Tempest

Just found some more "news" on this: https://ssl.kundenserver.de/s86706381.einsundeinsshop.de/sess/utn;jsessionid=1543dbcc3db6cd5/shopdata/?main_url=go.shopscript%3Fa%3DRE08878 No official pictures of the models available yet, those pictures on the website above are taken from real Rados for the time being. The two models by Revell are actually based on 2 real cars, the owners of which drove up to Revell HQ in Germany for Revell to take all sorts of pictures etc. Read this on the German Radoforum, that I normally am on :-) Tempest

3:07: Yup, the Hungarian Rocco-connection. Seen some of them at the Karmann event 2004 :-) @ Musicman: Good work, you've found the track :-) Tempest

Just for the record: Compression test: Stick a manometer in each spark plug hole and crank engine; all cylinders should have approx. equal reading, on a G60 anywhere between 10 and 12 bar or so. If deviations found, then they do another compression test, this time squirting a bit of oil down the cylinder under test. if compression value increases, that points to likely piston ring gone. Leak-down test: They pressurise each cylinder with spark plug removed using external compressed air, then measure the compression over a period of time. This can pinpoint the problem a bit more accurately. HTH Tempest

Looks like it ;-) No exact dates yet, but could be as soon as next week! Which one? The red Rieger Mk1 Rocco in Dirk's Scirocco Emotions video? :lol: Yup, couldn't agree more :lol: BTW: Surprised no-one asked yet what the song is and by whom :lol: Tempest

In principle no. The injectors themselves are pretty easy to get out (a magnetic tool to pickup the metal spring clips holding the injectors into the fuel rail will come in handy, as Steve from PSD demonstrated to me :-) ), but on mine the loom also was pretty perished, no wonder after 15 years of heat rising from the exhaust through the intake manifold to the loom. Getting the loom out requires removal of 2 rather awkwardly located Allen-head bolts underneath brackets holding the loom rail into the head. This in itself is not the problem, one however threatened to round off on my Rado, hence Darren and Steve then took over and removed the whole intake manifold just to get this nasty piece of Allenhead bolt out. Depends on how well-behaved your Allenhead bolts are, as in principle it's an easy job. But it's usually corrosion of bolts etc. that introduce those nasty unwanted fun and games :-( Tempest

Good guess, Musicman, as no doubt you've spotted the Gedächtniskirche in the background of the first picture (that church that got bombed by the allies during WW2, and was left in that state, similar to Coventry Cathedral, come to think of it), but no, we weren't on the Merc-tower. The Merc-tower was actually to the left of us in that first picture, we were careful for it not to appear in our pictures, well the VW-team were at least :lol: There is another high-riser right next to the Merc-tower, called the Eden tower (word Eden on the top), on the 10th floor in the PanAm suite, which looked horribly 70s, which would have been fine, if it hadn't been the run-down look et al. Here's a video clip that Dirk assembled for the meet, called "Scirocco Emotions", certainly brought a tear to many a true Rocco-nutter's eye, and the VW people took to it like wildfire :-) http://www.scirocco2.de/scirocco_emotions_pc.avi 30 MB DiVX download Tempest

OK OK, of course I meant 2007, but you all got the message :lol:, well at least I hope :lol: Yes, we also talked about the DeLorean, actually :-) The best question from the VW team was: "What do you actually do at these meets where you all camp around your cars etc.?" :lol: We were too ashamed of telling the truth, which, of course is, to get mega pi**ed !!! :lol: Tempest

They did not make any comments at all as to what the new Scirocco would look like, just a hinty of engine stuff. They did, however, state that they'd stay in touch with us, and nearer to the time of the launch we'd be invited over again :-). At that stage we mentioned the word "test-drive", and they cringed a bit :lol: As far as those pircture in AutoExpress et al being fakes, well, they can ultimately tell us anything, as until the real thing has been unveiled at the Frankfurt Motorshow in September 1997 (according to the German AA mag that I get), we won't know what's true and what's not. Tempest

Back again after a tiring but truly exciting day :-) No, as I was in a hurry to get off to a customer. Not far off, but with a tie with a red Mk1 Rieger Rocco tieclip, see piccie below :lol: The other piccie is a group shot of 8 of us together with the VW-team. Got into a truly freezing Berlin at 12:15 (-10 °C or something), met up with my other German Sciroccoforum mates, had a pizza, went off to the conference building, where we were welcomed by the VW-team with drinks (woohay). Instead of the 1 hour as originally planned, they did take 2 hours to listen to our presentations, ask questions (most of them were quite intelligent), take some group shots, and have coffee and biscuits along with more individual discussion rounds. The VW people were all marketing people, most of them had owned a Scirocco, which was a good start, liked the Corrado, (one openly admitted he preferred the G60, so there :lol:), and really wanted to get to the bottom of what we like about our current Sciroccos and what we expected from the new one. I told them about the UK market and desires/needs :-) We pretty much all agreed on the shape (preferably like the Mk1 Rocco, corners, no round jellybean crap, must not look like a Golf at all), handling (I even stated, that I don't want Bosch's finest gadgets like ABS, ESB and all sorts of other crap 3-letter acronyms, as the Rocco never needed them in the first place thanks to its solid mechanical engineering, compared to electronics patching dogdy mechanics), weight (light, hence not needing outrageously powerful engines just to shift all that weight, like in all modern cars), etc. They assured us that all the pictures that have been published so far by all the German "Springer Verlag" magazines (AutoExpress in the UK, AutoBild in Germany) are fakes, and the final product will not look like these fakes. We made it quite clear that we did not like the front (too Mk5 Golf-like), the rear lights (too Seat-like), but as said, those pictures are definitely fakes. Enginewise, they're still toying with an entry-level 1.4 Liter FSI (using VWs interpretation of the Eaton compressor, as successfully employed in loads of Mercs already, so in a sense the re-introduction of the Supercharger). Was good to meet up with my mates again, lots of jokes, and best of all, VW gave each of us a 1/16 scale RC Race Touareg toycar :shock: Shame the day's over already. BTW: We were told, that VW had done something similar with a bunch of Golf GTI folks (hence we got loads of questions on Wörthersee, tyre burning, spinning wheel competitions, boy-racing, etc. to which I simply replied "In the UK, the average Golfdriver does not even wear his baseball cap the right way around!" :lol:, the joke they liked, and once again got the message that Rocco and Rado-folk do not wish to be associated with Goof folk, who very often give our hobby a bad reputation). They even wanted to know when the terms Rocco and Corri (as the Rado is affectionately known as in Germany) were invented :lol: Oh yes, did we make a BIG point of the fact that we wanted the new Rocco to be made by Karmann, yes! Let's see whether they listened :D 2cc: If you're reading this: Hello from Ritchie (Timäääää!!! :lol:), he would like to come over to a VW-meet, if you and Seanasie (the chap with the Mk1 Rocco at the Karmann meet) are both there, too. Tempest

Yup, that was me, finding the FK Königsports too soft on my Mk2 Storm Rocco compared to the Sachs coilovers with special springs on my Mk1. The pictures that I posted of both cars in the relevant thread also speak volumes: Depsite there almost being no gap between tyre and wheel arch on my Mk1, there's no rubbing whatsoever, whereas on my Mk2 Rocco with a measurable gap, I still rub on adverse camber roads in a tight corner. Tempest

Off to bed, getting up again in 6 hours or so, off to the airport, off to VW in Berlin armed with a PP presentation, a collage, loads of Rocco toys (books, models, tie-pin - which I'll be wearing on my tie :-) - watch, etc.) :-) Tempest

Yes indeed, although I haven't seen the film (yet). OPeeps on the German Roccoforum also thought it might have been a Mk1 Rocco. Tempest

Will hopefully find out more tomorrow in Berlin, although we're now told that we have to sign a gagging-clause !!! Funny that, as it's us who should make VW sign the gagging-cluase, as it's us who have to do the presentations to VW. Oh well ... Tempest

Had good results with the FK spray, which I do apply regularly. You can also use cavity wax sprays like Waxoyl. Then again, I don't drive my coil-overed cars during the winter or during wet weather :-) Tempest

Leave both my Roccos on Sorn, garaged up for 6-7 months (during the winter and wet months), handturn the engine before first time firing them up, keep the battery charged (so that the immobiliser and alarm are always active), and that seems to be fine. I do have dehumidifiers inside to get the moisture out. The Rado in the meantime only gets driven during the winter when it's dry (like today), and preferably on days, when the gritters finally decide to stay off the road. Pretty rare then that I take my Rado out during the winter :lol: It could do with a waterproof car cover, I reckon, as it doesn't have a garage, and it seems to suffer a bit, as it never dries up fully (as opposed to when you drive it, and the wind dries up the car) after rain showers or cold nights (mildew, frost). I just hate winter :-( Tempest

As far as the "new" Scirocco is concerned, that's definitely not going to happen :-( According to the latest newspaper articles over in Germany VW have just decided to locate production to Setubal in Portugal, to remain "cost-effective". That's the same plant where the Sharan (Galaxy for Ford, Alhambra for Seat) and the Eos Cabrio are built. Tempest

YESSSSSSS!!!!! Just got the flight confirmation by email: I'm off to Berlin this Tuesday, drooling about my Roccos, having breakfast with my mates from the German Roccoforum, getting p*ssed afterwards (as long as someone flings me back onto the plane back to Brum again :lol:). Right, just need to knock up some Powerpoint or something presentation. Best go to the barber's tomorrow :lol: Tempest

I did, and no, not that many have this cult suspension. Most have got the current after-market stuff, e.g. FK, KW, cheapies like Supersport etc. or fixed lowering kits or just simply oem. Those that do were all a bit concerned that Sachs no longer support these shocks. it seems I have more research into the topic than others, but as mentioned, Bilstein and Leda are happy to "clone" such shocks. Tempest

Personally I would just use the VAG oem paper filter, as it's been reported on the German Radoforum, that the paper one still filters best from the G-Lader's point of view. On a normally aspirated engine, you can happily use the K&N or Pipercross, as any crap, that still manages to get through will be burnt off by the engine, but on the G60, you've got the G-Lader sitting inbetween the filter element and the engine. Any crud making it through the filter will hit a Lader potentially rotating at approx. 12,000 revs ! The paper-based filter is still the best in terms of filtering. If you still do decide to use a K&N, regularly clean and oil it. I've thrown my K&N out again, and replaced it with the VAG oem paper filter. Tempest

Yeah, if memory serves me correctly, when I had mine rebuilt by G-Werks, he also applied his magical grease to the entire scroll. Tempest

The tailpipe coming out at an angle did throw me, too, as I'm so used to a straight tailpipe. Angled ones I normally associate with Roccos. Any pictures from underneath? Tempest

OK, finally came back from another 2-day business trip down southeast (where I once again met Luke aka G60Dub, who already knows the inside story, as he witnessed the phone call from Germany coming in on my mobile), having spent 13 hours in our 55 bhp Escort delivery van (dying to finally drive a proper car again this Sunday: cue Midlands Meet!!!). I phoned up the lady from this marketing company on Thursday morning, before I had to set off to Canterbury. The whole thing seems very real. VW are inviting a handful of owners of each of their car models to prepare a collage or Powerpoint presentation about their favourite car and talk about their hobby. In my case this will, of course be all about the Scirocco, my Mk1 and Mk2 babies :-) The thing is to take place near to the Bahnhof Zoo (the main train station in former West Berlin), but only for 1 hour :-( Now, I could go on and on for hours about my 3 Karmann toys. Flight costs apparently will be completely payed for by VW. ooh the excitement after this call ... back to work ... Interesting thing will be whether any of the Rocco-peeps going will dare to mention that really we're all about Karmann, and quite distrustful of VW as a car brand (well at least I am :lol:). Anyway, I managed to bend my business colleague's arm, after the lady had told me what to expect, and it seems I can go. That same night, while I was meeting up with Luke in Canterbury, my mobile rang again, the lady, Sina is her name, was on the phone again, and she had already started to look at booking flights for me to get me out of B'ham to Berlin, all in 1 day :-) The cost was, however, a potential factor, although I did say, that if they hadn't left it so short notice, they could have grabbed a few flight bargains. they're looking at flying everyone out to Berlin (4 peeps from Stuttgart, one of them my mate Dirk), 1 from Frankfurt, etc. This evening, whilst again travelling in the van, finally back home this time (Sina thought I was on a train judging by the noise, as, of course, as a law-abiding citizen I would never use my mobile for such important calls from VW whilst driving a Ford :lol:), I received another call, saying that the budget apparently wasn't too much of a problem, and that she would start to book my flight. As we speak, I'm waiting for confirmation, but if everything goes OK, I'll have to fly out of Brum at 7 am (Coventry to Brum Airport that early in the morning? No trains ...), to re-arrive back in B'ham at 10:30 pm, flying with Lufthansa. Let's see, the excitement has grabbed hold of the ones on the German Roccoforum, that are going, except me, probably I'm too much of a sceptic and realist :oops: I'll believe it when I see it. Tempest

Don't mind having the G60-model for obvious reasons :lol: as long as it's really got a G60-engine, not like the Schabak-Model where my model's got a 16V engine despite it saying G60 ! Tempest

Just to keep you all inofrmed: This is very real!! VW have hand-selected 5-6 Rocco-owners from the German Sciroccoforum, who are to be flown out to Berlin this Tuesday to talk about our love-affair (noooo, not with VWs management prostitutes :lol:) with our Roccos. Similarly, a handful of Golf, Bora etc. drivers have been invited. Let's see what comes of this. Tempest

As long as they give me the same characteristics as my current set-up at the rear, Im happy :-) That's why I'm looking for companies that can "copy" or "clone" or whatever you want to call it, an existing damper based on its damping characteristics :-) Tempest