Stonejag

For the intake valve, I used 60/40 hot water/white vinegar, with a dash of fairy liquid. Got given a tub of 'ultrasonic fluid for carburettors' by my vapour-blaster so I'll give that a try at some point :) Whatever you do don't use white spirit - the bath atomises it from the top surface (you can see small jets of mist coming off it!) and it gets toasty warm in use so it's not the sort of thing you want to try without the fire brigade on standby! If you have a professional unit with a sealed tank and/or vapour scavenging then it's OK, but with the small jewellery-type baths it's not safe to leave unattended. Meths may be OK, I haven't tried it. Fitting the lid nice and tightly would probably help! Fully understand and agree, just thought it was worth pointing out an alternative :) Stone

Just as a quick tip, ultrasonic baths are actually dead cheap. Mine cost £18 off eBay and it does a stellar job. Just need to rig something to cycle the injectors open and closed while they're in the bath and you're golden...plus you are left with a bath you can clean everything else in! As an example here are two of my inlet valves... Worth a shot if you're on a budget, I know I wouldn't have any qualms about doing mine myself :) Stone

Awesome, cheers. Have replied.

I'll have the ABS ECU please :) Is it known to work?

I'm in, will be interesting to find out how many of my horses have escaped! :) Stone

Shame, I've just ordered some! Did the gasket kit come with any of the the plastic installation guides for these? (They slide over the valve stem to stop the retainer grooves damaging the seal on its way down) Can't seem to buy them separately...

Just got back from the vapour blasters. SERIOUSLY impressed! When I mentioned I'd just bought an ultrasonic cleaner he even gave me a free tub of cleaning fluid for it :D Unfortunately the pitting to the block side is worse than I thought, so I'll have to get it welded up and skimmed. Seriously tempted to go big valve at the same time... Before: After (1): After (2): My ultrasonic cleaner isn't half bad either! Stone

Get a VR6 T4? Stick a quick camper conversion in the back and swap the gearbox for an 02m, it'll go like **** off a shovel ;)

The top one was raced, not drifted, brake disk temperature warped it! I think the issue is that they copy the designs of forged wheels but manufacture them by casting - they look the same, but if you use them the same then the cast ones fall apart a lot faster. Probably nothing wrong with them but there are a hell of a lot of dead Rota pics!

Surprised nobody has mentioned these sorts of photos! Not sure if it's just a quantity thing (they're a huge supplier to the modified car scene so there are more forum complaints), they get abused more than others or just that they're crap though. Certainly not synonymous with quality, which is a shame as some of them are really nice! Stone

My spare head is off being vapour-blasted at the moment...mostly to get it totally clean, but it's supposed to give it that expensive-fruit-branded-laptop satin aluminium look. Since the surface is effectively being peened it allegedly makes it harder for dirt to stick too! Will post results when I get it back on Saturday :) For the block, any colour other than black or metallic (silver or gold) basically makes it look like Baby's First Engine. Don't do it!

Dubmeister plates are excellent if you want 100% guaranteed legality. I've also bought four sets of pressed plates from Framptons for various vehicles - their best is as good as Dubmeister for quality, they have a slightly nicer border IMO and no manufacturer information at all (which makes them illegal, strictly, but I've never been pulled in 2 years of wearing them). However as they make them by hand, the quality is slightly more variable. I've had one which was stamped too hard and the central part of an 'A' was pierced all the way through the plate (and fell out). I've had two out of the eight that delaminated slightly, but both after the plate was rammed into something! Customer service is simply superb though, I sent them a picture of my faulty plate and a new one was in the post within the hour at no extra cost. They're also significantly cheaper than Dubmeister, you can use one of several fonts - I have the old UK font on mine - and they are very open to novel combinations of features and sizes, resulting in plates that more paranoid places would refuse to supply. They are also flexible on required documentation and how it's supplied, and delivery is incredibly quick. In short, I only got a set of Dubmeister ones as they were cheap at a show and I knew my Framptons plates will be irreperably bent when I remove them from the bumpers for respraying. I'd have absolutely no qualms ordering from them again. Stone PS: Fay - did you let them know about the peeling? They may well do you a discounted replacement.

Henny - superb comms, wildly excessive effort in packing materials and generally being a kind and helpful sort when flogging me a strut brace :) Cheers, chap! Stone

http://www.vagcat.com/epc/find/?art=357121207F Loads - Corrado/Passat/Caddy/Toledo/Ibiza/Inca... Stone

Oxygen sensor == lambda probe :) 021906265A lambda probe / F >> 50-S-000 719 / ABV,2E,ADY 021906265E lambda probe / F 50-S-000 720>> / ABV,ADY So get whichever suffix is correct for your chassis number (early/late VR6). HTH Stone

Have you worked out the weight difference yet? Not convinced it'll make a big difference unless, as you say, you go for a Lexan rear screen. I certainly wouldn't expect the boot to open '4000% faster', that glass is heavy!

Can you wait until the May bank holiday (Monday 6th)? If so I'll have it on the way back from my parents' in Rye :) [edit: bugger, just realised it won't fit in the boot. Could I send someone to get it?] Cheers Stone

Tried ordering some obsolete brackets from these guys (http://hcautomotivegroup.com/) - claimed to be in stock, got an email confirming my order and then silence. Luckily I paid with Paypal and they took less than 20 minutes from my complaint to issue a refund! Seems like loads of companies think they can get away with taking your money and doing a runner! This is the second one I've had ordering parts from abroad... :scratch: Stone

Not keen to try my suggestion from that thread? For the cost of two bits of hose you can forget about it. Certainly wouldn't let it keep me off the road! :shrug:

Coilpacks are replaced as a block, yes. It's worth removing it for inspection though - when the coils go the casing splits open (it's filled with expanding foam) so water can get in and short the spark to the block. Once they start to go you can slow their decline by sealing all the cracks with epoxy resin, but complete failure is fairly inevitable. Off-brand ones are £100ish from GSF, more for ones made by the OEM supplier Beru. Stone

Factory immobiliser doesn't cut everything off until 2s after the engine's been started, so it shouldn't be that...

If they're fading, or the segments are broken up, or there's an obvious crack/leak/black splodge, then it's usually the panel so replacing the panel fixes it. If segments are just dropping off altogether (but sticking as either on or off) then it's more likely to be the LCD driver or a dodgy cable connection. Make sure everything's reseated well first. Can't remember how many PCBs the whole cluster comprises, you may get lucky and find the driver's on a different board to the mileage memory. If not there's oodles of places who can reset the displayed mileage - putting it up or down to make it read correctly is totally legal, what's illegal is lowering it and then using the lower mileage to fraudulently sell it as a newer/less-used car. Probably less hassle in the long run.

It's not 'a' jeweller's rouge, jeweller's rouge is the name for a very soft - usually red - polishing compound. You can blend in the edges of a scratch with it to make it less noticeable, but what you actually want is cerium oxide, as you've already found. It's a lot harder (more abrasive) and the paste is finer. Machine polishing is too aggressive and covers too wide an area, you're more likely to take the coatings off and make a huge swathe of the screen cloudy. If you must use electric tools then you want a Dremel (or equivalent) with a pointed felt pad, but if you don't know what you're doing it's probably not the best job to start learning with. It's really easy to make a scratch less noticeable but you actually want to make it invisible from the inside, otherwise it'll be really obvious. Get an expert to look at it! Stone

Find a friendlier MOT garage? Mine digs Stevie Wonder up every year to look at my exhaust... :lol:

Almost certainly coilpack, but worth checking the MAF as well. I've had some properly weird symptoms from loose/dying connections, it's most common in cars with cone filters fitted (now or in the past) as they're usually not supported well enough and the MAF flaps around at the end of the throttle elbow under acceleration. Replaced the connector and covered it in loom tape and it went away forever :) Stone