Stonejag

Could be your exhaust is blowing slightly at the downpipe -> cat joint, had mine removed and refitted to change the shifter over and it made a similar whistle go away... Stone

Good stuff. Do you know how much lower do they sit than stock? Bit aware that being ally rather than thin steel it's going to crack rather than dent if I whack it on something again...

Didn't see this earlier, sorry! You don't remove the metal bit (doing that has probably broken the connector...), you untwist the cable from the screw terminal which is underneath the rubber boot. A good pull will usually do it :) If you need a new connector I've got a spare - not 100% the right type but if you file two slots out of the 'fins' on the side then the normal VR6-cable-removal tools will grab onto it fine. I have one of them on plug 1 so they work fine :) Remind me of your address and I'll pop it in the post. Stone

Turns out lowered cars don't like sloping driveways with fold-down bollards installed... :oops: Managed to hit it at just the wrong angle and put a hell of a dent in the front of my sump... It's still oil-tight for now but I'd like to get it swapped before anything bad (worse?) happens. Before I run to eBay for a new one, has anybody got one going cheap? Wouldn't mind upgrading to a baffled 24v one if anybody has one spare. Thanks in advance, Stone

You can't replace the cable - not easily anyway. Since you'd have to remove and refit the whole regulator/motor assembly to get to it anyway it'd be far easier to swap it for a new one. I did my passenger window a couple of weeks ago so it's still quite fresh in my mind! There's a guide on the forum wiki (link) but I found it quite hard to follow. What I did is this: 1) Prepare the new mechanism to go in. You'll need to remove the expanded ends of the pop rivets that previously held it in - there are two at the top of the mechanism, three in the middle, three on the rubber motor mounts and one that holds the connector in place. The motor mounts can be grabbed with a set of mole grips and unscrewed from the motor - either replace them altogether (you need ones with an M8 thread - probably not so hard to get hold of) or you can make a small hole in the side of the mount and push the rivet head out that way. Don't remove the front metal washer from the rubber and reglue as mentioned in the wiki guide, this means the motor's only held onto the mounts with superglue... 2) Get the door card off. You can either remove the membrane altogether or fold it back on itself while you work - be aware if you do this you'll get the black sticky glue on everything. It's really hard to remove from skin so wear gloves and be prepared to clean it up afterwards so you don't contaminate the door card. It's a good idea to double-check the new mech works properly at this stage - ust plug it into the door connector and run it up and down a few times. When you're done leave it near the top. 3) Unpop the two guide arms from the track on the bottom of the window. Remove the rollers and keep them somewhere safe - if you leave them in the window they will fall out somewhere inconvenient (ask me how I know...:bonk:) Put a few strips of thick tape from the inside of the glass, over the top of the door and onto the outside of the glass to hold it in place while you work. 4) Undo the two bolts holding the moving part of the window regulator to the window using a 10mm socket. The window's now free of the mech. 5) Drill out all the rivets holding the mechanism to the door. As the front section comes off each rivet, give the back section a tap with a small drift/punch to free it (the back of the rivets will fall into the bottom of the door). Remove it by tilting the middle section sideways and pulling it out of the hole in the bottom of the door. This is intensely awkward and frustrating so it's not just you! 6) Time to enlist a helper. Get them to hold the window from both sides while you remove the tape. Then drop it slightly, push it from the inside so it moves towards the outside of the car and gently pull it free. You may find it helps to remove the inner trim/scraper before you do this, it gives you a little more room - but be careful with it, it's likely to be very fragile after 20-odd years and they're easily snapped! Put the window somewhere safe on something that won't scratch it. You'll need to wiggle it from side to side slightly as it comes out - I found it easier to drop the front more than the back and pull it out at a 45º angle. 7) Get the new mech into position. There are a set of tabs on the middle and bottom of the door skin that clip onto holes on the middle section and the bottom of the rail on the regulator which will hold it in place as you rivet. This step is pretty much impossible to do with the window in place as you can't quite get the top of the mech in the right place... 8 ) Rivet the mech in place. Do the mech first and the motor last, then test-fit the connectors together so you get the angle right. Unplug, rivet the connector's bracket in place and then reconnect the connectors. 9) Bribe your helper to assist in putting the window back in. This is intensely awkward as there's a clip on the back edge of the window that needs to be aligned with a rail in the door. Keep at it, it will fit... Once it's in, align it with the moving section of the regulator and loosely do the two bolts up with your 10mm socket. 10) Steadying the window as you go so it stays at the right angle and doesn't slip, drop the window halfway so you can see the bolts and rail through the big hole. This makes it easier to see what you're doing. Put the two rollers back into the rail and pop the arms from the regulator into them. Now the window will be at the right angle to the car, so fully do up both the 10mm bolts. Raise the window. Drop the window. Cheer. Have a beer! Be aware it's a right pain to do and it will have you swearing fluently after the first hour! Budget 3-4 hours, it took me just under 3 as a novice so hopefully you won't have to scratch your head quite as much as I did... Stone

Not tried 288s but the 312s are smashing! Be even nicer if my ABS would stay working, mind...

Roose ones are good :) linky Some of the Golf hoses are different to the Corrado ones, when I arranged the Roose group buy I had to send them a full set of Corrado ones. Not sure if that one is different though, it seemed mostly to be down to the different locations of radiator and expansion tank relative to the engine between Golf and Corrado. Pretty sure they sell the hoses individually if you give them a ring, though. Stone

Roose sell hoses individually, and you get a lifetime warranty unlike the Samco ones. You want the rightmost two in this kit. Stone

288s will fit over 16" wheels. Even 312s wil fit over some of them - I'm using 312 calipers with my 16" Oz Ultraleggeras. Have a read of the brake thread...

Might be obvious but some are sold with a thread adapter on them. If so, if you unscrew the terminal at the top there's a smaller terminal underneath :) I had the same head-scratching moment when buying plugs for the ex's Golf so you wouldn't be the first... Stone

No problem, just being sarky ;) It looks a lot neater with a straight hose to the carbon canister valve, at any rate. Stone

It's certainly a stunning example...of why wrapping your own car is a bad idea. The rest of it might actually look alright if they dropped it a bit more and put the right wheels on, but if the finish is that bad on the outside why would the rest be any better?

Yes, which is why I said: Everyone with unmodified engines should run their gloved fingers under the valve from time to time - I'd bet my own money that >50% of you have oil seeping out of there from the plastic corrugated hose splitting. Ditch it! Stone

Posted this in the thread in Wanted, but just so it's stored somewhere Google can get to it...! You can easily delete the PCV valve. Disconnect it with its two hoses and there'll be a gap between the blue plastic dummy connector on the inside radius of the inlet elbow and the pipe sticking out of the top-left edge of the rocker cover. Bridge these with a bit of pipe, or the leftover hose in your hose kit (yes, that's what it's for!). Then either block up the vacuum feed that used to operate the valve or replace the 'T'-shaped pipe with a straight pipe from the port on the head (tucked in near the throttle body) to the blue carbon canister valve that's mounted on the driver's side suspension tower under the MAF. Do the clips up tight or your manifold vacuum will escape and make your idle go lumpy! Pics of my setup below - note I have a 42draft metal inlet elbow fitted so yours will look different. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68834[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]68833[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]68832[/ATTACH]

Just as a quick update, here's how mine looks at the moment. Ignore the dangling connector, I haven't got around to cutting it off and repairing the loom yet! [ATTACH=CONFIG]68828[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]68829[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]68830[/ATTACH] Shout if it's unclear. Stone

It would be awkward, there's an internal 'lip' which holds the ball on the end of the arm. Not impossible, just a pain. I was thinking of 3D printing using the White Strong Flexible material from Shapeways but found four spares in a pair of windows I bought so didn't bother doing the CAD in the end :) Might be a sensible way to go in future as you don't have to worry about tooling costs or limited runs... Stone

Unless you have recent claims :(

If you're getting a loud rattle that sounds like metal on glass, then the arm's probably just popped off the roller. If it's rattling as you drive along with the window closed, drop it an inch - if it stops then that's what's happened. Get the door card off and press it back in :) Be aware they take quite a bit of force, but you're pressing on the metal bracket at the bottom of the window, not on the glass, so nothing to worry about. Give it some grease and put it back together again - it should last you quite a while. If not then you could try swapping the rollers around between locations which should keep you going until another group buy kicks off. Stone

Try cleaning your idle control valve. My fans only work on stage 3 (join the club!) and there's a noticeable change in engine note when they kick in. What should happen is: 1) the temperature-switch half of the yellow sender clicks on to run stage 3 fans 2) A relay somewhere (probably not the fan-controller, as the yellow sender is supposed to be the 'help, my fan-controller's failed) turns the fans on. 3) The fans start up, which draws a lot of current. Remember there's a 20A fuse on the fan controller! 4) Remember that the dynamo running your push-bike's lights spins freely until you flick the switch: then it puts more resistance on the wheel and you have to pedal faster to keep the same speed. Same principle applies for the alternator - the more current it has to supply, the greater the resistance to being turned it will put on the accessory belt. 5) Increased resistance on the accessory belt means the engine has to work harder to maintain the same output. 6) There should be a very short delay as everything works itself out, but the engine revs will rise to meet the new demand on engine power without stalling. If 6 doesn't work properly it's a sign that everything before that point is behaving as it should and it's a problem with the engine not recognising when it has to increase the revs when it's being worked harder. The fans may not be working properly (in which case the sender in the radiator is a good place to start - bridge either terminal to the centre and you should get speeds 1 and 2, if you don't then try the fan controller) but if your engine's stalling when the fans come on then it should also struggle when you suddenly turn on all the lights, rear window heating etc etc. Stone

I spent £200 on a set two weeks ago... Trouble is to get them attached securely you really need to go mad with the mounting screws and it leaves tons of holes in the door cards if you just take the pods off. The only sensible way to go is to keep them attached to the door cards and swap them with someone with standard pods on their cards - it just takes a little more co-ordination between seller and buyer to swap them over. They do sound fantastic though! I've got 6.5" Rainbow bass drivers in mine and I've not even put the matched tweeters and crossovers in yet :D They're way better than the Alpines I had in there before. Getting in and out is fine but you may catch your feet/knees on them a few times if you aren't paying attention (before you relearn your muscle memory). Once you're seated they fit nice and snugly without taking up ludicrous amounts of room. The finish can be a bit variable since they were handmade - they're basically a hugelump of fibreglass attached to some cleverly shaped bits of MDF - one of mine looks nicer than the other so I may recover them at some point. Definitely worthwhile though! Stone

That's the best thing I've seen all day :lol:

Alternatively, you could just bin it. The 'T'-shaped hose runs to the rocker cover on one end, the PCV valve in the middle and the blue carbon canister valve on the other - I just ditched it and replaced with a new bit of hose. Make sure you do the clips up really tight or it'll gradually start leaking manifold vacuum and your idle will go really lumpy all of a sudden! Easy and cheap...you don't really need it, just remove the inlet and give it a quick wipe internally every six months or so :) Stone

Glad it helped! I found the leftmost bit but half was snapped off so no good anyway. You can reuse the springs from my barrel if you're careful removing the wafers (and maybe a couple of the wafers if they match) but you can probably get a handful of wafers from your local independent VW place for a donation to their biscuit fund :)

To clarify, to remove the barrel from the handle you first take off these four parts: I've sent you the middle two along with the lock barrel. I found the leftmost piece in my door the other day but may have thrown it away as I didn't recognise it at the time... Stone

I've definitely got a barrel you can have for nowt - removed and reused the one from my broken handle so it's just been sitting around. May have some of the other bits if I haven't emptied the bin recently! I'll have a look for you. Be aware there's a wrong way of attaching the C-clip - if you have the centre of the clip pointed towards the front of the car, then it can work loose with only a couple of turns of the key. Mine escaped with a comedy clunk-rattle-rattle just as I had finished getting the door card back on and shut the door to admire my handiwork :lol: It's a right pain digging the bits out of the door (especially the spring, it's tiny and can get hooked up on the window mech so you have to root around for it) and quite upsetting when you've just spent ages lining the door card up just right...if the centre's pointing towards the back of the car then even if it works loose it can't ping off. Might save you some cursing :) Stone ---------- Post added at 1:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 1:19 AM ---------- Update: I've found the spring and C-shaped bit that activates the locking arm for the driver's side. No c-clip but they're standard bits :) PM me your address and I'll pop them in the post.