Tempest

This is true, but Kirsten still knows her spanners :lol: Not your average (if there is such a thing) girl who happens to have a fleeting interest in all things petrol, and particularly Mk1 Roccos :-) Tempest

The best person to talk to is actually Kirsten over in the States. She's done a 20VT conversion on her Mk1 Rocco pretty much all by herself :shock: :notworthy: And what a work of art it has become !! :-) Her website with loads of info is http://www.funksoulkitty.org/ Tempest

It's definitely happening, even the German highly respected mag "Der Spiegel" has covered it in the meantime, the "thing" will be built in Setubal in Portugal, where VW is currently also building the EOS. As production of the Sharan in Setubal ceases, they'll use that capacity for the production of the "new Scirocco", which to me isn't really a Rocco if it isn't built by Karmann, the original financiers, designers (with Giugiaro), commissioners and builders of the official successor to the highly successful Ghia. It's a line of heritage, that was broken in 1995 with the end of the Rado, now to be continued in Portugal after 12 years? Not for me ... Tempest

Folks, I have tried 3 times on this forum, and once on a German forum (only once, as I wanted to get this car over to the UK as a stunt) to sell this car, alas to no avail :-( As soon as I've got a bit of spare time again (busy at work and at home, MOTs on all 3 toys looming again, hence spending a lot of time in the garages every evening and weekends) I was planning on calling a mate of mine in Germany, who knows Breford very well, to find out more. Tempest

Butterfly might be up for this with her Storm VR6 :-) Tempest

You'll get those during the Karmann/Nürburgring trip in August :-) Tempest (Mk1 Roccos are just cooler :-) )

That's not quite what I meant ;-), more like whether you'd fancy a mooch around to see what you think yourself. Anyway looking at going possibly next week. Tempest

Yup, taking the C to this place in Coventry shortly, too. Jim, you're up for a visit sometime? Tempest

See the pictures :-) Tempest

Definitely now going to be built at the Setubal plant in Portugal, where the Sharan will shortly be discontinued, and the EOS is already being built there (tasteless thing :lol:). Wolfsburg has proven to be too expensive, and Karmann is off the menu, as Wolfsburg has overcapacity anyway. Despite threats of strikes by the unions, VW are even threatening to move production of the Golf abroad, if the unions don't back off :shock: B*st*rds, tempted to boycott this brand, if they blackmail like that. How about saking some top-managers, total time and money wasters, as is usually the case within big corporates. According to analysts, VW might still be looking at letting go of 20000 to 30000 jobs in Germany alone, so what's the point :shock: That's after they increased their production week from 28.8 hours back up to 35 hours (same salary). I can't support the new Scirocco anymore for these reasons. If it's not built by Karmann and built by a company who treat their staff like they do (threats of sacking), whilst the top brass got away with free hoars, jewelry, millions of disallocated funds (Skoda), then I'm sorry. More here: http://www.n-tv.de/680500.html Tempest

My Mk2 Storm needs a full wheel alignment (camber only actually, but hey), given that I've observed uneven treadwear on my Toyos on the front, and with a new set of Yoko tyres on there now, I don't want to waste them prematurely, so as Stealth can handle lowered cars, I'm off to Stealth on Tuesday June 27th at 9:30. Anyone else there on that day ? Tempest

@ Henny: Well translated, pretty much what I did off the cuff :lol: But yeah, scary nonetheless. That's the problem: If you want to go around the circuit nice and slowly to get to know the thing, you get some rich ar*e, who's there to rag his car, and if he writes it off by hitting you in the back (especially when he's just come over some of the nasty summits where you can't see what on the other side), he doesn't care, "I'll just buy myself another Porsche!", leaving you stranded, wondering what to do to get your car back up and running. Yes, 2 were killed, the others badly wounded. Correct, the only bit where you can open up. Just highlighting the whole thing from all sides ;-) I'm still planning on going on, unless, yes it chucks it down or whatever. As far as numbers are concerned: Yes, I would agree that too many people are let on the track at the same time. The only way to mildly protect ourselves here, is to go on with your mates at the same time, and stick together a bit, I suppose. Then again, who cares, I'll just get myself a new US-spec G60 Corrado ;-) Tempest

2 days ago, the Nürburgring had a few tragic accidents on the Nordschleife (the bit that's open to the public): Link OK, it's all in German, but that picture says a lot. What's happened is that a motorbike lost control of his bike, fell, another one rolled right over him and fell, a following Porsche Boxter managed to avoid the accident, and drove on, 2 following motorbikers hit the scene, and fell, 2 following cars (BMW M5 and Porsche 997) manage to brake in time, but a Ducati then hits the Porsche at full speed (this section of the Nordschleife is where you can achieve speeds of 260 km/h or more). The Nordschleife was closed for only 1 hour, after which a mate of mine (Sciroccoforum) went on with his Mk2 Rocco and observed further accidents (Dutch Alfa Romeo hitting a barrier with rear of his car, engine failures of 2 other cars). Comment: It seems the winter has lasted too long, people are gagging to give it some on the Ring with partially very dire consequences. Tempest Mod Edit: Link Shortened. VR6

They're right next to where I work :-) Ok, where do I work? Next to Listers :lol:, who are on Quinton Road in Coventry, exit 5 on the inner ring road (exit where the police station and 2 Accor hotels, Formule 1 and Ibis, are located). Can't miss Quinton Road, as the main sight is actually VW Listers :-) Tempest

:shock: I normally have found that stealers in Germany (OK, that's Germany, not the Netherlands) are usually cheaper, not by far, but certainly cheaper. I'd therefore try the odd German parts dealer or so. Tempest

More bad news, now even officially published by the German mag "Der Spiegel": http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,420902,00.html In a nutshell: Sales dropped by 30% to 1.9 billion Euro last year. 1250 jobs (out of 5200) to go at Osnabrück plant (HQ), including 400 in admin. Further drops in sales expected for 2006. Possible move to Poland for production. Poor sales of Crossfire main cause for this, 35700 still produced 2 years ago, in 2005 only 12500 were produced. They did manage to increase their own capital by 10 million to 272 million Euros. Didn't get the deal for the Eos (VW decided to build this one in-house). US and Brazil profitable (mainly due to exhange rates). Producing the cabrio roof system for the Nissan Micro C+C in Sunderland (OK, it's a bl**dy rice-cooker, well, French actually, don't Renault own Nissan?). Developing the roof system for the BentleyContonental GTC (hoping to get that deal). Tempest

Which is why I decided to chuck out that horrible metal-tray-thing, that the ECU is attached to, when located in the scuttle panel. The ECU is kept nicely in place by the horrendously thick and stiff ECU-loom anyway. Tempest

Erm, actually any open filter still is and remains to be detrimental to the soft alloy (magnesium alloy) scroll inside the charger ! Open air filters also draw in hot engine bay air. I therefore seriously doubt any claims as to loss of power when going back to the airfilter box, much on the contrary actually ;-) I'd say, the perceived loss of power is down to the missing noises that you used to get without the box and snorkel. :-) The snorkel actually also fullfills a need: Making sure the sucked in air gets to go across the entire air filter area, not just the bit towards the front of the panel filter where the air enters the box. Test this and see why when you've removed the snorkel, you get more dirt spots towards the front of the filter than anywhere else. Tempest

Common problem on the Rados gearboxes, too ;-) The reason you see more carb'ed ones, is that all the late Mk2 Roccos (GT2) all had the EX-engine (strangely enough, as all the GT2s in D and the US had either the fuel-injected 16V PL-engine or the fuel-injected 8V JH-engine, both CATed). The early ones for the GB market still had the fuel-injected DX-engine. There were a lot more than just 50 :-) The real rare ones for the UK at least were the official 10 imported LHD-only 16V KR-engine GTX Roccos, plus a few self-imported 16Vs, as well as a few engine conversions here and there. You get used to the brakes in as far as that you just learn to brake in advance :lol: You can improve on them by using braided hoses, possible bigger disks on the front, and if you really want to got to town, convert the rears from drums to disks (although as only 20% of braking power goes to the rears anyway, the last option won't do that much more in improving the overall braking performance). The reason for the poor brakes is that horrible 11-hinged crossbar along the firewall, that transfers the pedal power to the servo which still sits on the left hand side of the car, pedal on the right hand side. They should have re-arranged the engine bay, like they did for the Mk2 Goof. Tempest

Right, only now spotted this thread (long day in the shed, our company Escort delivery van again :-( ): Personally, I'm not a fan of carb'ed engines. They are difficult to set up (particularly if you're going to slap on a Weber carb, as the Pierburg can be a nightmare in its own right - OK, if it works, but a nightmare if it doesn't). I'd always go for a fuel-injected Rocco. The K-Jet'ted Roccos are very simple indeed to work on engine-wise, and mechanically, as the previous posters have laready stated, they are a dream (almost) to work on compared to the much more complicated Corrado. Having had the comparison, I have been swearing like mad numerous times on my C compared to when working on one of my 2 Roccos. Parts are so much cheaper too for the Rocco. Although the standard 90 bhp carb'ed engine (the EX) is quicker off the line than the comparable DX engine (2nd generation GTI engine, the successor to the legendary 110 bhp 1.6 GTI EG-engine as found in the original Mk1 Goofs and Roccos, sporting 112 bhp but loads more bottom-end torque), it then will run out of steam a bit quickly compared to the DX-engine. The DX-engine is very easy to mod. Slapping on a Powerflow stainless exhaust system, a 4-2-1 branch Supersprint manifold, and using a Pieprcross panel filter gave me 120 bhp at the last rolling road day at Stealth. Not bad for a 22-year old engine ! There have been people who spent much more time and money on their DX-engines, and have reported 130 bhp and more, which is a serious amount for such a light-weight car (950 kg). Suspension-wise the Rocco can also be helped a lot by just like you would with your C give it a proper suspension. I went for the FK Königsport, and although not as harsh as the Sachs racing coilies on my Mk1 (which does not give at all), which is a nice balance between performance-oriented handling and comfort (although as it uses Koni dampers, you can also set the rebound). So, all in all, a Rocco can be made pretty much almost as nice as a C, when you look after it, and start off with a decent example. Does it look dated? I don't think so. I still think that the Mk1 in particular looks timeless, the Mk2 takes time, before it grows onto some people. Personally I still prefer my 2 Roccos for outright fun, handling, and just chucking about on the roads, whereas my C is kept as more of a comfort-car, but that's because of all the US-spec toys on-board :-). Tempest

Thanks for the praise there guys :-) Here's another piccie that I still had on my phone (in hindsight, the camera in my phone doesn't do it justice, as the contrast is overdone). I am seriously looking at taking this one to Inters. That was the other reason to take it out on Saturday, as I did a test run to Bruntingthorpe :-) Tempest

Since the 1st June my Mk1 Rocco, the favourite in my Karmann cioupe collection, is taxed again. Today, as it was a beautiful sunny day, it was time to get in and have some fun again for the first time in over 6 months. Country roads, motorways, oh what fun, but the city centre roads are the usual nuisance: Potholes, stupid people in their crappy cars all over the place, pedestrians claiming wanting to cross roads and giving me verbal abuse, whereas I always get cut off as a pedestrian by tupid inferior bangers (Rovers and sh*tty Fords typically). I hate cities, or is it just Coventry? Nope, the country roads where I chose a nice lonely run, and the motorway (whch was surprisingly empty) were the bliss today. A little break inbetween for the obligatory piccies was included, too. Tempest

Can't find that in my Bentley ;-) It just tells you how to set the CO-Pot using a CO-analyser. Tempest

Hate to say, as has been said numerous times before here: During my visit to meet 10 marketing peeps from VW in Berlin last January specifically to talk about the "new Scirocco" (there were 10 hand-selected Scirocco fans from the German Sciroccoforum), VW officially stated that they wish to distance themselves from any pictures published so far in any of the Springer Verlag publications (AutoBild in D, AutoExpress in GB). Springer Verlag have outsourced the creation of those pictures to this guy called Huckefeldt. The only thing VW did reveal in Berlin was the entry-level engine would be a 1.4 FSI lump. The only thing that seems certain is that it'll be called a Scirocco, given that VW have started buying domain names like http://www.scirocco.de (which was owned by an enthusiast Rocco-owner for more than 15 years). Tempest

Ooooh, whilst we're on the topic of Alpine-white Corrados, here's my US-G60 again :-) Tempest