dr_mat

I strongly suggest that they will be less idiotic than to try such a completely stupid tactic... The policemen I've met have never struck me as being quite *this* dumb... But it is relevant to ask for proof of calibration of their car's speedo etc etc.

Rite, as usual, your only defence is to prove that you were not obeying the speed limit due to not being aware of it. So you need to take a look at some of the "30" limit signs around and make sure they're all to the required parameters - i.e. they are repeated often enough, there were large "30" signs on the entrance to the 30 zone, at both ends (or all ways, depending), that they were all clear and visible (i.e. not obscured by trees etc etc). What was the road like? There's a number of open country roads with 30 limits that are questionable and you might get a little leniency on, but anything in town and I suspect you're going to get a big fine and probably a ban... :|

Driver's side dipped beam not working? Hmm. Think you might need a new switch. I have the spare guts of a working switch for a late interior, but it's got a broken plastic cover. The green light goes off on full beam, that's normal. Let me know if you want my spare switch.

Must be a rear sensor. They very rarely go, and we all know what VW pricing dictates: more sales = lower prices.

Yeah, the above was an approximation, but it seems to have been based on some sound physics and a couple of assumptions about the "average car". If you've got dragging brakes or heavily sticky gearbox oil you might find your transmission culls more power than average, but there's no really good way of measuring it. And as for metric, wossat then? ;) Yeah compare and contrast diesels to petrol engines: most turbo diesels these days produce in excess of 200lbft torque, but rarely get above 130bhp, yet a 1.6 petrol engine can have 150bhp coaxed out of it (Honda!), even if torque is only about 90lbft. But at the end of the day, the torque curve is the one you're interested in, power is secondary.

There was a long discussion on power/torque a short while back and someone pointed us to the pumaracing.co.uk site (IIRC), which had some really good write-ups of this stuff. The short answer was: bhp(wheel) = (bhp(engine) - 10bhp) * 0.90. So work that backwards from the wheel figure to the engine one with: bhp(engine) = (bhp(wheel)/0.90) + 10 and meanwhile: power(bhp) = torque(lbft) * revs(rpm) / 5250 so if your engine produces 180lbft at 5250rpm it's producing 180bhp at 5250rpm.

You can't "feel" bhp by the way, you can only feel torque. You can make the car have higher bhp figures just by producing the same torque at higher revs. The "coast down" method is rubbish, a very vague approximation at best. Based on some physics - more reliable calculations - I think 152bhp at the wheels equates to around 180bhp at the flywheel, so you're only 10bhp down anyway. Which is easily explained by low compression and/or heat soak and/or small engine sensor problems. It's worth running it by VAG-COM, but if it doesn't show anything I bet you'll be chasing ghosts trying to regain your "lost 20bhp"..

Nah, they deliberately don't quote a figure for optimax cos it's nothing special. -- correction in Germany I think optimax is 98 minimum, but here it's not.

Yeah, Ultimate is 97 Octane. But Optimax is 95 Octane... Optimax has a load of octane boosters which are not very stable. If you get it straight from the refinery, it's about 99-102 octane, which is great, but if it's been sitting about for a few weeks it's going to be 95-97 octane.. BP Ultimate you can at least rely on. It's 97 and it stays that way. They both have engine cleaning additives and stuff like that.

Yeah - there ya go. Wheel figures, wheel figures, wheel figures, wheel figures. Need I say it again? :) The best at the wheel figure I've come across for a completely standard C VR6 was about 162-165bhp, but it's much more common to see 150-160bhp at the wheels. Ignore the flywheel figure unless you've had the engine out the car and on an engine dyno. These are OLD engines. Unless you've recently had the whole top end replaced and head gasket done, you're likely to be down compression on several if not all cylinders, you're likely to have gas leaks all over the place and you *can't* expect top figures, unless you're VERY lucky and the car has been grannied for it's whole life. Obviously you *could* have a problem with one of the sensors on the engine that could be robbing you of a few HP, but I'd say read up on rolling roads before you cry into your beer.. ;) From what I've read an absolutely peak condition VR, running to factory spec, should put out around 162bhp at the wheels. That would equate to 190bhp at the crank. Anyone who's getting around this should consider themselves lucky... Anyone reporting over 200bhp at the crank and less than 165bhp at the wheels is being fed an illusion to make them feel better! ;)

True - it's recommended to lower the compression ratio slightly if you're going to run boost on a VR6. Thicker head gasket is the cheapest trick.

It's not just PSI, it's flow rate.. I can't believe it's that simple.. Anyway, I think we're agreed it wouldn't be perfect.. :)

50% more than standard? Two extra cylinders to fill? I mean it might be good for "up to 230bhp", but a properly s/charged VR is capable of way more than that.

Is the G60 capable of pushing enough air?

But surely they are quoting the manufacturers figures? Do VW use different figures from the same engine in the US?

Ok, I wasn't sure anyway... I'm fairly sure US bhp is exactly equivalent to UK bhp, but I don't know of a reason for the difference..

The extra displacement isn't the only difference to the 2.9 (and it's an extra 16 bhp IIRC - think the 2.8 is 174). Throttle body, inlet manifold and cams are different. Plus I believe the 2.9 has a 4-bar fuel reg as standard where the 2.8 has a 3.5 bar one. There may be other differences I've forgotten..

We put up with it. What can anyone do about it? Perhaps the bore wear is just down to the extra power output? Perhaps it's down to the comparison between the way Coupes and Hatchbacks get driven? Perhaps driver education is better in the US (thrashing it from cold is the big killer no doubt)? Who knows! Also, I'm no expert, but I think there's not really enough evidence to state that a 2.9 gets ovalised bores at "on average 100-110k". There's been a few cases of it, and it's not unheard of, but you look at how many cars are left with that and more miles on them that show no signficant problems.

So what happens when Jim, the mild mannered G60 owner, gets angry? I'll bet we wouldn't like him when he's angry... ;) :snipersmile: :2gunfire: :bad-words: :) On a more general note, it's true that forums can get cluttered with sticky topics, but the most useful way of accessing the forum is the "view messages since last visit" search link, so I very rarely look at individual forums.

Could also be the immobiliser circuit, or the engine speed sensor on the block. It'll fail to start if either of those are dodgy, and both can cause slow starting too. Don't think there's any surefire ways of testing these things other than replacing them though.. :(

As already pointed out in a previous thread, even if the rolling radius remains the same, and the new larger diameter wheel weighs the same as the previous smaller one, the performance will be reduced. Same weight, sure, but it's further from the centre of the wheel, which means you need to use more precious engine power rotating the wheels instead of pushing the car along the road. To get no reduction in performance, you need to buy wheels that are 15/17 times the original weight - i.e. 88% the original weight. 8)

I have a pair I don't need.... Genuine VW mind.. If anyone needs 'em let me know.

[on suspension strut:] Sounds like a top mount? Or do you mean the bump stop? As for the door handles, unless you want to de-lock, get a new one from gpcvwaudi.com . 2nd hand ones will break before you've finished putting them in anyway, making it not really worth it..

So the biggest easy conversion for the VR6 with standard 15" speedlines is....? 305mm brembos from Seat or 288mm Golf 3? I need new disks+pads shortly anyway, so thought I'd look into the options..

Start with the rear axle bushes then! It's surprising how much movement can come from the back end... The tyres are unlikely to cause this, even if they're really high profile (60+), unless they have bald spots or something.