Kevin Bacon

Yeah they are ready gapped. The days of feeler guages are long gone :lol: I've noticed that the gaps on the NGK plugs are much wider than the Bosch plugs. Since reverting back to Boschs in my VR6, the engine runs a lot better. Kev

The injectors just accept 12V and that's it, not much you can do to them in the way of electronic diagnosis. Since they are tiny solenoids, chances are one of them has become sticky. You're really unlucky if this is the case as I've never seen a Digifant or VR6 injector fail. Kev 94 VR6

No you can't do anything with the MAF sensor dude :( However, each time you start the car, it heats the platinum wire to 1000 degrees for a few seconds to burn off any crud, so you should be OK there. Just don't over oil your K&N filter!! Relax fella, your engine is OK and by the picture of your engine bay, it looks very well looked after and maintained. You'd soon know if you had a serious mechanical failure. The engine would run VERY badly, if at all. Popping in the exhaust sounds worse than it is, Rally cars do it deliberately to keep the turbo spinning. Shame you're in Bournemouth as I'd hook your car up to my diagnostics program for you. If you want to check the diags yourself, you can buy the special cable and software from here http://www.ross-tech.com They're excellent. I ordered mine on Wednesday and it turned up this morning. I plugged it in and came up with 'no faults found' :lol: The software has 7000 error codes, so it will find any problem straight away. Kev 94 VR6

Speaking of G60 performance, I followed my mate in his G60 today and they certainly pull away very quickly :lol: . The VR needs a good poke for it to wake up :oops: I like his G60, it's so meaty and raw compared to the VR! RE the breather, personally I would not use one of those breather filters. I used one on my 16V Turbo and they clog up really quickly. If left uncleaned for too long, they can cause excess crank case pressure. A catch tank is a much better solution. Just depends if you feel confident enough to make one. Kev 94 VR6

VW systems are very good except for the weak welds. Mine still has the original one on it after 77K and 9 years. It must be stainless to have lasted that long? My favourite after market exhaust brand is SuperSprint. Exceptional workmanship but heavy and expensive! Cheers Kev 94 VR6

Rust won't be a problem as Karman built the MK1 a lot better than VW did, so any rust point so accident repairs. You've already isolated the key area for concern. Check it has no tears and raises and lowers smoothly if both electric and manually operated. The electric roofs are hideously expensive and complicated to maintain. Check the condition of all the seals around the doors, top of the windscreen etc because again, they cost an arm and a leg. Most MK1 cabbies leak a tiny bit, but torrents of water pouring through is not good, walk away. Other than that, it's all MK1 Golf, so the usual GTI checks apply. Smoke, clonks, play in the steering etc. MK1s have crap brakes, so don't be too alarmed or surprised when pressing the middle pedal has minimal effect. Cheers Kev 94 VR6

The M3 has an incredible pedigree, coupled with 50/50 weight distribution, RWD balance and adjustability, light weight (compare to 4x4 Audis) and that stonking 8000rpm Double VANOS six. Yum yum. It's quite simply one of the best driver's cars in existence and it's practical to boot! They do sound unrefined and noisty pottering around urban areas though. The RS6 is a neck snappingly fast car but again, it loses to it's arch enemy, the M5. Audis have never been stimulating to drive since the demise of the orginal 20V Turbo quattro :( Speaking of underdogs, my Mk2 Golf was exactly that. To the unsuspecting public, it was a standard 139bhp 16V wearing 15" BBS wheels, but 205lb/ft torque in a 1050Kg bodyshell meant it gave a few well known cars a very hard time :lol: I miss it :( Kev 94 VR6

Oh yeah there is always the satisfaction in being the under dog and surprising greater machines, but I find it disheartening when I'm giving it the car's all and Mr M3 is just cruising!! Kev

Oh actually, one really simple thing to check.....when you replaced the leads, did you push all 6 fully home? Sometimes people partially push them on because they're tricky to get to. Kev

This is a classic symptom of a knackered coilpack (The £200 block the leads plug into above the gearbox), but may not neccesarily be that. The epoxy resin tends to break down over the years allowing the spark to short to ground. The best way to check it is get it home and when dark, start her up and spray a fine mist of water on the coil pack and check for any fireworks! Don't worry, you will not damage the ECU or coilpack doing this. VW have publically disclosed there is a weakness with the coilpacks and last on average 30-40K. You can repair them by drying with a hair dryer and smothering it with loads of fresh epoxy resin (Halfords sell it). If it's not the coil pack, could be the O2 sensor or Mass air flow sensor. VAG-COM doesn't really give you much info on these items and the coilpack is not monitored at all. The MAF only shows up as faulty when completely dead. I see you have an induction kit, sometimes the oil from these is sucked onto the platinum wire of the MAF sensor causing a false reading. I would say plug into the diags and see what comes up, if nothing, check the items listed above. Cheers Kev 94 VR6

If someone gets up my exhaust on the motorway (happens a lot), I just boot it and then pull over and let them pass. I just sit there merrily leaning on the door picking my nose as they struggle to get past. Oh the satisfaction of being nonchalant :lol: I must admit I did used to get into more races than I'd have liked in my old MK2 Golf Turbo, but such was the midrange grunt, not many things stood a chance. Now I just cruise along, knowing there is a big steam engine under the bonnet ready to be stoked as and when required. Just because you have the power and grace in a Corrado, that doesn't mean you have to exploit it 24/7. How many Porsche 911 drivers do you see tailgating people and acting like twats? None. But they have over well 300bhp under their right foot? Yep, they know that and WE know that, nothing to prove to anyone. I know we're all human and rivalry is in our genes, but take it easy folks and just enjoy your motors and try not to burn them out defending your pride. At the end of the day, no Corrado is slow and they will always win any contest in the looks department. So what if a Nova with a Calibra turbo engine in it dicks on you, what would you and pleb boy's girlfriend in the passenger seat rather be seen in? Kev 94 VR6 - that feels like a VR4 :(

Hmmm, took it all to bits this eve and found that the top cable lever of the direction knob is jammed solid. The bottom one is fine. I have a nasty feeling it's jammed at the flap end. Where are the flaps etc? The cables look like they dissapear off behind the centre console? The dial illumination is done by one bulb in the middle dial, which is then shared across the other two via optics. Totally crap. Cheers Kev

No it's the solvent that melts certain plastics, but not the acrylic used on the inpros. The paint just doesn't stick to the chrome plating, so it needs removing or heavily sanding down first. I tried that but bits of dirt and stuff fell down the gaps and could be seen from the outside, so you need to tape off all the plastic lense bits, especially over the gaps between them and the housing. Kev

Yeah black smoke indicates an over-rich mixture, which won't be doing your cat much good. Could be your MAF sensor, which VAG-COM only shows up when knackered, not when operating out of range. Could also be your O2 sensor. Does VAG COM show you the voltage values? It should fluctuate between 0.1 and 1V. Could be your injectors but when I've spoken to Vince in the past about them, he says they rarely give any trouble. Hmmmm, not 100% on that one dude. Still battling with my own running problems! Kev 94 VR6

Cheers chaps, I haven't actually pulled the heater control panel off yet to see what delights await me behind, but I must say, what a complete pile of shite the late Corrado interior is. The fag lighter just clips in and is loose and wobbly, the whole dash creaks and rattles, the heater dials are flimsy as hell, don't line up with the inscriptions and the other two are poorly lit at night. No wonder it didn't sell in huge numbers!! Oh well, all part of the car's 'character' I suppose :? Kev

Mark, I covered the chrome with sticky back black felt from John Lewis. Painting over the chrome looked cak and pulling the chrome off with solvent looked equally cak. I can't believe Inpro left the housings chrome, it looks so cheap and nasty. Yours look good and suit the car. I was never really happy with how they looked on my car, so have put the standard ones back on! Cheers Kev

I went to adjust the heater the other day to direct the air onto the screen and then it just went all stiff and wouldn't move. The air only comes out on my feet now. Has the cable snapped or something? Cheers Kev 94 VR6

OK Rodders, that makes sense if the engine is off. I didn't know our dear old VRs were sequentially injected until reading the manual, cool! Kev

I reckon Fk have just slightly smoked some inpros, as I did below :- http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/vie ... uid=997567 Kev 94 VR6

From the VR6 'tech manual':- *** Engine Speed / Reference Sensor (G28) *** Engine speed and crankshaft position are registered by a single sensor located on the engine block. The sensor reads a toothed wheel mounted on the crankshaft to read engine speed. The toothed wheel has a two-tooth gap which is used as the measuring point for the crankshaft position. * Signal application: * The signal is used for registration of engine speed and, in conjunction with the signal from the Hall Sender, for recognition of ignition TDC in cylinder Number 1. * Substitute function: * There is no substitute functions for Speed Reference Sensor G28. The ECU recognizes a missing signal from the Speed/Reference Sensor after cranking the engine for five seconds. An impulsing signal is recognized by self-diagnosis when the reference mark signal and Hall sender signal do not correspond. So in other words, the engine would run without G28, but not very well as the Hall sender (G40) cross references it's signal with G28 for TDC timing and sequential injection. If G40 goes, the engine will retard the ignition and won't sequentially inject the fuel, so it won't run well, if at all. Don't dismiss it as the brain having a wobbler, it could genuinely be intermittent or faulty. If G28 keeps showing up on VAG-COM, chances are it or it's associated wiring need attention. Kev 94 Vr6

OK, my Golf had essentially the same setup as yours, i.e. Garrett T25, TT high nickel content manifold (lovely bit of kit), TT intercooler and pipe work and offset bushed pistons to lower the Compression ratio to 8.5:1, but my 16V turbo was supplied and built by Stealth Racing, read on..... Several years ago, Stealth Racing bought the remaining TT 16V turbo kits and enhanced the setup dramatically. For fuelling, K Star KS301 is utilised and takes a signal from a MAP (Manifold Absolute Pressure) sensor. Depending on boost, one of several boost maps is loaded which then control 4 additional VR6 injectors plumbed into a Stealth Racing custom fuel rail. This enables you to supply exactly the right amount of fuel and ignition advance required across the entire rev range, resulting in a virtually lag free and very smooth engine. It's so smooth and tractable in fact, you'd think it left the factory that way. Compared to some 20V Turbo engines I've driven, it's smoother and punchier even than those engines. Have a looky here at my old car on Stealth's website:- http://www.stealthracing.co.uk/sr_p16vt.html I also had a water/methanol injection kit fitted :- http://www.aquamist.co.uk You know how hot your inlet manifold gets? Well with the water injection, after an hour's hard driving the manifold is stone cold to the touch, it's bloody effective and the reduced charge temperature enables you to pile in more fuel and tonnes of ignition advance :lol: Cheers Kev 94 VR6

Ramsay, yeah she fires up OK, I wouldn't say straight away but after say 2 or 3 cranks. The car runs fine when cold, but feels reluctant, sluggish and coarse when hot. It's also been cutting out at junctions a lot recently too. The trouble with those damn valves is they are hard to diagnose and they're completely different to 16V & G60 valves. They are the same valve used on BMW 325is. My old beema used to be the same but changing the valve did nothing, so I'm not confident doing the same on the VR will help either and when the valve is around a £100, its not something you want to try out of trial and error! I'm thinking perhaps MAF or coil pack problems as the O2 sensor is working as it should! I'll get there, eventually! Cheers Kev 94 VR6

They are inpro lights or at least based on them. They are exactly the same as a set of inpros I have sitting in a box in the loft! Kev 94 VR6

Considering that guy had an alleged 150bhp over the M3, it didn't seem to have THAT much of an advantage! Kev 94 VR6

A Bowden cable is just a cable inside a sheath to operate a remote device, such as chokes, brakes, gear selectors etc! I would imagine for £11, the one you had done was the bonnet release one as I'm pretty sure the gear cable would be more? Kev