_Matt_

I think the best solution is to buy a scissor lift 🤔... Will have one more bash and will drive it tomorrow. MOT runs out on Sunday so it is now or never for a test.

Teves 20 was on my to do list but not sure I want to go that far. The mk3 16v I had for a little while was a piece of cake to bleed. I had my wife out again before kids bedtime and we had another go. We didn't do master cylinder yesterday and there was a lot of air. Did it 3 times. The rears and drivers side were bubble free but oddly the passenger side front that has been bleeding fairly clear bled dirty fluid. Wife has gone to bed so another try tomorrow but there must be some sort of air blockage or something somewhere. The pedal did get rock hard after bleeding but when I turned the car on the pedal went softer again, which if I recall is normal but still feels soft. Though to be honest I no longer know what is normal! Perhaps I will leave it and use to see what happens....

That is odd! Perhaps it is an O-Ring like you thought that had dried out but now moistened up with fuel. I am only guessing though! Good Luck with the resolution.

Yeah same re fluid - it just flows out with pressure bleeder attached and soon filled up the dry lines. I did 4/5 times on my own with the pressure bleeder and pumping pedal before hand. When my wife helped me out I did see some more bubbles when she was pressing the pedal. There was also a big air bubble from the master cylinder. The brakes are a lot better since I got my wife to help and the car stops okay but there is just more pedal travel and i can hear air when i pump the pedal. My system was just empty for the rears as haven't touched the fronts this time around. Perhaps that it is why the car is braking ok as no air in the fronts. Yes on the Regulator i set the bolt so it was fully open. I will try this time with leaving it in the half way position. I'm also going to bleed out say 500mls of fluid from each rear caliper and make double sure my wife keeps foot pressed down on brake whilst i do up the bleed nipples to rule out sucking air back in. When she helped me we didn't do the master cylinder, perhaps there is still air in there. Do you know if there is a order to it - i.e. do master cyl first and then calipers (furthers from MC and rotate) or vice versa? Also the drivers rear caliper is surely the furthest from the MC by pipework length so i have been starting there rather than the passenger side.

They are a bugger. Pete A is also suffering with this job as well. Going to do master cylinder and calipers again today. Bentley says 20 pumps of pedal, press and hold with ignition on for no more than 120 seconds whilst bleeding rears. Same procedure if using a pressure bleeder too which I am. Same again for the front but no ignition. I also pin the regulator to fully open as easy to do with fresh bolts/new regulator.

Yep need to bleed again. It is a real bugger - using a pressure bleeder and someone pumping the pedal. I've also done the master cylinder, abs pump and clutch 4 times. I did let the fluid drain out when working on the rear though. Brakes work fine just too much pedal travel and can hear the hiss of air when pressing pedal. Job for my wife tonight 😄

ha yes it filthy dusty. The colour is nice in the sun. I am about to go wash it and take it for it's first spin. I had a hell of a time bleeding the brakes. I roped my wife in to assist in the end and we followed the Bentley to the T. I have a pressure bleeder and could not get all the air out on my own (5 attempts). I am still not sure if i have it all out, pedal is nowhere near as firm as the modern cars I am now used to driving however it maybe that i have just forgotten what 30 year old brake design feels like. Pedal doesn't sink and it stops fine on the drive, just more travel than my modern cars.

Finally out of the garage ready for a test drive.. and a wash.

Just catching up on this topic as will need to do soon. Can you remove the wiper assembly without removing the black plastic scuttle panels? I have a lot of play in the small gold arm but probably best to remove the whole lot and refresh what is needed. Video attached to show 20240507_141818.mp4

oh no! Are you sure it isn't from the fuel pipe into the fuel rail? They can harden over time and leak. Mine were replaced because of this also. The fuel is at high pressure so it is feasible for it to spray everywhere. Each injector is locked into place with a little clip, perhaps one of those has worked its way loose as another place to look.

Updates, I just need to put the wheels back and do a string alignment and car is ready for MOT. Runs out on 12 May. There are couple of jobs to sort in the near future (fuel pump, waiting on the sender from classics and the wiper mech is pretty loose). Summary of jobs done over the last year, car has has done less than 200 miles in that time 😞. It is almost ready to be used at last: Engine Bay: Timing chains, head refurb, 263 cams, clutch serviced etc at Stealth Replaced Aux water pump with a Bosch unit Lower hose coolant pipe Injectors refurbished Brake booster sensor fixed New coilpack + spacer mod Bosch CPS sensor Oil pressure sensors + sender for cubby console dials New fuel lines, filter etc Chassis Front end: New wishbones with R32 bushes Inner and outer track rods Ball joints Top mounts Rebuilt hubs with new bearnings, abs sensor and rings New discs and pads on stock calipers. May upgrade in the future. They look crap in the pic as were done 200 miles ago. Koni TA + H&R springs Rear end: Refurbished the rear beam with all new parts and brake lines, regulator and handbrake cables. Went for mk4 rear calipers. Discs pads and bearings were done 200 miles ago. Koni TA + H&R springs Powerflex rear axle bushes Body It's in pretty good shape having had a windows out paint job in its life. New rubber trims etc were all installed back then. I had 3 door dings pulled out and there were 2 little scabs of rust I took back ot metal and touched in. Box sections and sills have been treated to Bilt Hamber cavity wax Underside at the rear end I have cleaned up as much as I could be bothered and sorted out any areas where underseal was failing with back to metal, treated, zinc rich primer, gravitex by brush. Stainless tank straps Next steps Get it back on its wheels, wash it and drive before MOT runs out in case of any teething issues. Use for summer. Winter 2024 Perhaps front brakes as have 288s here already, refresh rad support and cross member (both in great condition currently though so may be not). Mocol oil cooler? PAS lines? Dunno we'll see. MIght not, the plan with the car was to do what was needed and make a nice useable example. Will get some pics of it when it is out of the garage.

I'm with Adrian Flux and I was shocked to see my premium reduce from £200 to £150 this year! I'm only with them as Lancaster doubled my quote the year before also.

Maybe the car just needs some real road use and come back to this. I'd may as well change the fuel pump as I have a replacement (but casing is cracked and needs taking apart etc). First I'll get it back on the road as have a list of jobs and want it motd by the time the ticket runs out.

There is a note in the Bentley manual to watch to make sure fuel pressure reduces to no less than 2.5 bar after 10 mins. Thinking back to what I was seeing on my fuel pump testing that is in line with what I was seeing - after 30 mins I was dropping to 3 or 3.5bar, can't remember, but it was 2.5bar 12 hrs later.

The car also has a new coil pack plus the "spacer" mod from a chap on the Facebook site. No fault codes on vcds either!

Yes I did mean the cps down at the bottom. OK I can't leave it alone now, so have hooked up the the fuel pressure to the rail and I get 3.5bar when running, and on disconnect of vac line at FPR I get 4bar per Bentley so this all appears to be working OK. Perhaps the Cam sensor is something to change and that was something I changed on the white car however I did that before the stealth work and it didn't make a difference on that one. I suppose the good news is that car starts fine after 10 mins so going to the petrol station isn't going to be an issue. Angle of pic makes it look less than 3.5bar but it is 3.5 dead on.

Ok installed last the 1 way valve and left it 30 mins - no different. Trying 15 mins and waiting now. Cold start is normal - split second and it is running. Warm is a good 5 to 7 cranks of the starter (not attempts, always starts on first attempt). Car also has a brand new bosch crank sensor. Today is meant to be bleeding brakes and changing a coolant pipe, handbrake adj, arch liners, and front suspension install so I will leave this alone for the rest of the day.

Cheers Cressa, I've reposted this thread as issues with replies on the other one. Ive been away visiting family and the pressure on the fuel pump alone is resting at 2 bar today. I'm going to connect it all back up tonight with the valve in. I did keep the vdo pump I bought from autodoc but the casing in cracked and I plan to take the pump out of it eventually and swap around. At this point I'm just testing to find the culprit rather than add to my.job list. I need to finish the other jobs with axle build, suspension and change a coolant pipe to get the car back on the road for MOT by 12 May.

Hi All, Dox and any others knowledgeable on this subject I would appreciate your steer please. I have finally got myself a fuel pressure kit, less expensive than i had though at £20 off Amazon. I'm looking to get to the bottom of the "long crank issue when warm" I have and have read about on VW Vortex. My current and last Corrado did it and it is annoying and gives the doubt that it won't start when away from the home. The symptons I get are - car starts perfectly from Cold but leave it 30 mins and it cranks longer than you'd expect but will still start. Restart in say 10 mins and it is fine/normal. This did not used to be the case but refurbishing the injectors pushed it from 10 mins to 30 mins. So far I have visually checked the original VW/oem FPR (no fuel in the vac line, can small fuel vapour though), refurbished the injectors and replaced the fuel filter. The pump is original to car looking at it (so 91k old). The car was rolling roaded at Stealth when it had some works done and makes good power, my last Corrado had a fuel pump issue spotted at that point so was replaced with a webasto pump (perhaps that solved the crank issue on that car). I haven't yet installed the 1 way check valve but plan to do so after testing. I did fit one to my last corrado but it made no difference, admittedly the last one was more of a struggle to start and would cough and splutter to life, current one doesn't do this. So far I have hooked up my fuel presssure gauge up to the outflow from the pump (I have simply connected the pressure gauge pipe to the pump rather than T in, hopefully that is ok). It reads a touch over 4bar on prime. After 30 mins it has dropped to 3.5bar and on checking 12hrs later this morning it is now showing 2bar. I realise there is a check valve in the pump so my assumption is this is tired looking at these results? My next test is to "T in" at the fuel rail . I assume I am looking for 4bar there too? Coulple of other questions on what is normal - how long should 4bar of pressure be held for at the rail or at the pump? I assume dropping down after 12hrs is ok and cold start ECU programming demands more fuel to compensate? Would it be right to assume the drop of 1/2 a bar of pressure in 30 mins at the pump check valve is likely my warm start issue as the ECU is looking for a mixture at 4bar? Cheers, Matt

Welcome, your project sounds excellent. Post up a members ride thread if you get a chance.

Thank you. If i hate the powerflex bushes I may jsut take you up on that! That was another area I debated on what route to take. My last one I went new rubber and was happy. A couple of local guys went Powerflex and were happy and I chatted to Vince when it was in for chains etc and he said go OEM front wishbone, R32 rubber rear wishbone and Powerflex rear Axle if modifying the suspension anyway. As they are a piece of cake to fit I thought I'd give it a go.

Yeah i debated what to do with Powder Coating. I had a chat with the place that did it and they have put a zinc primer on and a "nylon" powder coating. They did a great job vs stuff I've had done elsewhere in the past. They even cleaned out the screw threads and have coated in areas missed on previous stuff (like behind the anti roll bar on the rear beam is all coated where as that was missed/light on the last place). The snapped bolts are on the front subframe/front wishbone bolt. The trouble I'll have with drilling out is a normal sized drill bit won't reach from the hole with smaller drill bits. Worth a try though.

TBH I thought it would be more hassle than it was worth to me to take it and refit, especially if i wanted to try and get it working if parts were broken. It made the car worth a bit more to the graveyard so I left it in for that reason too.

Doh! Thanks both. I'll edit the posts and will re-do.

And I'm sure everyone loves a "before" shot of the rear beam: My next headache will be getting this bolt out from a spare subframe i'd like to get powdercoated. Any ideas welcomes, I have tried heat (the hot stuff in the yellow bottle), welding a nut on the end. No joy. Both sides are the same. And lastly a pic of the car before i started working on it.