Toad

What's so bad about that? wonder what you'd have had at top wack? The valvers hit 80 in third without redlining it. I guess you were a fair way off 60 in second?

I'd eliminate the leads first. If the ticking continues I'd try to find the source of that, could be an air leak? Could be a crack in the distributor cap, try looking at that, and check for any arc trails, clean it out and spray a bit of wd 40 into it, that should reduce the arcing that could occur in/outside of it. Clean the Dizzy up too, both inside and out. My sisters astra had issues with missing at idle but didn't miss so much higher up the rev range, it turned out to be a dodgy coilpack, so maybe look at the coil too, then the hall sender.

That's a mare mate! not even a detector coulda (legally) helped you out there. I picked up my first points after about 7 years of driving. I think Flusteds right if you can hear an audible clicking, you might not even need any water spraying on it if it's that bad. you might find little arc trails accross the leads too. The spark is always gonna take to path of least resitance, which is probably through the side of the lead or cap if the insulation is failing. make sure you check the lead from the coil too. Good luck!! Ps you still all over the G Werks open day?

eeeeew, that is horrible! Damn unpleasant car to look at! (the new one that is)

Know what you mean. I'm not lowering mine at all, I just couldn't drive it anywhere round home if i did. I beat the front spoiler and backbox around enough as it is. good luck with putting the suspension on!! Nice new Avatar BTW!!!!

I'd try a new set of leads. If you want to check your old ones, start her up at night and spray a bit of water from a plant sprayer over them, that should help show if there is any arcing from them. Sorry to hear about the bad month. You got 6 points then? Cameras or coppers with radar guns?

Dunno really, I've not done it, but I'd heard things about it, I suppose moving the tyre 20mm out when it's 200mm wide should do too much to it. You dropping her down a bit then? When she's lowered you'll get a pretty good idea of how far you can go. Might be different for front and back wheels.

She does look stunning! good work!

aaah, nice thinking. How far would you like to go? Think your best bet is to measure them. You having custom spacers made up? If you are going really wide, you could buy some rings o/d 57.1mm, i/d smaller perhaps ~ 45mm, and have the end machined down to fit in the hole in the spacer, then have them welded in place. but it'd be a lot of hassle. And going that wide would provide more nasty feedback through the steering, and more stress on the wheel bearings.

She looks nice!

the norks look a bit fakey even through the top... is it a Corvette? Looks like a vectra wing mirror thing.

Haven't got a clue. You require a ring for a new set of wheels do you? or trying to work out if a a wheel will fit? I think the i/d of the centre hole in the wheel runs right through, so you can undo the hub nut.

57.1mm diameter. I searched for it and got a couple of results saying that.

Give the head of the bolts a couple of good sharp wacks with a hammer and punch, that'll help free it off too.

I've left it fairly alone, apart from washing it as I knew i'd damage the paint around it. It was when it was really hot and must've cooked really quickly. Trouble is, it does look a bit dubious.... Thanks for your help, probably will be ordering some clobber when i get paid next. Catch you soon.

Great, Cheers! Bloody cows!

I'd get a multimeter and check that there's no 12v supply to either the live, or the switched wire (assuming the stereo is switched by the ignition) and that the ground is intact, by checking the +12v against the ground and against a metal part of the car. Is it using the old original wiring loom, or has it been cut and shut? have you checked all the connections in the stereo wiring loom? Also check that the speaker wires aren't bare and touching at any point. That'll upset the stereo badly.

Cheers for that.... With the clocks going back soon, i think I might just give it a bloody good wash and wax it, as you said. It won't look much better, but it'll not get any worse I suppose. I do have something on the car, I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's cow saliva, it appeared after being on my mates dairy farm, and has 'baked' on, it's rock solid now. I've tried autoglym intensive tar remover, but it won't shift it, any advise?

I've been thinking about spending a couple of quid on some proper cleaning clobber. Trouble is I spend a lot of time in rural locations, and my car picks up cack really quickly, and it's winter which never helps. I was thinking about washing it really well, possibly trying to remove some of the scratches, then hopefully polishing it up and waxing it, to protect the paint as much as possible, following that up with washing it and every so often. If I was to use the TFR, then shampoo it, scratch x, then the megs 3 step pack. Would that leave it pretty good for a while? I know that the Scratch X needs a couple of uses to properly sort swirling out, but I've not got much time, I work mon-saturday, and am usually doing something on Sundays too, so is it worth using just once for the time being? I'm thinking I ought to do something as the paintwork needs some TLC, the bonnet is looking really chipped, and it looks a bit shabby at the moment. I'd like to know your thoughts Neil.

Sorry i wasn't very 'with it' last night, and I still can't quite remember what I'm trying to say, I only spent 4 1/2 years doing metallurgy at Uni :oops:, If you were to weld it up yourself you'd want stainless steel wire, which would be fairly pricey I would imagine. Best bet would be to Tig it up. I think you've gone for the best option, the last thing you want to be doing is distorting your nicely shaped downpipe with the welder, or leaving imperfections that'll need more work shortly down the line... It'll get pretty hot too I imagine. Welding is a proper art, and takes a lot of patience and practice to get right. Forgot to mention earlier that you should be very carefull of the UV given off by the arc, it's very very easy to get sunburnt by it, as I've learnt twice now, most recently leaving a 1 1/2 by 3 inch blister on my leg!

I've got them too, mine is a 1990 16v

Does the interior light work still? There might be an aftermarket inline fuse inside the dash?

Sorry, I just noticed you said stainless.... I wouldn't bother, there are various mettallurgical issues with stainless, although my brain hurts and i can't remember right now. But it goes along the lines of making the weld area more brittle and corrode easily due to the inclusions in the steel, (the chromium and the other stuff) forming 'clumps' in the FeC phase... or something Perhaps it's the presence of the martensite phase that's the problem??? Sorry mate, I just can't remember the reasons right now, but without the use of proper heat treatment-time/temp controlled ovens it's a real bugger.

TIG is the only way for aluminium. They're like everything in this game Kev, the bigger, and more expensive the better. We had some decent ones at my old job, think they were £5-700 new, stood about 3-4 foot high on little wheels.. You want a good long lead to the hand peice, and a nice long earth too. I wouldn't bother with any of these ones that you can just about pick up, they've not got the beans, although the new inverter technology is making stuff smaller and cheaper. I'd try to get on a bit of a course too, even if it's just to learn the what the settings on the welders do. A decent Mig will do you well, it'll do anything you want in automotive terms, so it'll be a good investment. The only thing i'd make sure you do, is take the spool of wire out and store it somewhere warm and dry. because they do get a layer of corrosion on the wire, which seriously degrades the quality of the welding.

The night after the South Coast meet my alarm keyfob decided to pack up. I initially had a decent pair of them but the plastic loop on one broke, so I used the spare, which was far nicer and shinier. Anyway, I went to lock the car and the LED in the fob flashed 3 times and then went out, instead of it's usual constant light, and the car didn't lock. I assumed it was the batteries being a bit flat (although the light came on strongly) so got some new batteries, but sadly it made no difference. Has anyone else seen this problem before, I imagine the alarm was fitted to a fair few other Corrados? Does anyone know where I could get it fixed/replaced? Most of the alarm places nearby aren't interested in old alarms. I've included a picture of the fob. I could really do with a resolution soon, as I'll be pretty stuck if I lose the old alarm fob. Cheers Tom