Kevin Bacon

Very, but the good ones come at a cost! I'm not biased at all. I had great results when all the OEM fan boys like United Motorsport and Vortexers said what I set out to achieve was impossible and a waste of money. They were completely wrong. I wanted the same traffic manners as OEM also and I achieved it by nothing more than careful tuning. In fact, mine drove better than factory in some scenarios as I wasn't restricted by the same governance that OEMs are :) Standalones aren't for everyone, which is why I suggested someone like QPENG ought to investigate a P&P solution. I mean, everyone and I mean *EVERYONE* who has done a 24V conversion has run into problems. The hardware is a piece of cake, it just falls in, but like I say, persuading ME7 to run in a Corrado with 70% of it's limbs missing throws up big challenges.

It's good to remind ourselves of the dangers of car fires from time to time. A battery kill switch is far quicker and safer than a spanner. They're not expensive or difficult to fit either. Fire extinguishers can be a good insurance, but nothing beats preventative maintenance. Regularly check for: Oil leaks on the back of the engine CV gaiter splits (can soak brake discs in grease as well) Electrical chafing (especially amp wires that pass through the bulkhead) Cooling fans (dodgy motors can catch fire) Fuel lines perishing Etc Panic is the first thing that sets in when smoke pours from the dash or comes out from under the car. Not everyone will be rational and calm enough to use an extinguisher and sometimes opening the bonnet will cause a backdraft, so a plumbed in extinguisher might be better.

Too darn right and not on boring German diesels either! I'd spend £1K on a daily, max.

Yeah but you can't do that tartan pattern you want in plasti dip!

I would replace it. They have a Snap-on 1000+ lbft air gun for removing crank pulley bolts!

I've seen mention on the Vortex of a 2.8 block with R32 head, cams, standalone and what not that's making a lot of power. Way more than an R32. It wouldn't be a cheap path though! Not sure what the AUE is capable of but it's a decent strong engine. You just can't get any tuning bits for it.

Wrapping would be better I think. I had the same thoughts as it's cheap-ish way of covering scratches and chips etc. A few folk I spoke to about dipping, warned about the potential for it take sections of original paint off when it comes to removal - right down to the metal!

Yeah we had a rental Smart for 4. Based on what I saw during 1500 miles of touring, I would never take a car I care about, there :lol:

I never bothered with resistors. I just left the relays and solenoids in place. Zero errors. Why bother with resistors? A small solenoid or relay doesn't exactly fill the engine bay and the ECU is seeing the expected load / signal :) That big long list of faults is what you see when you put a deimmobilised ME7 into a conversion before it's had all the CAN accessories switched off. Nice work SWICT, as ever! It definitely is worth the perseverance although I'm with Clumpy. My R32 conversion was also a lot better run from a standalone ECU. Better mpg & smoother power band. The problem with trying to put ME7 into a conversion is like trying to connect a Mac Pro up to a floppy disk, CD rom, DLT tape drive and a 15" VGA monitor. Yeah it's possible but the two environments are not happy bed partners. IMO, someone like QPENG should sell a plug & play standalone solution for R32s as well as 1.8Ts. That way the modern engine is properly harmonised to it's ancient host. Anyway, as good as the R32 is in a decent conversion, I'm sorry boys, it's even better in it's intended host :) Loads more torque and it just feels better hooked up to 4WD and a dual mass flywheel. Mind you, that same feeling is possible in the Corrado I suppose. Hmmmm......

Lol, I loved driving in Italy. Did a big road trip back in 2006 from one end to the other and everything in between, and yeah, Florence and Rome were interesting for driving. It was mainly kids on scooters. You'd be waiting at the lights and out of nowhere, you'd be surrounded by scooters and they lean on your car! The Autostradas are interesting too with insane tailgating and bullying out of the overtaking lanes, but, it's part of their culture and no one takes it personally. I shudder to think what would happen if people drove like that over here as English people take driving far too seriously and far too personally. Lovely country, defo going back!

Does the inner most groove line up with the tensioner's inner most groove? If it doesn't don't fanny about with pulleys and replace the whole alt for the correct one. Later alts have slipper clutches inside the pullies, so the shaft might be different and might not take a 12V pulley?

Nothing seems to match the quality of the original clutch fitted 20 years ago. Car part makers seem to be going through a 'Make things as cheaply as possible, but charge twice as much for them' phase at the moment. Valeo seem to be the best ones at the moment.

Good man! Car problems are always less severe when drinking :) I've used pattern belts in the past and they made some interested clattering noises after a few thousand miles. The OEM belt is the best but it's over 50 quid I think and they never keep them in stock.

Not sure, probably the helical gears inside the Wavetrac / Quaife. Open diffs don't fight the front wheels wanting to turn at different speeds, but LSDs do, so the car wants to keep going straight. Plate diffs are the worst for that and practically unusable in a FWD car, but even gear diffs like the Quaife and Wavetrac stiffen up the steering a bit. It does feel really good though. Proper planted as Clumpy said.

There is only 1 tensioner and only 1 belt (unless you have A/C), so the alternator is therefore the like suspect as there's a few different ones that fit VR6s. How many ribs on the alternator pulley? May only be 6 if the belt is over-hanging, which means it could be a 4Motion / R32 alternator.

Nah no noise. The car's original diff crown wheel bolts to the Wavetrac, so it will sound exactly the same as stock. The first thing you do notice, with a quaife at least, is the steering is heavier. Not massively so, but a pleasant extra weight to it when you go into corners.

Looks like the alternator pulley alignment is off, which is probably what's frayed your belt and causing the tensioner to flap about like that. Either that or there's something odd with the belt. Count the ribs. There should be 7. Is it a proper Corrado alternator? Speaking of flapping about, that video demonstrates quite nicely why you shouldn't just replace the bearing. Over time the springs go weak lose control over the tension. Personally, I would replace the whole tensioner if you don't know it's history. I know it's not cheap, but it will ensure the belt is kept at the right tension. If it's a recent tensioner, then by all means just do the bearing but 100K plus, I'd be sticking a new unit on personally!

Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got, I'm still Kenny from the Block :lol: Indeed! Have you ever been to Longleat? You'll notice that the apes will only swing on the premium tyres and the remoulds and budget brands are given to the Lions to chew on :lol: Even the animal kingdom will take a Bridgestone over a budget tyre!

Yeah they can take the torque. You'll probably still spin the wheels in winter but the cornering is more fun!

My thoughts exactly! Yeah 312s filled them out nicely and something like the DS3000 should work well too!

Sorry, couldn't resist :lol: Seriously though, we need establish your definition of 'buzzing'. I've heard relays clicking rapidly in the scenario you describe as spannerdmonkey said. That to me is a buzz. Things that 'hum' (quietly) when you turn the key are the fuel pump and aux water pump, but only the fuel pump would stop the car from starting if it was bad.

If Wavetrac offer an international warranty, do it! Frankly I'm sick to death of UK companies selling US goods at massively inflated prices. F'ck em, buy direct from the U S of A!

Uniroyals are good in their intended market place, which is somewhere cold and wet, but they're definitely not for the keen driver imo. In temperate conditions like the UK where it can be 28 degs and dry one day and 15 and wet the next, you really do notice just how soggy the sidewalls are. As a long standing contributor to this thread and suffering from stuck needle syndrome, everyone knows I'm a big advocate of Bridgestone, ContiSport & Michelin Pilot Sport. The Bridgees and the Michees feel very similar, but Mr Bridgee has slightly better grip in the corners. Both feel superb in a straight line. ContiSports are the perfect middle ground for those want the grip but with a less aggressive side wall, but the twitching is far less pronounced than lesser soft walled tyres. They're a great compromise. Obviously budgets will prevail, but imo it's always worth stretching that bit further for the good stuff.

Definitely the RaveTrack Quaifes are a bit meh. Easily overwhelmed with boost torque and still an open diff when one wheel has no grip, so just as useless as open diff on snow, gravel and ice. The Wavy boy differs in that offers grip in zero traction conditions by effectively locking the diff together with friction, just like the old 020 and 02J boxes that had spring loaded CV flanges. Neat stuff huh? :)

I only know so much which I've PM'd Dave :) Vince and Jon at Stealth know a good deal about the electronics side of things but the main differences seem to be the BUB got a different exhaust cam, cam sensors, injectors, ECU, harness etc etc. It was the last of the last R32 engines and a last ditch attempt to refine it a bit I suppose. Prior to the BUB we have a hotch potch mixture of BFH, BHE, BDB, BJS and what not. A mix and match of MK5 and MK4 bits n bobs!