CrazyG

A couple of times on my 8v, the indicators would remain on after the flash of the remote central locking. I don't mean that they continued to flash, they were just on, solidly on. The only solution was to disconnect the battery for about 20 minutes. The heat of the side repeaters staying on for so long actually melted through the back of the lenses! A week or so after picking up my VR, the fuel filler flap started to lock itself again about 1 second after unlocking the car and it's been doing it ever since. It's really annoying. I suspect that both of these problems come from slightly botched fitting of non factory alarms...

Just had FK Sport Edition Plus coilies fitted last Thursday and the measurement from arch to floor is 58.5 cm front and 59.5 cm rear. I can't see how it's feasible to go lower like some of the drops I've seen because I'm actually thinking about raising it by 10 or 15 mil. The rear is not causing too many issues apart from the exhaust needs new rubbers to stop it slapping against the axle. On the front I've noticed scorch marks on the plastic inner arches from where the tyres have been hitting them and I've only done about 100 miles since they were put on. I've just upped the damping on the front from 4 to 5, so I'm expecting a particularly firm ride (ooh-er) tomorrow but I'm not totally convinced that it'll sort the problem.

I think you might be right on both counts!

Got the FK Sport Edition Coilies on now. Here are the results... I'm not totally sure how much it's lowered by but I'm thinking it's a tad too low. Yeah, it looks cool but I have to use it virtually every day so I'll have to see how I get on with it. There's been a little rubbing on the top of the front arches but I think that's because I was slightly over zealous with one speed bump :eek: There's also a knocking sound coming from the rear that Rich reliably informs me is the bump stops but I don't like the noise and it makes me feel a little paranoid. Will this settle down as the shocks bed in - is it normal?? Anyway, off to apply a coat of Collinite wax :ubergeek:

Cheers mate. They're SSW (Stamford Sport Wheels) Mesh II alloys. Slightly kerbed one of them this morning because some knob in a truck didn't give me enough room to get out of my road :roll: . The scuff is barely noticeable but I'm still not happy. I might try that gaffer tape fix at some point but I'm quite attached to the OEM lights at the mo.

Yeah, they do look rather smart. I think it's more to do with the fact that the OEM bulb mounts don't clip in place properly on these so it's not a straightforward swap. I thought about using the standard mount and taping it to the back of the light casing but I'd prefer if it was more secure than that. The amber bulb doesn't seem to fit too well in the OEM bracket either. I don't know if I really want to cut the wires to put on the aftermarket jobbies... Is there any way around that?

I fitted the 17 inch SSW Mesh 2 wheels last Sunday but I've had to wait all week for it to stay dry enough to do a proper wash and take photos. Shiny! 8) The wheels highlight how badly I need to paint the calipers and the edges of the hubs - they're quite shocking! Paintwork looks pretty good from a distance but I keep finding patches of nasty rust :gag: Some of it is treatable but there are other areas that will probably need to go into a bodyshop. Lupo wipers are on but I'm struggling to get two rusty screws out of the offside headlight so I haven't managed to upgrade the loom yet. I've got a set of red/smoked FK rear lights but I'm not convinced I actually like them so the OEMs may be staying put :? I've got some FK Sport Edition coilovers so they'll be going on once I can organise a mechanic to fit them. I'd do it myself but I'm fairly confident I'd cock it up! I don't want to go too low so that rubbing is minimised - I'm thinking 30mm drop on the front, 50mm on the back.

I hate to say you guys told me so but TCS have put my old car on the site for £2,175. He's given it a right good polish too. Git!

What about those pointless headlamp washers? I think they were an optional extra. If you spray the windscreen while the headlights are on you also get a splodge of washer fluid on the lights that goes nowhere towards cleaning them. Oh, there are also those bump strips on the door that are supposed to prevent supermarket dings. If you notice, the dings are always a few inches higher than that!

Here are a few more... still needs a clean outside and a good wax but that will be done this afternoon if the rain holds off, as well as putting the 17s on! 8) Not too many stone chips but the offside headlamp glass needs changing - TCS gave me a spare. Headlamp screws are rusted almost beyond recognition so I'll need to get hold of some new ones before I fit the uprated loom. Nice and clean in here but there are a couple of little niggles that need sorting. Still, only 81k on the clock :) Nice ass!

Here's a little teaser until I get my camera properly charged... I didn't really have a proper opportunity to enjoy it because the weather's been so crappy and I haven't quite settled in to it, even though it should feel very similar to driving the 8v, albeit with that added grunt. At first I wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. It seemed to pull exactly the same as the 2.0 at low revs but then I remember hearing that they like to be revved and... oh boy! :eek: Once you get above 4,000 in second it's like the extra 0.9 really kicks in and she properly spreads her legs! There's a few little problems that need to be addressed. Most notably, part of the windscreen trim won't stay down and after driving for about 15 minutes it started flapping around and slapping the driver's side window. A dodgy windscreen replacement methinks?! I hope that doesn't mean it's been letting in water and rusting around the frame :pale: What can I use to bond it - I'm guessing household solvents are probably out of the question? The driver's side inner door handle is quite wobbly and feels like it's about to snap every time I open the door so that's me decided... I'll get a pair of those chrome ones. More pics when the weather's a bit nicer and I've had a chance to do a proper wax...

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=70431 I haven't picked it up yet - should be about 5 pm, followed by a spirited hour and a half driving it home. Although, having said that, it's raining so it might be a more sedate journey. Had a funny conversation with a [probably new] girl at Direct Line this morning. First of all, she said good evening Direct Line (it was 10 am!), then she misheard the reg number I gave her. "Is it a Vauxhall Corsa 5 door?" :nono: Er... no! Then she said "A Vauxhall wagon Carodo 2.9?" Close enough :lol: Pics will be on as soon as I can manage.

I usually notice another 'rado. So that was you was it?!

Bugger! I'm supposed to be swapping them over tomorrow. I told him I was looking for about £1800 and he said that was about what he'd sell it for. He offered me a grand and I struggled to get the extra 100 quid out of him :confused4:

The 8v has almost 88k. Have I been robbed?

It's not bad, apart from the dent on the roof from where some drunken fool mistook it for a trampoline! I've got £1100 for it through TCS. I know I could probably have sold it for a few hundred more privately but I didn't want the hassle.

So, after 6 years of almost entirely fault-free motoring, it's time to say farewell to the much-loved old 2.0 8v... :( Why? I'm trading her in for a VR6 this weekend! :clap: Pics to follow...

I'm no expert but I would stab a guess at a failed ignition coil. Mine went last year and it cost about 90 quid for the RAC man to fit a new one.

It's alright, I'm sure the wheels won't fall off and I think I've sussed out the problem. I must have knocked the protector at the back of the brake disc so it was rubbing against it, creating the scraping noise. I've realised that by tightening the wheels bolts too much I've slightly buckled the PCD adaptors so they're not sitting flush, thus contributing to the wheel wobble. It's a costly learning experience I suppose :?

Aaarrrghh!!! I'm at the end of my tether with these damn things. I've just taken one of the rears off again to have a look and the spigot rings are correct. When I rolled the wheel separately along the ground it wobbled from side to side until it almost fell over - is that normal? Just as an experiment I've removed the balancing weights and although the wobble is no worse now when its on the car it's making an alarming scraping noise as it rotates. I'll obviously need to get them rebalanced but surely the problem is more serious than that?!

The wheels did come with spigot rings but seeing as I was sent the wrong size bolts it's quite feasible that the inner diameter of the rings is too big/small. It's weird how the front wheels don't wobble now though - maybe I was just lucky and got them dead centre when I bolted them up last time even though they're not fitting on the hub correctly?! If the spigot rings are wrong, a VR6 hub conversion wouldn't solve the problem but if I went down that route how much [more] would I be looking at parting with?

Hi CF members, this is my virgin post but I wish I'd asked for some advice earlier because I'm having issues! I've owned a 1995 2.0 8v for over 5 years although I'd love a VR6 but with fuel prices going the way they have I'm probably sensible to keep a little bit more economy - besides, I've got a bike for my quick acceleration thrills :norty: Recently, after a relatively cheap service and a sail through the MOT, I decided to treat the old girl to a shiny new set of rims. After scouring the net to find just the right alloys and a quick experiment with Photoshop to check they looked alright, I settled on 17 inch SSW Mesh 2s. Like a complete idiot, I neglected to check how many bolts my hubs took (I know!) and assumed they were 5. After the wheels arrived and I prised off the first centre cap I very nearly cried. A quick phonecall to Motor Sport World revealed that their suppliers wanted a 25% handling charge to return said wheels and I would have to pay to courier them back. They also told be that the Mesh 2s weren't available in a 4 stud. So, the decision was made for me - I was keeping them to either flog on Ebay or find a way to make them work on my car... The next step was the purchase of two 4/100 to 5/100 PCD adaptors which arrived the following day. Next thing I realised was that I would need one longer bolt per wheel to suit the design of the adaptors but meanwhile I had discovered that the wheels were supplied with M14 bolts when I needs M12s :bad-words: So, I ended up lining the pockets of an ignorant independent car parts store who seemed to be more interested in reading his newspaper than nurturing a relationship with a new customer to get most of the bolts I required. The remaining bolts were procured from Ebay - a set of four 50mm long ones. At last [i thought] I have everything I needed to get those bad boys on and after about 2 hours (would have been quicker but I had jack issues) one Saturday afternoon she was wearing her gleaming new shoes. She looked sweet but about a mile up the road I realised there were problems because the steering wheel was bucking about like a bitch! I stopped to have a look and all four wheels seemed tight so I guessed they just needed rebalancing. Next morning I drove along to Kwik Fit (wish I hadn't - bunch of muppets!) and they balanced the two front wheels, chewing up my locking nuts slightly in the process with their blasted air tools!! :nono: There was no improvement so I had the wheels off again only to discover that the PCD adapters weren't tight. This made a world of difference but there was still some wobbling, although by this time I had established that my 50mm bolts were slightly too long, preventing the wheels from sitting flush. Shaving off a few mills made more difference but there was still a slight wobble (I guess I should have filed the long bolts on the rear wheels too...) Skip forward a week or so and my mate at work reported that my rears were weaving all over the shop so I deduced that trimming down the long bolts would cure the problem. Wheel off, adaptors off, threadlock on, torqued and one done [phew!]. I repeated the process for the second back wheel and while I was tightening one of the wheel bolts my torque wrench went bang and I nearly ended up flat on my face on the rain-soaked driveway. The thread on the adaptor had split and the bolt wouldn't tighten. Now I've ordered another set of adaptors (more money :( ) but although I was sure at least one of the rear wheels would be perfect, they're both still wobbling! I'm running out of ideas and I'm a gnat's chuff away from returning the car back to standard. HELP!!