JMC

OMG, what a pain of a job :shock: :shock: I had to resort to just heaving at it at one point, as I had one captive nut that was just spinning in the plastic. Problem seems to be that there just isn't enough room to do anything in there. Also had to dismantle the original mechanism while it was still in the car as the rear wiper and boot mechanism looked to have been grown around it. Got the replacement one back in without too much problem though. Even so took me an hour and half this morning (in the rain, hmmph). Has to be one of the least pleasant jobs I've done - although to be fair the heater matrix hasn't gone yet.... Good luck with it Ian.

Good luck with it Ian. I didn't attempt to clean the motor, but cleaning the cables was easy enough if a little fiddly. I too am hoping for good weather to get this done. Fingers crossed.

Replacement mechanism turned up in the post today (after I knackered one of the captive nuts ins my current one). Decided to preempt any problems and grease the cables on the new one while it was out of the car. Totally transformed how smooth the cables ran - the stuff that came out of them was filthy as well, so definately seems to be a good idea to clean them. Hopefully I'll be able to get the old one out this weekend and get a working spoiler again.

Big thumbs up for Andy Brookes. Bought a spoiler mechanism, arrived quickly and well packaged. Thanks Andy...

Well, 6 months on and the window is still fine. Looks like the the little bearing is a good (quick) thing to check before buying new mechanisms.

Been really impressed with the fan. Had a couple of journeys now where it's been stuck in traffic. With the old fan the temp would get up to about 106C or even higher on a hot day. Now gets to 100C and that's it, the fan keeps it there. All in all very impressed. Even took the cowling out this weekend to repaint it (as it was reall manky). Nice and clean now though...

Got the door lock barrels recoded to match the ignition key (every lock on my car needed a different key :shock: ). Took the fan cowling out, started to sand it down to repaint it, and the rain started. Spent the whole weekend, sanding, priming and painting the cowling again, huddled under my carport watching the rain. Nice summer weather :? Broke the rear spoiler mechanism while trying to take it out to clean and grease the cables. Doh. Bit of a mixed weekend really. Still got to laugh.

Grr, started this today and (just like in the Vortex thread) the thread lock was too tight and I managed to shear off one of the captive nuts. Another design classic from the VW agarge then :( Think I will get a spare mechanism, strip it down, grease it then fit it - hopefully it'll outlast the car then.

Woo hoo, after not tracking down anyone with loads of the sliders in time, took it round to my stealership. They did 2 barrels for me for £10 :D

Fairly common problem mate. Have a word with daves16v (he has a bit in the suppliers section I think). He sells a replacement part for the inside of the exterior door handle - the standard ones often break. Daves are beefed up, custom made ones and will last a lifetime. Take about 15 minutes to fit as well, and are well recommended (I have one of them and when my other one breaks, I'll call on him for a replacement).

Don't suppose anyoe knows who wrote that article. Spoken with dinkus as his name is down, but he only submitted it for someone else and (bless him, must have been hard day) he can't remember who it was. Was wanting to get hold of a few sets of sliders to recode 3 locks, but don't want to pay the £40 for the big bags of them and the erpson who wrote it mentioned about making up some sets for people.....

OMG I hadn't realised it was going to be as fiddly as that to do. Looks like another weekend job lined up already. Thanks for the link. I hope you're motor sounds better soon Dom :(

I've just developed a bit of a problem with my spoiler - after 3 years of trouble free motoring, the following has now happened... When I hit 45 the spoiler will come up a bit but not all the way. When I slow down, it will drop down a bit but not all the way. When I use the switch, it will come up a bit, then when pressing the switch again it will come up a bit more, press it again, and it comes up a bit more and it's the same on the way down. Basically seems to be sticking. I presume from this that it's not the control unit as it's still trying to activate at the right speed. I've noticed some quite heavy scoring on the rods which move up and down (not been greasing it - naughty boy). Is there a way to fix this - is it likely to be the rods sticking or the motor having issues?? Seem to recall coming across a thread outlining something similar, but haven't been able to find it again. Any advice would be welcome.

To be honest in now looks like it did then. Given that I don't want the unit anywhere obvious (and the fact that I am inherently lazY), I've left it all in the glove box. I can then get it out if I want it (oh er missus). I've test driven it around some nasty roads round me, and so far so good. However I can well believe that in the long run it will be a problem. If that's the case then I'll just have to install the Alpine 9861 I currently have on my shelf and do it properly :D :D

I grafted one of the long thin (cheap) brake lights in to the trim at the top of the rear window. Cost me a tenner, took half a day to do and looks as though it has always been there. Stops chelsea tractors that are too high to see my normal brake lights from running in to me.

The system will be under vacuum at idle and as you start to use the throttle. Then as your right foot gets heavier, you go from vacuum to partial vacuum through zero to positive pressure, and then depending on how you have everything set to full positive pressure with your foot flat on the floor. I have a flowed big valve head so I only reach 11psi at full chat, however the boost gauge is only a measure of back pressure. A more flowed head will (by its very nature) flow more gas and as such you wont reach as high a boost pressure.

No you don't have to run it all the way back Simon. There is a vacuum/boost line that comes into the back of the MFA. You need to take the instruments out, remove the tube out of the back of the MFA and splice in the tube with a t-piece (I think the gauge came with a t-piece and some vacuum tubing as well). Took me about to 5 minutes to do once I had the instruments out. The Autometer gauges are top dog and well recommended and aren't too flashy. There should be a picture of mine in my members gallery (JMC's G60).

Autometer do some good ones and not too flashy. I have a 20psi one (Sport Comp range I think) measuring vacuum and boost, cost about 40 quid. Very easy to fit as well - it's a mechanical gauge and taps into the pipe leading to the back of the clocks. There is a thread out there somewhere with different boost gauges in it.

Far more efficent also by keeping the cowling Jonathan, Goodwork . Cheers Darren. Cowling will have to come out again though as it is really rusty. Needs to be stripped down, sanded and repainted.

Gutted that you're thinking of getting rid of the rado _leon_. You've done so much and got it working fab.

Yep, mines a 12 inch. Actually fits really well within the cowling, and wired it straight in to the original wiring.

Finally got round to doing some more work. Fitted a new 12" Davies Craig fan from G-werks. Replaced the old (huge) radiator fan with a nice new slimline, high flow one, in a quest to keep summer running temperatures under control. All I need to do now it take out the cowl again, sand it down and down and re-paint it as it looks so scabby :lol: :lol:

Wired the new Davies Craig fan (from G-Werks - thanks Darren) in today. Makes loads of room in the engine bay as it is so much slimmer than the old one. Cheated in the end and used the old cowling and a few cable ties on the fan until I find a more permanent way to do it. For the wiring I connected together the stage 1 and stage 2 inputs, and connected both of these to the live on the fan. Only took it out for a relatively short run, but it kept the temp nice and steady even when I got stuck in traffic. Ends up being noisier than the old one, but flows loads more air. All in all well recommended mod.

Cool, hadn't though about using punched strip to mount it. That'll make everything easier to do (assuming I can get the old cowl out tomorrow).

As a slight aside then, how have people attached their fans?? I was thinking about re-using the cowl from the old fan, but I'm sure I've seen pictures where the fan is just cable tied to the back of the rad.... Presumably using the cowl means air is drawn through more of the rad, but if the fan is cable tied to the back of the rad, there must be a faster air flow, but over less of the vanes :confused4: