Kevin Bacon

I use 1/2" for wheel bolts, chassis bolts, head bolts and general big stuff.

I use 3/8" for spark plugs and most fasteners on and around the engine.

I have yet to find a need for a 1/4" torque wrench! Really low torques like 10-15nm I generally do by feel. No issues to date :)

Yep, 12 years on MK5s, 10 years on MK4s.

They are quite specific about their 'anti perforation' warranty though. It's only covered if the rust comes from the other side due to a manufacturing defect. If the rust is caused by scratches, stone chips, dents or abrasion, it will likely go 50/50 as a 'goodwill' gesture. VW tried to get out the wing rust claims by saying the foam rubbing was a 'mechanical defect' and only covered under the 3 year warranty, but that is absolute horse schitt as there is nothing customers could have done to prevent such a design flaw from happening.

Is that what the foam is for? Strengthening? I thought it was a damper or something to stop it vibrating around in the wind?

If it cuts out again, check for a dry joint on the decryptor board that C2 will have soldered onto ECU motherboard. It's the 44 pin chip socket.

Do it. Didn't someone attempt a B12 group buy recently?

Wing rust inspected by my local dealer today. As you can see in the pic, it really is slight. I said I'd prefer a repair as it's so minor, but apparently it's down to the bodyshop to decide.

After what I've read on forums about VW making all the excuses under the sun, today's experience was very pleasant and friendly. I think it boils down to - people are with you the way you are to them. Go in banging tables and shouting, you will get zero help.

The guy paint depth tested the whole car and it's all factory thickness (around 130 microns), which is great - no accidents :) This will almost guarantee an approved repair. For those who don't know why they measure the paint depth, it's to make sure the car hasn't been in accident. The rust could be caused by substandard repair work and won't be covered by the 12 year warranty. Only a robot can get paint that thin, so if they see ~ 400 microns paint depth, they know it's been in a prang.

You guys should consider dropping your arch liners and cleaning out the build-up from the scuttle drains. It affects most VAGs. Prevention is better than the cure :)

I data logged the ECU and it's running 1.2 - 1.3 bar of boost. I can't seem to get a definitive answer on how much boost a stock ED30 runs, but it varies from 0.8 to 1.2 bar, depending on who you ask!. Vince said he will be able to tell if it's mapped or not, but either way it's getting a full custom map on the 3rd Oct. I shall report my findings.

Whilst I'm there I'm getting a Vibratechnics dog bone fitted and a Whiteline anti-lift kit because VW and bushings / engine mounts is a long history of shatness. The MK5 is EVEN worse than a MK4 in that respect.

B12, 15s with ContiSport tyres - Job done.

At least yours isn't a daily as fecked suspension would do my nut in!

The only stuff I really HATE on TG is Hammond and his stupid, Taxi / Bus / Carvan / Airport vehicles / plant machinery, Destruction Derbys........ and the utterly mind numbingly boring Car football type nonsense. Everything else, inc the road trips, I really like :)

I like it when Chris Harris does a serious or enthusiast type piece on a car. His little video on the Audi Quattro and Ford RS200 as a sort of 'meet the heroes' type exercise I really enjoyed, but like the 'road tests' in Top Gear where they're just sideways on every corner, it does nothing for me. I want to learn a bit about the cars, the history, the engineering & technical information, etc - not just see how many times they can go sideways.

 

He's back in the Ferrari good books again anyway - he owned an FF up until very recently, and also owns a 512TR.

Agreed. His P1 video in Dubai was absolutely fantastic. A proper 30 mins or so, the guy from McLaren was there giving really decent info and Chris wasn't wearing his stupid "I'm a Hoonatic" type T-Shirts and it was almost bordering on quality journalism.

I like how Chris - who normally shys away from the media in his self deprecating way - has gone on a timber loss plan and appears to have whiter teeth. Hypocrites, the lot of em.

As for TG, I have learned a lot about CARS through watching them. For example, their Saab piece was superb. Who would have known Saabs were THAT strong without that episode? I didn't know that.

Clarkson is always honest about his appraisals and gives people both sides of the story when it comes to Supercars. It would be a shame to see them ago, but I agree they need to keep it fresh and up their game a little.

VW 'amended' the 3.2 engine several times to suit individual applications and emissions targets, ergo it's impossible to produce a definitive guide. There are even half a dozen different ECUs for them as well!

We should be grateful there is any information at all imo. When I mapped my BDB with a standalone, there was F'CK ALL info out there about coil dwell times, cam sensor tooth gaps, cam phasing angles and duty cycles, nothing, nada, zilch, square root of jack! If VW hadn't kept the crank teeth gap the same as the 12V, I wouldn't have been able to run it all!

Besides, don't you guys like a challenge?!? :) Where's the fun in recipe based conversions??! Real enthusiasts use the grey matter between their ears and figure it out ;)

Like I've said a million times, for a car to handle well you need to match the springs, dampers, tyres, wheel size, geometry, etc, to work together in harmony.

Couldn't agree more.

The cams don't have shells.

 

Your best bet it to take the cams to an engine machine shop for assessment, but to me they're scrap, if you can't machine them to as new the journals will grind away the "new" head and its cam caps as they are softer alloy.

 

You can't swap cam caps from one head to another as they're machined bolted to the head in the first instance, line bored so the bores are perfectly round

+1

Rog, 2.8 and 2.9 cams are the same anyway, so use what you've got to hand.

And got a ban from driving them for his troubles :lol:

I beg to differ on the Passat roof reliability. I have a Passat Estate roof in my VAG junk room with a snapped cable guide. They break in exactly the same way the Corrado ones do.

I agree with the comment re: Chris Haris - I could watch him all day long. It's really annoying that the YouTube Drive channel has gone all pay-per-view...

Can't stand the bloke.

Maybe it's just his facial expressions or lack of charisma, but something about him just makes me think "Arrogant pr1ck". People bash the 3 stooges constantly but at least they know how to engage with their audience and 2 of them are genuinely funny (imo). Harris just destroys tyres. Something Clarkson is oft criticised for ironically.

Yeah mine has wing rust too :lol:

It's only just started. No bubbling, but the paint is starting to bulge just on the lip underneath. Black paint in a dark wheel arch, it was impossible to see on the day I looked at the car. I'll have a word with my dealer and see what the score is. Half tempted to sort it myself as it's so minor and avoid the inevitable sub-standard work dealers are known for.

Maintenance wise, it's the same as MK4 really, so dead easy and tonnes of after market parts and support :)

Had a good chat with Stealth and exciting times lay ahead. If it has got a reflash map in it, one of Vince's custom maps will better it significantly in terms of power and drivability. Ordered a few bits to keep me amused at the weekend. Updated breather and dump valve etc (OEM parts) and a Whiteline anti-lift kit.

Same as Richard Hammond, I like a bit of Black C0ck.

Yep, B4s have always been OEM spec.

I would happily go back to driving a petrol every day. Petrol engines are also catching up with MPG figures, look at how efficient the UP is. I still couldn't use it as a daily when I do 20k of commuting a year. The old diesel Lupo still wee's all over it in that sense.

 

It will be interesting to see what pressures the EUI put on us to stop using diesel cars, given the miss selling of how environmentally friendly they are.

I will never own a diesel now that petrol engines are so good :)

I reckon mis selling diesel was an oil company / government scam. It's a cheap to refine fuel, so much bigger profit margins. It used to be dirt cheap and therefore ideal for haulage, but after it was miss sold to the public, they whacked the prices right up to make mega profits.

More expensive car, more expensive bills, more expensive fuel and it's harmful to our health. The only benefit was high mpg, but it can't even boast that any more with TSI engines and hybrids like Audi's E Tron and the BMW i8.

Diesel is dead! Hurrah! :D

That does look very sweet Kev finish on paintwork look's top notch now is this the last time we are going to see it in such fine fettle as I know from reading some of your other thread post's you are not right keen on Detailing and lovely wax :thumbleft:

Hmmmm, I'll have to make more of an effort with black I suppose! Yeah, it is mint mate. The first car I've ever owned with zero dings and scratches :D Hope it stays that way!

I was speaking to some engineers in Wolfsberg some years ago who said they have to give power readings for all places around the world so they ensure the power is what they say at high altitude meaning we get more :)

 

On later cars they realised they had a problem and modified the foam so the arch liner no longer rubbed, wont hurt checking though.

I had both wings changed under the body/paint warranty last year without any hesitation from VW which surprised me

It definitely feels faster than 230hp :)

That's great info mate, thanks for that. There are reports of wing rust on MK5s younger than mine, so I'm going to drop the arch liners tomorrow and double check!

Yeah VW have gone back to 100% payment no quibbles on new wings, but won't pay for blending apparently. A couple of years ago they were offering 50% because the foam rubbing the paint off was a 'mechanical' problem and only covered by the 3 year warranty. Clearly some lawyers took them to task on that one :D

158 indicated would be about 145ish actual. I got up there MANY times in my VR6 turbo and the speedo is miles off at those speeds. Sorry to break it to you :D

I had white Rotas on my Ice Grey Rado and that looked sweet. Not sure about white on white though. It's a bit double denim.

Indeed.

Seeing as Top Gear is only aired 6 times a year, would we really miss it?

Nice choice Kev . Me n the mrs are hoping to get one in the new year . The TDI is tired now .

Go for it! They hold their value much better than a normal GTI, and the R32s!

I think diesel in passenger cars is history personally. There's a big thing about it being missold to the public and health concerns at the moment, and the final nail in diesel's coffin is VAG's latest 2.0 TSI engine in the S3 / TTS / Golf R. 280lbft torque from 1800 - 6000rpm and 39mpg. With that performance, economy and refinement, why would anyone want diesel??! For comparison, an R32 makes 236lbft @ 2800rpm and can only hold that to 3250rpm, then it drops off noticeably.

Nice car i expected a beemer tbh , looking forward to seeing how this progresses

The ones I like are still too expensive. I will never pay more than £10K for a car, unless I win the lottery!

Yum. What's wrong with Tartan :lol:

Nothing mate, nothing at all...... if ya from the Bonnie Highlands :lol:

I'll be even more unpopular and correct your spelling, it's "losing".

Why do so many people struggle with choose, chose, loose, lose, brakes and breaks?

Keyword: Deterrent.

 

Like it or not, there are people who may in the not so close future who may feel the need to threaten the UK, it's allies and it's sovereign terroritry.

 

We rarely go into a war which requires tanks but we still have those. These days it's armoured guns on tracked vehicles and not tanks. We have aircraft and ships that can fulfill the tank role but we still have them.

 

You also can't say it's fact that we will never use nuclear weapons. It's impossible to say that. Unlikely to use, I agree but you never ever know what the future brings. After all we were allies with Russia not more than 15 years prior to the cold war.

+1

I always remember the quote from the Japanese General in the movie, Pearl Harbour, after the Japs bombed it: "All we have done is awaken a sleeping giant". A deterrent is exactly the point of having these uber weapons. At school, there was always a kid who every other kid was afraid of, because they knew what he was capable of. Adult life is no different. The IS extremists are the little kids poking the big bear with sticks, try to get a reaction from it.

Humans never learn. Just like Hiroshima, it will take a Nuke to shut these cretins up.

FFS! Idiots!!