Sonicriot13

Cool matey, bet you can't wait for the turbo conversion! Oh, and the wedding! :wink: :lol: If you ever find yourself in need of a spare pair of hands (with the car) give me a shout. :D I have a large bar for undoing things and large torque wrench for doing them up again. :cheers:

Couple of pics from this evening's work. It's pretty much there. All belts and pulleys are on. Turned the engine by hand just to be doubly sure I'm not going to bend anything when I turn the key and also to check the tension on the cam belt. All seems good. Returned to TDC perfectly. Just need to clean up the last few bits that need to go on which hopefully I'll get done tomorrow. I'm not rushing it now as I don't want to make any more mistakes and I have Friday off so it will be finished then at the latest. :D

You never hear the good news. The motor trade isn't all that bad. In fact quite the opposite for me. I sold more cars last month by a long way than I have in any other month (including the March plate change last year) that I've been in car sales. And it's a similar story at all of our sites. Yeah some people are really struggling but mostly it's the high end stuff and the component manufacturers because a lot of factories have slowed production. The problem is you really aren't getting the whole story in the media. I am really struggling hard to keep enough used stock on the forecourt. It's selling faster than it can be replenished.

If that G60 Valver comes up for sale it's mine. Get yer mitts off! :lol: Seriously though that is proper sh!t news. :( After what Eric was saying at the AGM it doesn't come as a huge shock though. :(

Ya darn tootin! :D I am quite enjoying the way things are too though really. The leader board is pretty much upside down compared to this time last year. It won't last though and being a Ferrari fan I sincerely hope it doesn't last! :lol: It is amazing when you look at the constructors table and STR have more points than Ferrari! :lol:

Mk3 Golf 1.9 TDi gets my vote. Had one for about a year. Really economical and pretty good spec with the CL and GL cars. I only paid £2500 for my P Reg and that was years and years ago. They must be dirt cheap by now!

I keep meaning to come along to one of the Cambridge meets. You'll have to let me know when you will be there next. :D

Yes buddy, I was let in on it by a one Mr Beige! :lol: Hope you had a good time mate! :D We will catch up eventually. Hopefully there will be a Northgate meet soon.

Cheers mate, It's a good stage to be at right now. The engine bay looks well dirty in that picture though!

Finally I am at peace with my Golf again! :clap: As you can see from the pic head is on (again). Funnily enough when I was putting it on this time I made sure the studs on the exhaust manifold lined up with the holes in the downpipe flange. :roll: Also all timed up and cam belt back on. As you can see still a little way off starting it. Didn't have as much time this evening as I would have liked but all the major tasks are taken care of now. THANK FOOK!!!!!!

There's nothing like the threat of sexual deprivation to bring out the best in a man.... :lol:

Well, after all my loud mouth bigging up of Massa before the season kicked off I'm kind of obliged to. :lol: Also I know that come Spain everyone will have 15 diffusers on their car and Massa will start winning again! :D

Possible I suppose. Although whenever you're around I will be keeping a close eye on my digital camera from now on to make sure it doesn't take any unplanned trips into the gents.... Hahahahaha. When camera phones first came out I used to do it all the time, take someones phone, get a picture of myself, and set it as their wallpaper... Did I tell you about hugging the random bloke? Just so that everyone is clear when Toad says "get a picture of myself" he's not referring to his face. :pale: You did tell me about the hugging of a random bloke in between hysterical laughter! :lol: I've kind of got to stick with him now really mate. Thinking of making another team though with button in it.... :lol:

Welcome to the forum! :salute: :wave: Just as a word of warning this may get moved into the engine bay section. When you say 2.0 valver do you mean 9A engine code or ABF? And nugget yellow Rados are awesome. There are a few about. Get some pics and revive this thread: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=52700&hilit=yellow+nugget

:lol: Fortunately those items came in a little cheaper than that.... Possible I suppose. Although whenever you're around I will be keeping a close eye on my digital camera from now on to make sure it doesn't take any unplanned trips into the gents.... I think there may be two reasons for this. Firstly I think if you join late you start with the same number of points as the person at the bottom of the league, ie. me, and secondly you obviously didn't pick Massa as your main driver... like I did! :lol:

I've got 4 millions quid to spend. What should I buy?

:lol: :lol: :lol: Yeah, I'm a chronic worrier about things like that so even if it didn't blow the gasket again I'd be constantly worrying about. So by changing it again I will at least spare myself that. And I'm at a stage where changing over for a new gasket and bolts is a ten minute job. I wasn't going to be able to do any more until tomorrow anyway as I had to order a new cam belt tensioner today as well. Somehow the old one has been damaged although to be honest I didn't really notice if it was in good nick when I took it off. Looks like it has been dropped or something.

Just pleaded my case to my parts supplier who took pity on me and got me some VW bolts and a gasket for next to nothing. So I'm gonna change them. At least that way I can get on with my life and stop worrying about it. Sad as it is I know I'm just going to keep worrying about it and beating myself up if I don't sort it. Sooooo, tomorrow evening will be the big switch on! No celebrities are going to attend I'm afraid.

Doesn't look like they've updated with points from yesterday yet? :shrug: But anyway it ain't lookin good for the G Machines.... :lol: I'm just glad I picked the engine that I did or else I'd probably have no points at all! I'm never going to win those mini screwdrivers. :(

Yes mate, at least they didn't snap! :lol: Well, there are a hell of a lot worse things that could have gone wrong in the course of changing a head gasket so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself either. Oh and Junkie, my name is Joe! :wink: :lol:

I had already stretched them with the angle tightening. They defo didn't feel that much different, perhaps a little looser but not hugely. Obviously they are really only meant to be used once and technically I've used them twice now but they haven't been subjected to any temperature or anything. Most people are saying just leave it. But I'm still worried about it. Might just do it for my own piece of mind. Really don't want to spend any more money though. I've spent enough as it is. Just wish I'd been paying more attention. Was trying really hard to do a good job and I feel like I've messed it up now! :mad2: Junkie, after you'd taken the head off and put it back did you replace the gasket as well or just the bolts?

Yeah, I jacked the car up and got them from underneath with a bar. Much easier than fiddling around with those allen bolts. Just took the head off with all the manifolds still attached. The head is back on now.... for the second time. I made a bit of a c*ck up. In my haste to get it done I managed to wedge the downpipe between the studs on the exhaust manifold and the sub frame and without checking around the back of the head I tightened up all the head bolts. Then when I went to put the six manifold to downpipe nuts on I couldn't line the downpipe up with the exhaust manifold. So um I undid the head bolts again and lifted the head up just enough so that I could line the studs on the exhaust manifold up with the holes on the downpipe. I've tightened the head bolts up again but I have been thinking to myself have I now made a complete hash of this? Obviously the head bolts are brand new and were literally on there five minutes before I realised my mistake, slackened them off and did them back up again. Is this too much of a risk? Had I better just get a new set of bolts and a gasket just to be safe? Most people I've spoken to, like my mechanic, have said I'll most likely get away with it. Would be interested to know other's thoughts though.

Machine Head today. Kings of the riff. :salute: A bit of Davidian in the G60 goes down a treat. :D

Corozin, those tyres on your current car look a bit, how can I put this, er, slick.... :wink: :lol:

I hope so. I don't really want to miss Massa winning his first race of the season now do I? :wink: He'll do well to come first from the back of the grid ;) Damn it! What a complete cluster f*ck! :lol: I can't believe it!