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Kevin Bacon

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Posts posted by Kevin Bacon

  1. Posted

    They make a demonic noise.

     

    I'll never forget 2 of the my favourite MK2s from nearly 15 years ago. John Reay's Helious 16V Turbo (which later became mine) and Mark Harries's white 2.0 G60. They both appeared in various mags from that era, "Performance GTI" and "The Golf" IIRC, before they became bum wiping material.

     

    Anyway, they were both Stealth built cars and the G60 had a 2.0 block with Ross forged pistons, piper 285 cam (IIRC), flowed head etc etc. The 16V T was a Turbo Technics kit brought into the 20th Century by Vince. Both were well over 200hp. The G60 just sounded like nothing else on earth. You know how you can pick out a tuned Ducati L twin with aftermarket cans from a crowd of superbikes? It's the same with the G60. A totally unique noise.

     

    A the time I had a 16V with the 2 exhaust cam and WUR mod and made 152hp (more of Vince's fine work) and these 2 MK2s just pulled away from me like I was stood still. The G60 had the most theatre about it but the 16V T was the smoother, more refined choice which is why I bought it :)

  2. Posted

    Nostalgic cooing of these old cars aside, they weren't brilliant were they, let's be honest!

     

    I had a Mars red Y plate exactly like that and my only memories of it are: Rubbish headlights, rubbish brakes (REALLY rubbish), rubbish wipers, rubbish heater, rust, clutch cable pulling through the bulkhead, tappety DX engine, rust, rust and more rust. Handling wasn't great either, with 205 rivaling snap over-steer on the over-run. There was nothing great about it. A grunty engine in a light shell with a wheel in each corner is pleasing in the same way lots of salt and sugar are to a hung over person. Hardly ground breaking stuff.

     

    It was a good car compared to what else was around at the time, I'll give it that, but it was the MK2 that actually set the standard to my mind and is when my FOND memories of VWs started.

  3. Posted

    Yeah a pre-charge 'sock' thing you put over the filter. It won't help you with standing water but might help deflect splashes.

     

    Sealing the MAF and air-filter in a box is the only way really, especially for a daily. I got through 3 or 4 MAFs trying to solve this because it wasn't just water being sucked on the MAF through the filter, it was also condensation dripping onto it from above from the crank case vent.

     

    MAF sensors are the bane of forced induction tuning. Vince and I tried using a MAP sensor in place of the MAF but the ECU wasn't having any of it (linear vs logarithmic voltage scaling). In the end I went for the MAFless option which just used throttle position for load instead but that wasn't great either.

     

    Relocating the battery isn't hard. You can buy battery trays to bolt / weld into the boot and as said already, BMW cables or make your own from 0 gauge. Or if you want a more custom approach and to preserve your boot space, you can fit a battery in place of the armrest, with some kind of customised cover.

  5. Posted

    Yeah that's an R32 which can cope with the MAF being close to the charger. I was just demonstrating what's possible with a bit of lateral thinking :)

     

    If it was me I'd relocate the battery, run a 3" pipe all the way across the front of the car and up into an airbox where the battery used to be.

     

    Standalones get round many problems of the OEM management but they're not for everybody!

     

    Yep, a cup of water is all that's needed to bend a rod.

  9. Posted

    There was thing on Fifth Gear last night, had a VR6 Corrado (very nice white one, looked just like mine) with 96 000 miles, Dyno'd it and was making 177 bhp, they then lobbed a bottle of Redex through it and made 184, then changed oil, filter (standard), new set of NGK plugs and new set of leads and was up to 189 bhp, (1 bhp below factory from day one) a real testament to how good the VR6 is and lasts.

    Guessing there'll be a run on Redex over the next few weeks, that's over 1 bhp per pound, probs 2 bhp if ya buy it at Asda.

     

    P.S. I was fancying a decat anyway, and would expect that would be one of biggest simple bhp improvements you could make given the choking nature of Cats, anybody know what BHP increase that would bring. My engine only got bout 10 000 or so on it, and got Induction kit and SS Exhaust CAT Back so should be 190 bhp at least, would it make over 200 with Decat? (Don't think Induction makes much bhp diff but does sound amazing! that really why got it)

     

    Hmmmm, it's 5th gear, so pinch & salt spring to mind :)

     

    Funnily enough, ~175hp is what a 2.9 makes when the cam sensor is disconnected.

     

    Removing stock cats usually always blunts bottom end torque on a normally asp engine. They're only really restrictive at the top end where back pressure affects the engine the most. You might find 10hp with a decat and winding the limiter up a bit.

     

    Before you spend too much money, 3.0 big valved, cammed and shricked VR6s don't make much more than 240hp.

  12. Posted

    Jesus!

     

    I just don't get it. It's like the fattest bird ever wearing the tiniest thong. It's just wrong.

     

    And where's white? :lol:

     

    A little stretch does look nice but some of the guys out there are taking things way too far. Check this awesomely-haired guy putting 225s on a 12J rim!

     

    Stone

  17. Posted

    I used to work for a Bentley dealer, and you mentioning this in this thread reminds me that one if the benefits when they released the continental supersports was that it could run on E85 fuel and therefore qualified for a lower road tax band! £165k car and they still get a lower band than your average R32.... Rich people scratching each other's backs!

     

    Spot on! The more people have, the less they seem to pay. Elitism is still alive and well in the UK.

     

    Government to Starbucks: "Oh, Starbucks, we hate to trouble you with this, sorry, sorry, but you've been making millions in the UK this year and you owe us some tax I'm afraid. Sorry to have to ask, but erm, how does, err, £800K sound?"

     

    Government to joe public: "Dear John, your tax return is £1.47p short this year. Please pay immediately otherwise we will take your home, take your kids, murder your cat and post your balls through your sister's letterbox"

     

    Don't worry about the murdering, whilst the floods are washing away Yarmouth they have evacuated 9000 houses, there bound to be full of the latest gamestations and huge TVs

     

    So how was the damage in Yarmouth then? My area of Essex was on the flood alert and I have to be honest, I did have a struggle getting into work this morning because of the bent sign post and the twigs on the road.

  18. Posted

    Somebody educated at Eaton would probably make a better leader...

     

    The flip flopping is inevitable given our bonkers electoral system. We had a chance to improve/fix it 3 years ago, but it seems like most people like things the way they are. Sad.

     

    I think somebody with no education could make a better leader!

     

    That's why I laughed about the government being brought into the modern age with computerised car taxing. There is nothing 'modern' what so ever about the old guard running this country and only those privileged enough to be in the 'circles' being allowed into Westminster. The country is run by middle aged infants.

  19. Posted

    Shhhh Kev, don't let on that's we're grumpy old men! :lol:

     

    I know it's all a bit in jest on here but I feel quite strongly how much the government has misrepresented the public. Recession is a dangerous word, and although we may have technically been in a financial recession the reality is that we're not doing quite a badly as they're making out.

     

    Moaning over a cup of tea is a British institution :lol: Well, moaning over a cup of tea on a forum these days, in the hope some MP in Westminster might actually read our ramblings and take note :)

     

    I apologise for the rant. I'll go back to my padded room now..... :bonk:

     

    No need to apologise mate, I think many of us think the same way at the moment!

     

    I can feel a peasants revolt brewing!

  22. Posted · Edited by Kevin Bacon

    A thought occurs. How do s/hand car buyers tell how much tax a car has left if there's no disc? I reckon this will be a move to taxing the person, not the car. A tax to drive system, but how they tie that into emissions etc, fook knows.

     

    Nail on head Mr Bacon. A couple of percent here, a few quid there we'll never notice. I don't know where this will all end - the cost of every single thing in your life is going one way - UP! Except of course your wages. Surely there's going to be a point where it all goes bang?

     

    Oddly enough, myself and Mr Mic VR have discussed that a few times over the years :) It feels like the government and conglomerates won't be satisfied until the hard working people of this nation are forced into sheltered accomodation and soup kitchens because they've bled us dry.

     

    But we also surmised that some people bring it onto themselves. For example, what better way to send a message to big business that we won't be fleeced, by camping outside Game to buy a PS4, or going onto Ebay and paying double if they didn't pre-order! I mean, FFS. What is wrong with people? A recession, a PROPER recession means battening down the hatches and just 'surviving'. This is no recession. If people can find £600 for a £349 console, £500 for an Apple handset, £50 p/month for Sky subs, 6+35 @ £250 for an Essex White A3 TDI with gunmetal wheels, they have no right to complain about the state of affairs.

     

    The message Cleggaron and their chums are getting from all this is that the country is very much financially buoyant. If they are seeing people knocking each other's teeth out for a console, filling up the tanks of their brand new Audis, buying houses, getting the latest trinketty phones every 6 months, their cash cows can milked even more. Sure, those purchases are part of normal life, but people don't NEED a new Audi every year, they don't NEED a new phone every 6 months and they certainly don't NEED a console on the launch date. Just wait, be patient, wait for the post xmas bundle deals and don't line the pockets of the ebay prospecters . But it seems people are more impatient for instant gratification than ever before. Human beings don't seem to learn from their mistakes. If people are prepared to repay 1000% apr for a pay day loan, then my god we will be f'cked when 500% mortgages become available again, which they will. Round and round the stupidity wheel goes.

     

     

    Still as long as the media is full of stories about how everyone who's unemployed is a dole scrounger living the life of Riley at everyone else's expense, most people in this country will be kept angry enough at each other to not see who's really screwing them over.

     

    Spot on! Press sensationalism is also responsible for the bad feeling in this country. The more astute among us know what's happening and do the necessary, but you just can't escape the bombardment of press horseschitt. It would be nice to watch the news without being told about immigrants taking over the country, storms flooding the entire east coast, Nigella Lawson snorting coke and house prices being the highest since records began.

     

    All of it a tissue of lies. The world would be dull and unproductive place without immigrants. The east coast will NOT be flooded beyond all recognition, who gives a schitt about Nigella Lawson's habits and house prices are just back to where they were before the recession.

     

    Government, Journalism, Banks, insurance companies, ambulance chasers & energy companies, They all need to be killed to death in that order. Then murdered to death. Then stabbed to death and finally, put in the stocks for a public stoning to death.

     

    I think that'll do for now. I'll continue the other 99.7% of my rant later :lol:

  23. Posted

    Once they've got people onto the monthly DD scheme, they'll just start pushing the tax up. Extra fiver a month here, extra tenner a month there. People won't notice on DD, but the Eaton f'ckwits will rake in millions of extra revenue.

     

    This country feels more and more f'cked by the week. The roads where I live are falling to bits, the cost of living is ever increasing, house prices are shooting up yet again (recession? what recession?) and yet, this 'hard up' country has contributed a billion quid to the World Disease Foundation. Nice of Cleggaron to ask the nation if that's where we want our hard earned to go, wasn't it? A billion quid could fix quite a few roads.

     

    When people actually feel better about life and not just told we are by bloody think tanks, then we can start dishing out our taxes to charities.

     

    But anyway, yeah, I get a 4" patch of my windscreen back, whoop! :D

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