jamiehamy

I know. I'm just looking for cheap things to do, need to stop doing expensive things in the run up to Christmas. lol

Any update on this? I've paid but still waiting?

I'd love 944 seats in my car. I had an S2 and can honestly say they were the best seats I've ever been in. Perfect position, support and comfort. Might jsut have to do this one day...

I struggled to get reasonably priced cover for my France trip this year, cheapest was well over £200. (L-reg Vr) In the event I took a bag of carefully selected tools and hoped mechanical expertise would sort anything, along with a couple of friends on standby for a quick FedEx of parts. I did suffer a burst oil cooler pipe at the Spanish border so paid E100 to get towed to a garage. They were more than happy to let me strip the front end and I managed to fix it, so still cheaper than cover. Looking back, I reckon cover would have been loads more hassle anyway. My (possibly naive!) view was that if the engine or box blew up, I was shafted anyway, but most other things could be fixed as long as I could get the parts. Next year planning Croatia tho so not sure what we'll do. Might just pay the money this time. The joys!

Peel the rubber back all round before attempting to pull off by the body. Possibly try get some wd40 inside the rubber seals using the straw. And yes, I'm talking about the leads...lol

Well done! You'll love it. Plus this has got to rate as one of the best forums out there for help with improvements/problems, Enjoy!

with light rust yes, but for stuff that has a while to take hold, creates all sorts of pits and grooves. I replaced my last discs not because they were thin, but they were a mess, you could run your finger over the surface and feel major imperfections and ledges. Scottish climate might make it worse than down south tho...

Fair point, I will keep an eye on them for deterioration or anything. I'm always pulling things apart at weekends.

Cheers fla, Hairspray sounds like a good compromise - not too permanent and really easy to apply ( to the discs!). Although i think any new discs will be getting KIP's treatment as the rusty bits really annoy me. I'm a happy chap now :) Thanks, j

Now that sounds more like it... Have you tried it before or know anyone that has? :) I can handle my own harsh banter..lol

Hmm.. not convinced. I've had it laid up a few times over the last couple of years and the rust does affect them. Whilst yes, they eventually clean up, they are always scored and overall worse condition that they were before lay up. Doesn't help I live right next to the Clyde, the salt water will probably not aid their cause. The front discs are fine on the outside, but the inside have lines of corrosion on the inner and outer extremes, caused by a period in layup. They don't fail the MOT, but will reduce performance of the brakes a bit. I know with steam engines and the like everything gets a coat of grease during winter layup. Obv as you say i can't use anything like that, but always wondered if there was anything else that wouldn't harm the operation of the brakes but stop them corroding. I do think i'm onto plums, but thought i'd put it out there! (I know I'm probably being silly/OCD over this, but it's something that annoys me!)

I've searched for an answer to this but can't find a thing. I'm probably going abroad with work for a few weeks before Christmas again and won't be driving the car. The other half is being gay and won't drive it, he says it's too fast, so I'll have to leave it on the street. The pain with this is that the discs corrode like mad, even in a few weeks and end up all scored when i get back. Does anyone know of a liquid/compound or whatever I could spray on them which would discourage corrosion but wash off easily ( or indeed come off with driving?). I know it might sounds daft, but I go away a lot with work and this is getting on my goat. I don't; have a garage for ita nd it's not an option (my Mk2 is taking pride of place until I find a gearbox for it). Cheers, J

Virtually the same as mine. :)

Klkl, Thanks both. Good to know that. It's because I've done most of the things i need to do, I'm just finding things for the sake of it i think! I'd love new engine mounts (or front at least), but can't justify the cost - silly prices :(

This is something I've only thought about since i switched to gas. The car always always starts on petrol, but when the engine is warm, the car will almost immediately switch to gas. I've noticed that when I start ( warm or cold), the car will rev to 1500, hold it for about 1/2 a second then drop down to just under 1k before quickly settling to about 700rpm. The whole thing takes about 4 seconds, and i've decided to set the gas to wait 5 seconds before switching ( just so make sure everything is settled). However it has made me think - is this normal? The car has admittedly done it since i got it 4 years ago and there seem to be no ill effects, but would like to know if all VR's are like that on start up?! Although this is my 4th VR, i simply can't remember if the others did it or not! Cheers, M

Yeah, I've always wondered actually how hot it is, and how much I should trust the sensor. I wish i knew more about oilways within the engine and could find out what temperature was in different areas ie sump, mocal inlet, outlet etc...I suppose it's possible, just a pain to do! One thing I have noticed which i find it strange is that if i cycle the MAF round in say 5 times, the oil temperatures can change greatly in a number of seconds. It will be at 84, then 'suddenly' on the next cycle round show 56, then 72, then 84 again. Sometimes the display for the oil actually jsut shows dashes! Somehow I'm doubting that the oil changes that much, so would this indicate a faulty sensor? If left the temperatures displayed are always steady tho, it's just when I press the MAF button and cycle it round. Hmmm... the joys! :)

Hmm, something was bothering me all weekend about the evaporation of water from the oil. Anyway, a quick check on google reminded me of what I remembered from school, namely that water can evaporate at any temperature. It will boil at different temperatures depending on the pressure. I asked my other half about burning off contaminants (he is studying Chemistry) but he reckons it's very hard to quantify which contaminants will exist and what temperatures would 'burn them off' - too many variables apparantly in terms of age of oil, brand, grade etc... Soooooo I feel none the wiser as to running hotter than my MOCAL gives me just now. I'm presuming running about 80 most of the time, up to 94 on a hard run isn't actually going to do any harm? Unfortunately I don't have an oil pressure gauge to check what she runs ( as per kev's post). The car has had a MOCAL on and off for years, so doubting cool(ish) oil can't really do much harm? Thoughts?

Best test is to find a quiet stretch and in second gear from about 1500rpm floor it. It'll pick up, but nothing special until you hit 4000rpm you should feel it really picking up and go for it. If you check my posts, i never feel like it's quick enough, but half the issue is the fact that the Corrado doesn't give you as much of a sensation of speed, which I suppose is good as it's supposed to be a high speed tourer. Corrado's have their off days too I reckon. If they are driven slow for a while, the ECU adapts and when you try gunning it, feels slow. After a while driving fast it picks up and you get the full beans. I wonder if this is what affected the (Top Gear) tests i read a while back, where they said they couldn't get the quoted performance figures VW had during their test. Hmm...

Excuse my ignorance, but does anyone know the optimum operating temperature for the oil? Okay from the factory we all know VR's run pretty hot, and that must have been deemed acceptable, but what is the best? The 8v's in the Golf's and the Ibiza's we've had always ran oil about 70 most of the time without them ever being modified and they never seemed to suffer - indeed the Ibiza is going strong at 130k without ever being touched! Mines sits around 80 now most of the time and until now it's never bothered me (although i've experienced the mayo occasionally if it's not been driven hard same as Kev, not HG). Before I start playing with blanking panels, it would be good to know what oil temperature i should be aiming for, Reminds me of my old Land Rover in winter, blanked most of the radiator off to try keep it warm!

Same as neikitz, out with the seats and cleaned/hoovered. Oh, and became about £1.20 better off in the process! :) Also showed an A4 3.0 TDi a clean pair of heels down the dual carriageway away from two roundabouts, was well happy :)

I got the AC Stag 300 Plus. From what i gather, it's hard to get hold of the software for most other manufacturers, they don't like mignons having it, which was one reason i went with the AC kit, bit i suppose it must be available. You can do all sorts, auto calibration, multiplier settings, changeover settings ( rpm/temperature/time), temperature corrections as well as being able to see the petrol injection map vs gas injection times. You can switch on an off individual injectors for diagnostics, the list is endless :)

Was £1135 including the software and cable. Significantly cheaper than anywhere else. With the miles i do, and even with the lower fuel consumption, this will have paid for itself within the year. Despite my best attempts, I've never been able to properly quantify why it's approx £800 less than everywhere else. A large part of must be the volume and efficiency of their operation, plus i believe they import the kit direct from the manufacturer and must get a good discount with the volume.

Just thought i'd update this thread if anyone uses it as a reference in the future. Had the Corrado converted by Profess in Wales. Car runs a treat, no loss in power that i can detect. I get 25-27mpg which is what i expected against my normal 30-32mpg on petrol. Had the tank fitted in the spare wheel well giving me a 220mile range per fill up. LPG is 57.9p a litre where i live, so running costs are 40% lower than before. And the engine runs smoother :)

Or spend just over a grand converting to LPG keeping the (in my case) VR6 noise, power and refinement with the running costs of a diesel. Oh, and it's done in a day, so virtually no downtime :)

I've had one on mine for a while and much happier with the lower temperatures. If you only do one thing, make sure the pipes are braided, or very carefully routed/attached so as not to cause chafing and subsequent leaks. I'm talking from experience where one of the pipes was rubbing unseen on the fan cowling, eventually wearing a minuscule hole. The result was oil loss 1300 miles from home near Spain! Fortunately i spotted light blue smoke as the spray reached the exhaust, but one to watch for. I just removed the original cooler and placed the new sandwich plate in place - i didn't need a new bolt or anything. The water pipes i simply blocked up as they serve no purpose now. There are no sensors going into the original oil cooler, so no worries there. WRT the oil filter, no need to change.