horney

Small update. Power steering rack is fooked as it's now hard to turn right. Hopefully sorted a replacement out so need to get that done. Changed the front water flange as it was cracked and leaking yesterday. Horrible job! Clearly the car is feeling the abuse of 15,000 miles a year so bought it a present to cheer it up. £26 including delivery, bargain! nick

Well the guy at my local dealer who I use all the time said the computer came up with no longer available and listed no other alternatives. It's no hassle though as I re used the originals. Nick

2hrs! Top bolt was a real pig but I did it without removing the inlet stuff. Seems water tight so job's a gooden! nick

I run a track car, but a MKII Golf not a Rado. I'm not sure about the comments on big brakes on here, it's a bit overkill. On a race car every tenth matters as you're actually racing people, on a car for track days you really don't need to spend £5K on brakes for an extra 10th round the circuit do you? All you're doing is adding more unsprunf weight for little benefit unless you're Mr Late-on-the-brakes and you need all that stopping force. Proper geometry, track suitable tyres (I run R888's and love em), decent suspension and lessons will get you going far quicker than some fancy brakes and big wheels. Cost come in as well, you'll kill a set of pads in 3 track days. Mine cost £60, I bet the pads for these big brakes cost far more! Trackdays are not as cheap as they seem either. I did silverstone last tuesday and here's a brakedown of my costs. Entry fee - £165 Fuel - £90 Tyres - £100 (killed a part worn front pair) Brakes - £20 ( 1/3 wear on a new set) Oil and oil filter - £30 Red bull - £5 Total - £410. Nick

Yeah ha ha. I'll have to bag em up in 3's and sell them on ebay with added rare scene tax, ha ha. nick

Well the bolts are now obselete so screw fix it is. VW dealer kindly gave me the specs of them being M6 20mm. Nick

Hacksaw for the obstcuting pipe then, ha ha. Cheers for the advice peeps. Nick

Sounds promising then. I did look at it and think it may be possible with the inlet on but I figured taking it all off would allow nice straight access with the allen heads on my socket set which would hopefully avoid any rounding issues cuased by going in at a funny angle. I'll have a go at getting my tools on them without actually loosening anything first. I figured new bolts might be a good idea as well. Can you get these from GSF or ECP or is this a dealer only or screw fix type affair. Nick

Changing the front flange on my 2.0 16v at the weekend. Any hints and tips? I guess I need a gasket set for the inlet manifold as I'll have to take that off. Nick

LOVE the humped roof, that is epic. Pity the pug family nose ruins it, other than that it's a really nice looking car. They should have been braver with the front end. nick

They look great mate! Nick

Green Rado broken down in the traffic round Junction 3 Road works on the M3 heading london bound this arvo at about 2pm. Hope it was no one on here. Would have stopped but I was in the lanes on the other side of the partitioning steel gurders. Nick

Been a while since my last update on the old girl. This week was MOT time and she had the following done before: * New windscreen * New drivers side wishbone, bushes, top mount and ball joint * Passanger side Top mount and balljoint * Passanger side Steering rack boot. Failed on: Handbrake effort too low. Advised on: * Both rear wheel bearings * rear beam bushes * Exhaust rotting * Loose Heat shield The garage cleaned up the calipers on the rear, re bled them and it passed. Not bad considering I've covered 15,000 miles in her in the last 11 months. Nick

I think Loeb is driving a Torro Rosso in the last race. Nick

But no Alonso as Renault are banned. Nick

Just had mine done and it turns out the old screen had been bodged in with a double wide rubber so he had a right mare cleaning it up to get the new one in. The job looks OK but the rubber at the top is a bit wobbly and I have loads of left over glue/rubber where the older and wider rubber was. Best get the polish out! nick

Had an awesome day at Combe on saturday despite the slack Marshalls and loved watching you all go out on your Rado only session. Wish I could have brought both cars down really. A few pics from my mates of me doing the biz. Nick

THis weekend I fitted the freshly painted front valance and refitted the front splitter. On friday night I picked up the wheels from Swaffgti for normal road use and extreme wet trackday use when the R888's won't cut it. Cleaned them up and boshed them on. I really like them and think they suit the motorsport look of the car. I was toying with painting them Kawasaki Green but now there on I think a bright white is the way forward. Some pics taken today. Cost to date Car - £500 Tax - £110 Grill + Lamps - £10 Small bumpers - £20 OE rear lamps - £10 Sold single lamp grill - £10- New Orange front Indicators - £8 GTi badges - £10 Front splitter - £15 Paint - £20 Wet/Road wheels+tyres - £75 Total - £768 Nick

Thanks vey much, a busy lunch break today me thinks! nick

Hup! My windows and central locking just stopped working. Anyone know which fuse it is? Also where is the control unit located for the windows? nick

My Kr Cam'd Rado keeps up with my mates Fiesta ST with no problems at all (my 1.9 8v MKII pisses all over it which really gets onher tits). Would be interesting to actually time a KR'd 2.0 16v to 60 because I think the quoted book time is balls and they made it look a little slower to make the VR look better. nick

A word of warning. DON'T insure a car with future mods declared. If it get's nicked or you're in an accident and the mods aren't fitted you may well not be covered. It works the same way as not declaring mods you do have fitted. You need to chnage the mods on the insurance each time you fit or remove them (and normally pay an effing admin fee). It's a pain in the balls but if you don't play by their rules you'll pay for it if the need to claim arises. nick

Got busy with the polish today to try and make the flat paintwork look a little more presentable. Still need to go over the whole car again and do the roof but certainly an improvement. Nick

It's been a very productive day today. Repainted the rear valance and drivers door bottom, fitted the front splitter and added the pinstripes down the rubbing strips. Also fitted some GTI badges front and rear earlier in the week. Pics: Paint finish and match aren't 100% but it's not a show car and I just wanted it to look tidier and more original, not mint. Just need to pick up a front valance and the plastic above it and job's a gooden. Cost to date Car - £500 Tax - £110 Grill + Lamps - £10 Small bumpers - £20 OE rear lamps - £10 Sold single lamp grill - £10- New Orange front Indicators - £8 GTi badges - £10 Front splitter - £15 Paint - £20 Total - £693 Nick

Yeah it does! Just finished toting up the receipts for mods (Including the big bumpers and other stuff) and it's close to £6K. The engine was done about 9 years ago though and has covered about 40,000 miles. The bottom end bearing were done last year though and it feels tight and strong on the road. In all honesty it's a much better engine than the 2.0 16v in my Rado. I've always defended 8v's as being a good engine despite lacking the headline figures of the 16v's. This thing just pulls form idle all the way to the limiter and is so much more driveable when pottering or hammering it than the Rado. The Rado feels lazy by comparison unless you keep it above 4K all the time which means a lot of cog swapping. Nick