ProdigalSon

Spot on reasons for having swapped the C, and you could've done sooooo much worse than that Prelude - of all the other marques I'd (reluctantly) have instead, Honda would be right up there, but probs an S2000 :D Before we bought our house last October, I was rushing to get my G60 in a decent condition as I figured we wouldn't have the cash to deal with stuff once we had a nice fat mortgage :roll: Tells you a lot about my expectations for it! Never had a ride in a 'lude before, and as I said previously, rice can be very tasty :wink: (I'm just glad it's not salmon pink!)

I had a nice bit of rice for lunch today, with some teriyaki salmon. Was very tasty. You'll be back Carrick, mark my words :wink: :lol:

Hello mate, any update on the C situation?

Long story short (details on my Member's gallery thread, if you're really interested!), the hydraulic replacements worked fine but once the new fuel rail was on and the engine was running, it still refused to go into/out of gear :mad2: Went through the laborious task of swapping out the standard clutch for a new VR6 unit, and lo and behold - one very mangled friction plate worn down to the metal: :eek: climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdf_DSC8110Small.jpg[/attachment:2dxhh8j1] and the release bearing was pretty worn too: :gag: 2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdf_DSC8112Small.jpg[/attachment:2dxhh8j1] Once the new clutch was on and aligned with my expensive (but satisfyingly accurate) original VW centring tool: 8) _DSC8121Small.jpg[/attachment:2dxhh8j1] it was time to wrestle the gearbox back on (cheers to boost monkey for much-needed help), and try the new mechanicals out. It worked! Apart from the box being slightly notchy, the gear change is sweet, progressive pick-up on the clutch, pedal feels great, and the bite point has move up a looong way! :clap: May just keep the friction plate and frame it, proof of what a tuned-up engine can do to an old stock clutch :oops: (and yes, boost monkey was right to suspect the clutch itself.)

By 'good company', I thought you had met a laydee... :wink: Good to hear about a trader with morals and a bit of respect for the customer though :thumbleft:

dirtytorque, check out icanhascheezburger.com - home of the lolcats. Prepare to laugh so hard that milk comes out of your nose. You have been warned. :lol:

Yeah, it does need a bit of cosmetic TLC - looked fine up til the weekend, then we seem to have had a combined dust storm and attack of the pigeons overnight :bad-words: The bonnet came out really well from the respray, they fixed the chip at the front and the finish is really nice :nuts: You'd be proud of it mrbeige :wink: As soon as it is minty fresh, I'll get some pics up - honest :)

Well after 9 weeks, 4 days, 2 hours and 17 minutes (well, maybe I made up the minutes bit), the Silver Bullet is back on the road, and driving just as well as before the infamous pre-Christmas bonnet release episode! :clap: I got home this afternoon to find my beloved waiting with all my tools and my boiler suit, telling me "it's time to work on the car" :shock: Had to check that I walked in the right house! Hardly took us any time to get the rest of the car back together again, although we did have a hiccup with one brake heatshield rubbing on the disk and one 'loose' boost pipe jubilee clip :roll: "Has it always been this noisey?"! Once those were sorted, we were finished, and with daylight to spare, so the two of us downed tools and went for a spin to check her out. Once she and I had checked that it drove OK and the gear change was fine, I took it for a long burn around the ring road, and took boost monkey for a symbolic 'celebratory cruise' too :lol: I realise now that all the hassle and long hours were worth it, felt so good just cruising along in my C. :luvlove:

Lolzors :lol: :lol: :lol:

Only useful thing to do on the air intake (upstream of the inlet manifold) would be to remove restrictions as much as possible/viable, to minimise the engine equivalent of 'breathing through a straw' (try it, you can pass out really quickly, it's fun :) ). The snorkel in the stock airbox on a G60 seems to be a decent compromise between flow and killing the 'wob-wob' sound of the charger, which when it's not being damped resonates like a badly worn wheel bearing :eek: Removal of the snorkel seems to improve flow into the airbox, as does careful drilling or a second (eg. cold air) feed, but it's always a tradeoff with the increased noise! :lol: My intake is louder than my exhaust right now... :roll: I read an interesting article by an Audi turbo owner somewhere, where he used a homemade manometer to measure the difference in atmospheric pressure and the pressure in his intake at various points (pre- and post-filter, mass flow sensor, etc.), the idea being that in a truly unrestrictive intake system, the pressure will barely drop below atmospheric so the engine won't be working to draw breath. He found that there were a few points that really restricted the air flow - guess what, they were the filter and the grille over the flow sensor, neither of which you really want to ditch :sad: Most decently designed intake systems won't have ridiculous tight bends or changes in pipe diameter to cause turbulence and restrictions in the airflow, but having said that, I'm thinking about the stock boost pipes on my G60 :cuckoo: Guess they were building it with cost in mind. :shrug:

^^^^ Ditto above. Cold air feed taken up through hole left by deleted carbon canister, currently into 'slightly modded' stock airbox (if that's not a contradiction in terms!). K&N panel filter inside the stock airbox was a PITA to fit - slightly too large, so had to squeeze the top and bottom of the airbox to get it in! :roll: Didn't notice much of anything performance-wise with the K&N alone, but when I added the cold air feed wow! At motorway speeds the engine just seems to breathe more freely, especially on WOT and/or at high revs. Feels more powerful, but I don't have any empirical data to prove that :lol: That's my tuppence worth. :wink:

Man, this stuff takes soooooo looooooooong! Big props to boost monkey for being a true mechanical hero and coming over last night to help us drop the gearbox off, swap the clutch, and put the 'box back on... Would probably just be getting there now if it wasn't for those 3 hours :thumbleft: Anyway, we got the box off last night after suspending it from bits of nylon webbing and giving it a good wiggle underneath :norty: The friction plate was pretty destroyed, the release bearing was badly worn, and the friction material seemed to be worn down to the metal :eek: Pics: Bell housing and gearbox finally off! (Release arm removed for cleaning and new release bearing fitment): Book1.pdf_DSC8117Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] The flywheel looked pretty gross too (polished up nice and silver later though :wink:) _DSC8116Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] Amazing what a rag and a dab of white spirit will do (this was the same colour as the inside of the bellhousing :gag: ): stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdf_DSC8119Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] New friction plate (basically all new parts are 'uprated' as I bought the VR6 kit)... ETKA Corrado.pdf_DSC8107Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] And old plate, basically worn flat - and look carefully at the left side... stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdf_DSC8108Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] Yes, that's just disintegrated metal and some badly gouged springs :pale: Corrado92.pdf_DSC8110Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] New release bearing: passat climatronic wiring diags.pdf_DSC8111Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] The old release bearing had nasty dents in it and a 1mm trough all the way round, seeing a pattern emerge yet? :lol: climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdf_DSC8112Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] The old pressure plate wasn't too bad, but we used the new one anyway, and cleaned everything down with white spirit to get rid of grease etc. I bought the VW clutch alignment tool, and I must say that it was a sweet fit (that's it poking through the middle of everything). Was a bit expensive though :roll: 2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdf_DSC8121Small.jpg[/attachment:2mesbq9x] The gearbox took a bit of a wrestle to get back on, but we got it there, and slapped in the two 19mm bolts at the top of the bellhousing to hold it. boost monkey then proceeded to refit the flywheel plates, random other gearbox/block bolts, and re-attach the driveshafts to the differential while the missus and I ate dinner. Two words - Total Legend :clap: :salute: :notworthy: Cheers bro :wink: Today's adventure - putting everything else back! We did everything previously mentioned in reverse, except reconnect the gear linkages, refit the gearbox strut and clutch slave, reconnect the battery, and put the front wheels back on. Should be all done in the next couple of evenings (fingers crossed!) - I'm getting quite excited by the thought of driving it again - 9 weeks is a long time :D

Hadn't quite clocked what a major task it would be to replace the clutch :eek: Halfway through now after 6 hours work yesterday, and here's what the missus and I have done (not necessarily in order), with some guidance from the boost monkey :thumbleft: - Car up on axle stands at the front, both wheels off to give better access to driveshafts etc. - Grille and offside headlight out to gain access to radiator fan's cowling bolts - Front boost pipe removed - Cowling and fan removed to gain access to starter motor - Starter motor out and resting on engine front mount - Front mount top nut loosened to give more play in height - Trolley jack under gearbox to adjust height and (unltimately) bear the weight - Coolant reservoir unhooked to allow vertical access to gearbox mount - Gearbox-to-gearbox-mount strut removed - Gearbox mount removed - Differential-to-gearbox-mount bracket removed - Gear change cables detached, and their bracket unbolted and tied up out of the way - Clutch slave cylinder removed and tied back - Driveshafts unbolted from the differential - Nearside balljoint unbolted from the wishbone, track rod removed from wishbone, hub tilted out at the bottom... - Nearside driveshaft rotated around wishbone and tiewrapped to anti-roll bar at rear - Gearbox earthing strap removed from bellhousing - All other bolts removed from between bellhousing and block, except the 'double threaded' bolt that takes the earth strap, and the other 19mm bolt to the rear... - last two major bolts 'eased' with Plusgas and a 2 foot breaker bar :D , stands left under the sump and gearbox for support overnight - All nuts/bolts/bracketry individually tagged with location as we removed them, so that we won't have any left over afterwards :lol: Just about to crack on with part 2 - feels like the actual clutch changeover will be a cinch compared to getting it all back together! More news later...

your going to get a reputation as a pic tease. :) Sorry guys, was a bit disheartened when I tried to put the newly-running engine into gear and it wouldn't go :( Nearly put the car into busy traffic when I got it into reverse (despite the clutch) and it nearly threw me down the drive and into the road :eek: Guess my clutch friction/mechanicals were the problem after all, or at least an additional factor. I have a new VR6 clutch kit ready and waiting, and will attack it tomorrow but still haven't washed and taken pics of her yet, lost interest when I realised that it still wasn't drivable *sigh* Oh well, roll on the long weekend - hope to have it fixed tomorrow, AutoGlym'd on Sunday (cheers in advance boost monkey :wink: ) and cruising on Monday 8)

Did about 5 hours work yesterday, and accomplished the following: - took inlet manifold and throttle body off - removed broken fuel rail and checked the injectors - earthed the lambda probe to the engine (seeing as I had good space to do so at this point!) - fitted new fuel rail and installed fuel hoses and FPR. - re-fitted the throttle body/inlet manifold with a brand new gasket (boost monkey: :salute:) - tightened up then checked all the connections (fuel, air, electrics) three times over! Unfortunately it was a bit of an anticlimax as the battery had gone flat at some point in the last two months :roll: After a jump lead start from the missus Honda (thanks honey :wink:), the fun began... :) White smoke from the rear of the bay was only bits of fluff and stuff burning off the exhaust manifold, but the worrying thing was the loud rhythmic click, about once per revolution :eek: Quickly checked the oil, all good, but noticed that the click was getting quieter all the time, until it became part of the normal running noise *phew* Have to reinstall the gearbox-to-gearbox-mount strut today, then will see if my hydraulic clutch replacement has fixed my gear change woes, or if I need to change the friction parts also. Oh, and will try to get it washed and some respray pics up :wink:

Pulled the inlet manifold and throttle body off, ripped out the snapped fuel rail, checked the injectors, installed the new fuel rail, re-fitted the inlet manifold/throttle body with new gasket, plumbed it all back up and checked, double checked and triple checked all connections before turning the key! :) Nothing happened - flat battery :roll: Jump leads out and got the engine running, but there was a really loud rhythmic mechanical clicking, about once per revolution... :eek: Quickly checked the oil, all OK... Noise gradually receded into the usual click as the engine warmed up - guess it might be hydraulic tappets or somesuch that have drained while the car has been sat for the last 2 months? :scratch:

You are a frootluip. Fact. Good progress though :)

Arrived back from 10 days in the States to find my car, all resprayed and looking like new, sat on the drive :clap: Will get pics up soon, just glad to have got rid of the 3-tone rat look :roll: :lol: Pretty tired due to long transatlantic flight, but first inspection looks really good - well colour-matched and all the nicks, dents and scrapes fixed 8) Just need to put the inlet manifold back together and get it running again :wink:

Sounds awesome bro :D managed to get those pics off your memory card too, so they will be with you shortly - you may need to be a bit selective though as they total 20MB, which might be a bit much for upload. :roll: On second thought, you'd probably get lynched if you don't post them all with full descriptions! :lol:

^^^ He's talking about this, I think: http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewto ... 15#p759946 Made a huge difference to high rpm/full throttle breathing - reckon it has 3 times the intake area to the air filter compared to just the standard trumpet, but it is noisy... Have a plan to improve that though :wink:

Class dismissed! :salute: :lol: Cheers, Yandards, excellent explanation, as usual :notworthy:

Makes sense, good call Supercharged :)

And right on cue... Three comments: 1) Most jubilee clips have stainless rings but mild steel screws, so you'd be well advised to grease the threaded part well to stop it rusting. :wink: 2) the h-shaped Samco between the oil cooler and the water pump is a total PITA unless you remove the front of the car - this one piece took me over 4 hours to fit - you have been warned... :roll: 3) Good Jubilees have rolled edges, great ones (usually designed for fuel lines) have a part that sits inside the area where the jubilee curves over itself, to stop it pinching the hose and to even out the pressure around the hose. :)

Yes, standard hoses are absolutely fine - but if you are replacing more than two or three original hoses (due to perishing/cracking) then a silicon hose kit may be cheaper - at least it was last time I checked! After finding three bad hoses, I replaced the lot, figuring that they were all the same age and all on their last legs :roll: :lol:

Yes, I appear to have original relays with those numbers too...(!) :oops: Could be, mine is ABS, but I think I do have a relay in that position above the fusebox... can't check though as my car is at the bodyshop for some cosmetic improvements (read respray :clap: ) Does that control unit include relays or just fusing?