Scruffythefirst

Fuel pump and other stuff won't draw that much current - a good battery thats being charged a little by a knackered alternator will be ok for a fair while (racecars often don't have an alternator at all). The battery won't have enough charge to provide the 100's of amps required to start it, but the 10 or so to run the fuel pump will be fine for ages. Editited to say, measure the battery voltage when the engine is running, and if its under 13-14v the alternator is shot.

Its and Air leak in the exhaust - 99% of the time. Unless your running anitlag or full throttle shift

The two heater wires should come from a releay or positive feed and go to earth, the signal wire should go to the ecu. Difficult to tell without knowing soemthing about VW's but you could try turning the ign on and measuring the voltage between the 3 wires and earth - that should at least allow you to find out which wire is the power

Get the car in the air and check all the suspension bushes and bolts are ok and tight enough. Could be a binding brake caliper or knackered wheel bearing as well

To get a new plate on any car all the parts have to be new, except one which may be reconditioned. To get an age related plate, 3 items from a selection on major parts have to be from the same vehicle. These include axels, steering, engine, gearbox etc. A Q plate is required when you register a vehicle that has lost its original identity or is made from a selection on bits of unknown origin. Difficult to get to that stage these days - lots of rally cars / race cars end up on Q plates after loosing thier ID etc for tax purposes etc. Kit cars shouldnt end up on a Q plate much any more cos its easy to get an age related plate these days (hence why I own a sierra I've never seen). However, Q plates have some advantages around MOT time Cat C and D write offs (IIRC) should keep their original Id, but now have to pass an inspection before they're allowed on the road.

Air powered rattle gun will do the least damage to everything else :) You can buy eletric ones for £20 these days

Not only would it kill torque, unless your very carefull or your diagram is nothing like the finished article you wont get equal flow to each cylinder which could lead to det and an ultimately dead engine.

In theory. You need to check what position the dizzy should be in and make sure the cam is in the right phase to the crank, depending on how your sensors etc work.

Well mine comes from the description of me always being taken on internet forums. So i added a bit.

Sykes Picvant one form halfords £15, not worth the hassle making one.

At least its in one piece and you dont have to build it from 3 diagrams all about the wrong cars, looks good tho 8)

or worse

What spec is your bottom end? Most standard big end bolts will be a weak point at around 7k

Pistons come out the top of the engine after you've undone the big end bolts. You really ought to strip everything else off the block and have it properly cleaned as and stray metal particles will cause havok. If you need to borrow and engine stand and ring compressors etc then send me a pm. If you've changed big end bearings then you can change mains as well. personaly I'd take the block to a reputable engeneering place and get them to hone it for you. Shouldn't be more than £40 including having the block tanked. Then all you have to do is put the oil/ water pump etc back in and new rings on the pistons and you've got a brand new engine.

If the clutch isn't slipping its fine. If you get a whining noise then its the CRB but this sounds more like you need to grease or oil the clutch pedal pivot. Shouldnt be too hard to do. the clicks are most likely to do with an auto adjust facility if your car has this feature. To test your clutch, drive along at 2k in 4th, dip the clutch and rev the engine and keep your foot down. sidestep the clutch at about 4krpm and it should bring the revs back down fairly quickly/ speed the car up. If it takes ages and you dont speed up the clutch is shot.

Rest assured it'll be done properly, it may not be the best looking but it'll be the best performing available.

If your not going to have it honed and re-rung then dont even take the pistons out and dont try and clean them. It'll just make things a lot worse. Why did you take it all apart in the first place?

I take it you mean SVA. :cry: :cry: :cry:

Looks in reasonable condition to me. When you take it for a re-hone get them to tank the block and the pistons too. Save you loads of effort. When you get the pistons out you can take the rings off, snap one in half (be carefull) and use the edge to clean the piston grooves before you have it tanked. If your not going to re-ring it, leave it alone and just put it back together as it is.

Petrol and a toothbrush. Depending on how much of a rebore you need you may have to get new pistons. All engines should - the piston rings are set a little way down the piston, at the top of the stroke the piston ring wont quite reach the exact top of the bore and as the rings wear the bore they wont wear the little bit at the top, forming a ridge. This will come out with a light hone and if the bores are ok (wipe them with engine oil on a rag to stop them going rusty) and if the lip isnt too big then you should get away with the same pistons

Standard saff T3. Going to be running a stage 2/3 MSD closed loop chip, bosch 803's and a 3 bar map. Probably around 330ft/lb. Hoping to be under 700kgs too.

Hmm not sure. It was working earlier. I'll try uploading it to the forum again.

Neither do I anymore. I think the forums eaten it. Can soemone fix it for me please - I had a nightmare uploading it as an attachment even though it was less than 800x600 and under 2mb

Just thought I'd put a pic up of the progress so far....

That looks very odd. The thick layer of carbon is fairly normal and should scrape off. You should also have a slight lip at the top of each cylinder but it shouldnt be very big. What do the other cyls look like? Do they have the white band as well? Looks almost like you've had a ring sieze in the block. TBH, at this stage i'd be going for a rebore / hone, new rings and bottom end shells as a minimum but if your going to take the whole thing out you might as well do a full re-build, its a car your most likely to keep for a while so best to save yourself future agro.