Kevin Bacon

Yep, they're made by SACHs and mine were red too. The fronts are black, also SACHs. Kev

The finished item! Kev

What ever. If you've nothing constructive to add, keep your tripe to yourself. as i gave figures i would say it was constructive, all i think it will show is possably a faulty lambda, unless its my chip and that alters it. i did ask if anyone could explain it so your answer is less constructive then mine. good luck to you selling them as they have a place, but i would be interested in a wide band version. OK fair enough. It was the way you said it, not what you said :? Anyway........ My meter is not intended to be the be-all-and-end-all of meters and I'm not interested in making a lucrative business out of it. I just thought if it costs a tenner to make, then people would be interested, given that most commercial ones cost upwards of 4 times that amount. The meter merely displays exactly what the lambda output is. Most people are happy just to see Stoich at WOT, and some like to see everthing. Since the output of the probe is 0 to 1V and each segment is 0.1v, you do get the full range displayed. If you understand how Lambda probes work, then the meter will tell you everything you need to know. Kev

Certainly. All AF meters are based around a LM3914 chip and are dead easy to configure to read what ever range you want. Kev

What ever. If you've nothing constructive to add, keep your tripe to yourself.

Do you mean the black metal plate with a hole on the actual flap itself? If so then you need part number 535 862 288 and get a body shop to tack weld it onto the flap. If the

LOL, you lader boys, eh? I'm counting down the days until my VR lump dies and then it'll be hoiked out and replaced with a 150 TDi engine and 6 speed box :lol: An easy 180bhp and around 300lb/ft of the twisty stuff :wink: Kev

Don't let us disuade you mate. There's LOADS of information about each engine online, should you need it. The VR6 doesn't grenade itself of anything silly like that, but lots of VRs around the 90K mark are showing signs of bore wear and like most VW engines, valve guide wear too. Just depends how it's been treated. The youngest full rebuild I'm aware of is 88K but on the other side of the coin, Andi's is on 191,000 and still going strong. Kev

Are you sure it's not the outer heatshield rattling? It won't cause any MPG or performance problems. Kev

Not necessarily! I don't know why, but the VR has a reputation for being bomb proof. It's far from it. Kev

There isn't a head rebuild kit as such (that I'm aware of), but what they call a 'Headset', which consists of all the gaskets required and new valve stem seals. Guides, valves, springs, and followers are all seperate items. The guides need pressing in professionally, hence not included in the kit. Kev

I thought if the car had a Cat fitted at the factory, then it had to retain it? Seems to be conflicts of opinion on Cat laws. harry1000 , the lambda shouldn't be in the cat itself, it should always be upstream of it. Kev

The lambda probe is in the front pipes before the cat, so binning the thing has no effect on fuelling. Cars built from 94 onwards must have a cat for the MOT. Kev

That's the kind of attitude that will get you stopped......and bump up the insurance premiums for everybody else

Bang on the nail..... When I had my Golf 16V Turbo (220bhp), I could have sworn it was pulling low 6s to 60, but imagine my surprise when it was GPS timed at 7.13 seconds and 139.9 Vmax! The car did spin though..... On the day (The Golf Bruntingthorpe thrash), higher spec'd cars were getting even slower times than mine, largely due to spin and poor launches, bad gear ratios etc. Jabbas red rallye pulled a 4.4 second though :? Don't get me wrong, 7.1 seconds is still quick but it just shows that what you perceive as being quick is often not the case when accurately timed.

The police have neither the time nor the inclination to target offenders on discussion forums. How can they (and you) prove you broke the law based on a public discussion? There's only one way the police can arrest you for a motoring offense and that is to catch you in the act. And as for blanking plates etc......why? I'm not about to try and steal GY03 WHZ, which is a Lamborghini Gallardo in this month's Autocar. Kev

If your going ahead with selling them count me in for one, although the wires may need to be a bit longer than yours as I would put it next to my headlight switch due to the heated seat controls taking up the space under the fogs. Very cool and subtle mod. 8) Yeah no probs. I can either make them and post them on or supply a list of parts for people that are confident with soldering. The wiring length can be as long as required. In the meantime, you can prepare for it by tapping into the 02 sensor's signal wire (white cable on the plug) and feeding a cable from there and a battery earth lead (don't use the 02 sensor's earth or a car ground) into the dash area. You'll also need to tap into the black wire on the ignition switch to provide a switched output for the meter. Kev

It might be the thermostat housing. If it seeps (usually when under pressure), it can drip round to the front of the block. There is also a plastic water transfer pipe that travels from the pump to the stat housing (sits above the oil filter housing). Check that for hairline cracks. If the water pump has gone, it'll drip a puddle on the floor under the pulleys, so we can outrule that. Did you check the rear hose (head to matrix) for splits after the accident? That one is very prone to splitting due to the heat of the manifold perishing it. Kev

Later Corrados can use just the outer seal, which is about £30 from GPC. Some Corrados had a bigger one peice job. GPC can tell which you need from the chassis number. Only snag is, I ordered the last two from GPC a few months ago and VW only had a passenger side one in the country. Hopefully both will have some more by now. You can remove the outer seal and reform the metal strip for a snugger fit. If it doesn't work, replacement is the only option. Kev

OK, here's an update on the progress. The one I bought was rubbish and not one to be defeated, I have therefore made my own. It's going to fit perfectly in the large blanking plate under the fog light switches etc. The ABS light will be moved to the bottom and the newly made AF meter, to the top. Attached pics show it in action at night during testing and calibration (apologies for pic quality). The other pics show the compact dimensions and how cannily the bargraph is exactly the same size as the smooth inner section of the blanking plate :lol: Each segment exactly represents 0.1V (verified with a high impedance meter) and the red LED is a power on indicator, which will be placed adjacent to LEDs 6 & 7, at which point the engine is at Stoich on WOT. At WOT, I expect to see 0.75 to 0.8 and it read that exactly, so the ECU is doing it's job :lol: If you want one, it'll cost about a tenner (much cheaper than purpose made ones, and just as accurate) to make and I'll post complete instructions and a parts list if there is sufficient interest. What's the point? Well, if you're interested in what your engine is up to, it's a good device. You can see in an instant if the 02 sensor is dead or if the ECU isn't responding to it's signals. What you want to see is no lights lit on overun when the ECU pulls back the fuelling for economy. At idle, it'll flick between 0.1 and 0.7 constantly, which indicates the ECU is altering the fuelling (10 pulses to the injectors a second) to find the best mix. At WOT, you want to see 0.6 - 0.7. If you light all 10, you're running too rich. If you light too few, you get the picture. If the bargraph sits at 4 constantly, the probe is dead. The meter incidentally is bar or dot mode selectable. Kev

I'll second that. My upper tensioner has just started showing signs of pitting at 84K. Stealth reckon 20K life left tops before the rivets and bits of plastic end up in the sump. Kev

Because some of us, me, have been timed at Bruntingthorpe with GPS gear 8) Kev

Pretty much all of the work is DIY-able. The head will need to go to a workshop to get the valve guides pressed in though, but you can lap the valves in yourself and reassemble the head if you can be arsed. If you're doing the chains, obviously the box and flywheel will have to take a vacation from the engine for a while, but check the "12V VR6" forum on VWVortex as these have found that later VR6 chain guides and tensioners are interchangable with earlier ones. The later ones (in their MK4 Golfs) are solid plastic (quieter and more durable) and not plastic lined metal strips. Have a look at the attached for the chain parts. I can PM you a couple of Acrobat files with all the late and early part numbers if required. I believe also that the VR6 head gaskets are now steel like the 2.0 16v's. If you source all the parts and necessary tools, I reckon you could probably get the majority of it done over a weekend, pending the head rebuild time. Kev

Blinkin eck! Does it feel stable at that speed? My old 16V Turbo (MK2) used to frustratingly run out of gearing at 139.9 mph (GPS timed) as that's the max from the 16V 020 box! Should have stuck a Maestro turbo 5th in it.....oh well. Kev

Excellent work and better than some other attempts I've seen. Not 100% sure on the massive arches, but it does work overall though. I wonder if it has been TUV approved as it has no roll over hoop and the screen has been chopped! Kev