craigowl

Good read, Kev - you are on form today. 8) :)

In my experience, white spirit is not the most agressive of solvents - one's paintwork would have to be of very poor quality for a quick wipe with it to do damage. As earlier poster says, white spirit is solvent carrying the waxoyl, anyway. Now, thinners - that would be a different kettle of fish.

White spirit is best.

In a years time my Job will take me to Faslane so mine will be around that area and heading along the M74 from time to time.... (Goldie) Hello sailor?!

Thanks, davidwort. Re wheel alignment. I had wheel alignment on a GTi Mk2 done about six years ago at VAG when they had just acquired their new laser thing with bells and whistles. The setup brought remarkable changes to the car, but the VAG invoice was hefty IMO. Presumably "non VAG" wheel alignment, done, say at my local Bosch garage, (labour £35/hour plus VAT) would be good enough for the fussy Corrado, though? Regards

An MOT advisory this year and last year said there is slight play there. I believe this is common, as are "slightly pitted brake discs", ffs! Suspension is all original from 1995 and 103k. As a pensioner (aw, shucks-), I am not looking for things to throw a lot of money at, but my questions to you guys who have experience of the components and the work are: 1 - How much time for labour to replace these? 2 - Anything else that should be done while in this state of dismantle and the labour in hours? 3 - Will handling improve noticeably? It seems good to me, but I have never had new suspension stuff on the C. Many thanks in anticipation of your welcome replies.

Yep, got mine, too. What a pair of pains in the ass we are! Garage did a bit of welding on exhaust bracket (12-year old original setup) for £8.50 plus VAT and car passed. Some advisories, though, but my local garage owner with racing background always gives you plenty of them! ps (toon vw - I knew that Martins was a bit of a tiger tank, the first time I saw him on MOtD. Took a while to get going, though! Good luck in next season.)

Well done, Jim. A few years ago, a government department costed the small amounts of data the public regularly asked for as a few pence. Trouble was, it was not a free public service and a handling charge would have to be added as the data came from a computer database. Minimum handling charge was at least £150 plus VAT.

:thumb right: Inspirational, lady.

Now that a westerly airstream has replaced the easterly of last week, see what the weather in the Glencoe area is like now by clicking "access 2200" on the following page: http://www.glencoemountain.com/store/pages.php?pageid=8 Unfortunately, as most of you know, westerly is our prevailing airstream, so the mountains of Wales, Western Scotland and the Lake District most commonly have the weather shown by the webcam today. Visit these districts when an easterly spell is forecast if you want dry, sunny weather. Sometimes can be a bit too hot, though, with haze spoiling views.

Thanks for that constructive criticism, dr_mat - 8) :thumb right: I noticed that after editing in paintshop pro and will improve them later. I am not au fait fully with the pros and cons of various tricks the editing software packages can do. Would've been best leaving them without editing? On the whole, though, very pleased with results from "new" camera - Canon IXUS 850IS. Movies are good, too, though when panning, image is sometimes a bit wavy. Any technical comments advice from you appreciated.

1 - Loch Etive and Ben Starav (1078m) 2 - Blackmount 3 - River Etive

Just spent four days camping (!!?) in my favourite area in West Highlands. This is one of wettest areas of UK with rainfall up to 5 times that of London. However, (tip to Corrado-forum members) best time to go for highest chance of good weather, few midges and less tourists is May to first two weeks of June. Pics to follow.

Coolrado is right (again). About 30 years ago I changed the plugs in our 1.6 Manta and having read that overtightening plugs is bad, as a novice mechanic, erred on the side of caution - probably just crushed the washer and no more. Later, on our return to Scotland up the M6, I put the foot to the floor to get an idea of max speed (the good old days - no fear of cameras etc and north of Preston, the M6 was really quiet.) After a rest a bit further north, I decided to look under the bonnet after the thrash and just by chance found that the plugs were all loose in their 'oles. A lesson learnt, never had that since.

VW deviant?

Heresites, I see you "want it all now" and that will be because you are 20! The optimism of youth as I recall. Why not bite the bullet and prioritise - something you will always be doing when you are older and wiser. Garage hourly rates can be as little(ha!ha!) as £35/hour, save yourself time and possible disaster/hassle by getting the work done in a good, non franchised garage. You can tackle and look forward to your other ambitions one at a time afterwards. You have plenty of time, really. Sorry, could not help offering the fatherly advice :lol: Good luck, whatever you decide.

Meant to say sooner, the Manta youtube link was sent to me by our eldest son. He is the baby in the pic below. He is 36 now. We owned the 1.6 Manta A in the pic from new from 1972-1978. Hairy 27-year old geezer in pic? - I cannot believe we knew anyone like that - but it was "the era that fashion forgot".

In my experience, brake pipe corrosion - even slight - comes up in most MOT and service advisories and has done for over 20 years. My local garage replaces them with a non corroding type (copper?).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_9jdU2-FRo

The following brochure, released this week, by The Royal Meteorological Society (RMS) concisely addresses several points concerning weather & climate. http://www.rmets.org/pdf/weatherclimate.pdf

Much of the most important work on climate change is summarised here at Part 1 of the Stern Review. Of course, many of you will be sceptical because it comes from a government source (!), but IMO most of the work referred to has been known in the meteorological community for years, long before the government co-ordinated the findings into this type of report http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/9A2 ... cience.pdf The following brochure by The Royal Meteorological Society concisely addresses several controversial points concerning weather & climate. http://www.rmets.org/pdf/weatherclimate.pdf

I joke with my wife that petrol will soon be as dear as malt whisky!

I have explained this before, but there are none so blind as those who do not want to see. So, repeating myself from a few months ago, from my viewpoint Scotland's climate has and IS going through a dramatic change in climate. Further, I believe from close contact with people who are dealing with the climate change studies that the changes are on a world wide scale. From what I know about databases of CO2 readings over a long run of decades, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have been increasing markedly. Further, I have no reason to disbelieve specialists who say this will cause further global warming. 1 - I am NOT convinced that anything we do will arrest the change. 2 - I do NOT want to lose the enjoyment of driving a VR6, NOR do I force down people's throats the view that they should all drive tiny fuel efficient cars. 3- I do NOT believe in massive disruptive changes to our lifestyle, for I am 61 and not too bothered about the future beyond a few years. 4 - I believe mankind to be resilient and able to adapt. If they fail, so be it. On newspaper forums I have visited, it is strange how everyone who knows you know UK warming is taking place are surprised that you are not a green zealot. They all seem to think that if you understand climate change is taking place you must be a fanatic of the environmental kind. I sympathise with the frustration of dr_mat and all other people who have inside knowledge of how the climate works who are countered by every armchair or pub expert who does not even know how meteorological readings are made.

He DOES look like Louis Theroux, Mrs Beige!

In the Flat Earth Society, kev? :wink: