Toad

I've actually got his name/address from the V5 etc, but he's either ex directory, dead or moved out of Hampshire. :(

I've got the day off, so I popped back got the VIn no, and also got a dialog report from VAG. I was wrong on the build date. I'd just made an assumption on parts I'd found, but having looked on ETKA for the dates I've found out the truth, the VIN no is 50SK003932 which falls into the last few months of production. 31/05/95 50-S-003773 30/06/95 50-S-004043 31/07/95 50-S-010000 - I guess they didn't knock 5957 cars up in July. Anyone know what the last VIN no. was? Anyway, the Dialog report is fairly inconclusive. The car was registered in January 96, and had some warranty work done to the engine in October 96, It got something done in 97 "Non Factory component" and a little work in 2003 and 2005 amongst the typical services. Guess I'll just have to hunt the previous owner down.

Well that was my initial plan with the 220mm block 2008cc >9:1 CR 8v engine I'm very close to fitting, but I ended up getting custom length forged rods made to make it all work (in theory) just got to fit and put the theory to the test. :D Got myself an EGT probe so I can keep an eye on it! 8) How close are you to having your car finished then? How far out would your C/R have been with oe rods, or could you not get anything suitable? Out of interest, could a tallblock be machined shorter to suit?

As we were saying on the phone earlier. If you use a big rod ratio, and accept the compromise of a lower max rpm, for better low end torque, then you would achieve a lower max bhp, which would mean you could run a far smaller turbo, which would spool and achieve peak boost far sooner, this would accentuate the low end torque. Would potentially be a far more usable weapon.

That is gorgeous. :D

I don't know how big an effect the 16v oil squirters would have? I'd have thought that the piston could cope with a mm or two being taken off, the oe units were built with durability in mind, just might need to keep any pinking tightly under control.

Interesting! I think I'm a bit of a fiddler to be honest :fondle: and the engineer in me is curious to see what can be done without spending shed loads. I like the quick and dirty method. It's not as if I will be driving it every day, more for the tinkering aspect :D It's just interesting to work out what could be achieved through OE parts, a bit of engineering and some imagination. Really the only VW parts that need to be used are the head, block and crank. Everything else could potentially come from other marques, that's what I am most interested in. Useful info there Chris.

Sorry capacity was indeed the wrong word, I was just thinking of the effect they would have on the C/R. I wonder where we could get a list of bore diameters and pin sizes. Don't need to limit ourselves to 83.5, just something in that region, we'd be using 3rd party pistons and rings so would just need the bore to be machined to that size. Could bushings be made for the pins? If we're taking material off the piston, then the gap between the crown of the piston and the first ring would be reduced, again affecting the C/R.

Excellent... Proper engineering debate has begun. Stu. Why not look to find shorter pistons, or offset the gudgeon pin to get rid of the 3mm overlap. or fit spacer gasket and try to balance the C/R somehow. The website with the calculator on helpfully had capacities of the cylinferhead and piston dish. You also need to work out how much your valve reliefs will add to capacity.

oh yeah, d'oh, 8v heads always look so tiny. Prehistoric engineering always does look smaller than it actualy is... Hehehehehehehe. To be fair I just guessed at 2l crossflow head. I could well be wrong.

G40s have the exhaust to the front of the engine. The 8v crossflow is from 2000ish model golfs and beetles with the 2l 8v engine. Stu. Try to catch Chris on MSN as we were talking about this subject this weekend and he knows a bit about it.

That looks metal to me. The genuine ones are made of polymer, they aren't too much more I think, and you get a good warranty.

I believe from various stickers I found in it, she was built in Novermber 95 (registered Jan 96) But that would mean it was built five months after they stopped building Corrados? I thought it was November they stopped production? Have I made a flange of myself? and not for the first time, lol!

James, just been looking at your thread again and found this pic... I assumed the number would be on the flat surface nearest the camera, but it looks like yours doesn't have the code there either. However it does look like you have a couple of random numbers like I do.

Most of the thread holes are clean too.

Yup. :)

Nevermind. I think I'm going to make the executive decision that the engine is a 2.8 until I find anything that proves otherwise. Going to fit a new chain guide, new tensioner bolt and get the old girl running again. See how it sounds. Will drop the sump and have a ferret in there too. Need to move the car as some cattle are coming in to live at the end of the month, so I think I'll try to rent some space off a neighbour for a month or two. I'm going to leave all the shiny stuff I've bought/am going to buy off the car and get all the rest sorted asap.

Wonder if mine was a new block fairly recently then? Doesn't really explain the weepy head gasket and chains/tensioners being replaced... Unless mine was a short engine and they built it up with pattern parts? Do you have a code on your new block James?

Excellent plan! Gonna try that. You still got an oil pump for sale? I looked in both locations, and while there was two 10s stamped near the intermediate shaft, there were no engine codes :( What I did notice was that the black paint looks a bit too factory... And there is a white 'K' painted on the water pump end of the block. Seems odd that a DIYer would paint that on??

For now....... :norty: Indeed... Keep all the shiny bits to build up a nice 2.9, maybe a bit more ( ;) ) next year. Then I'll have a little bit of cash left over for the 16v MOT in January.

I believe from various stickers I found in it, she was built in Novermber 95 (registered Jan 96) Yeah I wondered if they did that too, I'll have to snuffle the code out. I *think* its a corrado inlet, the throttle body is the type without a wedge on it, so I am guessing it's all corrado. I've got a set of 263 cams to fit, so if the cams are different between 2.8s and 2.9s that difference will be eliminated. Apparently they went to single chains in 1997. Just phoned the dealer, but didn't get to speak to the freindly fellas I normally do. I'll try to pop in for a dialog report to see if there was anything that came up then. I'm leaning toward getting the chain guide and fitting it (only need to remove the upper cover for that, and a new tensioner bolt and seeing how the engine runs.

Pics??

My Haynes manual (Golf GTI KR Engine) seems to suggest that without the ISV connected the engine will almost settle into a default mode. It's at this point that the idle speed adjust screw really makes any difference. When I unplug my ISV the engine dies, and I would have to wind my idle screw out to get it to run. I'd try cleaning your ISV out and see how the car runs then. Then go through the fueling system cleanign the throttle body, to make sure it doesn't stick, carefully remove any oil from the metering head flap to make sure that moves freely. refit all the piping checking thoroughly for cracks, small holes, perishing rubber. Look at the inlet piping, connections to the ISV, and vaccum lines. Then check throttle body and inlet manifold gaskets, check your injectors are seated properly. Then check your timing, idle speed, and mixture, and see how it goes from there.

Good evening... My VR was always rattly, and I always assumed that the tensioner needed replacing. Eventually last year something broke, and the rattling was very pronounced for 5-10 seconds when it would die down a bit. I decided that this was probably a good time to stop driving the car. I'd done a bit of work on her, but hadn't really experienced the vr before so didn't really know what to look out for. Been lucky enough to work on several of them since and am a lot more sure of my way round them. Anyway, I decided to have a quick look at my car today. It's been parked up ever since while I've been collecting bits ready to rebuild her. I pulled the tensioner bolt out expecting to find that the seal had gone, instead I actually found a mk4 tensioner bolt, with a slightly wonky looking end and strange wear marks. I assumed that someone had fited the wrong bolt, but after sticking my finger in the bolt hole found a mk4 pad. I then pulled the inlet and rocker cover off and found this.... The rattling turned out to be the front guide broken into several pieces, and the chain slapping on the upper cover. But, why have I got a single chain? As far as I know the single upper chain was only fited to very late OBDII 2.8 VRs? The car was one of the last corrados built, but I don't think it was late enough to have one of these later tensioner setups fitted? I guess that it was fitted with a late 2.8 engine, but need to find the engine code to be sure. The block has been painted fairly recently by the looks of things, probably when the chains/tensioners were replaced (the chain/bolt are both non original parts) and/or the engine was installed. Are there any advantages/disadvantages to the single chain? And if it's a 2.8, how much power will I lose? Cheers!

Each light has it's own live wire, and I think there is a common earth to all of them. best bet is to get a multimeter and find the earth, then you could go round and work out which live is which