Kevin Bacon

The inpros are crap. They look tacky and they're build quality is rubbish. I had some on for a week and got rid of them soon after. All red VW tails look WAY better imo. Kev

I think it was an option on all VWs in the mid 90s. Kev

I disagree about the inlet temps. The enormous heat soak the VR6 suffers can only lead to very high inlet temps. Indeed if you hook up to VAG-COM you can get a live inlet temp figure and it's way above ambient temperature. Obviously NA engines suck in the air they require, rather like human lungs. And when the bonnet is closed, the air it will draw in will be from around the engine. If the air filter is in the wing cavity, it can only suck in cold air and nothing else. I used to run water/methanol injection on 16V Turbo and prior to it's fitment, the intercooled air was regularly at 40- 50 deg C. With the H20 injection, it fell to 15-20 deg C on a hot summers day and less on a winters day. Just my tuppence worth Kev

I've been using H&R springs on all my VWs, past & present and yes they are the mutts, imo. The H&R springs are WAY too hard for the standard dampers to cope with. You're asking for trouble if you partner the two. H&Rs need Koni top adjustables all round or an equally good adjustable damper. In my view, when contemplating a suspension upgrade. Look at the whole picture and not just the springs or dampers. You need both, period. And if you've got 80+k old bushes and top mounts, change them aswell. Kev

Indeed I do :lol: Only the rear Top Adjustable dampers are ride height adjustable. Non TA rear dampers are fixed height and damping. I would heartily recommend you spend the extra £8 per damper and get the TA rears too. There is a circlip on the rear TA damper that gives you 5 height adjustments. The reason I mentioned moving the circlip to the centre detent is that ensures the ride height is even, front to back. If you install the dampers as supplied, the rear end will sit lower. Kev

Apparently Ultimate will be available nationwide by January and is guaranteed to be 98 ron minimum :lol: Kev

I don't think there is an official colaboration between the two companies but Porsche have always had 'dealings' with the VAG group. For example, the original Porsche 924 was an abandoned Audi project (note the numerous parts from the VAG parts bin!). And we all know about Dr Ferdinand Porsche being forced to make the Beetle, so there is definitely a link there but neither company play on it. The Porsche Cayenne and VW Toureg is a shared platform. Porsche provide the petrol muscle, VW provide the Diesel muscle. Anyway, back to your original query! For the Audi 80 Avant RS2, Porsche designed/supplied the wheels, wing mirrors, brakes, body mouldings and front bumper. They also prepared the engines and optimised the suspension. One hell of a car if you can find one and Dialynx will happily extract silly amounts of power out it if that takes your fancy. The current S series Audis are pure Audi though. I think the RS2 was a one off project to launch Audi back into the high performance car market again after the demise of the original UR Quattro. That's about all I know really. Must be plenty more info online? Kev

I've not really had many races in my VR6 but a load of mates and I went to a skirmish once, in our own cars. Mate no1 has a Leon Cupra R (210bhp) and mate no2 has a Subura WRX (245bhp). There was nothing in it. All 3 were evenly matched in both handling and acceleration, although the Scooby was quicker off the line (4 x 4, 2 x LSDs and 1 x electronic centre diff). I almost lost a race with a Golf GT TDI (150bhp) though :( Way too much torque for the VR to compete with! Kev

LOL, that shows what I know then doesn't it :lol: I agree the Storm is the one to have for prosperity's sake but only if left completely standard imo. Kev

Is that different from the regular Robert Bentley manual then? I can't find the £99 one on Amazon! Is it about 4 inches thick as that's the one I've seen in various garages and is a lot more comprehensive than the normal Bentley/Haynes affair?. Cheers Kev

£200 is a lot for a stamp in the book mate. You can guarantee they'll use Quantum Gold too, which after 6 litres, will add up. They'll then plug it into the diagnostics and gleefully tell you need X, Y and Z! All the vehicle checks (bar the diags unless you have VAG-COM) can be done by yourself. A mate was charged £15 for a washer fluid top up for heavens sake. Also, a recent survey found over half of all UK mechanics, even main dealer ones, aren't actually qualified to do the job anyway. If you plan on keeping the car for a long time, sod the flaming service book. Do it yourself for less than half the price. Kev

I use Slick 50 and MTL in my VR6 box to great effect. I wouldn't use S50 in the engine but it's fine in the gearbox. The difference between MTL and MT90 is weight. MTL is 70W/80 and MT90 is 75W/90. Thicker in other words. Redline do several gear oils, check their website for more details. http://www.Redlineoil.com C&R are the only supplier I'm aware of that import it - 0115 978 5740 It's expensive stuff. 2 bottles of MTL, the slick 50 and carriage came to £70. Redline oils are synthetic based on Polyol Ester, the only lubricant capable of withstanding the heat from Jet engines! Kev

You have to buy a new striker pin from VW, which comes with a new nylon sleeve. They must be heat shrunk on at the factory or something. Kev

I can vouch for the time wasted on removing problem bolts! I had to pay an extra 3 hours labour to stealth during my suspension change because one of the crappy Trilock wheel bolts rounded off. 3 hours, 2 drills, and a handful of drill bits later, the wheel eventually came off! Kev

Seqshift (or SQS for MK2, Corrado, MK3) looks cool but why do this and other short shift kits insist on a 6 foot gearstick that looks completely out of place in the interior? I wasn't aware any TTs had sequential shifting other than the dual-clutch DSG box? The DSG would be very hard to retrofit as you'd need the paddle system, brain, wiring looms and engine management changes to control engine speed during changes. Kev

Front - Check the condition of the plastic damper shrouds and replace if ripped. Top mounts consist of a rubber block and a cartridge bearing. Replace both. You've got your early spring plates, so that's about it for the front. Make sure the mechanics don't use an airgun when assembling the new kit. Rear - check the top mounts for compression. Replace if noticably worn/mishaped. Replace the bump stops and trim 30mm (the lowering drop) off the bottom of them. If you've gone for adjustable rears aswell, set the ride height circlip to the middle notch. Set the rear dampers to 3/4 turns from zero (before fitting to car as the speaker shelves prohibit adjustment unless you remove the speakers like I did). Set the front dampers to 1.5 turns from zero. That should give you a firm, bounce-less ride. Kev

Are they releasing the bolts with an airgun or a long wrench? It is preferable to use an airgun as the hammer action not only loosens ingressed rust, it eases the bolt out gradually. What a PIA. I've been there with engine bolts, but never subframe bolts in 13 years of VW ownership. Your car didn't live in a seaside resort at some stage in it's life did it? The salty air/mists can really rust up the subframe. I've seen a MK2 GTI that used to tow a boat and the constant in and out of the water completely destroyed the rear axle and subframe.....not nice. Kev

One advantage of working for an insurance company is I can visit the insurance advisors personally and 'chat' to them about insuring the car :lol: The problem is, cars like the VR6 are often referred to as 'termed cars' in the insurance industry. Terms usually mean bigger excesses, restricted mileage, garaging essential etc. Also, my VR6 came up as 'Refer to supervisor' on the screen meaning the team leader had to do a manual assessment of my car and driving credentials. An offer of a drink after work usually oils the decision making wheels :lol: Kev

It's intersting to see all the extra bits under the hood that we don't get/need! UK VR6 engine bays look positively sparse by comparison! Very very nice for a 120,000 miler! Keep up the good work and by the way, those Golf wheels really suit the Corrado in my opinion. Nice :lol: Kev

Which ones have sheared? Rear ones or front ones? If the rear ones have sheared, you may have to cut out the captive nuts on the floorpan. This involves lifting the carpet, removing the large access grommets, cutting out the nuts complete with sheared bolts and then welding new captive nuts in. If the front bolts have sheared, then you can always try an 'easy-out' drill kit but I wouldn't hold out much hope on it working. They're pretty hit and miss. Kev

Don't need a splitter dude! Just slackening the BJ bolts is all that's required. Try doing the camber by eye! That's this week's challenge! Your bumpstops at the rear could be shafted which is the normal cause for saggy arses, on cars that is :lol: Common to misconception, the rear bumpstops are actually spring assistors and the car rides on them permanently. Do not chop too much off them when lowering, just snip the lowered amount off, say 1.5" if that's you're lowering drop. Kev

I always liked BMW's 'Check' panel in the roof. Very handy for monitoring bulbs etc! Kev

Let's just hope his wiring behind the dash hasn't been butchered :? Kev

That's true but you will see plenty of MK3 Golfs wearing Mystic Blue and Classic Green though! Just about the only things VW didn't take from the Corporate parts bin for the Storm are the little red badges! I think they should have deleted the VR6 badge and just had 'Corrado Storm'. Much neater and invokes an air of mystery. The Storm is just history repeating itself though. The Scirocco storm didn't get much extra over the regular GTI either. So for future Storm models, read that as leather and a red badge! Can you go into VW and buy the Storm badges? Or are they anal about it like BMW's M livery? You need to show them the log book to get genuine M badges. Kev

They're the OE supplier to BMW (except the Sport and M cars which have Bilstein kit) so they must be reasonable. I've just found on VW applications, they're poo. Kev