Rpmayne

I bought a complete Gmax suspension kit for the VR because it despirately needed doing and I didn't have the money for anything better, koni top adjustables would have been my choice as the coilovers are abit stiff for my liking. Anyhow, has anyone else got this kit and what do you think? Finding mine abit soft at the front. A crawl over a speed bump and I can feel the difference between the front and back damping. The back seems to start sliding abit prematurely, as if the fronts giving too much and taking weight off the opposite rear. Good fun around round abouts, just doesn't sound right when alot of people are saying its near impossible to loose the rear end, if anything slight understeer at the limit. Had a gmax kit on a mk2 golf and it felt alot sharper and more even front to back. Would this be down to the shocks or springs? And is there a cheaper way of correcting it other than a new suspension kit? Or am I imagining this? Ta.

I've heard of the ingition switches getting fried when shorts have happened when putting stereos in. About £20 for the switch from VW, can get to it by removing the steering cowling and looking behind the lock mechanism. 1 philips screw holds it on. Worth checking against the wiring diagrams with a meter, haven't got the bentley with me so can't get the diagrams on here unfortunately.

I agree with RadoAds about replacing it, unless it is buggered I wouldn't bother. I was told you can turn the cv joint bearing cage around so it starts wearing in a different place, not sure how good an idea that is. Never tried. You could get one of those wrap around cv boots so you don't need to remove the cv joint. Not sure how good they are though.

That looks very familiar to how my 8v box died, clutch doesn't work too well with that mod. :)

Was as you said kevhaywire, took the heater controls out and a little metal clip fell out. Thats the one which is supposed to keep the outside of the cable fixed which runs to the hot/cold air flap. Think that must have happened when the wiring has been moved around recently.

Ta, will have a look this afternoon. These cars never give you any rest eh? If its not one thing its another.

Remember a long 8mm bolt to fit into the tensioner to take the tension out of the belt so you can remove it too.

Shame you can't find a way of not having to cut the bonnet until you're sure aswell, don't like the idea of that mod to make it fit.

Thanks, will get onto VW and see what extortionate price they've made up for them.

Not sure, just been reading about these valves though a search of the site. Were both coolant pipes to and from the matrix hot when yours was mucking around aswell?

I wouldn't bother getting the head skimmed unless its warped or pitted. Doubt there's any noticeable power gains to be had, only pinking if its skimmed too much. That's what the bloke said when I got my 8v head skimmed anyway, mine needed doing cos it was running out and slightly pitted. Tappets, check the guides / replace if needed, re-seat valves, valve stem seals (with the head set) and the cam chain would be worth doing. Although the tappets and chain can be done later (and stem seals with the right gear), if you're paying someone to strip the head rather than just fit a new gasket, probably worth doing it all at the same time. Price wise... Guides and fitting will probably be the best part of £200 (my Golf on 100k didn't need them, 1mm max play), rest of the parts probably £150 ish GSF prices. Don't know about labour, for my sins I strip the cars then hand bits over for machine work so no idea. When you get the money, a mate fitted a Magnex full exhaust and 4-1 manifold after his head work and got 160bhp, and did 140mph verified by speedo and revs.

Another problem, hopefully with a simple cure if any of you have had the same problem: Heater fan works, coolant pipes to and from the heater matrix are hot, coolant level is good, no hot air regardless of position of the temperature dial. Any ideas.. Thinking it might be the temperature selection mechanism, whats the easiest way to get to it, and hows it supposed to work. Think I remember reading somewhere its cable operated. With the weather recently its been bad not being able to clear the condensation.

To take the radiator out you need to remove the front bumper, headlights, grill, and the slam panel. Lots of those stupid self tapping screws hold the front end on so be careful not to overtighten them. Basically the whole front of the car, definitely not alot of space in there. Must be a guide on here or the vortex forum for doing that. Worth finding one cos, for instance, only remove the two larger bolts for each of the front bumper fixings, not the smaller middle one. Can't remember exactly but think all those bolts hold the front member on, so don't drive it with the bumper off otherwise the front engine mount will try and pull it off.

I'll give that a miss then, got some new gearbox oil everybodys been on about arriving tomorrow so I'll settle for that instead. Point taken about the oil ways, still amazes me how it gets though to the lifters and tensioner etc. What's regular oil changes, I was planning every 6000mls.

Cool, so leave it bed in for ?? miles then use slick 50. I've been running on Sinta Silver, thought VW use that from new so followed that.

Got the car back from VW last night working!! They found one of the temperature senders was reading 109deg. constantly which they said wouldn't help, and the laserline alarm had been fitted by monkeys. The connections to the car are apparently pretty bad, and the circuit breaking the supply to the ECU had disconnected itself. Its been resoldered and touch wood it should be ok now. They did recommend getting another alarm fitted though, think I'll leave that until the credit card cools down abit. Had a good run this morning, still only using upto 4000rpm and half throttle when warm, but still plenty for overtaking, and forgot how smoothly it does it too. :-P

There is always that. :) Just had the bits at work to do it, although I lent it to soemone and can't remember who. Might go down that route instead this time.

Does anyone run slick 50 in their cars? Have just got the car going on a basically new engine and wondering whether its worth putting some in from the beginning. Thing is, the engines not run in yet

I got a 17mm nut welded to a 10mm allen key bolt to undo the drain/fill plugs, then you can use the nut end and a normal set of allen keys to undo it. Can be bloody tight if its never been off before though, I ended up taking mine down the garage who loosened it then I took it home and did the change (nipping it up again for the journey of course :wink: )

Thanks Storm. Ended up getting one through VW in the end though, the car is in their garage being diagnosed at the moment. The AF type ECU I got through the CC website turned out being for a 2.8 VR6 '92. VW coudln't talk to it, and didn't even prime the fuel pump on start up so I've just thought sod it and payed the money. At least this way if something else is causing them to fail I shouldn't end up with a bill for multiple ECU's. Fingers crossed anyway, might know more by the end of the day.

If its for insurance you'll probably need a fitting certificate though.

The bottom half of that piece of trim started flapping about on mine doing 120+. Don't know what this black stuff is but its like blue tac, bloody strong of both halves of what you're sticking is clean. Has done this job on mine now. I asked my local spray shop and they let us have a bit for nothing.

If its done badly, be prepared for nice rusty knife marks where they took the old one out, followed by lots of that black gum to stick the the mentioned seal back together again. That was carried out by Autoglass on mine before I got it. (proud sticker inside the car :? ). Think the main problem was the seal is fitted round the windscreen, then the whole thing is stuck in. Looks like they forgot that on mine, so just cut the bit which should have gone under off and stuck the rest. Maybe the window is why my car creaks so much :roll: , shoddy fit. I'd go down your local respected spray shop and see who they use. Hopefully the insurance will deal with them instead.

Are you still after the diagrams? I've got the bentley at home so can probably send them later if you still need them.

Found out yesterday there aren't many / if any around this area. One in Lancing, wouldn't come as far as mine in the end. So now booked in to VW on thursday, bolox to it.