pops out and gives the symptoms you describe. If you are sure the clutch hydraulics are ok then this is almost certainly the problem IMO....

If the pad area is larger then it will improve your braking as you will have a larger pad to disc contact patch. Also because of the larger contact patch the pads should stay cooler so brake fade should be reduced, as long as you are using good pads and fluid.

I'd stick with the aqua blue Gearoid. Are you going to spray it yourself? :D

I'd watch both for the cars but there is little doubt that Top Gear is the better television programme. I know lots of people who aren't car enthusiasts that watch it anyway because it is great entertainment. I can't say the same about 5th Gear.

There are 2 types of rack in the 16vs, one has 22 splines on the input shaft and the other has 36. Golf one could be either as well depending on whether it's for an 8 or 16v afaik. But if you get the wrong type you should be able to source the lower part of the steering column from a golf with the correct number of splines on it.

Some of those E30 BMW wheels were TSWs and looked very similar to the BBS above ;) The TSWs are very soft and don't like hitting kerbs at speed, as a certain Irish forum member can testify.....