Stonejag

Have you got any OEM connectors left? None in the local scrappies :( I'm happy to wire my own so I can get it all waterproofed as I like, just need the parts...

Yep: hub off, align it with the tab to 3'o'clock and reassemble. They probably put the steering wheel on the boss at the wrong angle, just take it off and rotate it :)

Wheels are being done at Max Powder (yes, I know :lol:) - seemed pretty competent and asked all the right questions. They'll even straighten bent rims, most of the other places won't touch them - though they did warn me my damaged one could crack when they heat it. If it does they can get it welded up, but they have to send out for that because they can't do it themselves. They're very cheap if you want plain black or white (£35!) - metallics are a tenner more per corner and dents are £30 or so on top. I'll post pics when they're back - 2-3 working day turnaround so should be ready on Tuesday, if I've got the car back by then...

Really not a lot left now. This site shows only 58 autos left (and none of the 40 auto Storms!) - even though the DVLA data isn't always quite right and some could be SORN that's not many! My auto's staying auto :)

If you haven't got the plastic 'flap' fitted to the handbrake (the one that's always broken!) then the clip on the grip doesn't have anything to clip onto - it just pulls off. Mind your knuckles on the centre console though! Look after the flap if you have any spare - I tried ordering one a few weeks back and they've doubled in price...

They're normally very good (with prices to match!) - I figured I'd want some comeback if something went wrong with the brakes, since I'm not really confident enough to do them myself. The spare's a 15" space-saver, it wouldn't go over the 312 fronts. I do have a can of tyre sealant in the back just in case a front tyre goes but it's not really ideal! On the bright side it looks like I'll be getting four new wheels since the ones I have are out of stock everywhere...

I used my car battery but it might be a bit of a squeeze if the spoiler's still fitted ;) You just need 12V - I'm guessing at an amp or so. Keep the wires under about a couple of feet long, otherwise there might be a bit much resistance and they'll heat up - same deal as jump starting. Probably easiest to get another car up nice and close, unless you have a spare battery kicking around... Stone

It does sound like the mech, to be honest. Check if it's still the same with the new motor first though... The most obvious way to test them is just to unplug it from the loom. The connector is made out of one male and one female space terminal - to test my replacement mech before it went in I just crimped the appropriate spades onto some long bits of thick wire, pushed them onto the spoiler's two terminals and touched them to a battery - having the wires round one way extends it, and the other way retracts. It should automatically stop when it's fully in/out (unless the limit switches are knackered) even if the voltage is still present. Give that a go - if the mech is fully working with the new motor then the fault has to be somewhere in the wiring between spoiler and control module. Stone

Not quite as lucky as krishen's, but still quite lucky! So, a couple of weeks back I got the local garage to put my 312s and mk4 rears on. All went fine, even if it did take them three days to get the brakes bled out... Anyway, I was getting a bit of squeal now and then from the nearside front caliper - I assumed the pad was dragging slightly and it would go away again once the surface corrosion wore off the disc. My new tyre turned up today so I popped home early from work to take my Ultraleggeras and tyres out to the wheel refurb place in Hemel. On the way back I started to get some noise and vibration which was clearly wheel-related - it was getting worse and worse so figuring one of the tyres was flat I pulled over about a mile away from home to have a spy. Bearing in mind it was dark, both the front wheels looked alright but the nearside rear looked a bit low so I swapped the spare on and started limping slowly home. After a few seconds it became pretty obvious that I hadn't cured it but I was nearly back (and I knew the spare wouldn't go over the 312 disc!) so I carried on at 15 or so... Got back to the house and while I was parking up the front wheel fell off! :shocked!: On closer inspection I was missing four wheel bolts; the wheel had held on on the hub until the last one had made a break for freedom... Amazingly there was hardly any damage - the wheel's a write-off (luckily a cheapy Halfords one, I would have been pretty upset if it was one of the Ultraleggeras!) but the hub was fine and had just held onto the centre of the wheel enough to stop it smashing the wing up. Looks like the worst it'll need is retracking and some new caliper paint so I reckon I got off quite lightly! Luckily the garage was still open so I rang them up to give them a talking to - ended up with the manager coming round in full damage-limitation mode. I'm getting a new wheel (or four if they can't buy them singly), retracking and they're going to do my thermostat/crack pipe and swap the inlet manifold over while it's there :lol: Lucky? Stone

Sounds like you're just down the road from me! Maybe it's you I see occasionally - red 'rado, black bonnet? Popped over to the island last year, agree on the tank museum, it's great! They wouldn't let me have a go on their T55 though... Sounds like fun, will confirm nearer the time but would be good to join the convoy :)

Blimey, that's a bit extreme! :lol: I use VirtualBox to run a virtual XP machine with the software in it - works fine. Does need an Intel Mac, but then there aren't a lot of PPCs left... Stone

Very. First, centralise the steering! You can put a chalk mark on the wheel mount to make it easier. Also make sure the indicator stalk is in the central position or the cancel might not work properly. Optionally, undo the six bolts holding your OEM wheel to the boss (gives you a bit more clearance, but without a horn button you can probably get at the central nut anyway). Then get a 24mm socket on a short extension bar onto the central nut, steady the wheel/boss with one hand and undo it with the other. You may need to pass a breaker bar through the boss so you have something to brace against, they're usually on pretty tight. Then, unclip the horn plate from the OEM steering wheel by jamming your fingers under the corners and pulling gently - there are four spring-loaded posts that you need to release. Pop the front-less wheel onto the column, put the bolt back on and tighten it up, then pop the front plate back on :) If you're a couple of splines out then the wheel will just sit slightly askew - easy enough to get it aligned but you might need a couple of goes at it. That's it! Stone

Didn't get back from work in time, sorry! Glad you got it sorted. I learned something new anyway, I didn't realise the four-way connectors on the bulb base accepted spades, I soldered mine onto the tracks :bonk:

I'm a big fan of the OEM one - suits the leather interior well IMO. I've had a couple of different aftermarket ones fitted but I'm a bit biased as I could never get the horn ring to make a good connection to the boss. OEM one bolted straight on with no drama :)

Blue would be the same as white, except slightly brighter - 'white LEDs' are just blue ones with a yellow phosphor in the lens so the mixture of light looks white-ish. I haven't got any lying around but I can give it a go next time I pass Maplin :)

Holy crap, not a lot left of the golf! Glad you're not too badly hurt though, and a very good job you got out before the beamer hit.

It's been brought to my attention that not everyone has a key with a light in :) No matter: VagCat link Getting part number 1H0837219A from the dealership will sort you out - give them your chassis number and they'll cut and code it for you. A website said it was £17.68 +vat but might be out of date :) An unmodified bulb is N 90314501. Stone

Oak green looks pretty good on a Corrado too! :thumbleft: Pau1's picture... Stone

I did mine into the driver's side rear light but I'm pretty sure the two terminals were next to each other... I'll grab a picture tomorrow if you're still in need :) Only took me twenty seconds to work out with a multimeter, mind - not got one to hand? Stone

Green will be a bit disappointing - the semiconductor they're made of doesn't convert electricity to light as efficiently, so they need more current to get the same brightness as a red one. Since you're running it voltage-limited rather than current-limited they'll never be as bright as red ones - that's one of the reasons I used one :) To give you an idea, here's a side-by-side comparison using a bigger lithium cell: (excuse the shoddy photo, phone camera) The red one is so bright it saturates the camera sensor so it appears white and gives everything around it a red halo. By contrast the green one is just green! High-efficiency ones are a bit better but not by much. Next time around I might try stacking two lithium cells and using a white LED for extra oomph, will need some currrent-limiting to stop it blowing up though! :) Stone

No worries, I'll give them a dust off :)

I can't be the only one here who thinks the standard VW key light is absolutely useless. Not only is it a pain to get hold of the bulbs, they're incredibly dim and don't seem to last long before dying when they lose vacuum - at least in my pockets! So, I thought it was time for an upgrade. Simple enough if you know what you're doing :) Here's the secret - I wanted to be able to put my key back to stock if I ever changed my mind, which means modifying the bulb. First I picked up a high-brightness 3mm LED from Maplin (didn't have any in the bits box) - I think it was part number UF74P for 64 pence. My bulb had already lost the seal between the glass and the metal base, so I removed the glass envelope and soldered the legs of the LED into the base - positive leg to the centre contact, negative to the case body. It's important to get it straight and cut the legs to the right length to keep the same overall 'bulb' length, otherwise it'll either protrude or not make good contact inside the key. Then I carefully snapped chunks of the glass away until just the crown remained (didn't have my Dremel to hand - cutting it would have been much easier, in retrospect!) and attached it over the top of the LED with some Araldite. Lots of trial-fitting will let you tune it until it's the same length of the original - this needs careful attention if it's going to look stock once modified. Next up, it was time to turn my attention to the battery. 1.5V isn't really enough to run an LED, even a high-efficiency one - mine claimed a Vf of 2.5V @ 20mA, so I needed a higher battery voltage. Happily, lithium cells have around twice the terminal voltage of alkalines and run at a comfortable 3V, so I just needed one that would fit in the space left by the strangely-shaped LR9 cell in the stock key. A CR1620 fits the bill nicely, and clips snugly into the VW logo - £0.59 from eBay. Although it clips in fine, the base contact is larger than that of the LR9 so you'll need to add a small piece of masking tape like this to make sure each terminal hits the right part of the battery. It'll work without it, but you may need to wiggle the VW logo slightly (oo-er) to get it to light up - not very OEM. Since it's not as thick as the original battery you'll need to press the button slightly further to make it light up but it's not really noticeable. All ready to reassemble - just fit the modified 'bulb' as normal. You may need to rotate it slightly if you didn't manage to line the glass up perfectly with the LED, otherwise it will point in slightly the wrong way when reassembled and look strange! I added a tiny extra blob of solder to the side of the metal part so I would always get a good contact. Put back together again. Very close to OEM. Except it isn't! :D There are two reasons I went with a red LED - they're more efficient than other colours of LED, so they'll be brighter and the battery will last longer. Also red light affects your night-vision less than other colours of light so it's less dazzling and you'll be ready for night driving faster. White LEDs need 3.5V so won't light up as brightly, but if I can be bothered I might experiment with different colours if I stumble across a source of cheap donor bulbs in future :) Worth doing? If you ever use the key light, definitely! Nice and bright now, like it always should have been really :) Stone

Those ones don't look like they meet the size/font requirements though - looks like the text is too small and the letters too thin. Happy to be proved wrong, though! Stone

I've got some aftermarket clear lights on the classifieds for cheaps if you want to have a practice ;) Starting with clear ones is probably better on the brightness front than trying to get orange plastic tinted red without going too dark. Stone

Pretty sure that's normal - after stopping the engine by turning the key to the accessories-only position, you can't restart it without turning it fully off. On mine, anyway! Can't help with the rest though...