Ice White Socks

Hi, Thought I would post my recent suspension change story to see if anyone can shed any light. I have a VR6 which was fitted with a Bilstein Sprintline Kit when I bought it. Its always been a terribly hard & rock solid ride but the car handled without fault. Its had a full suspension rebush and full stealth alignment and was running on very worn Toyo T1R's. It went in for KW V1's fitted by a well regarded Northen VW Garage- in addition it had a new N/S wheel bearing, new droplinks and new wishones fitted with Powerflex polybushes. It was 4-wheel aligned by the fitting garage and then again by a local tyre fitting place who made quite a large correction on the tracking The ride is really plush but the handling is really bad, the car tramlines, feel unstable at speed and torque steers. Something strange happens to the steering on turn-in- there is no progression and it suddenly turns in really quickly (almost like the back steps out). It feels like its the N/S wheel thats often doing its own thing. There are no clunks or funny sounds and no slack in the steering at all. I am bit annoyed that I have spent the about a grand turning a B road weapon into a something that dissapoints me ever time I take it out. Has anyone got any thoughts or ideas about things I could check? For example is there any way the coilovers or wheel bearing might have been fitted incorrectly, could a full stealth alignment correct such a big difference etc etc- any help welcome :) Mike

swap over and see :( You could inspect the coilpack for cracks- but mine looked perfect and but still had a failed coil. If its still on its original coilpack, goes from running perfect to bad in an instant, low power and sounds like a tractor then this is all classic coilpack stuff.

coilpack? One of the coils may have gone meaning its now just running on 4!

Sorted this out if it helps anyone in the future- dead simple- it was the black temp switch (or the one with the black plug). Basically it thought the engine was much hotter than it was and so started the stage 3 fans. Simple check was just to unplug it and the fans stopped! New switch on the way. :D

Hi, Need some advice from a sunroof expert... Sunroof refused to close yesterday- looked into it at found one of the bolts holding the sunroof motor on had come out and so it was half hanging off & jumping cogs rather than moving the mechanism (A lesson here is always threadlock the bolts back in if you remove the motor as this motor had been out before). I have closed using the manual winder but the two sides are misaligned now by maybe a centimetre (one side seems to be just finishing its slide-close whereas the other seems to be just starting the tilt- but the sunroof looks fine from the outside.) I need to manually re-align them but can't get the inner sunroof panel off because I don't want to force the mechanism to make it tilt on both sides. I had thought of using a small screwdriver and to manually turn the cogs the motor works on and make them both move to maximum tilt- then they will both be aligned (by being on the max tilt stops) and then I'll be laughin. Any ideas on this and any ideas which cogs work which side? (I assume left cog is left side but it would be nice to be sure). Any comments/ advice welcome- ta

Hi, Took VR out for a spin today- strange noise started coming from the engine- got home and it seems the fans have started running all the time! All the temps seem fine- no evidence its overheated or anything- fans come straight on with the ignitions. Had a quick search but couldn't find anything- I guess/hope its just a sensor- any ideas which one? Cheers Mike

few pics (edit- most of these seem to be in the youtube vid actually but actual pics are here if anyone wants them!)

Why would the petrol tank vent out into a potentially hot engine bay? Don't think that's right somehow...[/quote:28cw58qs] It is right- it 'vents' into the carbon can on the left hand side of the engine- very few cars vent direct to atmosphere nowadays. The Fuel Pump HAD come off the mounting and was rattling round bottom of the tank!

Think the tank vents out to the engine bay at the carbon cannister- just had a quick search through old post and one chap said the fuel pump was on its side causing it to read full! Oh well- another job for the list

strangely enough my fuel gauge seems to read FULL all the time- just after me cleaning up around the fuel tank filler neck- Is there something I could have dislodged or unplugged? Cheers- Mike

Cheers Jon- thats sound like a good price- I'll give them a try :D

You'll have some great roads between PSI and Cheadle Hulme for a fun drive back! Do you mind me asking how much PSI charged for the fitting? and how that compared to other companies? Plus can PSI supply the KW V1's? I'm a gnats whisker away from booking mine in for some of this- I can't take mine much longer!

Glad you decided to go for a Puma :D The FRP's are lovely cars- but they are pretty harsh on UK roads and still aren't all that fast in a straight line (say in comparison to most performance cars/ hot hatches) They are also a bit specialist- parts are rare and expensive (panels, seats, steering wheels etc) and things like the brakes need a lot of attention (they are racing Alcons- so no piston seals and need rebuilding every year). I would love on but couldn't manage with two cars that needed a lot of attention- the standard Pumas are pretty much bombproof (once you find a rust-free one) and really have very few serious faults. I have done 17k in mine without missing a beat- and you need something like that in a daily driver. Plus you can have a lot of fun in it because its not the end of the world if you overcook it and end up in a hedge (I have a mental block thats stops me pushing the VR too hard because I would be suicidal if I pranged it- it might be the same with an FRP). Post the pics up if you get one- and try to get one with an LSD (I think about 60-odd came with this as standard).

I run a 1.7 Puma as a daily driver. Bought it because no-one had a bad word to say against it as a drivers car- the image thing took a bit of getting over TBH It truly is a great drivers car- nice revvy engine in 1.7 guise- not much poke but has a nice soundtrack for a 4-pot and some useful low down torque from the Variable Cam Timing. Has a nice handling balance and you can go very fast in the twisties without much drama at all (Just got back from the 'EVO triangle' in North Wales where if did great- even loaded up with GF, MTB and a load of luggage!), Bit suprised at some of the comments really- it is a bit camp- but its also very capable- and 'car' people normally get this- have a look over on PistonHeads- its pretty well thought off there. For the 1.5-2k you can pick these up for then its a no-brainer really. No-ones mentioned it yet- the biggest thing is Rust- esp on rear arches and watch the oil on the 1.7's- they don't like low oil and more go this way than from cambelts snapping. HTH- Mike

where did you get the panel sprayed? Somewhere in sheff?

mmm maybe the Fuel pump relay- that used to stop mine from starting- and just pulling it out and reseating it used to sort the problem? Maybe thats what you are knocking when you are changing the wiper relay?

Heres a thought- whats stopping Karmann themselves designing and building a true Scirroco/ Corrado successor- styled more in line with Junkies pics? I guess their guys have the knowhow, the production facilites etc- I guess maybe they could base it on VW chassis so parts could still be obtainable etc. I realise there are a million reasons why it couldn't work but even so- would be pretty cool owning a true Modern Karmann Coupe!

Closer the second time round! Its Mike- yes if your round on a Sat or a Sun and I'm working in the garage then pop in- I live in Sheff myself actually but tend to work at the garage at home to do car bits- cheers :)

Eh up Sam, Its looking a bit different from when I last saw it! Haven't seen it around in Bucco at all (unless it was you I saw maybe 6-7pm last weekend on either Sat or Sun- I was in the Puma tho). Good skills- some nice bikes on the website there too- nice! 8)

http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewto ... 23&t=42467 I had this problem- I did it the way this fella told me and it worked great- no probs getting the line of at all. Might help :) Edit- mmm actually not sure there is any new info in this link after all, erm- as you were :lol:

Yes its really good - am thinking about getting some new coilies (the roads are sooo bad in Sheffield)- plus its on 117k so maybe clutch and chains looming in the next year or so. Still having fun with the Puma though- awesome fun at Legal speeds :D but the car rusts worse than any car I have ever known :( Cheers

:D You can get the door foil from VW still- it just comes in a big roll of foam which you need to cut to shape. I spent an age on my first time doing the membranes- but used a kind of white silicon sealant that seemed ok at the time but didn't bind too well to either the foam or the door once it got super damp- it just peeled away after a year or so. Second time I used a really thick sticky black sealant (maybe sikaflex)- you really need to seal it well using loads of sealant with no gaps in anywhere (ie its easy to have gaps where the door card clips through)- its amazing how damp it gets behind there.

its almost a trick post to answer. You have damp carpets, but no door membranes, but your first point of call is the blower vent :? If you have no membranes you WILL get damp carpets- whether it damps the front, the rear or both depends on how you park your car (uphill or downhill) and how the water decides to channel on that particular occasion. Cleaning the scuttle panel and resealing the blower vent is always a job worth doing tho.

I would say thats exactly what it is- in my experience the door membrane can leak at any point along the full length of the door- if the leaks is at the back it goes straight into the back carpet leaving the front bone dry. Having had my fair share of leaks in the last few years-I have never found a wet rear carpet to be caused by owt else. Door membranes used to be in the first post of any wet-carpet issue- can't believe it took so long to get mentioned :)

Like the valver James :D - nice and original. Was it a local car? Think I used to see an old white valver round Durham back in the day. VRT should be fun too 8)