Tempest

Today at my local VW dealer: Went in to get a bottle of the good olde G12+ (yumyum), and a radiator bracket for my Storm Rocco, when the sales chap asked me whether the white Corrado that was so prominently placed in the Stealth rolling road day article in VWm was mine. Yes, it was, I answered, well chuffed, of course, although I didn't get a bigger discount or anything :lol: Tempest

Number 3. That's the third one on the upper row from the left of the main relay section (not the 2 top rows, which are so to speak bolted onto the main relay/fuse box). Tempest

Not had the pleasure of owning all types of Cs but getting into my mate's G60 some 3 years ago for the first time just did it for me. I've had mine now 2.5 years and despite having had to sort out a pretty much all of the more common problems (G-Lader, BTS, injectors, brakes and calipers, Lambdaprobe, to name a few), not regretted owning it. I don't, however, use it as a daily driver; none of my Karmanns are used for that :roll: Tempest

20°C: 2500 Ohm 30°C: 1500 Ohm 40°C: 1000 Ohm 50 °C: 800 Ohm 60°C: 600 Ohm 70°C: 400 Ohm 80°C: 300 Ohm 90°C: 250 Ohm 100°C: 200 Ohm Between 2 and 10 Ohms If you suspect the ISV doesn't let in enough air during start-up, you could try and wedge open the throttle such that the idle switch is still closed, and see whether that makes any difference. Possibly time to ring through all the wires in the loom to the ECU :roll: Tempest

Nice one Jim, sounds like it was a cracking day. Wouldn't want to be an instructor at these events, as you constantly get folk that just want to kick the cr*p out of some potentially very expensive cars. That's certainly what I'd do as a visitor, of course :-) Tempest

I often do use 30:70 (G:water), but in our mild climates, you don't really need to go beyond that. As a matter of fact, if you go too far, i.e. mix in too much G12+, you loose some of the cooling capabilities at high temperatures, as G12+ lowers the freezing point, but in doing so, also lowers the entire temperature scale of the coolant mixture. Tempest

I say Zoran's Evolution chip, just need to get a new one for my smaller 70 mm pulley :-) Tempest

I tend to have a bottle of ready mixed coolant, consisting of 25% G12+ and 75% water. Tempest

Well, first things first, a CCGB AGM needs to be sorted, where I'll try and propose to also have non-CCGB members allowed to attend during those items that aren't meant for CCGB members only, i.e. to discuss the future and get more people involved. Personally I have no objection to getting more people involved, on the contrary :-) It's the intention that counts, not necessarily whether you are currently a payed-up member or not, nope, more important is apart from the intention of doing things the actual "doing the biz-thing", as that's where most of us tend to falter (notice how I said "us", as I do include myself :lol:, so as to not upset anyone :-)). As far as harging for the forum is concerned, i still believe that large parts of the forum should remain free, as I will say this again, if the entire forum is charged for, this forum, like any other, will lose members in droves. People simply expect things on the net to be for free, that's in the nature of the beast. you may then ask, where these people that have left are going to? Vortex, other VW forums etc., as there are still plenty of forums available free of charge. The fragmentation caused by forums "competing" amongst each other is another aspect that isn't to be ignored, which, I believe, a club may avoid to a certain degree. Take for example, how many Rados were at Utterly VW, which did not want to come onto the CF/CCGB stand, for whatever reason. Very often these Rados were with their "own", more favoured (or whatever you want to call it) forum (and mates). Simply look at how many Sciroccoforums there are in the UK alone: 4, yes in words four!! Are there that many Sciroco-owners still left? :lol: Do we Scirocco-owners on these different forums talk to each other? Rarely, as you need to to a certain degree live in the "right" part of the country (to regularly meet up etc., thus this becoming more of a regional thing again, which is not what the Internet was all about), and be "in" with the right mates. That's just plain sad :-( Tempest

That whistle is a funny thing, as it had me worried for some time, as I dodn't know what was causing it. Some of you may remember my thread back some time ago, asking for help on identifying what I called a funny squealing noise, after I had identified (or thought it identified) as stemming from the area of the engine bay, where my ABS and brake stuff is located (remember, I drive a proper Rado, a LHD :lol:). When I visited G60Dub in Canterbuy last December with my Rado, his made the same noise, and I was immediately at rest that this sound wasn't something to worry about (was thinking faulty gearbox et al, made me bleed and refresh the fluid in the clutch cylinders, which was good, I suppose :lol:), and Darren form G-Werks then confirmed what the sound was from. So, I'm just living with it, now that I know it's nothing to worry about. Just another sound to get used to when driving a G60 :lol: Tempest

Just me again :lol:: Whilst I get a little annoyed with every post stating the "end of the CCGB as a club", "there is no more room / demand for a club" etc., I would have to disagree. Let's look at the difference of a club where members pay, and a potentially free forum. Forums are publicly open to anyone wishing to join and post. As someone has already stated further above, people join with various degrees of interest in cars, that's reflected in the posts made. This means in effect that a forum does not only attract die-hard fanatics about a certain car, but rather also those that just happen to own such a car, and post the sort of "I'm really chuffed with my new motor" contributions. Let's also not forget that our cars aren't in the Ferrari price range, i.e. unaffordable, on the contrary, they are getting cheaper and cheaper, therefore starting to attract the attention of what I might call the wrong kind of owner, e.g. boyracers, who would have otherwise bought a Goof. These type of owners will often view the C as an intermediate solution (first car they've owned) till they have the money to buy something else that better meets their needs. they will often just tear around in their cars, and show-off theirt talent etc. on forums, as forums are an ideal place to socialise with your "mates". These folk would probably never want to join a fee-based club, as they already have limited funds to run their cars. Sorry if this sounds somewhat patronisingg, but I believe it's true. When I was age 17-18, I could definitely not afford a car, full-stop. The ones I could have possibly afforded were definitely not worth owning or buying. Clubs on the other hand are geared more towards the committed owners, who need morre technical, less waffly/show-off stuff. This invariably may also mean clubs are addressing the needs of older/more mature owners, who already have the money to afford the car, the club fees, the repairs etc. As such I do believe that there still very much is a niche for the existence of a club. So rather than simply slating a club like the CCGB, let's respect those that are still putting in the effort rather than just simply say, "there's no need for a club anymore". There will always be a need for a forum, but that's as I explained above, because of the totally different nature of a forum (excellent place to chit-chat and socialise). Tempest

Well, that should be common knowledge amongst Roccodrivers :-) I had already read that some years ago on Doug's own homepages on the web, however. But he can't state these facts often enough, as there are always new-comers to the Rocco and Rado, for whom this is interesting stuff :-) Tempest

Direct bank transfers are free in Germany, but they are here too with most banks, and even companies (we as a company get paid by BACS, never costs us a penny, and I'm sure the client wouldn't use it either, if it were that expensive). Tempest

Paypal and credit cards are still a bit of a no-no for most Germans. They simply prefer cash, so do I, given the choice :lol: Apart from that, they have been using BACS (direct bank transfers) far more successfully for donkies-years, something that's only now starting to catch on in the UK :shock: Tempest

Here's a god in the Roccoworld, Doug T from the States, who's mad Mk1 Rocco was featured in one of the UK classic car mags recently :shock: . This guy can draw cars or what? Just have a look at all his design studies of what could be a good new Scirocco rather than that abortion that Auto Express and other Springer Verlag publications have revealed. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2454077 Especially: "Yes the Corrado and Scirocco have roots as the same 53 but the Corrado went in the wrong direction for a Scirocco. The name change was needed to make a new upper price category. The Scirocco MK2 was going to be discontinued but the MK3 was way too expensive. The Corrado (MK3 Scirocco) was developed in-house at the same time as the B3 Passat. When the boys at Wolsburg saw the cost over run a call was made to Karmann. The boys at Karmann had to make the final set (#3) of tooling for the MK2 (88-92). Note the 88 Corrado 16V was slower than the MK2 Scirocco 16V so they had to drop the MK2 16V to help sell the Corrado. The G60 was no great improvement other than interior trim, fit and ride comfort. The G60 had some top end but the extra weight hurt transitions and 0-60. The Corrado forced the Scirocco GTII into production till 92... about the same time the VR6 came out. The US lost the Scirocco for good in 89 (88 was the last year). We only got one year of the new tooling. Scirocco sales were slow in 88 as news of the Corrado came out. The Corrado was late getting the VR6 but that made the car worth it. The MK2 Scirocco was a band-aid upgrade on the A1 chassis. The Corrado was the transition between the A2 and the A3 chassis with some B3 mixed in. The Corrado was VWs new 90's direction and the end of the tin Rabbit past. Note the Cabi was lost near the same time as the MK2 Scirocco. " Tempest

Bought myself the starte kit recently, consisting of a 2.5 liter can full of Waxoyl, a spray gun, pump trigger and extension lead to get into awkward sections of a car. Will try this in the summer, it's too cold now. Regarding not keeping cars long enough: My 3 Karmanns certainly all are classics: 25, 22, and 15 years respectively, owned 4, 3, 2 years respectively, no intention on selling them, so it's Waxoyl-time :-) Tempest

I was told by a Scirocco-friend of mine that Heritage in Bistol is the place to go to, at least for good discounts (if you've got a Rocco, I'm told). Bit confused now :lol: Tempest

Well said, Butterfly, as I too, must admit that forums are quick fixes for, for example, those moments at work, when you've got nothing better to do. Whilst the amount of information is incredible on a forum, so's the amount of rubbish, dangerous tips (engine bay department, where I sometime shake my head in utter disbelief), and other time-wasting stuff being posted, that consumes time to wade through. in other words the signal-to-noise ratio of a forum will always be much lower than that of an edited mag like the Sprinter. Why else would some here write things for the big 3 VW mags? Why do some even bother buying them, if there is this forum? Hence I do think there still is a place for a mag like the Sprinter (BTW: Jeremy is no longer the editor of the Sprinter, time to read up on the club ;-) ). A one-off experience like that should not be taken as a general rule of thumb. Likewise if that particular person had been a CF-member, what would you have done? There are so-called "a**holes" (or better: people you personally just can't get on with) on here, too ;-) Sorry, guys, but that's a fact :-) Although I haven't got a 100% bullet-proof recipe for a merger of the CF and the CCGB yet, I don't think raising a membership fee for this forum will do any good. The mods on the German Sciroccoforum (of whom I am one) have recently had a similar discussion, and raising a fee for an otherwise free forum was feared to drastically reduce the members numbers, as at the end of the day, despite so many good intentions, many a member will simply drop out, if he/she all of a sudden had to pay. Hence membership fees will have to be used to provide something else. For example, they are already being used to finance clubstands at events, where there is a charge for having a clubstand (eg Stanford Hall, BVF in Malvern, and several others). Will carry on thinking about solutions :-) Tempest

That IS low, wow, as I thought I was low with the Rieger front bumper on my Mk1 Rocco. I still have 50 mm clearance (that's 3 of my fingers :lol:). Going on the Stena Line ferry, they put me on the lower deck, as I can't get up the ramp, so no worries with ferries, just ask nicely. They should be used to low cars. Speed bumps is usually a case of avoiding them (I plot out routes with one of my ohter 2 Karmanns before I take the Mk1) or crawling over them in 1st gear. Some driveways I can't get onto, eg. leading up to the car park of my local Powerflow exhaust center (scrape ... arrrghh!!). Have fun :-) Tempest

2 hours is normally what it takes me to wash and leather. If I then feel like it, the polishing, waxing, cleaning the interior bits would take another good 4 hours, if not more. Weekend job really, once the weather gets warmer again. The advantage of a garage and a large blanket to droop over my Roccos has saved me lots of time, not having to clean the Roccos that often. Then again, I hardly ever take them out of their garages :lol: Tempest

Round of applause to you there, John, well said :-) It is true that I have on regular occasions also complained about the lack of interest amongst car owners (as I have observed this phenomena with both C and Rocco drivers, and I'm sure it's the same with other car owners) in wanting to go to meets. It's very easy thanks to the Internet to claim you have such a car, know something about it, and provide use(less/ful) advice to others, whilst not wanting to leave your keyboard and actually get into your car and do what it was made for, drive. It seems that the downside of the net-based forums is that it has to a certain degree made people a wee bit lazy. On too many occasions have I heard people say that unless they'd got nothing else planned, they'd come to a meet (see Midlands Meets for prime example ;-) ). So, basically the pleasure in owning a car like the C and showing it seems to be lowest of priorities for some, who at the same time make the biggest claims on forums like this. That confuses me. On the other hand I also won't deny that I personally have met a good amount of new people through my joining of forums, especially on the German Sciroccoforum. But whereas there is still thankfully only 1 Corradoforum in the UK, Germany has 4, the UK has 4 Roccoforums, Germany only has one. Guess which approach works best to getting to know more people, get to go to bigger events, have more fun? Exactly, the approach where there is only one forum for a certain type of car. I do have the comparison, having been on (too) many forums. It would be good to see the CF and CCGB move closer together, as I have also stated in a heated debate at last year's CCGB AGM. I was baffled by the IMHO still weak excuses justifying the strong resistance to this idea. Although I don't curently have the time to stand as a CCGB chairman (as running my own company swallows up enormous amounts of time, especially at the moment), I am, however, quite happy to organise the bulk of events, as I have started to do, always keeping in mind my personal goal at such events: Bringing the CCGB and CF members together at events. I believe that despite the power of the net and its forums, nothing beats personal contact, and where else do you get that but at shows and events. Tempest

Yes, on diesels the cambelt is under a bit more strain too compard to petrol engines, the damage usually is greater, if it snaps. A mate of mine had his cambelt go in his Escort diesel delivery van: Write-off. But, yes, that's Ford, of course :lol: Jim, I may just have a bit of time over the next few weekends (not tomorrow, Storm's getting a new radiator and waterpump :-) )to help you do this, but, and this is the but, I tend to not work under pressure on such things. For example, I took plenty of time on my C to do all the belts and tensioner pulley, as I wasn't dependent on the C. It was a lot simpler to do the same job on both my Roccos, however. Tempest

Polish usually describes stuff that removes minor blemishes to the paintwork, whereas wax is to seal the cleaned and polished paintwork, making iot more water resistant (water beads up nicely). A lot of people, however, simply mix up the 2 terms, and this is where confusion arises. Not had any experience with either of Meguairs waxes, tend to use Autoglym polish, then Turtlewax Gold Wax. Started to use BacBrite's Car Balsam, which although being produced in the UK seems to be more popular in Germany, where I got it from. Initial results are good, claims it acts as a polish and wax combined. Tempest

I shall repeat this again :lol: : I have no problem with calling a Rado a Rocco, as that's what it is, full-stop. Anyone who sees this differently is plain wrong or some thick marketing guy, who I as an engineer hate anyway (non-value adding geeks, know nothing about cars, ... erm, just thinking back to my visit in Berlin, .. yup, statement is true, marketing guys flog things without knowing what they flog :lol:). Best question in Berlin from VW that we got: "Shall we call our new sports car a Scirocco or a Corrado?" :lol: My local dealer has not seen any of my 3 Karmann toys yet, as the dealer is located next to where I work, and I normally walk into work (most sensible thing in Coventry). But I have spent quite a few quid there, too, far too many :lol: Tempest

Did the same on mine about 2 summers ago: Cleaned out as much of the green stuff as possible, then resealed with clear sealant. Worked so far. Tempest