dukest

how painful is "not cheap"?

Its a point thats worth making yeah.. :( Obviously any engine replacement is an ideal thing to do, and it does worry me slightly, but then I'm assuming if it looks bad when the head comes off then whoever is doing the work can point that out to you and you can decide whether to go on?? The figure your quoting though is still twice what the clutch/chains/head work costs so they're not really close enough to say "oh I'll spend that little extra".

Also spoke to Vince about all of this work (minus gearbox refresh) today as I have Schrick mani and cams to go on. Was wanting to know if he could check the state of the head when fitting them so I know whether it needed attention as and when clutch & chains need doing. He basically said that by my 135k miles the head would need work anyway so it should all be done together. Good to know, but painful at the same time! :) Hadn't thought about the oil pump and am too much of a luddite :( to know about the intricacies of thermostats etc but will watch this with interest to see what else I should be planning to include whenever I'm feeling brave enough to part with almost the value of the car in precautionary maintenance and mild upgrades..!

No problem at all, as you say many are at that mileage or well above now. Just budget around £1k for having the clutch and timing chains changed somewhere towards 140-150k miles. Even then, that will be a precaution, never heard of one actually going bang through chain failure... Good luck searching, there are sooo many lovely cars going so cheap at the moment it makes you want to start a collection!

yep, very funny!! :lol:

very nice :D

yes, i did see this! looked for a thread but assumed there'd be one soon enough! guess those torques and horses are all nice and low down?! 8)

:rofl:

lol, and to think you were thinking of selling it! crazyness! good work though, looking perfect as always :)

Well, when i said normally, thats not to say it happens for definite but thats when people that it happens to normally experience it. A fastidious owner who's not hard up would think to get them done anywhere from 100k onwards as a preventative measure if they know they're keeping the car for a while. BUT, it is still a £750+ job and so most people (probably like your seller) will just wait till they begin to hear something is wrong and maybe start saving then. If you're not sure what you're listening for then theres a thread where people with good knowledge offer to go see cars for or with you - hopefully someone near could help you out with your assessment of it? I wouldn't worry too much that the chains aren't done by that mileage if the car looks straight, just be aware that it could need it sometime soon and that you'd want to do it if the clutch failed as the labour is common. At the end of the day, its just a price thing - the market dictates a certain price for a 170k car without the chains done. Even if the car doesn't cost you a penny in repairs for years, you dont want to have paid more for it than the next man would have done.

VRs have timing chains which are longer lasting than belts but their tensioners normally begin to fail somewhere over 100k miles. I've never heard anyone on here blow up their engine through chain or tensioner failure but leaving it beyond 150k means you're probably on borrowed time. If the job needs doing there will be an audible rattle in the engine bay. There is plenty of discussion on here about it but its a £750 job combined with replacing the clutch which you would do at the same time.

:lol: what tunes have you got in mind?! :lol:

exactly what you need :) even if you buy it and dont touch it more than once a month.. a small initial outlay (that you can probably afford somehow now) and then just slowly save and spend, save and spend...

cheers for all the replies. will get on to them at some point but yes, will have to balance the "speed through experience" vs the "charge for every minute"!

I think chazrad posted the amount you need somewhere Jay.

lol, maybe i've been spending too much time on here! :lol: I would find it very hard to sell your car if I owned it and had got it to the standard it is over the last year. I know some have done it for the reasons your thinking (mikeg60) and so ultimately it is your call but with the prices of 80s/90s VWness what they are these days, I would suggest doing another project slowly on the side. For example, a straight VR at the moment is struggling to shift for £2k (although its amazing, you might not get as much as you hope for yours as standard). A VR engine with recon head is about to be sold for £300. I think this is because LOTS of older VWs are being sold cheap/written off at the moment as its just not worth people reparing them - this means LOTS of cheap cars/spare parts. I would say push yourself with a shell up rebuild of a half-decent, small engined Mk1/Mk2 that you pick up as a repairable write-off. In 12-18mths, for comparatively small outlay, end up with 2 cars you love including your C. Just my 2p, if I was working at the moment my mums garage would be bursting with "one day" bits I'd picked up cheap for something like this! :D

cheers sir!

sorry, its probably on here somewhere but quick search didn't reveal it.. cheers john

:lol: :lol:

the foglight intakes look very cool shaun, did you make them up or can you buy them somewhere?

ooh, where are those shiny bits from?! 8)

Owen, I guess better round dry corners than wet ones eh?! :D

sounds like a good price for the amount of work that most people say is involved!

:shock: do you think having the front wheel in the air at 200mph is the only way he can avoid the windblast and hang on??!!

interesting, this could be the only way my car ever gets as far as seeing wax!