Aqua blue pearl VR - p.34 bonnet cable repair

[Veearrhsix 0]

Hi fla is that fold-out Kenwood touch screen? Just wondered 8)

[fla 9]

yep :wink:

[fla 9]

just swopped back to speedies for the winter - wow what a comfortable ride compared to the 17s!! Plus no arch rubbing at the rear!! BUT i do think that 15" is way too small for the Corrado, now if i could find some nice 16" with tyres...

[fla 9]

Well i had the FKs sitting in the garage and thought i should fit them again, but i just cant stand the chrome surrounds. So, rubbed them down with a 180 grit pad, wiped with some white spirit and have just masked up the lenses and trimmed off the excess ready to spray the housing and chrome portion black. I'm using Halford plastic bumper spray, so hopefully should be done by tomorrow. Then i'll drill out the holes to keep the connectors in place.

 

Masked up below:

[Abdul 0]

Come on bro, you can't put up the progress pic and not the end result?

[fla 9]

ok, just finished painting them, will leave them by the boiler tonight, there are a couple of runs so i'll rub those down and respray. The paints dries pretty quickly though! The centre portions didnt take the paint very well, so are still slightly chrome :( Any suggestions from the paint gurus?

[fla 9]

I'd been meaning to do this for ages - took about an hour and half start to finish.

 

Started off with teh dull green light in the gearknob, whick i disnt take a pic of :(

Anyway, the rest are self explanatory, so if anyone wants to try it, i hope the pics help:

[Abdul 0]

Nice, pop round man... lol

[fla 9]

Just completed 70k - will post a pic soon...

[fla 9]

for the record:

[fla 9]

Minor update - replaced ignition switch, took about an hour. Dropped the d/s shelves, steering column and rested the wheel on the seat. Used the previously bent screwdriver to remove the old switch and replaced with a VW one i had spare. Internals of the switch were checked and found fine, absolutly no pitting or poor contacts. Starts very nicely now :)

[fla 9]

Had some rear calipers & carriers which i was selling earlier but as there was no nterst i took the abrasive wheel to them (just the carriers at this stage). Wire wheeled them and then cleaned up wiuth white spirit. Given them a coat of black hammerite. Just need to get a set of boots for the slider pins. Not sure what to do with the calipers - they're not too bad - removed the pistons (wound them out) and they're fine, one seal needs to be replaced but otherwise generally ok. Depending on the exchange policy i might just swop them for new ones. Interested in suggestions.

 

Will post up some pics of the painted carriers once they're dry.

[fla 9]

Carrier pics - need to clean up the excess paint on the slider pin ends!

[quicky1980 0]

looking good mate

[OSV 0]

Some nice work going on

[fla 9]

Just a general comment really - got an average (MFA reading) of 35.0 mpg on a trip of circa 50 miles, generally driving at around 70-80. A few stops and starts, oil went up to 90C, was hoping the traffic would bring the temp up a bit more, water around 86-88C. Pleasantly surprised at the economy, seems to be getting better, or maybe me being more conervative with the right foot!!!

 

Obsession with rattles continues. Isolated another on the trip at the base of the rear window - the plastic clips securing it were felted up and used some pvc tape where metal brackets fit in. Problem now is i can hear another rattle from the LHS, but cant locate it :(

[fla 9]

in the process of installing the 288 brakes. Not too bad but fell over at the last hurdle - the passenger side pipe to the flexi was seized on so will need to be cut off and replaced. Best place to get this?

 

Anyway, some pics - havent installed the anti-rattle springs mainly because i couldnt get them to fit! Suggestions would be appreciated. Should have taken some more but was restricted for time. New brakes were stripped down completely, and painted. Copper grease on all bolts both for mounting the carriers and on the slide pins. Pistons were left out quite far and brake fluid was filled in with a syringe. The new brake pipes were fitted (incidentally there are longer ones that are needed - i had a set of both long and short fortunately) and the piston then pressed back with an old brake pad and g-clamp. Carrier bolted up, brake pad was copper greased and fitted into the piston. The other pad was then slotted on to the other side of the caliper and then mounted into the carrier. Old hose was removed and the new connected. The bleed nipples were found to be blocked so were replaced with some spares i had. The tried fitting the anti-rattle spring and failed dismally. Lots of swearing didnt help either!!!

 

I cut the flexi coupling collar from the old brakes and fitted these to the new hoses to allow them to be clipped in to the hose stay on the suspension strut.

 

Left side beat me though with the corrosion welded joint so will have to get this next week some time.

 

BTW, how do you edit the thread title - would like to amend the scond part to read 288 caliper install p.20

[fla 9]

Nothing major - changed the oil cooler and mocal sandwich plate seals, which is a real mission due to the aircon. Cleaned up the oil cooler and sensor spades. Changed the oil, filter & sparks. New dipstick and dipstick tube fitted, plus new seals - turns out that this was where i was losing oil - the old one didnt have any!

Some new stainless bolts on the inlet manifold and the dipstick tube. New black fabric tape on fans loom - finally.

Had planned to put the 264 cams in there this year, but i guess that will have to wait until next spring now. Just need to flush the coolant system this weekend and thats pretty much it for this year.

[zak 0]

Hasan longtime, hows the car running?

[Abdul 0]

H, hows things going bro? Pm me your number again please as i lost my phone a few weeks ago!

 

Really need to pop round (still got that dodo juice lool).

 

Abdul

[fla 9]

Well my starter was playing up for quite a while and needed tapping with a stick i had in the boot every so often. So i decided to take advantage of the warmer weather today and strip the solenoid down. I remember someone asked about this so i hope this helps:

 

Firstly, put the car on ramps, disconnect the battery, remove the solenoid connector from under the car, pushing the two clamps inwards.

Then loosen the lower bolt (16mm head).

Remove the nuts holding the main starter cables on (13mm nuts).

Remove the upper starter bolt, This takes ages because there is not much room to swing the spanner or socket - i have aircon which crowds the engine bay even more.

Remove the screws. Get under the car again and carefull remove the starter from underneath, making sure no wires are trapped.

 

So the pics of the starter - dont know how to add descriptions but i'll post the pics and add some comments in the next reply:

[fla 9]

pic 1 starter removed. Pic 2 3 x t25 torx screws, remove these. Pic 3 13mm nut remove this before removing the torx screws! Pic 4, solenoid partially loosened, you can see the piston in the middle. Pic 5& 6 the solenoid piston clearly visible between the black body of the solenoid and alloy flange of the starter. Pic 7&8 clean thoroughly and grease this portion of the starter pinion shaft (where the black rag is holding the pinion). Pic 9, inside the solenoid, this is where the problems arise! Clean this really carefully, inpect for any scoring and use a very fine grade of emery cloth to clean. Use a good oil here. Pic 10 the starter piston with the spring. Clean the spring, inspect the piston for wear - mine was showing wear at the top so i cleaned this up with some worn out emery cloth and oiled. Pic 11 you can see the wear on the piston at the top.

Another pic

 

Reassemble and enjoy your nice smooth starter! If there is still a problem it may be that the solenoid itself is no longer strong enough to create a magnetic field strong enough to pull the piston either way. One photo i didnt take was if you pull the piston out far enough you will see a hinge mechanism which is part of the clutch motion of the starter. Lube this with some heavy oil.

 

---------- Post added at 10:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 PM ----------

 

pic 1 starter removed.

Pic 2 3 x t25 torx screws, remove these.

Pic 3 13mm nut remove this before removing the torx screws!

Pic 4, solenoid partially loosened, you can see the piston in the middle.

Pic 5& 6 the solenoid piston clearly visible between the black body of the solenoid and alloy flange of the starter.

Pic 7&8 clean thoroughly and grease this portion of the starter pinion shaft (where the black rag is holding the pinion).

Pic 9, inside the solenoid, this is where the problems arise! Clean this really carefully, inpect for any scoring and use a very fine grade of emery cloth to clean. Use a good oil here.

Pic 10 the starter piston with the spring. Clean the spring, inspect the piston for wear - mine was showing wear at the top so i cleaned this up with some worn out emery cloth and oiled.

Pic 11 you can see the wear on the piston at the top.

 

Reassemble and enjoy your nice smooth starter! If there is still a problem it may be that the solenoid itself is no longer strong enough to create a magnetic field strong enough to pull the piston either way. One photo i didnt take was if you pull the piston out far enough you will see a hinge mechanism which is part of the clutch motion of the starter. Lube this with some heavy oil.

[fla 9]

And my new steering wheel, had it for a few years just finally finished it. Had a friend cut the leather for me which wasnt great so i had to do as best as i could with it. Basically if you want something done well either pay through the nose or do it yourself!

Before and after shots, hopefully it will be fitted tomorrow as i've always fancied a nice flat-bottomed steering wheel. The existing one will be for sale soon...

[Crispy Squirrel 0]

Wow thankyou so much for posting this ! ... It was perfect timing considering my car now didn't start despite tapping it with stick + bump starting 3 times still nothing, was going to take car to a garage this week but now i've seen this i might give it a go ... a few things I must say ...

 

*- I've never attempted to fiddle with my engine in anyway ... So is this going to be too advanced for someone with no Mechanic experience ?

 

*- I don't have a ramp to lift my car up either , My girlfriends uncle is a mechanic so I might show him this guide and see what he say's concerning ramp / idea's

 

*- Any idea's on getting the car started to take it to a garage if need be ?

 

Again Thankyou. So upset the car didn't start this weekend, no job means things are tighter than ever so this guide couldn't of come at a better time!

[fla 9]

no worries - my ramps are 4 different lengths of wood planks arranged to form a ramp! If you can jack the car up and put it on axle stands thats also fine. Just need to lift the passenger side.

 

Its not hard at all, but if you know one end of a spanner from the other you should be ok.