dr_mat

Your luck only changes when you flog your VAG car and buy something Japanese or French and *younger*..

The tin says to leave it in the oil, but the best option (to me) seems to be to put these additives in to loosen everything up just before you change the oil, leave it for a few hundred miles and then swap the oil to remove all the gack that it might have loosened up (it's supposed to dissolve it, but it can't dissolve everything).

Did I miss pictures of the two? Oh yeah, and what's the solution to running the HT leads through? Is there any way of fastening them up once you get rid of the cable tidies?

Does anyone have a dyno plot showing standard VR6 pre- and post- Schrick installation? I'd be interested to see what it actually does in numerical terms.

"As Far As I Know"

As a general rule, if the car has 89k miles on it, and the cambelt can't be proven to have been changed, it's worth getting it done. Just be thankful you don't have a VR6.. It might take twice as long (on average) for the timing chains to go, but it costs twice as much (at least) to do!! General advice on owning a Corrado: 1) be careful when using the doorhandles, headlight switches, heater controls, ignition switch. 2) save up for replacement door handles, headlight switches, heater controls and ignition switches and fog lamps :?

Have you still got your original springs, Kev? Check the colour of the two spots that will be on the lowest coils. Compare with Jedi's and see if they match. If the colour matches, you've the same springs and he'll need the wider top plates. :)

Ah.. I'll stop you right there.. :) Actually, given that Vince is going to have to take the manifold off my car to do the timing chains, that would seem to be the ideal moment to get this swapped...

Easy fitting? Including modifying the bonnet? I'll get 'me hammer! :) I know I want it, Kev.. You don't need to explain the reason why I want it.. (With you on the K+N filters tho. Loud noise and no performance increase? No thanks!) Fitting instructions (courtesy of the mailing list): - remove three Spline bolts that hold on rhs plastic cover. - remove spline bolts that hold on rear plastic cover - now you can remove the manifold cover itself - remove the plug leads from the plugs - Remove all the allen bolts along the front, which bolt the manifold to the inlet stubs. these are real b@stards to get at - far worse on a VSR though. - Remove airbox lid, and big thick induction pipe to throttle body. (have to undo some pipes and clips, but none are water) - undo the 4 allen bolts that hold throttle body to manifold push the throttle body towards the bulkhead, out of the way - remove petrol pipe, breather pipe, and electrical plug from front right of manifold - remove the two allen bolts that hold manifold to two brackets at the rear of engine That should be it (I think) Now lift it up very carefully, and you should manage to remove it without breaking or damaging the gaskets, if your lucky. .. it all sounds dead easy apart from the removing of the petrol pipe bit!

I'm seriously tempted, honest I am, and I'd bite his hands off if it was a VWM VSR.. Just because it's a lower-maintenance part (i.e. you can get to the 'plugs, and you don't have to mod the bonnet). For those of us who are afraid of spanners it's the easier-life option, I think. Of course, I can just get Vince to fit it.. But still.. I'm in two minds! (I also have a feeling that the Schrick VGI is about to go down in value on the 2nd hand market, since there's a glut of ooo about 20 of them just about to be sold!)

Hey, just noticed, apparently I'm a CF Nutter now.. :) I think that means I need to get more of a life, or something? This price of 1080 *is* inclusive of VAT then? (Says matt having a horrible thought!)

You're kidding, right? You think it costs nearly a grand to cast an inlet manifold? No chance. The parts probably cost £200 to make, all in, plus some cost to repay the r+d they put in originally (or the licensing costs or whatever). The rest is pure profit, I'm sure. My shock absorbers - case in point. RRP of a front shock for a Corrado VR6 from VW? £54. Manufacturing cost? £17.50. They make huge profits on all these parts, all the time. The manufacturer rarely sees the majority of it though, the distributors take the biggest slice of the profits...

That's quite a difference from the timing chains... :roll:

Theoretically the updated parts are cheaper too, cos there's only a single upper chain to buy. I've not checked that, but.. I'd imagine the chains are about £25-30 each though, so.. I'll talk to Vince if I remember about it, and see what he thinks. It may not even be necessary to replace the chain cover with the shallower one, or the sprockets with single-sprocket ones.

The concensus is that the later design chains and tensioners last for ages and ages (the 97 > VR6), but the upper guide can sometimes snap. I would say it's worth fixing them if you've found that they're very noisy, but until then you can't assume there's anything wrong. I'm going to talk to Vince about switching to the later-style setup - should set the VR up for another 200k miles.. :-) (assuming I can afford the thing for that long!)

... AND the cavalier had everything electric and comfy seats, and was only the 115bhp 8v engine... BTW - are you off to Stealth in the morning, Kev?

In my old 2.0 Cavalier I took on a Saxo VTR on an uphill stretch of the M25 once Jim.. I didn't bother to change down from 5th, so I was spooling along at 2600rpm when I heard this screaming buzzing noise alongside, trying to overtake. Gentle squeeze of the throttle and he's no longer gaining on me. At about 100 I was drifting off ahead of him, watching him fume... I think I might have made it to 4000rpm..

I keep trying not to think about that, jedi...

It's more air and fuel, jedi, but you're doing it at lower revs, so you will probably get more MPG.. You only need an oil cooler if you drive the car harder, doesn't matter so much if you drive it the same way, just using lower revs. Ok you might argue that at lower revs there's less oil circulation, but then, try it and see... It's not the cash for me - I can "obtain" the cash from my rainy-day-or-corrado-fund, but it's the thought of throwing another £1k at a car that I've no confidence in at the moment. Maybe I'll feel better after getting Stealth near it for some timing chains fairy dust, but right now it feels like an OLD car. :(

.. and then there's the fact that I can sell it on for erm.. a grand .. later on down the line.. stop it kev! I can't afford it! :(

I'd love to. Honest. But really.. Another grand? Jeez..

ta! :)

Can someone host the movie clip for those of us that don't want to have to pollute the anarchy forum's database with idle logins?

If you've the clutch off, yeah, you can drop the panel off and inspect ok. The lower tensioner very rarely goes, from what I've heard - it's a much shorter chain. It's the upper ones that take the battering. The guide rail goes, leaving the chain rattling about (noisy and bad), and the tensioner wears down badly. Unfortunately you can't change the tensioner without removing the lower inspection cover (which means removing the gearbox/clutch). I *have* heard that it's dead easy to switch the early dual-chain upper tensioner setup with a later (much more hard wearing) single-chain upper tensioner setup. This style are good for about 500k miles, apparently, though the guide rail does go after about 100k like before - the advantage is that the upper guide rail can be replaced without removing the g/box... (Remove the cover, remove the tensioner bolt at rear of the engine, loosen the chain, remove and refit the guide (you can see the two locating bolts).. then refit the remains.) I'll be discussing this with Stealth very shortly... :?

That's the one - I've only seen the spline set in Halfords' "professional" range which they sell for about £25.. Didn't wanna spend that much for just one key! I also need an M8 bolt to deal with the aux belt tensioner.. (Oh and a garage and ramps would be useful too.. :) )