chuck

the big one - that bolts around the exhaust downpipe. Is this really necessary. I asked ATS to loosen the downpipe bolts so that I cuold remove the head. It common recent fashion they couldn't get at one, and so proceeded to bend the cr@p out of the heat shield in a vain effort to remove it. then he realised theres a balance on the subframe that if romoved would allow access to that 1 bolt. So the jobs back to me. When I lower the down pipe I should be able to remove the mangled heat shield. What I need to know is do I relly need to replace it?

After going all week thinking avout this one, all the usual morbid thoughts (new wishbones wrong size, I refitted subfram at an angle - somehow, dodgy new shocks, it must have been in a serious accident at some time..........), I had a look at it myself. Now I would expect a lot more from a big company like ATS with their digital machine, but the tw@t had adjusted each wheel to the max... the wrong way :shock: . No wonder the camber readings wre a bit mad. I adjusted it middle middle, myself, and it looks OK now. And handles so much better too........ From now on I'm the only one to do anything to my car (I'll supervise the guy tomorrow when he puts it right). Why are so many people incompetent - funny thing is they get paid for it too.... Right I'll stop ranting now.......

ISV. Mine does it every now and then (only when cold though). Clean it out with carb cleaner, helps for a few days, but it comes back again. I think theres a temp sensor somewhere on side of engine that controls ISV. Next thing change that out.........

Got mine done when I got it valetted. When I bought it, it had loads of oil stains inside, the guy valetting it said he couldn't get them all out, and recommended dying them. Have to say it looks superb (bit streaky, but unnoticeable with black mats), much prefer the darker colour of the floor in the grey interior. BTW it all came under the £40 cost of the valet.

Gaaa, £108 from VW, for only the pulley with bearing!!!!!!!!!!! Think I'll go to scrapyard. Tried tightening, made a bit of a diference, but I can still hear it, so its getting taken off soon.

Check there are no leaks on the calipers, you'll see damp-like marks on them if there is. Otherwise sounds like a seal has gone in your master cylinder mate. Its letting brake fluid past it, hence you've got to keep pressing further for same pressure. I think you can buy the seals and rebuild the cylinder, but probably a better idea to get a new one. Unless you are confident in fixing brakes, best let a professional look at it!

cha ching!! (Hope that worked.) Anyway, keep up the good work Andi! :D :salute: :thumbleft:

First a bit of (maybe) useful info. Got the tracking and allignment done this weekend, after new wishbones and shocks. Asked for a readout. It gave the standard settings on it. they are:- Camber front: -0.40deg +/- 0.20deg Camber rear: -1.30deg +/- 0.10deg Toe front: 0.0 +/- 1.2 Toe rear: +2.3 +/- 1/2 Now question. 25mm Eibach lowering springs at front. What would be a good camber setting for handling, but without crazy tyre wear? They couldn't finish mine as i need the narrower diameter bolt for them to give me the correct settings (one side is -2.25 deg camber and the other is +0.32 deg!!). Once I get them, I'm going back for them to finish it, and if the settings are best suited differently due to different set-up, I'll get it done then. So is this narrow bolt thing uncommon (note new wishbones and shocks)?

Here's before and after piccys of mine. Its amazing what a difference they make, both in appearance and handling. Though I do notice a very slight reduction in acceleration over the tiny 14" !!! (though the slightly larger rolling radius means I'm going faster anyway :scratch: ) For more pics see the update on my thread in the gallery.

At last, Pics of car with new wheels (16" with TOYO 205/45 rubber), and what a difference it makes!!!! Also new since last piccys, clear side repeaters Eibach suspension (and rollbars) New (well second hand and not broken) front chin spoiler. And no, i don't have any plans to get rid of the towbar :wink: . Unfortunately it had just rained again today :( .

How much is a water pump pulley - the one with two pulleys separated by a plastic bearing.? Mines shot, rattling all the time now. (obviously I though the worst, first I was convinced a cam bearing cap nut had come loose and was rattling under rocker cover :shock: , then was sure there was a bolt or something in the water pump :? ) It definately is the pulley though as I took it off and rattle had gone, and so has most of the plastic bearing. :( Is this common to any other car? Anyone got a scrappy for sale? Can I buy the plastic bearing separately? Cheers

Hello all, I've seen this issue crop up many times now, and I have ( well my car) suffered from excessively high running temps myself. But now I think at last I have the problem sorted. My running temps now are: Water:- 90 deg to 100 deg. Oil:- 100 deg to 110 deg. These temps were experienced during heavy traffic in town. Idling for perhaps 5 mins before moving. 45 mins driving. Previously my water temp would have gotten up to 110 deg and oil up to 116+ in similar condidtions. I temporarily solved this by using a lower temp thermoswitch, which turned fan on at a lower water temp. I recently read here though (couldn't find post) someone replaced the water pump and it helped their running temps. So I did the same thing last weekend and this, I believe has fixed the problem by creating better water pressure, thus better circulation. (Note, with the lower temp thermoswitch still in, the fan seemed to be permanently on - so this is only a temp fix!!) These temps were seen with the standard thermoswitch and new pump. Just a bit of info which maybe clarifies a common complaint!

Biggrim with the steel rims, Int your chin spoiler on the wrong end??? :scratch: :lol: Also, Performancewalloys.com, I can highly recommend them. Bought mine there, and turned out they were just up the road from me. Had the wheels very quickly, (next day pickup, though they usually post 'em, and do that the next day too!). Also provided wheel nuts and spacers free of charge.

Also heard of someone doing it without taking dash off!!

Yea, check dizzy too. Especially the 3 pin hall connector going into it. same thing happened me, except found it would spark a couple times and then stop. Through luck I found that holding the hall connector let it spark repeatidly. Seemed that taking the cover off broke the brittle plastic surround, and strained a couple of the wires.

How much it cost you, does that include uprated pistons etc??? What mpg's you get? just out of interest

This is intended for anyone in the Ireland area. :) Is there a Stealth/AMD/all-the-other-specialists-in-England equivalent in this little island? (closer to Belfast the better - though I am willing to travel) I'm asking because, though I've found a competent friendly mechanic in Belfast (a difficult thing I think you'll agree), I think my car would benefit from a trip to a specialist - just to sort out all the little niggles that have both me and my mechanic stumped. Someone with the experience with these cars to see a problem and come up with a diagnosis, and be capable of fixing it. Also is there any such thing as a veedub meet or something here? Am interested in getting involved in that sort of thing, but only hear about the big ones in England?? Cheers

Wow, what a weekend. Hope I don't have one of those in the near future. Got all but one bolt off the manifold. The only one I couldn't get a socket on, so i used a ring spanner - which rounded it! So I tried my nut splitter (ouch ) on it. Broke it, the nut splitter that is. Tried hammering it, glaring at it and even pointed at it, but it just wouldn't come off. So I admitted defeat. :( Started putting it all back together - new tappets chain gaskets on the way. All together and it was dead. Battery seemed OK. Took it all apart again just to check everything was OK. Untorqued the cam bearing cap bolts a bit (15 Nm is below the min scale on my torque wrench). Moved a bit freeer then. Back together and it might have turned a bit easier but was dead. Anyway to cut what is becomming a long story short, I spent all of today eliminating several possibilities (top off engine again), and it turned out to be a dodgy hall connector on the dizzy!!!! Cable tie later (and me mates battery as mine was now dead) and it fired. Have to say though that the tappets were VERY noisy for about 5-10 mins. Now silent :D . Thanks to all that helped both on and off this site :thumbleft: Head gasket now leaks worse than ever, so maybe when I get someone to take that exhaust nut off, I'll............. I've got the bug bad don't I??

Ha, fixed mine too. Just shows you that same symptoms don't always lead to same problem. Just fitted Eibach arb's, and being a bigger diameter were hitting the wishbone close to their mount. Bought a few extra washers from VW and kinda spaced the arb away from the wishbone. Now tight AND quiet handling :D

If its a standard scorpion alarm, VW will get you a new keyfob for £40. It requires them to cut the circuit board behind the chip to the same pattern as yours. So yu need to give them one of yours. Though they should do it for you in about 10 mins. Have you had the door cards off recently, sounds like your locking rods are not adjusted correctly. door lock only pushes lock lever down so far. If rod isn't connected right it will not activate the wee switch that sends a signal to rest of system. pushing the inside lock down will have a longer reach - if that makes any sense? I think mine did something similar after the doors were off for espray. I had both door cards off and played around with the locks for a bit - locking each with door open/closed/unlocked etc... Maybe a bit bit and miss..............

Ok, everything bought. Head now stripped, all I need to do is loosen the 10 head bolts, and take off exhaust. How do you take exhaust off? Can't get at the 6 bolts that hold the downpipe to the manifold. HELP!!

check the vacuum pipe into the drivers door mechanism. You can also adjust it so that it pushes the lever fully up to open the lock door card need to come off tho

Problem so far, and I haven't even started yet! GSF gave me a head gasket for a G60, not for a late MKIII Golf as I asked! Looks like its metal though. Can't squeeze it like the rocker cover one. Can I use this gasket??? They also gave me a timing chain for a VR6 and not a cam drive chain!! Grrr. Gotta go back again!

Don't forget the window winder. Mmmm, maybe thats just me with windy windows :( The lock button unscrews, and is a pain in the ass to put back on, line it up first and then replace the door panel. On drivers side the wing mirror connector simply pulls off. Earlier ones do have a screw inside the speaker cover, and one on the forward edge too, awkward to get at. The main handle is tight and involves much prising to remove, but it does come off without breaking, honest.

menace, Try this, just a thought as mine can often idle over 1000rpm. Its the accelerator cable stacking and not letting the throttle lever settle back on the ISV switch. When it idles at 1500rpm, rev it and put your toe under the accelerator and lift it until it falls back to 1000. I'll soon put a wee bit of elastic around mine.