Ralphead

I didn't put enough money in my dedicated Direct Debit paying account to cover my insurance installment last week. My responsibility, my fault. So I called Chris Knott to apologise and pay them by card. I was informed with a smile that the credit providers stuck me with a £25 charge! "A late fee!" I spluttered. "A late fee. What is this? A library!?" Not Chris Knott's charge granted but they employed this company. The nice ladies response didn't help "It's more expensive than a late book" she said with a giggle. No sh1t..

Thanks Abdul. It's cheap to do, makes a nice noise as well.

I'm confused because the oil's only got really hot after changing the rad and yet the water temperatures are still the same as before..

Have a read of my cold air feed post on the previous page. It all sounds a bit pikey but you can't really glorify cutting and gluing plastic.. I'd imagine your airbox is a bit different to mine due to being efi rather than my k-jet but the principles the same. I'll take some photos tomorrow and try to post them. It may help it make more sense.

But the water temperatures are ok, it's the hot oil which is the issue.

Well my plastic outlet pipe on the head split the other night along with the top hose. So I replaced them and flushed the system out well, filled and bled it. I'm still running hot according to the oil temp. I don't think the sensors lying, readings are consistent. I cleaned the rad for good measure but it didn't really need it. We have soft water here and rarely get build up in systems that are looked after. I filled it and flushed it through while it was out and I'm happy that it's not blocked at all. Can anyone tell me about this oil-water heat exchanger and any common problems with it please? It would seem the next suspect to me as the water temperature is not getting above the low 90's

Yeah I'll try that, thanks.

I changed my rad a few weeks back due to a leak. Before this my oil occasionally got up to 108 but mostly sat between 96 and 102. Since putting the second hand rad in it's regularly up around 112 to 116 while cruising steadily. I had a good look at the rad before fitting it and all seems ok, not blocked or too heavy. My only thought is that I used the fan switch that came with the rad. I know the fan does come on now and again. But I've managed to mislay my old switch, doh! The thing is the water temp is still around 90 when fully warm, just as it was before so I'm a bit lost. Even so, just to rule it out.. Does anyone know the temperature(s) that the switch works at so I can test it please?

Kero

I'm not sure that it was the best of intentions that brought about the current no insurance, no tax situation. The racketeers, sorry I mean the insurance industry, has a massive amount of power and this is just a step closer to them enacting their plan to force you to insure every car you own. Roadworthy or not. Although yes a classic policy is a cheap option here. With very limited mileage I could insure an eight year old M5 for less than my 16v on 5k miles per year.

The government stopped the rolling deadline two weeks after I bought a 24 year old Vauxhall Viva. B~~tards... My way of thinking is the older the car the more economical it is. My Dad's 1968 Volvo gets nearly 30mpg, pretty damn good for an old tuned car with 300k+ miles. Granted that's not great compared to his 306 diesel. But it's already three times the age at which most cars are scrapped. Therefore none of the fuel and resources needed to recycle three old, and then make and ship three new, cars have been involved. By default the longer this goes on the greater the savings. This "green car" business is all a **** in the wind anyway. The waste that goes on everywhere else eclipses car emissions and fuel usage many times over. Alot of people are being guilt tripped by profiteers into believing they're destroying the world by not doing 50mpg. Well **** on that. FairFuelUK.com

I just found the "will these wheels and tyres fit?" thread. Please feel free to delete this one.

I am looking at a set of 7x17s, ET40 for my 16v. I reckon they'll be too near the suspension ect. Does anyone know if they'll be ok? The car's lowered about 40mm.

I am looking at a set of cheap second hand 17s as a stop gap while I save for a set of nice tyres. The thing is they're 7 inches wide with an offset of 40. This brings them quite a bit closer to the suspension than my sebrings. What offsets are people running with 7 inch wheels and no problems? They'd be going on a 16v lowered by about 40mm.

The PCD is the same, they're E30 wheels, 4x100mm. Just the offset and width are different to my Sebrings.

Why on earth would you want/need to know that? Well.. I need some new tyres but can't afford a decent set right now so was thinking about using a set of BMW wheels with nearly new 205/55's I have as a stop gap. The thing is they're buried in the far end of a shed and it would take me a day to get to them. So before finding out for myself that they don't fit I thought I'd ask. The rims are 7" wide and ET18, meaning clearance on the inside edge would be fractionally more than standard. They should stick out by about 30mm more than standard. I've seen silly wide wheels on Corrados so I can't see arch clearance being an issue. So in theory the only problem could be tyre height. By standard I mean 6J, ET35 Sebrings. At a guess my car's about 50mm lower than standard (basic Weitec spring and damper kit) Should they fit or is it definetely a non starter?

The inside edge of one of my rears was rubbing on the bottom spring plate of the damper because the axle was bent. Not comforting but worth looking at. I suppose the bush colasping could also cause rubbing but I rekon you'd know about it without getting out the car.

I may be interested in that changer and head unit..

I put a cheapy set of Longmill 6x4s in the back just cos I had them laying about. The fader's set mostly to the front running a pair of 4" JBL's in the dash linked in series with some Alpine 5.25"s in the doors. All are powered by the head unit with only the sub using an amp and that's fed by the RCA output. It's a thrown together stop-gap system till I get my minidisc player fitted (I'm serious) but sounds good. If you only wanted a little sound to fill the back of the car with I rekon you could run some cheapys off the head unit and fiddle with amp gain levels so they're not over powered. Otherwise you could make an MDF parcel shelf and put any speakers you like in it. Makes a great place to mount amps as well.

Im after an aqua rear bumper for my 16v. Dosen't need to be perfect by any means. Near to Cornwall would be a bonus.

I'm 28 and love my Corrado, all lowered and noisy ect. I used to drive a Rover 800, own a 60's Volvo and am on my fifth Vauxhall Viva, what does that say?

Thank you. It does look nice in that picture, too far away too see the rough paint and wonky bumper.. Mrs Ralphead would rather we keep the location under wraps just for the moment. Security is getting tighter there and we have art projects to finish before they make it really hard to get in. We don't get out exploring as often as we should. There's a big empty mental asylum about 20 miles away that we're building upto. That's going to be a proper stealth mission, they have motion detectors and all sorts. We prefer derilict places, theres less ego going on there. I doubt the car was your one Swompy. It's a 90' 16v in aqua blue pearl. It lived in London till about 2002, then moved to Cornwall and I got it in 2007.

Me and Mrs Ralphead went exploring an abandoned factory and I caught a glimpse of my car through a window so wrestled the camera off her and took a snap. I bought the camera beleiving that we were going to share it. Turns out I get my share when I buy her a nicer one..

I do have love for the AX. But I love the Corrado more.. I'm actually dead impressed with the little french thing (as the other half calls it). It's a 1.1i but it does go some. I'm trying to get some enthusiasm together to change the driveshafts, well it has done over 50k.. We drove past a mother and small boy the other week, I saw him point at us and my missus (who can lip read) swears he said "Look at that mini car mummy" I don't have a problem with small cars apart from I'm 6'2 and look a little (more) ridiculous in them.