Kevin Bacon

I knew of a MK1 G60 that dumped the G Lader in favour of a turbo. It churned out somewhere in the region of 250bhp if I remember rightly. It was mental. Kev

A crossflow head allows bigger inlet and exhaust ports, something the regular head can only be stretched so far. Jereon Dik built a monster G60 engine some years ago with an X-flow head and he took the exhaust ports out to 50mm and it flowed roughly the same as a 16V head, with bigger valves. So I'd say an X-flow head a well ported regular head are most definitely not equal in terms of flow. Kev

Anything that comes out of Scotts of Sloane Square is generally top notch. Kev

Has the subframe ever had new axle bushes fitted in the past? They need to be fitted at precisely the right angle and pressed into the axle a precise distance, otherwise you'll get an uneven bias to one side. Kev

I think Mike meant the Bilsteins are too stiff as he agreed with Henny. Conversely, I had some Bilsteins on my old E30 325i and they were too soft, must be application dependant. But onto the Koni and my second query.....Koni will be replacing the damper but am I within my rights to claim a second damper? I don't like the idea of not fitting dampers in pairs. Yes it's only 2 weeks old, but there is a chance the nearside one will pop if it's from the same batch. Tut, tut, Koni aren't what they used to be. I've had front TAs fail on me in the past. Kev

Forgot to mention.....you may need new flanges also as the seal tends to wear a groove into the flange. Fitting a new seal over a worn flange will have you repeating the seal job soon after. Another tip is to seal the dust cap over the circlip with silcon sealant as the caps sometimes fall off, flooding the inner CV with gear oil in the process. I think that's just about it! Kev

Sounds like one of your flange seals has popped it's clogs and the gear oil is collecting at the bottom of the diff casing and dripping onto Ma's lovely block pave drive. As I always say with box leaks, please make sure it is gear oil first, just smell it, it's very pungent and peanuty. If it is a flange seal (suspect number 1 with 020 and 02A boxes), isolate which one and remove the inner CV. You may need a puller to pull the flange out but sometimes they just pop out after you've removed the circlip from under the rubber dust cap.. There is a spring behind the flange and a copper thrust washer. Check the latter item and if it's split in two (common), replace it ASAP as that and the flange springs act as mild diff locks for handling benefits. Insert a nice new seal (020 seals are L & R handed, so check if this applies to the 02A when ordering) and refitting is the reverse of removal, as they say. If it isn't a flange seal and it's defo gear oil, it might be a shredded gearbox input shaft seal and the oil is again, dripping out of the bell housing and collecting at the bottom of the box. Preferably it's the former. Do the sniff test first. Kev

Might be one of the wheel sensors complaining. If you don't have VAG-COM diagnostics, simply find a quiet road and lock the brakes up. If the ABS is working properly, the car should pull up in a straight line with no skidding, obviously, but you might get the odd 'scuff' from the rear wheels, which is normal. I do this regularly, especially in the wet, to keep a check on it because I want them to work when I need them the most. Kev

Blowing money on a Corrado is something you do automatically, just to keep it on the road. For a reliable 300bhp, forget those engines. You need a 16V G60 or a VR6 super/turbocharged - and that will cost more than the car's worth to implement. Kev

Anything can be done with the right amount of money! RE the 680bhp MK3 VR6, I give that 20K engine life, tops, and I believe it was tested using 110 octane racing fuel. Kev

Funnily enough, my girlfriend drives a Ka, so you could be right. A girls' car is just one a man wouldn't buy, but then what kind of MAN cares about what car they're seen in anyway? Kev

he he, stubborn little gits aren't they? Kev

Yep, plus the VAT :x

Doh! - can you cancel the one you ordered? Plugs - i need to before the rolling road day is sorted!! Nope, it's already on it's way over from Germany :( I'll just hang onto it as a spare! Kev

The VR should not smoke and 70K is a young age for it to be doing so. Your oil is too thin or you have engine wear. My 81K VR6 uses about 1/4 litre between it's 6000 mile changes, but I do have a Mocal oil cooler which keeps the temperature below 100 on the move. Kev

I wouldnt even try and remove the cam sensor without disconnecting the battery. Its behind the coil pack and requires nerve and patience to replace it. So, in summary, yes do disconnect the battery and then go through the loop of driving it through slow speeds, varied speeds, then high speed run- this programmes the ECU.... Erm, not really. The CPS takes a couple of mins to swap out. Changed mine with the battery connected and I didn't bother with the ECU reset. Can't complain about 200bhp and 193lb/ft torque after replacement with no fault clearance. The ECU log doesn't affect performance, but reset it when you next hook up to VAG-COM. The ECU is just looking for a certain voltage and square wave from the sensor, when it sees this, it self adjusts automatically and revokes the emergency map. Kev

Focus on your studies mate, get a good job and then get any car you want. The VR is not insurance friendly. You need a good few years bonus and age under your belt before it becomes viable. Kev

Idle valve is dead/stuck. Try cleaning it with some carb cleaner first. It's under the plastic HT lead cowling. Check also the throttle damper which is on the throttle body. This 'catches' the throttle on overrun (when you let off the clutch) and lowers the butterfly gently to rest. If this goes, the ISV will struggle to catch the rpm drop. Kev

If the 2.9 block ovalises, your choices are a brand new short engine from VAG at £3,600 + VAT or a 2.8 overbore. You can't get over sized pistons for the 2.9. You have to bore the 2.8 out to 2861cc and use stock 2.9 pistons. The 2.9 is notoriously fickle. Some last forever, some die at 130K. The earliest full rebuild I'm aware of is 88K. Maybe some were built better at the factory than others, who knows. I've seen a few engines with the Conrods fitted back-to-front. There really is no guarantee on longevity, regardless of care and attention. My advice is to just check the spark plugs. All 6 should be uniform in colour. If 1 and 6 or either or are oil fouled (on the tips, not the threads) then get your wallet out. Tappets only need doing when noisy, 80K is an average replacement age. Using thin oil kills them off quicker. When in need of replacment, they'll be noisy at 2K and on start-up. Heat stress....the only tips I can give you here are a jammed thermostat or an air lock. Never refill a VR6, or any engine for that matter, from the expansion tank. Fill from the radiator top hose as this forces air out of the galleries from the bottom up. Kev

Oh dear....is the windscreen vent stiff when you slide it across? The windscreen vent bowden cable is notorious for causing problems. Mine is so stiff, it sheared the plastic clip that holds the cable to the direction mechanism. Another thing that happens is the foot/face vent flap jams open. I cured mine by taking the screen cable out of the equasion and manually fully opening the flap. All I get now is screen venting and partial face/feet. Doesn't bother me as the screen one is the most important (winter demisting) and there is always plenty of heat seeping out of the face and foot vents regardless. Not a specific answer to your problem I'm afraid but just an indication as to what it *could* be. Let us know how you get on. Kev

205x50x15s should not be expensive as they're not an unusual size, they're not metric and they're not run-flat, so that quote is ridiculous. However, they must be capable of sustaining 150mph, so maybe that's why they're pricey? I can recommend anything from the Bridgstone camp, the Potenza RE720s (what I've got) are superb. They wear well, grip astonishingly well in the wet and they're cheapish. SO2 and SO3s are the mutts, but they may not be available in that size. Goodyear Eagle F1s are also top quality, even better than the Potenzas in the wet but they wear down rapidly. Kev

Following my G68 error post earlier, I spotted another problem whilst cleaning my ISV out. My driver's side front Koni is leaking oil, it's only two weeks old :cry: It's leaking out of the adjuster and dripping down the threads into the top mount cup. I'm 99% sure it's not lubricating oil as I didn't put it there and neither did the garage when they fitted them. The passenger side is dry. No wonder the car has been twitchy recently. Do you guys think using an air gun on the damper would cause this as I've heard you must never use air tools on dampers? Where do I stand legally as I'm going to take a pic of the leak and send it to the fitter concerned? I'm losing faith in Koni.....3 years ago I had a set fitted to a MK2 and one of those failed within a month also. Are Bilstein dampers any good? Thinking of dropping the Konis and trying something else. Cheers Kev

Alright mate.... Yes the fact the car is stationary (engine running) would fool the brain, but wouldn't stationary ABS sensors report the same fault, which they don't? It's never come up before, so just thought I'd run it by the forum to get some suggestions. Speaking of MAFs, I took my old one out today and the hot wire and the little sensor plate in front of it was covered in shit. So I put some carb cleaner on a cotton bud and cleaned the wire and sensor. Runs like a dream now! Sorted your plugs out yet? Kev

I keep get this on VAG-COM: 1 Faults Found: 00281 - Vehicle Speed Sensor (G68) 27-00 - Implausible Signal The speedo works just fine. Should I ignore it or replace the sensor? Cheers Kev

The VR is actually not bad on fuel. Don't forget it is not far off 3 litres so you're never going to get amazing economy. I'll tell you this though, my VR uses significantly less fuel than my old E30 BMW 325i. Kev