dr_mat

Was he on duty? I thought he was off-duty. I'm more concerned about the reported "79 in a 30" than the top speed trial..

If you're looking for 210 bhp you're looking at 268 deg cams I suppose. That's probably the easiest way. You might not even need a rechip when doing that, cos some standard engines get close to that sort of output, but best to speak to someone who knows..

And that was for a fully built block, with crank, pistons, oil pump, flywheel etc etc, or just a bare block??

I've read on the net that the Teves IV systems *are* actually more prone to failure than would be expected for an ABS block. That said, there should be plenty of 2nd hand ones about that work fine. And they still won't recondition them, they'll just go "unlucky mate, that's £1400 please"... Crap..!

What have you done to the engine to need a rechip? You're going to gain no more than a couple of bhp by rechipping a completely standard VR6, so it hardly seems worth the £300+..

I've heard of lots of people running 250+ bhp on Corrados without excessive traction problems - particular with an LSD it should be most controllable. Don't forget there's a lot of weight on those front wheels, and even standard VR6s were designed with 190+ bhp in mind.

He wasn't doing 159 in a 30. He did 159 on an empty M54 at 4am. (I agree by the way that it wasn't acceptable to be doing 70+ in a 30 zone, and think he should have got done for that.) How many people on this very forum claim top speed trials on "private roads (ahem)"? What's so different? What's acceptable then? Given that every one of us speeds, particularly on the motorway, what speed do we allow someone else to do? Isn't it just the jealousy that he got away with it that riles us? Was 159 mph "Justified" in the circumstances? No. Would I have done it? Maybe. So who am I to judge? Therefore I won't. I think this is yet another example of the press trying to win shock points by hyping a non-event.

Clarify the poll please: Is WHAT justified? His driving at 159mph to practice or the prosecution of said driver? Given that I think it's ok for ME to speed when I deem it to be safe, I will support this highly trained driver to speed when he deems it to be safe (4am on deserted motorways pretty much sums it up to me). Or maybe we should demand higher standards from the police force than we expect of ourselves? And then there's the question of "how fast is too fast" when trained pursuit drivers are concerned. You can be pretty sure the bad guy isn't going to slow down because "159 on public roads is just ridiculous", so surely the police have to use whatever methods are required? Anyway, that's my 2p.

I read it in the forum. Not that it matters where I heard it from.

The C+R story was for a "recon ENGINE" and the price was around £2500 iirc - which was total fabrication - this has since been proved wrong - C+R have quoted that it's nearer £4.5k for a recon engine from VW. I *do*, however, believe that the price of a bare block brand new from VW is around £1400+VAT.

On second thought, I don't think I want you to do my spark plugs any more H8RRA .. hope you don't mind... :)

The VR holds it's own because of it's rarity and it's chassis feel, mostly. In pure performance terms it's been exceeded, but by little enough that it's other qualities keep it ahead, IMHO.

Where can you get a new factory built 2.9 vr6 for £1400??? Sounds like fantasy to me. The block is labelled with the engine code: "ABV" for 2.9, "AAA" for 2.8. * correction - you MIGHT be able to get a 2.9 BLOCK for £1400+VAT, but I'd be very surprised if that included a crank, let alone the rest of the engine..

Vaxhaull have had the 2.0 turbo for some time, that had 200+ bhp even back in 1995. Of course, knowing how crap their chassis' were, they opted to only make it available with the 4x4 kit.. But I agree - the "average" car is now much more powerful than ever before, and much better equipped, and actually costs LESS than cars did ten years ago. But what does all that mean? It means we expect more for our money now. The car industry has matured to the extent that there's really only a few car makers now. The rest is badge engineering. This at least means that there is a uniform level of quality, with a little bit of room for flair still. But none of that matters when you get down the pub with your mates: you still should quote the fastest 0-60 time you've ever seen for your car, which for the VR6 has to be EVO's 6.4 seconds... ;)

VW will charge you £1200 for a new ABS pump without blinking. But given that on the whole they are very reliable, and there is oversupply of used ones (because very few people have problems with them), you can pick up 2nd hand ones for not much cash. Of course, there's no warranty, but if it works for 12 months you've saved a grand... It's also a good idea to try a different ABS ECU if you have the opportunity - as for the pump unit itself, there are plenty available 2nd hand and unlike the pump unit swapping the ABS ECU is a doddle to do yourself, so no spanners required... :)

If it's turning over slowly but you've got plenty of volts at the battery then you're looking at engine block earth problems. There's a whacking great big earth strap that can corrode and get a mite resistive in it's later life. That said, if this problem only happened since the starter was replaced it could be a starter issue..

Can you come and do my spark plugs on the VR, H8RRA? ;)

Friend of mine found a pair of mole grips (firmly clamped) on her track rod two weeks after having the tracking done..

I note that in the BTCC the FWD cars are more competitive on the fast sweeping circuits and the RWD cars are more competitive on the circuits with lots of slow corners. Swings, meet roundabouts. The "average joe" is going to get more out of a FWD car without crapping themselves than they're ever likely to get out of a RWD car, which is kinda why RWD has this mystique. It requires a little bit more talent to get beyond the 85% mark than FWD does. And I do note that the vast majority of people in this country spend their time squirting from 0-30 to squeeze into gaps in traffic, so maybe RWD has it's place...

BMWs: I've never owned one, but I do get the impression that they're thoroughly engineered, in a much more systematic way than cars like the Corrado was. But then, that's always the same with high volume vs. low voume cars.. I'd always considered a used 328i to be a viable alternative to the C, in terms of purchase cost and potential performance, but never test drove one so can't really say for sure. Much of the argument for/against the handling comes down to the old FWD vs RWD discussion, which is inevitable I suppose..

GSF sell Synta Silver at £10.95 + VAT for 5 litres. Synta Green (basic mineral oil) is only £6.95 + VAT for 5 litres. I'm considering trying out the Synta mineral oil for a while - it's 15w40, which is what the book says for the VR6.. Obviously I wouldn't expect it to last as long as the semi-synth Silver stuff, but maybe it'll do the tappets some good.

5.5 litres is required for a full change. Not sure where the cheapest place is, but if you find out, tell us!

Yeah, it's working ok most of the time. I can tell it's a bit busy tho..

Wossup with the forum right now (sorry, OT)? I keep getting the actual text of "viewtopic.php" instead of the OUTPUT from that script!

A little bit counter-productive stranding them, cos then you're stuck for longer... Better to move their car by force if that's in any way possible. If it was a VW you would probably have been able to push it along without releasing the handbrake anyway... :)