Timbo

I have phoned the entire city this morning, and the general consensus seems to be that steering rack grease is basically the same as CVJ grease, which you can get from halfords. Any opinions?

Just been up late sorting out some MOT issues, one of which is a split rack boot. It's looking pretty dry in there, so it could do with some grease. Bentley and various folk on here suggest VW steering rack grease, but is this really necessary? I'm going to swing by the stealers tomorrow and try to get some anyway, but I think it's highly unlikely they'll stock any (they never stock anything :(). Failing that, can I get away with regular LM grease? What does the rack grease actually look like?

Ahhhhh, OK. That explains a lot actually. Cheers.

I'm getting pretty sick of my ABS being intermittent, so I've resolved to replace the pump to see if this sorts it. I've read all kinds of conflicting information about bleeding the brake system when it has been drained ranging from not needing VAG COM at all to some elaborate procedure involving pressing the brake pedal ten times and opening the front caliper bleed nipples in sequence :scratch:. The "best"/most convincing procedure I've come across goes something like: 1. Bleed RR, RL, FR, FL, ABS bleed valves, master cylinder. 2. Start VAG COM, run the bleed procedure. 3. Repeat step 1. 4. If still spongy, goto step 2 and continue. Does this sound sensible to anyone that's actually done it? TIA.

Oh you can take the test before you're 17? Didn't know that :salute:.

If I had Susie Stoddart tied up with ropes I'm not sure I'd bother with the Merc. :norty:

How long until you have an actual driving license? :D

Hmm, the thumbnail is screwed up for some reason, but it works if you click it...

For various complicated reasons which I won't get into now, I made the attached gear knob decal. Rather than let it go to waste, I thought it might be useful for someone (not sure for what really :shrug:). The font is Eurostile Black Extended, for what it's worth. Gears.png[/attachment:3i9200a6]

Got it MOTed. Got my plans for the next couple of weekends changed.

So there is no reason you couldn't slap a 2.8 head on a 2.9 block?

Just curious, what are the differences between the VR6 2.8 (i.e. Golf etc.) and 2.9 cylinder heads?

You've got me worried now :gag:.

Often they're deliberately disabled in order to hide ABS problems. If it doesn't light at all a less careful MOT tester will let it pass. In actuality no light is as bad (or worse) as a constant light. Assuming it's not the bulb you can read the ABS system faults via the OBD port which is situated under the gear gaitor. You can use a laptop and a copy of VAG-COM for this, or a dedicated fault code reader.

Why didn't he do the F1 driver in a resonably priced car bit anyway? Too scared of getting beaten in equivalent equipment :lol:? I liked the part about running into Damon Hill, and Schumacher looking uncomfortable :wave:.

I really meant for more significant stuff; possibly a full respray. Cheers though, that's a handy thing to know anyway...

I'm in Edinburgh. Does anybody know a good body shop within easy reach, by the way? Preferably one willing to let me save some money by doing the prep myself?

Who's that then? Are you in Edinburgh?

I wonder if the $/£ rate has any effect as it has recently made a come back...

For what it's worth I put mine back in "backwards" when I replaced the axle bushes last year. As you say you'd have to remove stuff in order to do it the "right" way. I can't see it really making any difference to be honest, as all you're doing is clamping the centre of the bush to the body. The only reason I can think of them insisting on it being that way round is that in order to tighten it with it in backwards you need to hold the nut static and turn the bolt as there is no clearance to get a torque wrench in there. In practice this doesn't really make any difference, but it's probably not how you're supposed to tighten a nut on to a bolt :shrug:. In any case mine has been fine for the past year or so; I wouldn't worry about it.

So VR6s are worth £3k now are they? :norty:

My MOT is coming up soon and I recently discovered a potentially fail worthy hole in my OEM exhaust. My thoughts are that I might as well take the opportunity to fit a stainless (cat back) system, but only for the corrosion resistance. I don't mind a bit of noise once the revs are up nice and high, but I really want to avoid any Corsa-esque farty stuff at idle. So what I'm getting at is I'm after a stainless exhaust which is mostly quiet (I realise these properties conflict, by the way). I also don't want any stupid looking tail pipes, if possible. I've read most of the thread but it's pretty hard to come to a decision as there are lots of different opinions, often conflicting. It looks like the options are: Milltek Jetex Supersprint (not fully SS?) Dubpower Techtonics (not available in the UK?) Magnex (not available as they've gone bust?) Scorpion Powerflow Have I missed any? In terms of noise it seems like the Supersprint, Dubpower and Magnex are the ones to choose from, whereas the others are more noisy. Does this sound about right? Right now I think I'm leaning towards the Dubpower as it's fully stainless and easily available. Sound sensible? :shrug: It's for a VR6 and I'll be fitting it myself so options which are deliverable are preferable. TIA.

The light comes on after the expansion tank becomes empty, but if this happens after you've filled it up, by definition you have a leak. Have you any idea where it's leaking from?

I bought FM2 only to discover you can only use Microsoft steering wheels with the 360. How rubbish is that? Needless to say it went straight back to where I bought it.

...and to think I thought "Crystals" were some kind of fancy tail lights...