Henny

this thread has been split by the mods (at my request)... for the discussion between myself and CTWG60, please see here

I've added the final post from the pistons thread into this thread as a quote above (I'm not a mod anymore so I can't do it the nice way! :lol: )

hmmm... interesting.... I'll PM the mod squad and get them to take this out of this thread and put it in a new thread of its own as this is really interesting stuff. (sorry to those who don't find it interesting... :oops: and sorry to Robster for hi-jacking his thread... :wave: ) The pistons I have in my engine are designed to be used in a forced induction SEAT and are well upto the job they're being used for, you'll have to trust me on that one, they're definitely not out of a 1.4 Seat engine! :lol: They've got the heat treatment coating on the crowns and if you've seen the thickness of the crowns, you'd agree they're upto the job! 8) You can pretty much ignore the colour of the pistons, that's just where I've wiped 'em down a bit, there's no deposits on any of the pistons, other than a bit of oil that was spilt when I took the head off, and some carbon build up from it running rich when I was trying to find the fault... all four looked like the middle two until I cleaned up the head gasket (and pistons 1&4 with it!), to make sure there was no obvious signs of damage/leaks before I removed it from the block, so don't read too much into the colours/conditions of the pistons, plugs etc... also, don't forget that I'd done LOTS of tests on this engine before I took the head off, so injectors had been disconnected, plugs removed, plugs left in with no HT lead on, compression tester fitted, etc etc etc... The problem I currently have is definitely not with the pistons... The engine bottom end has done 25K miles since it had those pistons (ok, not those EXACT pistons, I had to replace 'em after a bolt came out of the throttle body, :brickwall: but that's a different story!) and most of that was not exactly taking it easy! :lol: Anyone who has been in one of the two cars this engine has been installed in will testify that it's a nice running engine that goes like stink... :norty: this running problem is a new thing, so is not related to the pistons and any odd inefficiencies that they may be causing... ...however, what you say does make a lot of sense, and I may well just swap 'em around anyway while it's in bits (hell, what's a sump gasket and some rod bolts cost?!?) and see if it makes it run better once I find out exactly what the problem is/was... 8) I've changed the pistons with the block in the car before (see problem mentioned before with bolt sucked into engine!) so I know how easy it is to do, and I'm in no real rush to get the car back together yet, so it's not like it's time critical, I do want to get it right when it does go together though... 8) The only stopping point is that the pistons have a cut-out machined into them to clear the oil squirters, and I have a feeling that rotating the pistons would mean that they hit the oil squirters as the cut-out could be in the wrong place I'll have a look at my spare set and see if I'm remembering it wrong or not... I've got a couple of tests underway at the moment which should rule out a few more things it could have been, and if these don't show what it was, then it's time to strip the head to nothing and see if there's something silly like a crack in the chambers of the head (unlikely), inlet manifold (again, unlikely) or something a little more off the wall like broken valve springs.... I do have a feeling though that one of the tests I've got going on will come back as being the problem... and I'll be kicking myself if it does... ;) Thanks for the interest though, and any more comments are more than welcome... 8)

they've been around for quite a long time, and I've not heard any horror stories about them... not heard much about them at all to be honest, but normally the horror stories stick in peoples minds and get posted up more than praise stories etc... ;)

I'm guessing it was raining heavily, and you probably had your lights, radio and heater blower on? time to tighten/replace your alternator and P/S belt/s.... ;)

Sorry to inform you of this Henny but pistons do wear. I've stripped a couple of 100k+ blocks in my time and when I've measured the pistons with digital calipers and compared them to the wear limits they have been out of specification, meaning the pistons have been subject to side wall wear. I'm sure many people wouldn't worry but it depends on how long you want the rebuild to last. This is why many new pistons come with areas of molly coating to the front and rear of the pistons to reduce friction and thus wear! As I say speak to a professional and be sure before going to the trouble and expense of rebuilding it. Talking of pistons being installed backwards. I remember seeing a picture of your engine when you were replacing the head gasket the first time round and your pistons appear to be from a cross flow SEAT engine were the spark plug is located to the rear of the engine rather than the front as in a G60 engine, so effectivly you seem to have more squish area to the front of the engine which will be pushing the mixture away from the spark plug which is not ideal. Maybe this is the root of your headgasket issues!! :shrug: Ahhh... Here we go...a theory that might be worth looking into! :D viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1727&hilit=jdub&start=150 Interesting CTWG60, I seem to stand corrected about piston wear... out of interest, were the 100k+ blocks VW (specifically PG) blocks? just wondered if that's why I've never come across wear on the pistons of any of the 4 G60 engines I've stripped/rebuilt... Anywho, another interesting point about the pistons in my car... yes, I believe the pistons ARE out of a SEAT, nicely identified there, although I'm not sure if it's a cross flow or not, I'll look into that... I don't think this is the cause of my problems though, as the head gasket problems have all been caused by a dodgy thread in the block which was caused by a dodgy head gasket letting water seep into the bolt hole before I got the block... this has now been remedied and is no longer a problem... the head gasket has not gone again since, as I've recently discovered after taking the head off again to try and get to the bottom of my running problem and finding it was perfect... That does raise an interesting question as to whether to reverse the piston orientation in my engine though, to get the extra "squish" at the back of the head, rather than the front... I'll have a ponder on that, although, looking at the head and where the spark plug actually is in the cylinder head, I don't think it'll make any difference...

if you look at where the piece mounts onto the tailgate, you'll see that if you stick some BIG blobs of silicone sealant onto the tailgate where the original (broken off) tabs go through, it'll have enough contact to stick the panel back on... you'll need to tape it on tightly while the silicone cures, but it'll hold it with no problems once it's set... Mine was held on like this on my last 'rado and I suspect that it's held on this way on my current G60 having found the tabs in the boot after having the car resprayed... :roll: :brickwall:

silicone sealant... takes the pounding from a sub too...

yup... :brickwall:

pistons worn? Whuh? :shrug: The rings wear, the bearings wear, the cylinders wear, but not the pistons... The 225K mile pistons that came out of my G60 when it was first rebuilt were in good condition and still within spec... true, the rings were shot and the cylinders worn beyond repair, but the actual pistons were fine... The only ways to screw a piston are to run it mega lean and melt it, or to get contamination in there and physically hit it with something (a valve, swarf or a bolt getting sucked in come to mind as examples from my engines alone! :roll: ) If you're replacing the rings, and re-honing the cylinders, it shouldn't matter a hoot which piston goes in which hole as long as the gudgen pins are retained with the correct pistons... (and you put 'em in the correct way around! :lol: ) This is why you can get oversize rings to go on the original pistons... means you can have a very slight overbore to resolve any cylinder issues and continue to use the original pistons... damned site cheaper than £350 for a slight rebore and a new set of oversize rings! If you were going to the trouble of new pistons, you may as well go whole hog and take it to 1.9 or further... ;)

:iamwithstupid: yup, had exactly the same with mine (waaaaayyyy back) when I first stripped the engine... Hammered a Torx into it and it came out no problems... :)

I do know of a guy who bent the rules an imported a Rallye to the US... he got an order from the government to have it crushed as he'd been using it registered as a normal golf and the authorities found out it wasn't a normal one... Ironically a couple of months later, they allowed the Rallyes to be imported into the US... :brickwall: The US Corrado has different headlamps, side indicator/reflectors and the knee bar thingies to make it comply with US regulations... the seat belts are just 'cos they're lazy feckers who can't be bothered to undo them when they finish driving... /generalisation :lol:

you may have problems taking your car over to the states.... from what I've been told from other people on other forums, the yanks are a bit odd about that they let people bring into the country to use their roads (although, if it's home grown, you can get away with just about anything from the looks of things! :cuckoo: )... If I were you I'd check the regulations for use BEFORE looking into shipping as it may be a no-go from the start.... If it's not, let us know, 'cos it's something I'd love to do at some point if I can ever afford it! :lol:

looks like someone took a 9" grinder to the B and C pillars (and tailgate) to make that... rough as a badgers rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs... :lol: Shame, 'cos I always thought a Corrado Convertable would look stunning if you could keep the body flicking up at the rear like the coupe does... 8)

just for reference... you can fit the late fogs/indicators into the early bumpers with very little effort... H-YYU will be wearing late fogs and indicators in her early bumper shortly... The only thing externally that will give away she's an early car once that's done is the width of the wheel arch flares and the trim line moulded into the bumpers... In this case, the bumper would have fit straight on, and you could have used your indicators/fogs in it to keep the same look, only the very ends of the trim line where it ends at the wheel arches would have been different from your original one... :)

there's a pipe that comes off the exhaust manifold for "sniffing" the exhaust before the cat.... it runs to the left of the engine bay and then has a blue plastic cap/closed pipe to seal it off for when it's not in use... check that: 1) the metal pipe is fitted properly to the back of the exhaust manifold and is in good condition 2) you have the blue cap 3) it's not got a hole in it ;) Other than that, the only thing I can think of (if you're 100% sure it's not gaskets) is a hairline crack in the exhaust manifold which is letting the exhaust blow slightly... :shrug:

nope, Kev, you're spot on there... :)

You're welcome... Glad I could help... 8) mine is an early one and does it Yup, if you have electric windows (factory fit ones) then they should close on the key too... :) Unless you want a heart attack, don't ask VW for a price... :ignore: I sold one not long ago for not a lot (think it was less than £20 from memory), and they crop up from time to time in the for sale section here... just make sure you get one with the same part number on it, although I seem to remember it's the same part for all years... :)

the pattern ones tend to be crap... simple as.... buy a genuine one and you shouldn't have to do it again for another 10 years or so! :D

Changing the switch DOES NOT mean you have to change the key... It's a small plastic switch which goes on BEHIND the lock mechanism which is the problem, not the lock part at all... Don't bodge your car with a starter switch like this, it may invalidate your insurance as you're bypassing any immobiliser! It is a design flaw with the starter switch though, as they are simply not rated high enough for the current that's drawn through them, so over time they over heat and fail... A new one is only about £30 from VW and takes about an hour (and a bit of swearing!) to fit yourself and needs no special tools except for a cheap cross-headed watchmakers screwdriver which you don't mind bending slightly!

looks like a nicely planned project there... 8) Liking the chargecooler too... :)

nope, it's shorter and bolts onto the actual U-Bend instead of the charger... :)

technically, Yan, a charge cooler is an air to water to air cooler... (air flow cools water in a separate radiator, water cools chargecooler unit which cools the air going into the engine...) An intercooler misses out the water stage and is simply an air to air cooler (the air flowing over the intercooler cools the air inside the intercooler which then goes into the engine)

but it was giving a nice clean bright spark on all 4 cylinders at the correct time... I don't think it's ignition based, I think it's a mechanical failure/problem somewhere in the head...

nothing obvious... :brickwall: