pete_griff

yeah - i know where you're coming from - i had a 306 s16 and they have very good passive rear wheel steering - it feels funny to have the backside helping you around the bends! i have to say though that after having my 205 gti and falling in love with the lift-off oversteer (which the 306 did very well too in all credit) and the fact that the vr6 especially is a natural understeerer, i like i slightly more lively backside - like you say - very much personal preference. for the record my poly bushes are in the mountings very tightly as i had to beat the end of the beam with a hammer just to get the bolt holes to line up - they won't let it slide very much at all - though the "packing" bits are made from poly and not metal like the sleeves on the original bushes, so i'm sure they will allow a certain amount of passive steering. by the way i finally got my car back on the road again today, but i don't think the geometry place i took it to have tightened up the camber bolts enough, despite the fact i copper-greased them. the bolts are as old as the car, so i'm going to get hold of some new bolts and go back again next weekend and get them to sort it properly. as it stands though the rear feels good (in my opinion)...

unsure if you were looking at a 4-stud set up or something kip - but after installing my poly bushes on the rear, i can definitely say that the beam won't slide from side to side - the bushes simply won't allow it - they have a big lump on the one side of them that replaces the metal sleeve bit of the originals, and this prevents the axle from moving from side to side at all - it's physically impossible (they will be a bit more squishy than the original metal sleeves, but there really is going to be little/no movement laterally... i totally agree about making the back more twitchy though - although i've yet to see how this manifests itself in the rado, as i havent driven it properly yet...

that sounds right to me - it's also interchangeable with the TT bushes that Vince from Stealth recommended to me...

i'm afraid i don't know enough about the different bits used by all the different corrado models to offer a definite answer, but is it possible if a load of stuff has been swapped over that someone has put some wheels on there with the wrong offset for the hubs that are on the car - have you taken all the wheels off and looked up into and around all the arches? also does the noise come and go or is it there all the time? - if its there all the time then it's probably not the above suggestion... does it get louder with speed and when you go round bends fast (possibly a bearing), or is it louder when turning at slower speeds (possibly the driveshafts/cv joints...)

glad i can help buddy :)

i've just put poly's in my rear beam, so as soon as i can drive the car anywhere i'll let you know how good they are - on first impressions they don't make the ride much more noticably fidgity when you are riding in the front. as for making the car more twitchy at the rear, if you've got good tyres then this shouldn't be too horrific and as the vr6 is a naturally understeery car anyway, i like the idea of having a more lively back end - makes the drive so much more involving (IMO anyway)... i'll get back to you as soon as i've done some proper miles though

don't think so mate - you're right they are pretty crap - they are only plastic and when they've been in an engine for ages with hot oil/chains running over them it's no wonder they go brittle and crack with age - guess it's a good idea to maybe rip the cover off every 3 or 4 services and just check the chains/guides out - only a bit of instant gasket to seal the cover up, so if you're planning on holding onto the engine for a while... you should get away with using the caps off the replacement head with your cams, but obviously check them for any obscure wear/pitting and/or raised surfaces before slapping your camshaft in, & the same with your camshaft - might be a good idea to get the least abrasive scotchbrite you can and run it over the surfaces of the caps/camshaft/head just to help it all bed in when you start it up again. probably a sensible move to replace all the valves/guides as well if you're planning on keeping the car with that engine in it for the forseeable future - at least there are only 12 and not 24!

it's a bit of a bodgers fix really - but if the rears really aren't performing, could you not adjust the bias valve - it has that nice long slot in it so you can put the bolt where you want it - you could try adjusting the bolt so you have it on pretty much max the whole time and see if that helps - once its sorted gonna take my car to a friend who is an MOT tester and put it on his rollers to get my bias just how i want it - you may well have already thought of this, but just a suggestion... (also rollers and lsd's dont mix, so you might be a bit stuck there!)

aawwww - i tucked my engine up for the night! do you think james may would be a fan of the way i've "organised" my tools?! - seems the more time the car has spent there, the more my kit has exploded everywhere :oops:

hey there fellas - hope everyone had a good new year - i'm still feeeling a bit fuzzy myself :morning: here's the pics i promised - take note of the one of the upper chain guide - if you look closely you can see another crack just a bit further up towards the top from the actual break - glad i noticed - that would have had a nice mess inside the chains casing :? i haven't put sealer round the chain cover or cleaned the rocker cover yet as i've only fitted the top half of the broken guide rail for now until the new one arrives and will have to take the bits off again here ya go, hope you all like the shiny bits!...

haha - not sure what to say about that without hurting anyone's feelings! got the head, cams and thermo housing back on today - will post up some pics when i get the chance - right now im off to get anihilated! bit of snag today - the upper guide i noticed had a couple of bad cracks in it - twisted it in my hands ever so slightly and it snapped really easily :? gonna order a new one from gsf asap - bit of an odd one though - will get some pics up when i have more time

fla mate - if you check my thread i answered your question as best i could, hope it helps also mate, check your cylinder bores - if lots of swarf has been flying around your engine, they will be your best indicator of bottom end wear without taking the sump off. in all honesty though, looking at the pics of your head, i would take the whole bottom end apart to do a cursory check anyway - theres no point spending money on getting the head sorted out then have the bottom end start knocking on you a few months down the line - if you're planning on keeping the same engine in the car, i'd take the lot apart now - you are halfway there now anyway! you never know - you may find that the bottom end is untouched, but personally i'd like to know that before putting it all back together

fla by tappets and stems - im taking it that you want to remove the valves/valve guides, buckets etc etc to replace it with all new bits?.... the buckets or followers (the round shiny things) that the cams push down on should simply lift out if you get a strong magnet on them. after this if you look underneath you will see the top of the valve and the cap that surrounds it (see my pics above). in the centre of this cap are two little half moon shape things called colletts (unsure on spelling) and these essentially are what hold the valve in place on the springs. the colletts are tapered, (as is the spring cap) and have grooves inside them - these grooves locate around grooves in the top of the valve stem and hold it in place against the spring cap using the tension of the springs against the taper (you'll see better if you take it apart - my pics above may help). basically to get the valves etc out, you will need a valve spring compressor - and make sure you get hold of one big enough to go around the head (i.e so it fits over the top and bottom, allowing you to compress the springs!) are you sure you want to keep your head though my friend - don't want to be harsh, but it looks pretty unsalvagable from the pics in your thread - you might be just as well throwing the thing in the bin and starting from scratch with the head - new valves, guides, seals etc - you might be as well just putting the cash towards something brand new...

geeez thats warm! how was your water temp - mine was spot on, just as normal when i had my hottest oil temp - lots of cool air rushing over the rad mind you! :lol:

the hottest i've ever had mine was 136!!! - that was going flat out though for about 15 miles solid (at night on a deserted road i hasten to add!) me thinks when i fit another engine next year i will splash out on a cooler!

i really need to change the date on my camera, and i really really need a haircut! :oops:

and the last few... (for now!)

and some more...

howdy all, just thought i'd post a few more pics of my progress for those who are interested - had the head very lightly skimmed (bout 4 thou) and have reground all the valve seats and cleaned everything up shiny before it goes back on. hoping to get the head back on and all timed up tomorrow, just waiting for a couple of manifold studs from vw and for the lower inlet manifold - big thanks here by the way to james who is sending me said item at very short notice :thumb right: (shame it won't arrive until after the new year now) :( anyway the pics are attached below, as above, hopefully in some sort of order enjoy...

hey there my friend, VW discs and greenstuff pads; i'm afraid i don't have any ideas about prices. as for bushes - the whole lot from VW will cost about £60 (i think - given that i got bits from audi and powerflex as well for mine) the TT bushes that go in the front were about £30 for the pair, so not cheap as far as bushes go, but even though i haven't driven far on them yet - from what i have driven, i was very happy with them anti roll bars - these are personal preference. in standard form the VR has a 20mm (sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong) front ARB and the rear hasn't really got one to speak of; it's got a nominal effort on the form of a small piece of tube welded between each side of the rear beam, but to be honest this does bugger all that you would notice. you can either go in for the full eibach kit (front & rear) which will give the car a much tighter feel around bends, roundabouts etc but still have a bit of inherant understeer. or you could just get hold of a rear ARB (again preferably eibach as they are better than neuspeed etc) which will again give the car better roll characteristics, but it will help to eliminate just about all understeer, but leave the car more tail happy than it originally was and more prone to lift-off oversteer (think 205 gti!) - this is what i'm going with (fitting the ARB whilst putting my engine back together) as i had a 205 gti and loved the lift-off, but it's personal prefernce at the end of the day, so you'll have to suck it and see... labour wise, i dont think it's going to be cheap to replace all the bushes on the car as the rear beam has to come off, which means disconnecting brake lines that will almost invariably break, so in all honesty i have no idea of a ball part figure as it depends to what extent you do bushes (i.e all - meaning steering rack bush, anti-roll bar bushes, lower arm bushes and rear beam bushes, or all - meaning lower arms and rear beam) and to what garage you take it to as they all charge different labour rates, and i wouldn't like to say how long it would take. your best bet is to take it to your desired garage and get a quote - make them have a look under the car to see whats involved if they are uncertain when giving you a quote!

tool arrived very quickly - top product, top bloke cheers again zerocool :thumb right:

hey there my friend, the deal with steve fell through as it turns out he didn't have out after all - if you still have yours then it would be real good if i could buy it off you - have sent you a PM cheers

no worries mate - should have said before - make sure you clean all traces of copper grease off the discs and off the pad material before you drive it anywhere - sounds obvious, but people forget to do it; don't want your pads getting contaminated

if you get a screwdriver and pop off the metal spring thingy (if you have one) on the front of your calipers and then pop off the caps of the rubber slider surrounds you can then get to the bolts - they are probably allen key bolts, simply undo both of these bolts and the caliper will lift off the carrier, bringing the inside pad with it and leaving the outside one on the carrier. all you have to do then is clean any crap off the carrier and copper grease it up where the pads slide on it and you can copper grease the back of the pads as well (the pad attached to the caliper just pulls out - should have just a couple of sprung bits of metal on the back of the pad which hold it into the piston) for a picture of the black caps on the end of the rubber slider surrounds see the pic in the link below download/file.php?id=47907&mode=view hope that helps...

kev i'm pretty surprised with all you've done to your car so far you haven't got these already, especially with forced induction! fla if you were looking to upgrade (it's pretty expensive i admit) but last time i spoke to vince at stealth the price for a brand new 12v head ported/polished with big valves was £1000 - maybe you can ask him if stealth are having a january sale! :lol: that is pretty steep i admit, but if you were planning on keeping the car with the 12v engine and wanted to upgrade, now would be a good time... RB talks lots of sense by the way - that is some pretty horrific wear in the pictures above - chances are the inside of your oil filter looks like a glitter factory :( sorry for you my friend - thats real bad luck considering the mileage on the car, and the fact it's an auto as well so should in theory have had an easier life than most :?