pete_griff

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Well, at least i'm back in a german motor now. shame the evo had to go - kind of in the same way as the corrado i miss it for the fun factor (4 wheel drifts are awesome! :norty: ), however my new steed is very very nice and the more i drive it the more i like it. recently done: clutch and flywheel and associated gubbins (i seem to have a reputation for clutches!) propshaft bearing, rear diff seal and associated propshaft running gear short shift from e60 5-series slave cylinder discs/pads all round air filters fuel filter are pressure reg plugs (lots of them!) handbrake shoes and cables engine, gearbox, diff oils main rear crank seal cleaned MAFs cleaned airboxes washer pump replaced horrible wood interior with brushed ally trim (still waiting on replacement illuminated gearknob right now though...) ALSO MASSIVE MASSIVE THANKS TO DAVE AND GRAHAM AT DG-AUTOTECH. i took it there as i really couldn't be arsed with doing another clutch on the floor (the evo was enough fun!). really really pleased i did as the friendliness, skill and workmanship of Dave and Graham is second to none. plus they also generously allowed me to stay and help out/pass spanners etc. CAN'T RECOMMEND DG AUTOTECH ENOUGH TO ANYONE CONSIDERING TAKING THEIR CAR TO A GARAGE to do list: replace rocker cover gaskets, replace aux belts, clean injectors, replace coolant, water pump and thermostat - all that will be getting done before too long. middle term - remap, look at fitting brembos from my evo - it has plenty of clearance, so they should go on just with some custom carriers made up. can't believe it; the car has two piece discs as standard both front and rear, yet it has standard single piston sliding calipers - rubbish! longer term - wheel refurb (they badly need it) and paintwork restoration/correction along with a very small amount of paintwork to remove stonechips and a very very small bit of rust. only have a couple a pics, most (as usual!) aren't of the car looking shiny, but are of it in various bits. tbh i'm going to wait until it's had it's paintwork and wheels sorted before i post up any decent exterior pics (i'm actually quite ashamed of the wheels!). still it drives very nicely (touches wood...) and that's the main thing :D pics:

are you CERTAIN the schrick isworking properly (i.e have you had it apart to check). also, (bear with me here as i'm not THAT familiar with the schrick,but....) could it be that it is opening fine when the car is stationary, but not opening properly when it's being driven out on the road under load? :shrug: if the flap appears to be physically working alright, could it be the electronics and or vacuum that control it not doing their job properly... the only thing i can think of that would lead to a dyno plot like that, is that the flap is not doing it's job...

could be lots of things, ignition component given up somewhere, bad fuel causing a stuck injector (less likely), mass air-flow sensor gone, lambda gone, break in a vital cable going to the ecu somewhere (maybe most likely :shrug: ). best thing to start with is get it VAG-COM'd, see what codes it's throwing up and then go from there...

hey pal, the rear shockers are different due to having different top mounts (certainly on the earlier ones anyway - unsure about the later valvers etc. also the front shockers are probably different (uncertain on this) due to the increased engine weight of the vr6 and the extra damping forces required (unsure about the springs. as for the shells - afaik, all shells were the same early-to-late, the only differences in the running gear was the different lower arms and anti-roll-bar on the vr's and associated gubbins (again, unsure about newer valvers), also i think the wings were different early-to-late to accomodate the extra "wideness!" the bumpers are obviously different early-to-late, not sure if this was to accomodate for the extra width or to bring them a bit more up-to-date with the flush front indicators/fogs. not sure if an early bumper would work with late wings and vice versa; though i'm sure there's someone on here who can answer that for you... don't know about the rear beams, think all corrado rear beams are the same, just with different brackets etc for the bias valve and gubbins. BUT, i'm really not certain on that one, you're better off getting definitive advice from someone who knows about that (try toad)...

James speaks the truth! by far the easiest way would be to pull one of the flanges off, then you'll know for sure. if you're in any doubt, then take a piccie and post it up on here so we can tell you. (thread hijack - nice sig by the way James :D )

:lol: haha - nasty git! i thought i had made myself familiar with all the "quirks" on an m5 - the colour started to drain from my face as i read that!!! :pale: edit - i'm even more paranoid as mine is just about to touch 98k! by the way pal, i managed to lose my phone last weekend and i lost the text that you sent me from your new number :epicfail: any chance you could fire me another quick text so i've got it please pal :grin:

that's a little scary. i hope the chains on my current car are made of stronger stuff - check out how long they are!: :? edit - sorry if we're hijacking yor thread a bit here Rob.... if you ask mr Laad very nicely maybe he could post you up some pics of his own repair shennanigans :norty:

oh the joys of working on broken cars!!! :bonk: sorry to hear the new ownership's not going too smoothly for you Ian, at least you'll know you won't have the revisit that area for a long time once you've got it sorted...

get some tt/r32 (the same thing) bushes for the front wishbones as they are a very good compromise between oem and powerflex with little to no drawbacks. it's up to you what you do for the steering-rack bush, but i doubt you'll really notice the difference between OEM and powerflex very much there, so personally i would stick with an oem item. as for the arb, you'll probably notice a better difference if you fit powerflex. some people say they wear out faster than the oem rubber (i'm going to sit on the fence here though), but they are probably worth it here even if you have to replace them sooner, as the oem setup on the early arb's isn't very nice in my opinion... as for the rear beam, the powerflex ones are much easier to fit if you're doing it yourself (fitted some to mine with no massive decrease in comfort), but the oem items are considered (by some, not all) to be the better choice for quality and all round driveability. only trouble is that they require pressing in (which you'll have to make a tool for if doing yourself) and they apparently also require some sort of pre-tensioning when installing on the car. i've never really looked into the pre-tensioning or how the tool is made as i just went with powerflex; the search and the bentley manual are your friends here...

i'm surprised they made much difference at all - they only hold the bracket in place after all. i wouldn't have thought they would move that much unless your old ones were properly perished and weak as fook... glad you're happy with them anyway

impact screwdriver is the way forward there pal - keep at it is all i can suggest. maybe you could try some GENTLE heat...

i really like that choice of words! :lol: DO IT!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: oh, and i'm also a big fan of fast show references :tongue:

the bumper is easy enough to lift one your own without scratching it etc - just a bit awkward. no doubt you'll bein safe hands with Kip there to give you a hand. if you like give me a PM and i'll drop you my phone number in case you need any emergency advice while doing the job! sure you'll be fine though - it's a very easy job :D

doyu know the differences aboutwhat each characteristic does and what benefits/drawbacks there are with drilled and/or groove discs or are you just asking because of the cosmetic attraction? i'm feeling lazy right now so i'm not going to type some long winded essay out, but in a nutshell. drilled discs - the drillings are there to dissipate the heat that builds up under braking. this is good and has no real drawbacks, however......... if you use your brakes properly hard and you haven't gone to quality dics, you may find he discs start to crack around the drill holes. the drilling weakens the factory cast and cases metal fatigue under the stresses of intense heat caused by repeated hard braking. that's why porsche discs etc are so expensive (depite the added "name-premium" tax) - they are cast with the holes already in them, so no incurred weakness, no metal fatigue - no cracks. grooved discs - the grooves help to de-glaze the pads (glazing caused by heat again) and keep them braking uniformly. the grooves also help to dissipate heat too. groves are good and won't crack like drilling, however they wear down the pads faster than a standard flat disc (obviously). grooved and drilled combines the benefits of both above. if it was me and you're driving really hard i would always go for just grooved and put up with the increased pad wear as a side effect of better braking when you want it. it's personal choice though at the ed of h day. best advice is don't skimp on your brakes - they could save your life!!!

i'll echo what Jim says - probably sounds like a bearing - get the car up in the air and check all the wheels for play to start with... and you're right - adaptors/spacers are nasty nasty things that hate wheel bearings!

nice write up pal - glad to hear you're enoying it :D i was impressed with my 312's, but if you're going to do many more track days etc you may find them inadequate - i thought mine weren't good enough when i fitted my r32 lump, and really only just good enough when properly hooning around with the original vr6. brembos are the next step! :norty: still, thanks for your thoughts there - interested to see what you think of your car under future "testing!" :lol:

unfortunately you will indeed need a complete geometry check. one thing it's worth bearing in mind is that not many garages really take the time to line the front up sufficiently with the back (i.e so the car doesn't effectively "crab" it's way down the road). if you take it somewhere make sure they will do a decent job of it and ask them to make sure the check the front to rear (as it's adjustable on the ball joints a little to help bring things into line.) you should also get a printout at the end of it telling you all your figures. it's also worth mentioning that your rear beam bushes should be in good order if you're having the geometry checked as they will affect the front (obviously); so if the rear is flapping about then it won't track as it should do when you drive off down the road and start going over bumps/cambers etc. if you're anywhere near DG Autotech then i would ask them to have a look at it first and then go from there - cannot recommend them enough - very friendly, genuine and knowledgeable chaps :D hope you get it all sorted :) edit - can't remember now, but the position of the balljoints might not be as adjustable as i thought (can remember g60 wishbones are different to vr6 items ref the ARB, but can't remember about the balljoints now...) anyway - you'll still need 4-wheel alignment and get it to DG Autotech if you're unsure

how you getting on with this pal - did you find the leak? i take it there's no sign of fluid leaking under the car... if that's the case, it's going to be worth taking the driver's side dash undertry out and pulling the carpet back from where the master comes through the firewall - you may find it's been weeping into the footwell...

if you've got them apart it's worth thinking about replacing the abs rings and their fixing screws as they corrode with age and can get bent from stray stones etc etc. also worth thinking about getting the whole lot sandblasted and painted if you've got the time to keep the car off the road while that's being done.

i was going to suggest demon tweeks - they are probably your best bet. ebay is good too :) if you're running the 323x28's i would go with ferodo ds2500's - think you can pick them up for about £100ish a set

left you a note i your guestbook - this is an interesting project and you've got some really good ideas. keep up the good work :D

hey David, enjoyed readig through your thread - your car is looking very mint, a credit to you sir :)

car (and you :camp: ) are looking good pal - like i said, it's nice to see you just enjoying it now really. :D btw the way, you're whining about 30mpg! come on man!!! what you really need is a 4.9 V8 "ahem" - then you'll have cause to whine about mpg! :grin: