Hi All, been mooching about on the forum reading vast amounts about how much these wondrous motors cost to run and how frequently they break down and so i thought it seemed like a sensible plan to get one. truth be told I've wanted one ever since i was 16. one of my mates got one and pulled up outside in it and my instant reaction pretty much ran along the lines of "holy hell that's amazing.........what is it?" fortunately my ignorance was quickly dealt with and it turned out it was a valver and the passion for VWs was born, sadly I've not had the chance to own many as my cars up to this point have been more about being a sensible car to run to work and back in but about 12 months ago i managed to acquire myself a VW LT28 Camper which i felt made a good start to the fleet. then i realised that at the end of most months i was coming up with a bit of spare cash so i asked myself how best i could make myself bankrupt in as short a space of time as possible and a car seemed like a fun way to do it. so after a bit of digging about, what seems like endless nights of research and a stack of notes with the queen's head on i found myself this:
stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdf26-03-08_0914.jpg[/attachment:aa30q35l]
from the day that i picked it up i had three days of carefree happy driving, during which time i think i may have developed an addiction to it that i may never be able to break. then on the way into work on the third day half way up one side of a hump back bridge the clutch went, Whoop-de-doo. i had hoped I'd get at least a week out of it before something happened but C'est la vie, so 48 hours and an RAC ride home later it was looking more like this:
Corrado92.pdfDSCF0242.JPG[/attachment:aa30q35l]
it turns out it was the slave cylinder (although i still have suspicions that the master may be on it's way out too so i got one of each). and after a week of holiday every day of which was spent taking bits off (and in the process breaking them) then re-ordering and replacing them it's now back up and running ok (ish) i still have a list longer than my arm of things that need doing foremost on that list including sorting the heater matrix (which has been bypassed at some point) and stopping my stereo falling out of the dash every time i accelerate :) it would be quite handy to be able to open the drivers window too.
anyway ....... after a good wash and a coat of wax I've realised that the colour (burgundy pearl effect which before the wash looked the same as my brother's vectra) is actually stunning when looked after, especially with the sun on it so I've taken a couple of pics of my new mistress, in a rare bit of clear weather and i thought I'd offer them up for people's opinion's
passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfDSCF0300.JPG[/attachment:aa30q35l]
climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfDSCF0305.JPG[/attachment:aa30q35l]
DSCF0306.JPG[/attachment:aa30q35l]
2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfDSCF0310.JPG[/attachment:aa30q35l]
It's got a very long way to go and i think it may eat the entire income for the next 10 years but i definatley think it'll be worth it. next big jobs will be a full engine rebuild and sorting out the fist sized rust hole in the front cross member. unless something else breaks first (fingers crossed it doesn't)
any comments would be really welcome :) and of course i'll keep you posted with any updates.