Stonejag

Yes, they just pull straight up (they're a U-shape clipped over the door edge). If you can support it in the middle as you go you have a better chance of getting it out in one piece, when I removed one of mine pulling at just the end made it crack in the middle :( You might also consider giving it some silicone spray or WD40 to try and feed the rubber - keep it moist and it might be slightly more robust. Then again, after twenty years they may as well be made of cheese! Stone

Lucky escape! This is one reason I avoid all EL products - they need around 100V AC to operate and the cheap inverters you usually get are this kind of potted unit. They're hardly notorious for their reliability and even decent inverters can run quite hot so encasing the lot in a block of plastic isn't a great idea... Stone

Be aware that since it's so high up against the front of the engine, there's basically no way to drain it from the petcock on the crack pipe without getting coolant all down your arm! It doesn't help that the hole is so tiny so you get a fan-spray effect all over your front cross-member. The official guidance is to slightly twist the crack pipe to direct the flow, but that's a terrible idea as it disturbs the seal at both ends and/or cracks the plastic ;) When I swapped to a metal crack pipe I found the drain bung used a 1/8 NPT thread so I swapped it for a small brass valve designed for domestic gas installations - add a short pipe with a threaded end and you can drain coolant to wherever you like just by putting the end of the pipe in a bucket and opening the valve :) The first time you have to drain the coolant after it's been running you'll realise why this is such a good idea...! Stone

I've see both types...nothing for it but to give it a go, if you can get more than 1 thread in then you have the right type! Stone

Thank you, always nice to have confirmation so there's no niggling doubt :)

Yes, unlike some people I don't use allen keys to undo them ;) That said they had lost some paint so I gave them a quick scrub with some wire wool to get it all off and shine them up. They came up nicely but I ended up buying all new regardless; if it bothers you just spray them black again.

[...time passes...] There was a simple solution, turned out the last three plugs were only attached to each other and not interconnected with the cruise system at all, so they must just have been sharing a grommet into the Passat's engine bay with the cruise loom. A quick snip later and my loom's looking much simpler, with all the plugs now identified! :thumbleft: The rest of the loom was identical to the above diagram, but with two of the pins swapped over on the stalk's connector. All looks factory so I'll test it out before modifying it - probably just an early-stalk/late-stalk change. My gf's out this weekend so I'll have a good poke around the scrapyard tomorrow and see if I can unearth any 8mm ball studs like this one: (normal VW gas struts for holding boot lids open are 10mm, annoyingly) Then I can start mocking up something to add to my pedal cluster... Stone

I've got some. Fiver posted for all four.

I braked particularly hard in the C one day and the missing square fusebox clip emerged in the footwell :D

Progress! I haven't looked at a way to mount the actuator yet, but after a LOT of trawling obscure German websites I finally found a circuit diagram that matches the system I have :D This diagram is for the B3 Passat (35i) but should hold true for anyone using the same cruise module (Jetta, early Mk3 Golf and Golf Cabrio etc etc) with part number 1H0 907 305. So, time to answer some of my own questions! The four loose plugs at the fusebox/ECU end of the loom are: Brown plug, brown wire: Ground Blue plug, blue/white wire: Speed signal (should be a matching loose connector in the loom behind the fusebox, not looked yet) White plug, black/yellow wire: Switched live (fused supply to ECU via stalk) Green plug, black/red wire: Fuse 20, permanent live, fed to the ECU through the pedal switch; in series through both if it's a manual. The Bentley says it's fusebox terminal E/3 for the Corrado, not W/4 as for the Passat. Should clip onto the green plug for E/4 which powers one side of the brake light switch. Still no idea what the red 4-pin connector or the two bonus engine-bay connectors are, I'll buzz them out later once I've finished confirming my harness matches the diagram - it's looking good so far though. Once I'm nailed those down I'll know enough to get it electrically connected, then I can worry about the pedal actuator. I have some ideas on that front...slightly complicated by it being my daily driver though, so I have to be able to do it with the pedal box fitted! More as and when. Stone

Looks like he's been filling the washer fluid up with coolant :lol:

Bottom line is, if you were right it would be legal. I've said all along that HIDs are fine in headlights designed to take them, but the HID bulbs with H4 bases cannot comply with the esha when fitted to a halogen unit because the light output (nothing to do with bulb shape as you suggest!) is too different. You're obviously not interested in anything but your own opinion so I'll leave you to it :) Stone

I've got two clear indicators - no cracks but one has a small scuff (it's on the surface and would easily polish out, just haven't had time to clean them up yet...). Very light stone chipping. Pic: (scuffed driver's side is on the left) Make me an offer? Stone

And very nice they are too! Thank you! :thumbleft:

I could use the clock surround (if it's a late one) and the strut caps, but there's no point buying the lot only to bounce 90% of it straight back on here, I have enough random parts that don't fit my car lying around as it is... If the lucky buyer feels like dropping me a PM afterwards I'll happily nab just those bits! :)

It's not the colour that will make them pull you, it's the way you'll be blinding everyone! There's no way to make halogen reflectors aim light from an HID bulb properly - the bulbs are totally different shapes - it's absolutely not a case of 'aim them down a bit' which is why it's illegal to do! The illusion is that it looks like you can see better because all the light's being flung out sideways, but actually you just have a tiny bright patch in front of you (which damages your night vision and makes it harder for you to see ahead properly) and too little light to the front so you have less time to react to stuff in front of you. Brighter isn't better if it's in the wrong place. There are some pics here which might help explain: [link] Basically, if you fit HIDs in a halogen housing you're declaring to the world that you don't care if you blind everyone else on the road, because it's more important that you can see a bit better, because you're more important than them. Which is why everyone will think you're a cock. True when they're in HID light units, untrue when they're in lights designed for halogen bulbs. The optics are designed for a totally different bulb output, so the focus can end up anywhere. I've seen a Transit with an HID kit fitted that had two half-inch holes melted through the plastic headlamp lenses. All very well passing your MOT, but if you have an accident and the other driver(s) figure out you have an illegal HID setup, they'll claim you dazzled them with your illegal mods and as the uninsured driver it'll be your fault. Here's a video explaining exactly that but shorter: Stone

The one that's supposed to be held on with a third shear bolt? ;) The steering lock's extremely hard to remove from the inner column on the fixed column, not sure about the adjustable one though. I'll have a look when I get home but it may well be easier that way!

H4 is both high and dipped beam, the bulbs have two filaments. Do take care with your HIDs - if you have headlight washers and self-levelling then it's totally legal to convert them (I've seen kits for Corrados) and they'll pass their MOT. If however you just fit HID bulbs that have an H4 base on them then the beam pattern is illegal, you'll dazzle oncoming traffic, the extra heat may melt your reflectors and if you get caught then you'll get 9 points for driving an unroadworthy (and therefore uninsured) car. Your choice, obviously.

In my experience I'd say the expensive lead sets are mostly sold on handwaving and voodoo. Provided you don't have any gross faults in the cable, it'll either strike an arc across the spark plug or not - the coils and plugs have much more influence on performance than the leads do. I spent £20 on wire (wanted orange to match the rest of my engine bay - otherwise I would have used the 50p/m silicone stuff on eBay), cut to length and twisted it into the self-tapping fittings on the lead ends from my old lead set. Been working fine for at least six months now in all weathers, and the whole lot cost me under £30. Also note that if you go for wires wider than 7mm you just get some extra insulation thickness - it does nothing for the performance, just means they don't fit the plastic guides and you have to cable-tie them in place! Don't bother. Stone

Those are 16" rims, 7" wide, fitted with Toyo Proxes T1R 195/45/16. As an added bonus, they're within 5mm of the 195/50/15s originally fitted on the Speedlines so the speedo's correct too!

Will make an effort to come to this one, I'm curious to see how I'm doing before cams + remap work! Quite like the idea of a Santa Pod day too - what sort of times are you lot on mostly-standard cars getting?

I find a couple of hard stops from 80+mph shines the discs up nicely ;)

If anybody's wondering what they look like and can't be arsed to hunt a pic down, here are mine on my C :) I'm a big fan, they're very light and show off your big brakes nicely :D

1) Centralise steering! 2) Remove horn cover from steering wheel (hook fingers under the bottom bit and pull) 3) Undo 24mm nut in centre of steering wheel and remove it along with the washer 4) Remove steering wheel 5) Undo 3x screws in lower plastic cowl (outer two may be missing as they always break) and unclip by gently pulling downwards. Careful, if it's a late one it'll have a huge metal plate glued into the plastic bit... 6) Undo 3x long black Torx-head screws holding stalks to the steering lock - they're at 11'o'clock, 1'o'clock and 7'o'clock' as you look at the steering column. 7) Pull gently on the front half of the stalk assembly (hazard light switch + left stalk) to remove - it should just slide free of its harness without you having to unclip anything 8 ) Remove the other half (right-hand stalk) by pulling gently - this is usually a pain as the harness will be clipped/cable-tied everywhere and may be tangled into the immobiliser ring (black plastic circle with trailing cable around ignition switch). If you can get enough slack, remove the immobiliser ring first, it'll give you more room. There should be 2-3 plugs to disconnect, they may be clipped onto a metal plate on the steering column outer tube. Make sure you don't undo the silver Torx (not Allen) screw at around 8'o'clock on the hazard switch/indicator stalk, that's what keeps the stalk's spring from peeling the case open :) If you have, gently put it back...otherwise you'll smash the stalk casing the first (or second...or third...) time you try and turn the high beams on. Don't remove the column until you get the stalks off, it'll make your life more awkward. Once you have the stalks off, you can drop the column. 1) "Undo the four bolts". The front two bolts are standard cap head bolts but the back two are shear bolts - they're designed such that the heads snap off when tightened. This is supposed to be a security measure but really it just makes your life harder if you ever need to remove the column again - I just put Allen-head bolts in all of them :) They don't shear until they're at the carefully calibrated torque of 'incredibly bloody tight' so you'll find it much easier to grind what's left of the head off than to get a screw extractor into them. My screw extractor got the first one out and then snapped off in the second one, which then made it much harder to grind down as there was a huge lump of hardened tool steel jammed into the middle of it. They're only mild steel so grind easily - make sure you shield the harnesses / carpets from flying sparks as they'll be worth less if you set them on fire :) 2) The column will hinge down on the rear pivot once the top four bolts are out. Unhook the column from the pivot, then undo the 13mm pinch bolt at the base of the column and it'll slide out of the universal joint when you pull it. Don't loose the spring! Now you have the column out, you can work on the ignition barrel. Drill a 1-3mm hole in the steering lock housing like this: (in line with the key, 12mm back) You may be in luck and find it's already been drilled - if not just go slowly and carefully and you'll be fine. You can then push down the sprung locking lever that's part of the ignition barrel using something pointy that fits in the hole (I used the shaft of a 1mm drill bit) and pull forward on the barrel using the key. Once it's moved the first half-inch it'll come out with some careful wiggling. You can then carefully remove the old ignition switch using a small screwdriver (easier if you heat the middle to cherry-red with a gas torch and then bend a 90º angle in it), throw it away and put a new one that isn't quite so likely to fail in instead. Job done! Stone

Looks in better nick than mine was when I bought it... (loving the 'subtle upgrades' including Speedlines though, and the free unpronouncable personalised plate :lol:) It's even missing the driver's door handle like mine was! Must be a proper stinker underneath or someone would have kept it by now though, surely? Stone