Chris VR6nos

Well yeah go for it but it should be easy enough to find out the thickness's of the gaskets from a parts supplier. Chris

It's definatelly the 'Stilts' model, it's so high it looks like there's no engine in it. Chris

I'm sure they are about £15 not £60 Chris

The only thing i can picture from you words is the ABS wires and plug help inplace on the strut top by a 10mm nut which you remove and it's off. Is that what you mean? Chris

Which bushed you used? Chris

You should be able to see if the fluid has leaked out at some time with the shocker. It's a handling thing but you get tyre bounce when the shock has gone badly and would notice judder at higher speeds but not low speeds, this the experience i had with one of mine. Chris

THe whole cars aren't going for much more than that these days. Chris

HEHEHE common name! Chris

Simply wouldn't get one for that price, you would do well just blanking the TB heater pipes off and you'll get cooler denser air into the engine, loads of people on the forum have done exactly this mod. Save your money and work it out from a regular pipe sod the dealer. Chris

Yeah but to be honest most people would have just paid £20 to get it skimmed. Chris

dr_mat, good one, you're on it, the C/R can't change without phisical measurements changing but cylinder filling will be greater with a freere flowing air filter, the more air in there getting squashed the higher the pressures will obviously be. Not that it'll make much difference really though. Crasher, "changing rod length alone increasing your CC or that fitting an externally breathing reed valve into your servo pipe" Well i've never heard that one before, the crank and cylinders dimentions change CC and rod length does effect things but the main idea for rod length is to effect rod angularity ie. thrust ratios nad creating torque from long cranks but not much else. That Reed valve, i don't give it thought room, what a crock. Chris

Well the little metal weights are there for the same reason that you balance a wheel. If you are concerned that they have fallen off and want to be sure the drive shafts are in balance there are companies around toat will measure them and afix weights if they are out, cheap to get done and worth checking if you are concerned. Propshaft Services do it in the Northeast in Team Valley. Chris

Sometimes you will need to use a flatblade screwdriver, there's little ridges to help and gently slide the pull handle along, the plug lifts it's self off as you do this. Chris

You can get away with any piece of straight hose from a scrappy, there's some blanking off you can do to make things better anyway so all isn't lost. Someone will prob have one but it's pretty much the easiest one to sort out gladly. Chris

You see the bullit shaped cap at the top with flats machines into it, looks like that will unscrew and the blades life off but as you said, you should have gone with the GB on Vortech chargers, there are loads of issues with the Z chargers and well known faults as you are experiencing. You could get a shaft friction welded on and machined correctly, this would be very strong and would fix it but try getting hold of the people whom deal with them for correct parts, good luck. Chris

Nightmare but like i said, i've tried cleaning those things a few times but never found any real value in it, more often it's due to less obvious things, no easy answer really, just a case of problem solving be elimination and difficult to help from hundreds of miles away but VAG-COM is a good place to start like to see what the MAF and O2 sensors are doing. Chris

Well this is a vague question. For an accurate andswer to what you are trying to do don't you think we should have a bit more to go on mate? I've not measured the difference between the gaskets but the thinner the higher the C/R will be but not by much and if you would even notice but what are you trying to do? Oh and you will raise your compression by changing to a K&N air filter! Just thought i'd chuck that one in to see what people would say, but anyone understanding engines will understand the reasons for this! Those that argue obviously don't :roll: Chris

What does the diagnostics tell you? Chris

I've done a fair few head gasket changes on VR's now and never had one skimmed, however that doesn't mean that they didn't need to be done, it just means i got away with it. You can use a steel rule and feeler gauge to measure the twist in the surface or take it to your local engine machinists and they should be able to do it for you. It doesn't sound as though it's too bad and i'd go for just replacing the gasket unless it's been badly overheated! Remember to clean the surfaces propperly and degrease them and leave the surface keyed. Chris

and you's get judder but i'd have thought it would be all the time if that was it, we shall see. Chris

I'd rebuild it, the other engine may not last too long, you just don't know. Chris

Sorry to confuse you, 'S' is next to 'X' and my finger slipped, Gearbox is what i meant Chris

I hoist the engine up and push the car back out of the way, it seems to balance best with the bos still attached. Chris

Might have had a WUR mod done. Chris

One thing i would suggest is to vent the rocker breather(PCV) to atmosphere, this will stop oil/sludge deposits from clogging the MAF and will probably help if you have a lot of emissions from the rocker breather. Pull the pipe off and run the engine to see what emissions and blow-by there is from there. Chris