ziderapple

I dont suppose any of you are fearless or built like the Hulk? Seems someone has taken my money and gone all quiet on me from Donny - dont you just love ebay. :?

Amazing - the cylinder walls dont seem to be scored or damaged at all. Can't believe it ran like that...

Did consider Honda, get a fair biot for your money, plus you know it will be well built. Just dont fancy the Accord at all if I'm honest. I'll be spening alot of time in the car so its got to be right. Want a Mk5 Gti.... :(

Do quite fancy a Lexus - not sure about the impression it gives off though (ditto 330d) - not generally bothered about things like that but visiting sites you dont want to alienate the people that you'll be working alongside. remapped x-trail is sounding good, on demand 4x4 and the rest. Need to get pricing things up and test driving. The nicer the car the more likely the end of the raddo though... I barely get to drive mine now as it is, what a waste - s/c VR collecting dust. (not running though to be honest) :(

Not got to be an oil burner, one of my work mates has an A4 1.8t sport line - ex demo. I've not seen a new A4 yet - only heard about them on the radio today TBH - out in march I believe, should be some good deals on current shape A4's to be had me thinks... Looked at the Tiguan at the dearlers on sunday, would have one but they start at £19k for a fairly basic one. Not sure if the comapny would ok a 330d... as they pay for all the fuel, might be worth a look though. I have been led to believe the new Alfa's are slowly brushing off their reliability issues, plus if its in the garage I'm not working, or have a hire car :) ASDA 6 - no thanks. Dash looks like its been made from recylced smart price cottage pie packaging. :lol: from what I've read the rest of the car is no better either.

Problem with the Focus is the boot will be too small, nead 450 lts capacity min, otherwise I'd be getting a mk5 Golf. Vrs has 560 lts.

It's a couple of months away, but I'll have to pick a company car soon. The base car is an Astra, 5 door, metallic paint and air con. No one in the company has the Astra, you can basically have any car you want so long as its got 4 doors and a decent sized boot, you just pay the extra. The pricing in the system looks at maintenace costs, depreciation, among other things, the company who runs the scheme also get some pretty good discounts on cars, so more expensive cars dont actually cost that much to have if you know what I mean. We get an allowance on the amount of miles we do, as we all vary abit, I dont know what mine will be but I have a good idea. The more miles you do, more money you get, but obviously the higher the maintenance costs - not always proportional. You can also pick an ex demo so long as its got less than 10k and is under a year old - so massive savings can be made there. Anyway cars I'm thinking about: Jetta 2.0Tdi - bit boring though Golf Estate 2.0Tdi (Both 140ps) - not sure I like the back end. Skoda Octavia Vrs - mate at work has one on same scheme - lovely bit of kit for the money. (prob best choice as it stands) Alfa 159 1.9 JTD - would cost me a fair bit, but I think they are gorgeous and not too many on the roads. (really want one) Quite a few people have the Nissan x-trail, but I'm not sure I like it. I can probably get much more for my money if I go French, but dont really want to. I've got a mondeo st estate at the moment (temp) and I'd have that if I could..... its the last of the old shape, torquey, seems well built, loads of room, all the toys and is comfortable, new equivalent is too expensive on the scheme - not looked at ex-demo prices yet though. What are your thoughts? Suggest a car I'm prob not thinking of? I'm happy to spend a small chunk of my wages on a nice car as I'll be spending on average 3-4 hours a day in it, and wouldnt be able to afford one otherwise. Everything is payed for after that, including private fuel, even when taking it abroad on holiday. :D Cheers.

Carried out a compression test this evening, was quite pleased with the results on three cylinders, ok with one and gutted with two (can you guess?). I did three tests on each cylinder, except the last one, didnt see any point doing a third. Results: Does this look like HG failure? My brother is off work tomorrow so is going to try and trickle some oil down the bores with poor readings and re-try, think they'll be the same though. Gutted. :(

Cheers for the tip, will give it a go. :D

I have got a feeling its flooded, as when I removed the plugs and cleaned/dried them and I guess some of the petrol evaporated off during that time the car sort of started, was very rough but it did tick over 200-300rpm then died again. I'm running with a MAF, not got the original EPROM, I think it was one which was soldered onto the ECU, as vince had to unsolder it then fitted a holder which he fitted the new EPROM to. Whats your opinion on bump starting it?? I had a mk1 cabby with K Jet which would never start unless bump started then would run fine, just seems wrong with the VR though as I dont want to cause any damage.

No, it did go in for a remap but the HG was weeping so Vince started with a map of a same spec C he had, did only one power run (as we didnt want to blow the HG) then tweaked it from there. The map wasnt perfect (268bhp - timing not perfect, smoky at top end) but I was planning to go back after doing the head for a proper map.

Right, my Corrado has not run for some months now, having a company car, no money and bad weather has meant I have just left it, but now I really want to get it going, missing it now. The last time I drove it was the begining of October and only for about two mins, felt good, started well etc, didnt rag it as it was cold and I was still runing it in, I only had to drive to my to my parents who are one road away. I went on holiday then a week or so after that I started it up, the petrol was really low and it cut out. While it was running it sounded like it was knocking, I took the oil filler cap off and the head looked bone dry, was just about to turn it off when it cut out, thats the last time its run. I rebuilt the engine last year and did about 800 carefree miles on it, was quiet, not smoky, but was running very rich. Since it hasnt run I have removed all the plugs - which were wet with petrol, cleaned them all put them in and tried to start it, it did start but only ticked over at about 200rpm with foot fully flat down, farted and popped and died. I have got petrol - it reeks when trying to start it (plugs wet when removed), I have checked for a spark at the plugs (only two to be honest though) nice big sparks and as it cranks over every few cranks it sounds like its going to catch but dosnt. I have scanned it using VAG COM and it showed no fault codes, the only thing I did notice though, was the engine rpm didnt register anything when it was cranking over, I have a feeling it may be an ECU issue as the plate with all the earths on was badly attached (guilty) but it did 800 miles like it. The plugs im using are MK2 Golf 16v spec BERU ones, before I was running Iridium NGK's. Leads are about a year old - BERU again. I need to do a compression test I know, I'm waiting for a mate to drop a tester down - but its only just had new rings and oil pump along with other obvious things. When it was running as I have mentioned it was very rich - the tops of the pistons were black when I checked, I spoke to Vince at Stealth who said they can go like that after a short run but did mention bore wash to me.... but I did 300ish miles on it after that ok - was trying to run it in before taking it to Stealth for a remap. So, any ideas?

Abbeywood is not too far from me actually so that would work well. I'm thinkng 3.0l VRT... Still if 3corsameal wants it, its his. Cheers.

If he dosnt want them I'd quite like to take it off your hands. Which garage are they sat in, Swansea?

I had a go at rebuilding my engine last year, check out my thread in members gallery if you'd like a better idea of the work involved, I bought a low milage head of kadvr6, which after inspecting showed no signs of pitting, corrosion or coke build up, so apart from a clean I did nothing else to. I cross hatched the bores myself, re-used the pistons, used new bolts and gaskets all round obvioulsy and replaced the oil pump (and rings etc). I had done my chains and clutch a couple of months before hand and found the re-buid much harder. I learnt alot doing the job, it was my first go at it aswell, it still cost a lot of money, I came across a few problems - ie putting the pistons back in is a bitch without the proper tool ( again..see my thread). Unless you really want to do it yourself or your compentent, have the tools and know-how, I'd be inclined to start a re-build fund instead.... There were more than a few times when I wished I'd dropped it off to Stealth with my mastercard in the glovebox! :lol: Saying that I did allow myself a pat on the back when It all worked afterwards and I dove it around the block, with no smoke, rattles or leaks. :D

In about six years of drving: J Vauxhall Nova 1.2 C vauxhall Nova 1.2 H Beetle - Rusted away A Mk 1 Golf 1.1 - Rusted Away H Beetle - Rusted Away F XR3i F Mk 2 Golf 1.6 K Audi 100 F Mk 2 Golf GTi 8v F Mk 1 Golf Cab (wish I still had) H Mk 2 Golf GTi 8v L Corrado Vr (still got) S Mk 1 Golf 16v (for sale soon) 07 - Mondeo ST - Current Company Car

The filler neck on my Mk1 Golf cabby rotted out, think lesser men would have given up, dropped the rear axel and exhaust and replaced the tank, filler neck, fuel lines, injectors, cold start valve, warm up regulator, metering head and both fuel pumps ( £££ :( ). All on the driveway in Jan. :puppydogeyes: Things we do for cars...

I'm in that same boat at the monent, I recently started a new job which pays less money, a fair whack too, but I was starting to hate my old job and it was affecting me so I quit. My new job is more interesting and should open doors for me which means I'll be on better money eventually. Short term pain, long term gain... well thats the hope anyway. It's been quite strange having a job I look forward to despite the overtime payment system is pretty rubbish, alot of travel required, early starts and late finishes but I'm happier, plus I'll be working abroad with this job, which is something I've always wanted from a job. When I left my old job, I was paid a reduced amount as I was leaving early, I then had 7 weeks untill I got paid again and lower than I previoulsy earnt, its been a real struggle the last 9 weeks (was hardly comfortable before that aswell). I take care of nearly all the bills at home as my girlfriend is on a low wage, so I've felt the pressure at times, being young I've barely had any savings and now they are pretty much gone. I've also got to have a company car with my new job, does work out well though, I've not used my C for over a month now, its just costing me insurance money at the mo - £40 a month, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to sell it in the new year. I cant stand struggling to meet bills. With the money I'll clear my debts which will reduce my outgoings and give me some money to put back im my savings. At the same time though I cant believe I'm thinking of selling it, I've never had a car so long, liked a car so much, spent so much on one - time and money. I've put loads of effort into it, supercharging it, rebuilding the engine and I love driving it. But I need the money and the company car scheme is good with my company, you can have pretty much any car you want you just pay the money over the base model. So I'm thinking sportback A3, brand new, fully expensed, any problems with it are not my problem. I've got a Mk 1 Golf which is SORN'd and parked up in my neighbours garden, so that can be my dub toy if I do sell the C. Oh and good advice Wendy!

As far as I know you have to replace the whole thing. Not expensive reallyt. Remeber that fluid is your break fluid too.

I've just started a new job and unlike the crappy van I had before I've been given a car. Its totally transformed my view of the marque. Ford. I was a true Ford hater, but I'll admit its won me round. I've got an 07 plate mondeo ST tdci estate. Its fully loaded, half leather, electric, heated seats, 6 speed box, 155bhp, 2.2 tdi, esp, 6 cd sony radio, cruise control..... I'm really impressed by it, loads of torque and I've not been able to get the mpg on the computer below 41mpg yet. The quality is not to German standards but the OTR price for it and a similar spec'ed German built car would be ££££'s apart. It's huge inside, comfortable and silky smooth, it also handles surprisingly well for such a large car. The 18" alloys mean it has a tendency to tram-line on poor roads, but I can forgive it that. I've only got it as a temporary car, but I'll certianly consider it when it comes to selecting my car.

I eat whilst driving all the time, stuff like crisps, choc bars, apples, things that dont require me to look away from the road, and can be done one handed. I wouldnt try eating a curry at the wheel though.

yeah, think its gotta be worth a try. I had done my side of the deal, payed, even declared all my mods on the insurance.

I went out to my car the other morning to see a fixed penalty notice on my windscreen. I have only just got my car back on the road after an engine rebuild, I needed to use it, so instead of waiting a couple of weeks till october, I paid for the tax on the 20th, through the DVLA website - paying £99 for just over 5 months tax, great. Now I'm being slapped with a £60 fine for not having the disc on display.... it was in the post. The thing that really pi$$es me off though is the fact the ticket was issued at 2 am!! Good police work there. I knew it was an offence to not have it on display, but I thought if I got stopped for it, then I'd be able to explain the situaton, and get off with a warning. Its just a fu**king easy score for a copper, everything is on a database now, he would have checked this out - taxed, mot'd and insured, parked legally, but f##k it, I'll fine him anyway. Do we really still need tax disc's when it takes seconds to discover if a car is taxed or not..? sorry, but it really got to me, esspecially as I'm skinto this month... traffic cops are wan**rs....(not the opinion of the forum)

Making good progress Rob, hope you get it all done today, looking forward to seeing it installed. Have you seen Jim's feeler thread about a RR day at stealth next month? Would be a good test for it. Good luck for today.

Well, I think I'll go for somewhere between the gentle and harsh methods, steady for 500miles but with the odd blip once warm, then 4k revs for 500 miles, oil change then drive as normal, I dont really need the engine to do another 100k, I doubt I'll have it that long. Still not sure if I should be doing the first 1k miles on mineral oil though?