Sean_Jaymo

I agree, for similar money you can find a 1.8t which would be a load better and the 2.8 24v version engines can be had for 5 or 600 quid quite easily. It's only when you go looking for the 3.2 engines that you find R tax is added. 24v for noise and 1.8t for bang for buck.

You can by aftermarket fan controllers that can be adjusted to maintain a certain temperature. I've got all 3 feeds wired into one which is in turn wired into the positive feed of the fan. The kenlowe fans are quiet and the max draw is 7 amps. Unless the window is open or the radio is turned down, I never know it's on. My only cure is that the temp sits at 92c instead of the usual low 80s. Id suggest replacing the yellow switch as that supplies the dash gauge it's temperature and if it's on its way out, you'll get a strange reading which could fool you into there being a problem when there isn't one.

HIC, 6000 miles, quiet postcode, driveway, no claims, 8 Yrs NCB, 24v conversion, brakes, suspension, wheels, legal cover, courtesy car and commuting for £335.

The central locking pump is notorious for draining batteries when the earth on them goes bad. As Sean says, check for a parasitic drain on the battery and work backwards from there. Most cars when in the off and locked state have no more than 0.3 to 0.4 amps drawing on them. With a lot of batteries having 3/4/5 or even 600 amp hours rating, you should be able to get a good few weeks on most batteries before they die out entirely. To measure parasitic draw, disconnect the earth lead from the battery and with the multimeter set to amps, measure between the earth terminal on the battery and the vehicle earth lead. Anything more than half an amp indicates a problem. Just make sure you have the doors shut when you measure this as will give a reading that is wrong. Keys out of ignition, doors shut. To check if lights are the issue, close the car, remove the parcel shelf and see if you can see if either of the lights are on. They do work of the same switch so should be the same.

And the other half don't live in 1932.

Ok, So Insurance aside, would you get one for peace of mind? I'd assume if you had one and it wasn't for insurance purposes, the police would still seize it in the event of a serious accident in the same way in which they seize mobile phones.

He had to go eventually. He just can't help but be an outdated and over opinionated oaf!

I've just renewed my insurance and a thread I saw on another forum got me thinking, how far away are mainstream insurance companies from offering discounts on their premiums by having one of these installed? They are getting cheaper and cheaper and the quality is ever increasing including night time recording. One of the cameras I've seen is the Mini 0806 (google it!) which can be had for around the £100 mark. No doubt that there are better or alternative options on the market. The youtube quality seems to make details like number plates a bit blurry but I'm sure that native quality and for use in general viewing would provide 99% of the information needed by somebody who maybe was investigating an accident or incident. What do people think? Would a discount in policy cost sway you into buying one or would you buy one anyway for a bit of self preservation in the future? Or would you simply not want to incriminate your own driving?! Would having widespread deployment of these cameras change peoples attitudes knowing that they are being watched?

Here's hoping!

You need an individual bar code that they send out to you, but I'll let you know if I receive anything. I'm expecting to be something around the Easter or May bank holidays to catch all the DIYers.

The rattles?

It's that time of year again. My circumstances have changed slightly requiring a small increase in mileage and commuting. Greenlight went up to £370. I settled with HIC at £335 in the end, very happy with their service and their quote so a big thumbs up from me. That's a quiet postcode, parked on a driveway, 31, 8 years NCB and 7.5k miles limit with commuting along with legal and courtesy car and agreed value.

Thanks Hasan, It seems that MAF's are only good for a few years before they loose their resolution and stop giving you peak performance. There must be a better way of measuring airflow or maybe we should all go turbo and fit MAP sensors instead to save on MAF issues?

12v is much easier. Block up the front outlet and then the rest just plumbs in as per 12v with only a little bit of modification to a few pipe lengths.

I could do with a rebate! That's the cost for 24v MAF by the way, I'm not sure how far ECP will pull your pants down for a 12v MAF?

Unfortunately not although euro car parts sell a genuine bosch item for approx £75 so it's not hugely expensive. I'm going to wait if they kick out one of their third off sales in the next couple of weeks. That will make it a bit more of an acceptable price.

Great success! Fettled with the exhaust joins for 15 minutes and all was sorted. The exhaust rear box and over axle bend were sitting approx 5 mm too far rearwards. The up part of the over axle bend had about 5 or 6mm of clearance between the exhaust and the front edge of the rear beam so I loosened off the clamp at the centre box joint and with the aid of a rubber mallet, I managed to get the exhaust to sit a bit further into the joint. Tighten it all back up and I now have 12 to 14mm of clearance and that has completely cured my knocking (for now anyway!) Next up I decided that I would do some Airflow logs to confirm how the MAF is reading. After the RR, the Car only pulled 180BHP and a dodgy MAF was thought to be the culprit. For anyone interested, I have posted up the graphs and it's clear that the MAF is pretty much gone! Run 1 Run 2 You can see how erratic and flat the line generally is. My peak flow was 130G/S and peak load was only 76%. Divide 130 by 0.8 (or multiply by 1.25) and you get 162 which should be the rough BHP which is even lower than a week ago. It's on its way out! I should be getting something around 165G/S for stock 24v power.

Depends if you have another 5k for the install and then for the uprated brakes (288's might be a bit weak!), exhaust, suspension and other stuff you my need some more cash!

Disconnect the exhaust and see if I can get it fitted better than it is. It only need to move by 5mm or so from what I can see so fingers crossed something can be done.

I've got a plan for tomorrow that may hopefully reduce this irritating knock. It puts a dampener on an otherwise good bit of kit.

Very kind, thank you!

I left all of the setting as per factory and Vince advises around -1 in the camber so that's what I asked for. Standard is -1.3 so not too far off. I have the wheels set at -2 on the toe. I'd imagine -5 would be nice on turn in but would destroy tyres in next to no time. Update, I've done about 100 miles today and I've found that the exhaust knocks when there is stuff in the boot which is really annoying. Something to look into. I also find the low speed ride over broken or rutted tarmac to be pretty harsh. Hopefully it will soften out. Low frequency undulations are fine but the high frequency bumps are pretty harsh.

The clips are the parts which help reduce noise from the pads if I'm thinking right. Those random little metal straps are what I mean. So long as they are not bent, just give them a clean up. It's a shame you couldn't get them to big red in time, for what he charges, you get a fantastic product. Have you managed to remove the piston and check for condition? You need to remove it for replacement of the 2 seals anyway and if you find that they are scored, you could be on a hiding to nowhere. I spent about 50 quid on a new piston and seal kit when I did mine. If you do manage to get the caliper apart completely on your own, then take it to a local engineer shop and see if they can vapour blast it. It won't take long and will come up like new then all you need is a light coat or 2 of what ever colour you want prior to replacement of the seals and you're good to go! You are doing all of the mods that people take a year to do in a few weeks!

Thanks guys. I was pretty disappointed that it didn't initially look like yours Dave, That will teach me for listening to VW when they told me the parts were obsolete and it was pretty foolish of me to not consider Heritage. That is me done on suspension now, everything is at most 5k old now and on genuine or Meyle/Febi stuff so that should keep me safe for a few years yet. I managed to get out in it earlier for a quick run and I am still seriously impressed. It feels so supple that you need to keep reminding yourself you're on lowered and uprated suspension. If you are going to spend money on your car, this is the place to start after the headlight looms and 288 brakes! I'm not going to win any "Stance" , or whatever slang the kids sprout, competition any time soon, but watch me cover ground with a smile!

I thought so, It would allow you to retain the lower plastic cover.