Stonejag

You want late wings on that one. Or, give it to a decent body shop and they may be able to press it back out, they're only single-skin on the front arches. Pearl Grey's one of the best colours, would make a nice 20vt base if the rest is sound! Stone

Mine are orange ;) Stone

There's one in the timing chain cover but it's usually green. N90041102 if that helps, few pence from the dealers.

Almost impossible to do without marking it, in my experience. Try not to bend the vacuum feed! It will come out, they're just tight as a very very tight thing. Stone

Actually there's tons of results using that number so you should have no trouble finding one now. Example: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B006DJP2KA/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

This just arrived - may help you in tracking one down if you look under the Elring part number: "917.842". The VR6 Ford Galaxy uses the same part so maybe try a Ford dealer? Stone

This will probably work fine, just need to select the plastic with some care to get the flexibility required. Nylon or ABS would be fine, but only when printed as filament (laser-sintered plastics and powder-bed printers tend to produce a porous print that wouldn't be flexible enough). Stereo-lithography gives the nicest results but the material cost is huge... We have a selection of awesome printers at work, including one that prints titanium :D We live in the future!

VW Classic Parts do the scraper seals and number plate surrounds, just get Heritage to order them for you. I have a full set of side trim if someone wants to come and remove it without ruining the paint ;)

My fixed column came out of a car in a scrapyard that had been rolled. I couldn't work out why the bottom spring was so loose, ordered a new one from VW and it was identical to the one I had! Eventually I figured out that the outer column had telescoped in the original accident, I just grabbed one end in each hand and pulled until it was about the right length and then test-fitted a couple of times before leaving it ;) You probably want to remove the inner column from the outer housing so you can stretch the outer housing separately - that's just two tubes joined by a couple of V-shaped arms which compress down flat in a crash. Just pull them out until the arms are around 30-45º from the tube. I believe the inner column telescoping joint is welded, so if you've hammered that shorter you'll need a new one. It took me a lot of force and tweaking to get the steering lock/ignition barrel housing in the right axial position relative with the outer column, are you sure you have the two pieces mounted together properly? Very surprised you needed to hammer it at all, to be honest, with all four of the bolts out they just drop free and unclip from the UJ at the bottom. You didn't try and remove the inner column from the outer while the outer was still held in with the two shear bolts, did you..? Stone

A new grille would only cost you £20, you'd spend more on black paint...

Is there high pressure in the water system when running - pipes inflated? Head gasket doesn't always mean oil leaks out into coolant, you can get a piston leaking combustion gases into the coolant instead. The coolant transfer pipe ('crack pipe') across the front of the engine is always worth a check, they're called that because they're always cracked! You'll probably find one end of it snaps off as you remove it from the left side of the block next to the main water pump so don't fiddle without a spare to hand. To be honest I'd start by replacing the whole thermostat housing (3 parts), thermostat and crack pipe - making sure to get all remnants of sealant and pipe out of the crack pipe area - and try again. There are two or three senders in the thermostat housing held in by metal or plastic clips, the o-rings on these can also dry out and leak sometimes. I've also had good results with K-Seal, stopped a couple of nasty leaks for a good few months while I sorted out other things... The expansion tank doesn't split apart (don't try!) - that lip's just where water collects when it exits the pressure-relief vent on the side. Check for pinhole hose leaks when hot - also try leaving the car on some big sheets of cardboard after a good run and see where the marks appear, may help pin down the rough area. Stone

Just bought the last one from vwspares.co.uk but they're pretty good at tracking stuff like this down if you give them a ring. Got a feeling it's an Elring or Victor Reinz part used as stock...? Stone

BMC CDA wins every time IMO. If you do use a cone filter, make sure you add a bracket to hold it up. If you leave it flapping around on the end of the MAF like my car's previous owner then it cracks your inlet pipe and the MAF wiring suffers from metal fatigue and breaks :roll: Stone

Like I said, the worst that can happen is they catch fire...I've kept a ten-mil spanner in the door pocket for rapid battery disconnection ever since the first time, which is what saved the car the second time. I removed the fan controller too, replacing it with a single 40A relay plumbed into a low-temp single-stage switch in the (M22) sensor hole in the lower-right corner of the rad. When I get around to it I'll run two more wires to run the aux coolant pump whenever the fan's on, which should help as it still overheats (slowly) in town traffic when the engine's idling and the main water pump isn't running that quickly. Be aware: if you remove the fan controller you may lose the live feed to one of the thermostat housing sensors, which will cause a VAG-com error and occasional difficulty starting (as the ECU assumes a coolant temp of 70℃ when the signal's absent). When I get around to removing the remnants of the harness I'll replace it... Stone

As above, it's just a place to stow the harness. I cut mine off ;) In very cold weather it's to stop oil condensing out of the PCV vapour so it gets (correctly) sucked into the throttle body and burned, rather than running down the inlet elbow into the MAF. It's only on for a few minutes after starting the engine, by which time the bay is provably hot enough not to bother. Tigerfish: the IAT sensor is a threaded metal can with a similar 2-pin connected, located on the right-hand side of the upper inlet manifold looking at it from the front. It's partially hidden by the engine plastics but look behind the fuel rail pressure regulator and you'll find it easily enough :) Stone

I've got a Sherry Pearl one if that's any good to you - bit battered in places (small dent in the front) but it's yours for nowt if you come and collect it. I'm at M1 J9 so not too far :) Stone

I had the first set of Roose hoses - they've been in since March 2012 and are just as solid now as they ever were. I've lost count of the number of split Samcos I've seen, people just seem to accept it but you shouldn't! Buy cheap and you'll be buying twice... Stone

Or fill the trench up with some black silicone and forget about it ;) On any car that they sit correctly, for gods' sake don't remove them just to black them up - they bend very easily on removal and don't ever sit flush again. Ask me how I know :bonk: Stone

Absolute pain in the arsch when this happens. It can be caused by the striker on the external door handle getting caught in the central locking cable - when you pull on the door handle does it stick in the pulled-out position and then suddenly snap back into place when you wiggle the handle? Try repeatedly locking and unlocking the door from the outside while pulling/pushing on the external handle - I've always found a spot where it will suddenly click free and unlatch, first halfway then all the way. Worth disconnecting the battery while you do this so you don't knacker the central locking! Once you've got the door open, under no circumstances close it again without removing and refitting the door handle, and once it's back on make damn sure it is releasing correctly (by manually rotating the latch into both closed positions and then ensuring it can be released with the handle). The handle design is appalling, it's very sensitive to being exactly lined up right so it's easy to get it attached but not working correctly. Good luck! Stone

Just got a new Bosch unit from GSF (their part number 940VG0020, corresponds to 1C0 955 119) for £35.95. From VW that's 109.57...! Stone

Would like to trade a set of 16x7J alloys, 4x100, 57.1 bore, ET38 (correct fitment for 4-stud Corrados). They're BK238s (BK Racing - Halfords own-brand) but do look pretty good fitted. As fitted to my cabby: 3 are kerbed (my ex couldn't park…) but would refurb up ok - or just use them for winter wheels. Currently fitted with Accelera 195/45/16, all with 4-5mm of tread. Want to swap for alloys or steelies in 15" with similar tyres. Anything considered - just want to standardise on one size of wheel so I don't have to keep winding the suspension up and down :)Let me know what you have. Thanks, Nick

Grr, mine have just gone too. Washers still work so the fuse is OK and it must be the motor. Guess it didn't like the pollen! Ebay says the whole assembly is 536 955 113 (can't confirm that...) but the wiper alone is 535 955 119C. Stone

The scenery's just stunning. Struggled up some of the mountain roads - my Mk1's only a carb'd 1.8 8v, and an auto at that - but well worth it for the end results. Half the Alpine tunnels were hacked out of the rock by hand so the inside is like you're going caving! Kölnbreinsperre dam was great - check out that viewing platform! Saw my hands-down show-winner afterwards: Khaki Pearl has never looked so gorgeous :notworthy: Those wheels! :D Stone

Glad you made it! :thumbleft: Haven't seen a single UK numberplate here yet, so the more the merrier... Driving over / through the Alps was awesome. Straight out of a video game, 5km tunnels and all!

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