dr_mat

Yes, that's true, but I am led to believe the Mk3s aren't as bad as the Mk2s...

Z pre-dates V, W and Y. V, W and Y were brought in because tyre manufacturers were suddenly being asked for road tyres that were rated HIGHER than 150 mph, and they'd already used "Z". This fact brought to us from the same school of thought that said "surely 640k is more than enough for anyone?" and "surely two digits is more than enough to represent the date?". I believe Z is "150+" anyway.

I don't think you can cause a tooth to slip in even pretty aggressive driving. Usually it's caused at startup or when bump-starting. Unbelievably VW do not pre-tension the oil-filled tensioner when it's first fitted to the car, so on a fresh engine rebuild the first start is the most dangerous until tension can be built up by oil pressure!! Later engine designs have the tensioner oil pressurised, but that oil tension is backed up by a spring to eradicate this weakness.

That's the rack off a Mk3 GTi, so it's a different rack than yours (in fact it's the same as a VR6 rack). Now - it may fit, in fact all evidence in the other big steering rack suggests it will, but it's not identical to yours.

Late Corrados come with Mk3 rear caliper parts, iirc.

Not that this hasn't been discussed to death, but there are a few main issues with the timing chains: - tensioner pad wears basically this eventually reduces the ability to maintain tension in the chains when the pad eventually goes down to the metal, plus you've got rivets and/or metal backing plate riding on the chain, which can't be good. - chain guides snap this allows the chain to oscillate against the metal housings - again not good. - chain stretch just like any chain it will stretch very slightly over time. The tensioner is designed to take up any slack, but as many of us found out the tensioner is a weaker design than it ought to be. - chain slipping a tooth if the chain tension is not maintained (see above!), then it's more likely that in extreme engine speed change circumstances it can slip a tooth on one of the camshafts. This is bad. One tooth out will result in quite poor running, but won't destroy anything. Another tooth out will generally result in engine damage. - chain snapping very very occasionally this does happen. It may or may not be related to the above incidents, no-one really knows. In general the chains simply get noisy (tensioner worn out), and they will stay like this till they slip a tooth. It's very rare to hear of total failures (there are two chains, after all!), but it does happen. Most people find that the tensioner pad needs work at between 90k and 250k miles, depending on the direction the wind is blowing and the size of your socks (no-one really knows why).

I don't believe you're losing 85bhp through the transmission unless your brakes are binding... A VR loses between 30-40 bhp.. And yes, the best way to fix the inefficiencies of cars is to come up with an internal combustion engine that's more than the current pathetic 40% efficient. The vast majority of the fuel's chemical energy is used up as heat... Imagine 1.4 litre petrol cars generating 180 bhp and doing 60 mpg?

You can make minor improvements by lightening some components such as wheels and brakes, and even more marginal power improvements by lightening things like the flywheel and clutch, and even more minor improvements by e.g. choosing low rolling-resistance tyres. But it's all peanuts in the power game. The biggest impact will come from running smaller wheels (almost without doubt they will be lighter). Standard VR wheels are pretty hard to beat compared to 16s and 17s...

Down a hill? I had my VR at 99.9 mpg once...

Sneaky. Call them up. If they didn't mention it on the phone, you don't have to accept the amendment to your policy...

You mean knocking as in a fixed rate, once per revolution sorta thing, or rattling as in there something loose that may or may not decide to rattle at the same speed as the engine spins?

Are the CP ones the ones with immobilisers in the ECU then?

Heh heh, now you're really getting the hang of this forum lark Jim .. ;) Weird car though. I've often wondered how cars would look with matt paint though. I'd like to see it in the flesh, so to speak, because a matt finish is a little more unusual.

I thought the CP in the part number of the ECU meant "Coil Pack" ..?

And that would be a refurbed unit, no doubt? If the part number is the same, but it adds an "A" then often it just means it's a genuine, but refurbed, part. Just to clarify - is that the MAF for a late, coil-pack VR (you have a storm, after all)? I thought the coil-pack cars had hot-film MAFs?

Most of these don't work on late VR6s. The only one I remember was instantaneous MPG. Good point about the number in the trip counter (someone), that could well be right.

monVR6 may have meant the Schrick inlet manifold.... In which case it's the best thing you can do to your VR, imho.. Cost is about £1500 fitted, but you may need a remap too. If you get a 2nd hand one it's a lot cheaper. Insurance need to be informed, and most of the main insurers don't understand it, but if you tell 'em it's part of the induction system they'll call it an induction kit and bob's yer uncle. The most important thing is that it increases the write-off value of the car by around ~£1.5k, so they need to know about it.

You mean the plugs were changed AFTER it stood for a while, or BEFORE? The only thing I was wondering about was if there was any oil seepage from the valve stem it would make it's way down onto the plugs over time. Honestly though, your best indicator as to what's going on in the cylinders is the colour/condition of the plugs. My guess is oily oily... How much oil is it using right now?

Is the blue smoke still coming when you drive it now? Change the plugs first, then you might have reason to decide whether it needs a rebuild or not.

I believe the Corrado VR6s also have different MAF connectors, depending on whether you have a coilpack or distributor engine. On the subject of whether the parts are *really* different inside, I have my doubts. There was a loooong discussion over on the vortex groups where someone dismantled two MAFs (one a C VR6 MAF and the other from a 2.0 Golf 2002) and found that although the tube and part numbers were different, the actual Bosch sensor board assembly inside was identical, and worked fine when fitted to the C VR6 assembly. As I understand it the ECU will calibrate for slight variances in MAF tolerance anyway, over time (against what though I don't really know), so .. That said, YMMV.

Does it fit? If so it'll do. Personally I went to GSF and bought a Bosch 64Ah, but any battery that's 50Ah+, physically fits the hole, and has the right terminals on it will be fine.

Sounds like the lead is breaking down. Could be a loose spark plug? I had a noise for a while that was eventually traced to a loose plug.

Got a windows laptop? Get an OBD2 cable off ebay (£20-30) ( http://search.ebay.co.uk/OBD2 ) Download VAG-COM v311 ( http://www.ross-tech.com ) Bob's yer fully functional error code reading, engine performance graphing, measuring block reading uncle. If you don't have the late VR6 OBD2 connector (big centronics-type thing), then you'll also need to buy the 2x2 adapter. Any of the OBD vendors should be able to sell you one of those, or they're not too hard to make up. Diagrams are available on the net.

Correct. I'd be more thinking along the lines of "I didn't lose him" than "he didn't gain on me" if he was behind - after all, there's only so close that you want to get to the back end of a 10 year old VW driven by someone who's driving erratically ... ;) I would expect a well driven CTR to lose a standard G60 though, he's got nearly 50bhp on ya!

Aaaaauugggh isn't this EXACTLY what the "definitive exhaust thread" is all about?? :x Quick someone lock this thread up! ;)