Jim Bowen

Just looking on vagcat and it looks like a part show on the rear axle diagram, part of the bearing prehaps, but maybe it been installed wrong in the past.

Downpipe was from Techtonics Tuning in the US, they had a black friday deal on so ordered it a while back. I was looking into a 6 branch manifold and from research i would of gone for the supersprint, but was about £700. Spoke to techtonics and they have found with the slightly larger downpipe and standard manifolds is just as good. I only wanted to replace the standard one as its been on the car for 20yrs. Been doing random bits here and they, not really finished any jobs yet but started loads :lol: Took heater controls apart and fixed them, one of the arms was slightly bent and a spring had jumped out of place Then took heater box apart and cleared out all the old crusty foam, stripped it all off the flaps, thats what the metal bits are. Looked for foam to recover the flaps and after deciding not to spend more money i thought duct tape and some foam tape would do the job just as well. The two halves of heater box, i undid the clips with a hammer and screwdriver so had to bond it all back together All back together with a bungee cord to help while the glue dries. Then got rear beam off, wasn't so bad on my own, did it with a friend last time round COuldn't figure out how the bolts holding the stub axles could be undone, the little lip was in the way, so bent that up to get to bolts ^^^^what i do with that lip now? cut it off? i couldn't work it out but definitely gets in the way of the bolts.

Got it out now. I didn't realise what the foam tape was for. So cut it up and used it on the flaps inside box. Splitting the heater box apart wasn't easy. I just snapped all the clips apart and will have to glue it back together I think. Was so much dust and bits of foam in it.

I hope so. Mechanically I think I've covered most things. It really could do with a respray but I can't afford it right now so concentrating on everything else. Might wrap or plastidip it when finished. Will see when I get there. It's never going to be a show car. Just a reliable looked after example.

Thought I'd chase the TT bits today. Found out they have been waiting for me to pay the import fees since the 9th. Never got a letter. Drove over to the depot today and collected.

I found the worst bit is cutting away the rubbery undercoating in the wheel arch. Once you know the correct route to cut its much easier. Have a look at some photos of removed wings and you see the shape to follow. Also a bolt on the bottom of the wing that bolts up wards into the floor etc

Spent about £120 on 5 people and about £1000 on myself :lol:

I could only find one valeo for sale on eBay last week. Tried a few places that advertised them but no one seemed to have one. Not sure if it's a hard to get part or not.

Nice one. Ordered all three sizes. Am going to need a box to keep all these bits in as already ordered the other ones I posted along with loads of other stuff I thought I could do with...

Its a bit different, but great for sketching etc, not really a writing pen.

I just didn't find all the bolts, wasn't using a guide so guessed and now realise i missed most of them. Going to attempt again at the weekend, now i have a guide/photos to refer to.

About to do my matrix, ordered a valeo from ebay, going to check with your photos that its the right one. I too am struggling with the heater box removal. Gave up the other night before i broke something.

I have some standard VW bushes to go in, getting rid of the powerflex ones. Still not got anything from TT, starting to wonder about that, i've not even had the letter to ask me to pay the import tax etc

It arrived yesterday I like it.

Yeah, changing the whole lot, Got the whole setup out of P3RKS corrado. I seem to be buying loads of parts i don't need but may as well change while i'm there. Just got a new heater matrix and sent the clutch master off to be refurbed, got a new clutch slave as well, and the clutch plates etc. Just ordered new dust shields for the rear. Wasn't planning to do the rear brakes etc but they were in such a mess i thought its only polite :lol: Most the work i've done over the years has been up front, never really touched the rear, think i did the axle bushes once and thats it. Oh and about 5 different suspensions :lol:

Thinking of using these. http://www.autosparks.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1112 Struggling to find anything on that RS online site :(

Started on the rear end now, i needed to make the brake lines up for the new ABS, Now i've looked i may as well drop the beam off and refurb everything. Very messy Last time i painted the brakes i must of done a crap job as the paint just flaked off, cleaned the calipers up with a stanley blade :lol:

When i cut the alarm out it left some gaps in wires that i need to bridge, the worst being a 4-5" gap in a 4-5mm thick power cable or two. I tried soldering and got in a right mess so had to cut all that out. I remember Kev Bacon posting some connectors but can't remember the thread or if they go wide enough to do thick cables? Anyone got any good electrical shops to buy from and what to get? Just did a quick google and found bullet connectors but they don't seem large enough.

Just stripped my whole system from car. I couldn't tell you what was wrong with it but you're welcome to any spare bits to try.

I don't think they use a jubilee clip. Not sure how they connect but never seen a clip on mine

I'm not sure how they fit yet. I planned to buy some and find out :lol: corrados ones seem to go stiff.

I might have the roof lining done in a suede or leather, am looking into different sun visors, been thinking audi tt or R8, need to be slim ones. Not sure what to do with the switch yet, although am sure it wouldn't be too hard to fit something else and wire it up to suit.

I've never used my sunroof :lol: I'd weld it up in an ideal world. Would make trimming the roof liner easier

I want one, but not paying that much, thinking of colouring my headlining