kvwloon

benji16v, Sometimes you can get the oil pressure sender in with the gauges on Ebay. The only sender you need to get really is a dual pole oil pressure sender. Most VW scrappys should be able to sort you out as well. £80 all in sounds good for new gauges etc though from Demon, but should be able to get VDO's and senders for less than that with some patient Ebay watching I reckon. Think mine were about £40 all in if i recall correctly, but took a few weeks on Ebay to get them.

Wow, dat really is trick, innit! (sic) Anyone remember the Skoda badges on a certain C at Woburn last year? I just don't get it!

I would agree oil temp., oil pressure and voltmeter are what would be a normal requirement. Personally I like to use VDO's as they are a VW original spec. manufacturer, and are in keeping with the existing speedo gauges etc. Pretty easy to get hold of sets on Ebay and VW scrappys pretty cheaply too. Can't comment about any difference in accuracy between VDO and other manufacturers though. VDO is German so can't be that bad can they?! Do you need pics of VDO's, can post here if you wish, but already posted on another post here somewhere...try a search for 'VDO gauges fit' or something like that. If no joy get back to me.....

aaargh, don't get me started on this! Same thing happened to my 'insurance approved ' repairs. Get it done repeatedly until it's done properly! Had no end of trouble getting mine done properly by NUD. The trouble is the margins are so tight and the repairers under so much pressure to get the job done at minimal cost and labour rates, the job quality gets cut to the bone. To be insurance approved means willing to do the work at low labour rates that won't hurt the insurance company too much = corners get cut. Off the record quote from last Bodyshop Manager I had trouble with.... 'Basically mate, we do a quick job, vac it inside and give it a quick wash....little old lady / joe public come to pick car up and 9 times out of 10 are pleased to get car back lovely and clean. If someone who knows what to look for comes along and finds faults we get on the phone to insurers and they say 'fair enough, do it properly this time!' :mad: :mad: :mad:

Faithless, Afterlife, Incognito, Fac 15 and the like for me normally. 8)

My favourite is the stunning silver example (can't remember who's it is), from up North somewhere. Was at Inters, absolutely perfect IMO!

Just gone to take a look to refresh my memory..... Once you have taken the black plastic top panel off which sits above the rad, and unbolted the fan and it's plastic support strut (don't break this as it took four months for VW to get me one from Germany), and the black metal shroud which the fan runs in and is bolted to the rad, and removed the water pipes......the rad. itself is as I recall held in place with two brackets which are bolted to the top of the slam panel (the painted bit which runs across the engine bay just in front of the rad.) Look at the slam panel, there will be two bolt heads holding two black painted metal angles. These metal angles go through to sit in to the top of the rad and hold it in place. I am sure that with all the other bits above removed, and these bolts undone, the whole rad will lift upwards and out. It may take abit of persuasion to get it moving, as I beleive the bottom of the rad sits in two locating holes, wth a rubber lining.

Drive her everyday, it's the way it should be in my opinion, and I do. 8)

Nooooh, don't take the bumper off! It's been quite some time since I did mine, so can't remeber too much detail, but you definately don't need to go to extremes of taking bumper off! Can't remember exactly but it's either two bolts each side of the rad in the engine bay, or two bolts at top allowing you to pull rad upwards and out of locating pegs at bottom. Not a very drastic job on a 16v sounds to me like you are almost there to me. Have you got the new one to see where the fitting points are? It's all accesible from inside the engine bay quite easily.

As said, but worth emphasising, do no't get palmed off with G12, get G12PLUS !

mine too,of course, but I'm guessing it was specified by the guy who bought it originally along with leather steering wheel. Thought the leather handbrake levers were standard, oh well, live and learn.....

Absolute f#cking w#nkers! Goddammit what is wrong with the t#ssers in this country. Suppose it's the closest these dickheads can get to touching anything decent, as they're not likely to be in a good enough social / work position to earn anything decent for them selves. :mad:

I use Optimax when I see it, but am not as fussy as others! My 16v does seem to like it more I beleieve, pinks less and runs more sweetly. I don't go out of my way to use it exclusively though.

The removal of the handbrake lever cover (the bit you yank on to pull on the handbrake) can be tricky, as it's not too obvious at first. You need to remove this leather cover bit first, before the rear bit of the handbrake cover. As far as I recall, you need to release a small tang/catch at the rear underside of the handbrake lever (you may have to release the leather a bit to be able to see it) You need something like a skewer to release the catch. Once it's free you can then slide the handbrake lever cover forward and off the handbrake lever base. This removed should now allow you to slide the rear most rigid plastic cover that sits behind the handbrake handle, there is a slot in the cover to allow you to flex it a bit and pull it off the main lever. Hope that makes some sense?!

As above, pinking isn't uncommon with 95RON. As for driving, it took me a while to get used to the best way to get the most out of the 16v. Obviousy don't redline her, but keep the revs up nice and high and I reckon it's enough performance for most people. It feels like you are really thrashing it at first, but it's not a problem once the oil is warmed up, and it really comes alive performance wise. The KR engine breathes very easily, even compared to other 16 valve engines, so boot it and enjoy!

vr6storm, Nice to know Norwich Union Directs 'approved' bodyshops were doing their best to match the original standard with their attempts at my repairs then. :roll: I always understood the original paint was a good job, with well built up layer?

...and black wheels, nice!

Think the window etching is just a result of the fightback against the boom in car theft in the late 80's, early 90's. A lot of Insurance companies gave out vouchers for free body glass etchingwith car insurance to reduce attractiveness of nicking and changing cars details / reg. etc., as the thief would need to go to expense of repalcing all the car glass as well as just the plates / docs.

Good point... how do I check that? Just prise up the rubber and see? Should be pretty noticeable, it certainly was when the lazy w#nkers tried it on my first 'approved' repair. Just look for overpainting on the edge of the rubbers at the bottom edge of the rear window seal and lower edge of front window rubber trim at top of door, if they have just badly masked up to the rubbers instead of removing or lifting the rubber a bit, should be easy to spot.

[ We overtook you?? I didn't realise we overtook any other C's!? Where and when was it? Oh, maybe it wasn't you then, I just assumed from the positive gestures as it went past and pulled off on to slip road, towards Cambridge, and it was a 306 etc.... I now realise I've admitted to being over-taken by a Peugeut 306 on the Forum needlessly!, yeouwch :oops:

....and , check they haven't just tried to get away with poor masking up to the window rubbers.

dinkus, Hope it gets sorted OK, I'd much rather be overtaken by a nice VR than a Peugeot 306! Didn't realise it was you guys til it was too late to respond. I was only pootling along cos not familair with that road / speed traps, honest! :oops:

worth telling Ebay about this, so they can post a general warning?

Yep, my genuine VW ones never lasted more than six months on my original back box. Bought a Powerflex one and three years + on it's still fine. Recommended, shame about the yellow colour though.

coolrado, :lol: