Jim

Well - I did have a crashing realisation the other night, which hadn't occurred to me at all in the last few weeks. Of course since getting the car back I haven't done any fiddling with the engine... apart from changing the inlet manifold over, which I'd had media blasted. I did give it a good blast out with a pressure washer (and of course dried it) prior to putting it on the car, but it's making me wonder if some grit or swarf left over from the process ended up getting into the intake somehow :( Either way given that I've changed that part, I would imagine it pretty much immediately eliminates any recourse I may have had, and ultimately may have just been my own stupid fault. And this is why I generally prefer to leave car tinkering to the experts. Doing the job is one thing, but it's understanding the repurcussions and outcomes of what happens if you don't do the job properly.. Got a knowledgable friend coming over this Sunday to have a listen to the motor, and who will also hopefully be borrowing a boroscope in the coming weeks to inspect the bores.

Cheers Rog - appreciate the thoughts. Temperatures have been fine all along.. low 100's for general driving around town and about 106-108 on the motorway. I do remember the problems you had pretty vividly - I'll go back through your thread for a read.

Do you get sidelights or absolutely nothing at all? It's going to be the aftermarket loom, or the wiring to / from it causing the problem! The bodged aftermarket loom on my old 2.0 16v was a constant source of entertainment! :|

Think they're off a Porsche 928.. but are the front wheels only as the rears are slightly wider and slightly dished. But they're not rare as far as I know. CCGB air freshener though! :)

Left hand drive?! I think they've got no chance of fetching that kind of money!

Not sure - I reckon half a day with a good auto electrican wouldn't break the bank, and would surely be cheaper than new batteries every month! Have you tried some diagnosis yourself? Wondering if perhaps it's something coming on only after the car is locked and alarmed rather than something that's draining batteries all the time.

Not sure Kev - but pretty sure it was the original motor, especially as lots of identical / familiar rattles and noises at certain revs all returned with in a few months of the rebuild. Chatted to a good friend this weekend and he suggested dropping the oil to look for metal shavings. Going to do that I reckon.

I'm not sure what oil it was run in on. I think Shell Helix 10w40 was used?! I've since switched back to Synta Silver 10w40.

Welcome aboard :) Looks lovely!

Well that's sort of another issue. I was promised a comprehensive breakdown of what was done in the rebuild. I'd asked for this for my box of receipts, primarily really for any future owner (in the event I ever sold the car on) so I could show them what was done. I chased it a number of times, but ultimately never got this. I just got a basic receipt on the companies headed paper that says 'Engine rebuild' and the amount paid. This in many respects won't help me as it won't make clear what was asked for nor what was delivered really :( This is tough really as I don't feel there was any intention to deceive and I'd like to believe the work was carried out to the highest possible standard and I've most likely just been the victim of bad luck.

Hmm.. I did pay on a credit card, but have subsequently cleared it and cancelled it. I'm guessing that wouldn't help in this situation? That's extremely useful information though and may be worth pursuing.

Thanks all. I think for a while when the noises were nothing more than 'a bit of a rattle when cold', etc lots of folks were saying it was normal but I don't think it was being a perfectionist to say that given it was a full rebuild, it should be as close to 'new' as possible. But it was clearly not improving each time I drove it and now this development only goes to reaffirm that all is not well internally. I guess the only problem is that time is not really on my side. It's been over a year since the work was done, but then only about 5,000 miles.. so no idea where I'd stand in terms of any recourse. Jim Bowen - I may take you up on that longer term. Let me know if you need to get rid and I'll decide if I can arrange the logistics to pick it up or similar. It's an extremely kind offer and I would be happy to give you some money for it - I wouldn't be able to accept it as a freebie I don't think! Conveniently I have some original VR6 cams sitting in my garage so that wouldn't be an issue there :) I think step one is to get the car to Stealth and get them to appraise it as it runs right now. But that's going to be a while I think as I just don't have the pennies for now.

It's sort of become a bit of an elephant in the room thing though, Chris. I don't feel like I can go back. Now the company has closed it's doors and I was unfriended off Facebook soon after (no idea why) - I don't actually have any direct contact :( Would I have any legal standpoint?! This is not a route I'd want to go down but similarly that sum of money took me some effort to amass and it's not an amount I'm going to have to re-do this work any time soon. Sorry I've been so vague about all this. I'm not really into naming and shaming and obviously given that the rebuild was done by someone formerly who was a part of this community it's become an extremely awkward situation - but I'm at the point now where I need to get something done.. I'm just not sure how to go about it.

A cutting out issue on a valver, that wasn't the ISV! That's a rarity :) Appreciate you coming back to update us on what the issue was - hopefully will help someone else some day. Cheers.

No chance mate - it sounds pretty loud and the volume changes depending on the engine revs. It's definitely emanating from within the motor :(

Yeah - I may get in touch with him in the next few weeks and take it over for a quick listen. It was an interesting suggestion regarding big ends - watching some videos on youtube the type of sound and when it occurs does seem to match up with what I'm watching. Also a bit of a rattle when the engine first starts up too (even if warm). Ugh. In some respects I'm kind of pleased that something more fundamental is happening with the engine as it means it'll need sorting properly and not just something I can 'live with' - but to have flushed £3,000 down the toilet only a year ago for nothing makes me extremely sad and angry.

I'm trying to tell myself it is just tappets as I know they have a slightly different noise in the VR compared to the four cylinder Corrado's I've owned over the years. But I think as I can't afford to get it inspected for a while, it's time for it to come off the road for a while.

Things are getting worse it seems :( Aside from being noisy at start up / from cold the engine seemed OK once warmed up but I've noticed last few weeks of driving it there's been a significantly louder 'tapping' noise once up to temperature. Thought I'd take a video to share as there's just no way this is right. I think I might have to seriously consider untaxing it now until I have some money to look into this issue properly as something is amiss. Hard to know if this is a top or bottom end noise though. Wish I'd never had this rebuild done. So much money thrown away for nothing. Cheers.

Well done.. car looks super and a great base for a project. Always loved them in red too :) Look forward to seeing this one evolve.

Congrats mate :)

Not ChrisL - he owns Chris Gaskells old Storm now. Not sure who the current owner of it is.

So the question is did that damage occur in shipping, or were they like that when you sent them out?

Sorted now. Ta.

The asbestos corrugated type. I'm looking at a number of panels which come with suction feet. The garage is in a communal alley way, but it is gated and locked.. it's possible it would get pinched if it was stuck to the garage door, but good chance it might not :) But maybe putting such a thing on the roof would make more sense.

Awesome dude! Yes please! Send me some PayPal info :)