bananawhip

I'm in the process of looking for a set of cam's for my VR but I didn't realise there was quite so much choice! I can't justify the money for Schrick so I've been looking around, mainly across the pond at what other options are available and there seem to be some absolute bargains out there, my question is though why have all the VR owners running cams gone for 268 duration appose to 262's or 270's etc Also if I have the rocker cover off and I'm looking down at the cam's, how hard are they to replace for an amatuer spanner monkey? And is a remap essential after or can I just slap in a Giac 268 chip and be done with it. Sorry for all the questions but it's better to be addicted to BHP then alcohol or animal porn :)

yeah gasket should be fine then mate, Don't know a huge amount about polishing but I know if you just buy the item already done then it's silly money, learning yourself is definately the better option but I'm too lazy so just pay for it to be done. Don't know too much about it but you're on the right lines, google it and I'm sure you'll find the right technique.

I have a polished manifold with a black powder coated rocker cover and it looks awesome if I don't mind saying myself :) The rocker cover doesn't really need to be professionally painted but it will only set you back around £20 if you get it done. The manifold will only cost you about £30-£40 to be properly machine polished so again I'd just let the pro's do it. When you take them off which will take around an hour depending on experience obviously do it when the engine is nice and cold, have some jubilee clips spare as you will need to cut some clips off the pipes if it's never been off before, and make sure you buy replacement gaskets just to be sure. You don't really need the HT removel tool as you can undo the leads at the coil pack side and lift it off, do make sure though you've got a really good 6mm allen key/socket for taking the manifold off as rounding them off at this point is all too easy and a serious pain in the rear. Good luck

It all depends on driving style so I wouldn't take it off too soon. The 50mm gives more high end power over 4000rpm which is why it's such a popular Rado upgrade, it made mine drive better when I had a valver as I never expected anything below 4000, if you fancy a bit of 'spirited' driving you need to keep it in the power band anyway to get the most out of that engine. If you want low down torque then buy a VR :)

Beg, steal, or borrow...just get one, it'll make you happy :) (until you get addicted to the sound and double the amount of fuel you get through just to hear it on song)

That's about the right price for a CDA unless you go 2nd hand. They only make two different types, under 1.6 engine size and over 1.6 so make sure you get the bigger one, if you buy the Golf one you will just need to source about 10cm of hose to connect it up to your maf, Stealth do a Corrado fitting kit but it's kinda pricey for what is essentially a bit of sillicon hose so just get your own. First time I booted it after fitting mine I very nearly messed myself, sounds absolutely amazing!!

I'm upgrading my VR to 288mm brakes, Will my old 280mm set up (discs, pads, calipers, carriers, and hoses) fit straight on to my friends MK3 Golf 16v? I think they run around 256mm or something as standard.

Yeah you've got a point, would sound like I was trying to tear the earth in half but you can adjust how much it opens so it wouldn't have to be that bad. It would admittedly work alot better on a turbo but I just thought around top end at a decent speed when torque isn't an issue it would help to completely bypass the cat etc and free things up a bit. Bloke at the shop was adament it was a proper piece of kit, saying they chuck 'em on evo's and scoobies all day long. When I mentioned I had a near on 3ltr V6 he told me they'd just put one on a 5.7 NA mustang with good results.

qt.jpg[/attachment:2stn6xqc] After flicking through this months PVW I saw this little gadget for sale on the nemesisuk.com website. Just wondered what people's general view was? I like the idea of welding one into my exhaust after my lambda but before my cat, that way it'll still get through an mot and when it's closed will sound completely standard, until you drop into 4th on the motorway, flick the switch and completely open the exhaust up making a hell of alot of noise and hopefully some performance gain with little or no back pressure. Am I being a prat wanting one or are they a bit cool?

Well my tracking needed doing anyway but now the completely ridiculous amount of wheel spin I get is quite comedy. It's just made it more aggressive, spiced it up a bit. It obviously isn't going to make the biggest difference but it's put a smile on my face. Also it's only £25 because it's a copied version of a more expensive one. The bloke that sells them must be making a fortune, does make you wonder how companies get away with charging 300-400 pounds for basically the same thing.

Thanks for the info, I'll keep my ear out for any suspect sounds. He did make me email the code off the side of my ECU before he dispatched the chip so it is an exact match for my engine. I'll keep everyone posted though and report back if anything negative happens.

Fair comments, Fuel consumption seems the same, no idea on the emissions and thankfully I don't really know what pinking is...ignorance is bliss :D The seller did even cover off the fact that some may be soldered and how to get around that, he seems pretty clued up and as I said they're obvious copies I'm sure it's just a Neuspeed chip or something that's just been ripped off, hopefully all should be good but I know it's not always that simple

Just thought I'd leave some feedback regarding those Powerchip technologies chips we've all seen selling on ebay. After reading in either PVW or Golf+ (can't remember which one it was now) that the bloke fitted it to his VR and was impressed I decided to give one a go. Put in a best offer of £25 and he accepted it, took a little while to get to me but the after sales support and general friendlyness of the seller made up for it. Fitted it in my lunchbreak and I wouldn't stick the OEM one back in now if you paid me, I understand the older VR's benefit more as the newer ones had slightly more agressive mapping but I didn't expect it to make such a difference. They are obviously just copied versions of substantially more expensive chips so I doubt any long term damage could be done. Every VR owner must've been tempted by these at one time or another and I'd say go for it as mine's been a positive experiance.

Yeah your right, Gotta love the trials and tribulations of Rado ownership. Old manifold it is then :mad:

Thats gay, I thought as much. I does drive a little differently too which is annoying. How much power are we talking? enough to justify paying for my original one to be polished or is there not much in it?

Upon fitting my newly aquired polished inlet manifold last night I noticed a slight difference. Mine is a 1993 vr with a full size plenium but this one has a more channel type inlet with a few inches either side blanked off, kinda hard to explain. I'm guessing it's off a golf which obviously make less power so I was a bit hesitant to fit it. Will it have any adverse affects? Cheers

Cheers for that, I think I'll give it a go and see how I get on. Worst case I'll just chuck them on the back and go round roundabouts sideways :)

I've had a search but couldn't really come up with much, One question...If they are decent grippy tyres how much of a muppet would I be for putting 195's on a VR? Just find it crazy spending an extra £30 a corner for one more centimetre, only had the VR for a week so still learning.

No no it's quite alright, I'll ask massively mundane questions more often. Just quickly taking it back off topic again, the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life was when I was a lad in the Army cadets and one evening whilst having a dart fight one dude got one stuck in his forehead, needed some proper force to get it back out...very nearly wet myself laughing :lol:

Thanks for that, you officially know maybe a little bit too much about Corrado's but your answer is much appreciated :D

Will a 96 passat 2.8 AAA engine rocker cover fit the top of a 2.9? Sorry but I warned you it was boring

Looks like the order of the day is just good upkeep then, and a supercharger when I finally get bored of the power. It's so much easier when you start off with 190bhp compared to 136 isnt it

Yeah I know it's pointless but it all counts in the grand scheme of things. As I said earlier I was going to collect a few choice tuning parts, so that when I put them all on at the same time I feel the difference, still £200 for 5bhp is steep. If it was a jap rice rocket 5bhp would cost me about 25p :)

Thanks for the advice people, I know it's been covered loads but I thought I was being specific enough to not warrent spending an age searching. Looks like a CDA is on the cards then. Been on the awesome site and seen a power gasket and set of Neuspeed lightweight pullies, worth the notes or just a gimmick? The gasket is supposed to reduce inlet temperatures, giving an approx 5% increase in power, thats about 9bhp which sounds a bit unlikely IMO. Pullies apparently draw less power from the alternator which in turn gives 5bhp, I love Neuspeed products as a general rule but again for £200 I'm thinking this is a waste of time.

I already have but I prefer the pop-up spoiler on the Corrado Not enough to justify forced induction but enough to spice it up a bit.