Jim

Hmmm... seems to divide opinion having a read around on whether timing of the intermediate shaft / sprocket matters... see here: http://forums.fourtitude.com/showthread.php?4361072-vr6-intermediate-shaft-timing#/topics/4361072?_k=muv09w May help you make up your mind either way.

Yeah just get the serp belt off which is a doddle then try spinning all pulleys for alternator, pas pump, tensioner... see if any are loose on their shaft or extremely stiff. Should be pretty easy to find your culprit.

The good thing about the head needing to come off anyway for the headgasket, is that he can inspect all other areas of the engine for their condition - the pistons, the bores / cylinder walls, timing chains & tensioners - and it's not a huge stretch to drop the sump either and inspect around the crank. That way an informed decision can be made on whether it's worth patching up the current engine, whether it needs more substantial rebuilding work, or whether it'd be more economical simply ripping it out and replacing it with a known good second hand unit. Keep us posted!

Looks great :) Think Ford really nailed this generation of Fiesta.

The Storm badge was a dealer fit part, and maybe even the VR6 badge - not sure about that. The dealer may have gotten creative, or maybe one of the previous owners bought new badges and refitted them on the other side as they preferred them there. It's quite funny how jarring it is seeing them on the wrong side, when you're so used to seeing them on the correct side!

Yep - they simply kicked the lock off, ripped it off Ken's car, hooked it up to their car and ****ed off.

Just had a missed call from Ken but he left a voicemail. He had to leave the car at the NEC overnight, but was able to return to collect it this morning. Apparently the police are now involved and reviewing what other CCTV was available from across the site so fingers crossed for positive news and they can catch these f@cking scumbags.

Needless to say we're gutted for Ken. He kindly bought his racing Corrado up on the Thursday and spent most of the afternoon with us today chatting, telling us stories, showing us round the car - an absolute gent. Then as we were packing up I got a call off him telling me his trailer had been stolen, and he was frantically trying to ring around to find a way to get it back home as it is distinctly not road legal. Think he had managed to arrange recovery by his insurance company this evening - I'll update the thread with more info whenever we get it. An extremely disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic weekend. NEC claim they've had a run of trailers being stolen at the rate of about one per week by the same gang... yet no CCTV in the car park where all trailers *had* to be parked. Hard to fathom the thought process really.

Even a complete non mechanic can check the hoses :-) If you open the bonnet and look at the very front of the engine bay behind the grille is the radiator. If you look to the right hand side of the radiator you should see coolant pipes running out of both the top and the bottom of the radiator. If you get the car up to temperature and then feel those two hoses... they should both be hot! If one is hot and one is only mild or cool then the thermostat isn't open ring correctly.

Definitely check this one. Let the engine get fairly warm (water up to middle of the gauge) then check both the top and bottom radiator hoses. They should of course both be hot. If one is still cool, it means the thermostat is stuck shut and isn't circulating coolant through the radiator properly, just trapping it within the engine.

Always wanted a TT... don't think you are crazy at all. Only real complaint I hear about them is numb steering with no road feedback.. but then that's a complaint that's been fired at Audi's for years now!

Only got a camera phone at the moment so a no from me.

We are :) Hall 5.

That's insane - TWO bolts holding the timing chain end plate cover on?! I'm amazed it wasn't a waterfall of oil!!

I have a set of KW lowering springs for a VR6 sitting in my garage. They're about 5 years old I think.. a little scabby but perfectly usable still.

Sadly Saturday is the only day I can't do, Ian :( Am there tomorrow and Sunday.

Club stand setup and looking great :)

Costing me a good amount less than that for the ST, weirdly. To be honest I would have said the same 3 years ago, and maybe after I'm done with this car I'll go back to driving a snotter again... but I was just desperate for a reliable, comfortable, modern car. Haven't regretted spending the money one bit. It's been nice to have a car I can depend on, backed by a warranty rather than this feeling of dread every time you're faced with any drive longer than a trip to the shops :) Rushing to get the Corrado fixed, over a weekend in the middle of winter, because I need the car the following week just got.. old.

What do you mean? It's on PCP so I can just hand it back. I've been closely following my settlement value vs market value and it's about been on the button the whole time. Tempted to just buy it outright though at the end of the term as it's a superb car.

The Ecoboost 1.0 is surprisingly brisk, no doubt about it. As someone with an ST-2 though I can promise you would have enjoyed it if you could put up with the hard ride. It's extremely uncompromising on bad roads, but extremely good fun to drive. Car is just over three years with 24k on the clock and hasn't put a single foot wrong. Forced me to re-evaluate my opinions of Ford!

Interesting. I was contemplating overhauling my brakes over the winter with new calipers, discs, etc front and rear as they've literally not been touched since I bought the car 6+ years ago - it would probably cost more for replacement OE kit than that lot, and that lot would be significantly more effective. Hmmm...

If only Chris had put his location in his profile.... ;)

Wonder with the oil leak, assuming that was new, whether there is an oil 'over pressure' issue? Or as Ian says, could just be one of the seals gone.

Boot floor has been cut out..... going 4WD? :)

Anna says in the other thread a sample of these are on the way :)