Kevin Bacon

That Alfa is a properly handsome beast. Gotta love the Italian flair for design. I like Alfa interiors too.

Nice work on the 4Motion. Love the full recaros in those. Proper Recaros, unlike the naff & over rated ones the Corrado got.

What Konis has it got? FSDs or just regular yellow adjustables?

Good stuff on the Techtonics. I've got one coming over this week from Schimmel for the R32. Did you go for the dual borla one? Easily the best exhaust I ever put on my Corrado - by a country mile.

OK, so they're suggesting the washer or top cap isn't the right diameter for the bearing? Well that would certainly cause you some issues!

Does sound like a fibbing oil sender. Oil doesn't lose 42 degrees in 10 seconds :) Being on the front of the engine, the connection is exposed to crud and water.

You really want to get those fans sorted out Mr Stonejag! You're quite lucky we've not had summer yet :) I used to run a switch from the dash to the black sender for emergency use.

If they're Rota G Force 8x17, tonnes of caliper clearance.

It's Dave Lyons you need to speak to really. He's the main guru and came from Leda.

If the washer's OD matches the bearing and the correct VAG nut is used between to tie it all together, I can't see why the bearing would get crushed. Something's not right there. Takes a lot to crush ball bearings!

Mine didn't initially come with the washers, but when my MK2 spring cap was rubbing on the bottom of the top mount, a couple of washers was their solution and it worked for me. No crushing etc.

The spring over strut, GAZ spring cap, bearing, mount, into housing with nut washer, top collar and lock nut.

 

Originally, we had that washer on top of the GAZ spring cap, then bearing and mount but when the nut tightened down it was squashing the bearing so it turned move freely.

 

That's how it's supposed to be. As I mentioned previously, the spacer washers are there to provide clearance between the spring cap and the bottom of the mount. That's exactly how my GGs were and they worked fine. When I had mine, Gaz weren't officially making the Golds for the MK3/Corrado so I had to use a MK2 spring cap with a couple of these spacer washers. It was all a bit of a bodge really and the quality was appalling too. Never again!

If the nearside water plate goes ping, that side of the roof won't come down from tilt.

If the roof slides manually OK, then yep, the motor is knackered. I had an ebay splurge a while back and bought 4 or 5. All but 2 of them did as you describe.

Either that or the sliding mechs have become too stiff for the motor to overcome. It's hard to gauge when winding it manually. The plastic feet on the water plate guides get hot and break up, as well as binding. The correct grease is critical on these. They get dry and most previous owners tend not to grease them periodically.

Yeah clean out the channels as best you can, lube, then hopefully it will free up and start sliding nicely with use!

I had to use a number of packing washers on my Gaz Golds because the top cap was for a mk2, which isn't hat shaped like the VR6's. They might actually supply the right shape cap now though. My threads didn't poke out anywhere that much either!

Yup. Plugs the end of the sunroof frame.

Yup, 2.5". I had a Techtonics on my Corrado and they are easily the best aftermarket exhaust I've come across. They are better suited to refinement lovers though, giving a nice bassy tone at low revs and zero cabin drone. Probably not for you if you want more noise!

The noise I'm on about is the metallic rasping R32s kick out when the cat's been removed. It's sounds epic the first time but on a daily car when you just want to be quiet in slow moving traffic, it's a annoying! The dubpower outlet is 3"? In that case you'll need a step down pipe to join onto your 2.5" system, but surely you've done that already?

7200rpm is the limit really. Any more than that and apparently the lifters can bounce out of their sockets! My limiter's been raised to a more conservative 7000. I rarely go up there as it is and 200rpm more won't make much of a difference.

A small 80mm cone usually. 80mm being the ID of the MAF end :)

The motor runs at different speeds for sliding (slows down before fully closing the roof) but I can't remember what the tilt does.

I think you're just unfortunate enough to have 2 duff motors.

Did you do the full closure thing before operating the s/roof switch?

Interestingly enough I've just ordered a Techtonics system for my R32 as I find the original exhaust to be stupidly boomy and annoying and I want to kill it to death with a road hammer. Bury it. Then exhume it 6 months later and kill it some more!

Anyway, Jetex do a 2.75" and Milltek do a 3" system for the MK4 R32 but they are just ridiculous, so I would stick to 2.5" mate. The Jetex 2.5" on mine was pretty fruity without the front silencer on it. I warn you now though, the metallic rasping from a freed off R32 can really, really get on your nerves after a while.

Yep, MK5 engines usually see 270-280hp, but some of that is down to extending the rev limit to 7200rpm, from 6600rpm.

IIRC, the gearbox output flanges tap onto the diff shafts over circlips. I would say the flanges are harder as driveshaft steel is designed to have a bit of give in it, so the shaft would wear first I reckon. With the inner CVs disconnected, try and wobble the flanges up and down to see if there's any play. If the diff bearings are worn out, there might also be oil dripping from the flange seals. If everything seems OK, there could be some internal damage.

Are the threads in the CV flanges clear? The bolts aren't binding or bottoming out are they?

It's silicon grease which VW specify for their 'sliding mechanisms'. It's much more slippery than normal grease, is water proof and doesn't attract dirt. When used on an old sunroof of mine, it was the difference between it sliding and not sliding.

Mic, I thought the roof worked on Rob's car?

And don't forget, before you bolt the motor to the sunroof frame, connect it to the harness and operate the full closure. This will reteach it the roof's closed position. If not, the motor can try and slide or tilt when it shouldn't.

Ah, your last comment is making some sense now. Were they even proper VAG bolts being used? I kind of assumed they would be the correct bolts as it would take a grade A numpty to use any old random bolts that were laying around the garage!!

Did you say you're fitting new bolts at the weekend? If so, that may even sort your problem!

If not, I'm suspecting the sump scraping ride height might have left a last impression on your gearbox! Maybe the inner CV flanges not quite running true, which could eventually shake the bolts loose over time. It's hard to explain what a mean, but imagine a mexican wave of force being shunted down the bolts as the CV rotates. Hope that makes sense!!

No the Microphone won't fit down there and yes the cams will work a treat. VAG-HAG's old man has them with a V9 (or could be schrick 248s actually) and his car made some impressive numbers.

1 - The inside lane is poor condition so it's safer in the middle lane

Lorry ruts can indeed make life in Lane 1 irritating. It's still no excuse to occupy lane 2 though, just because the car doesn't feel nice to drive in Lane 1! That's the driver's problem for choosing that particular car, not the users of Lane 2 who want to make progress.

I think some of it is down the 'being in the middle' mentality. Some people still have the stupid attitude that lane 1 is the 'slow lane' and they're too good for it.

I also suspect the older generation are just blind, so sit in the middle using lanes 1 and 3 as buffers.

VR6s never had them. You tend to only get them on 4 cylinder engines.

The driveshaft bolts shouldn't ever come loose and certainly not snap! Something seriously wrong there. How low is the car? Sump scrapers exert massive loadings onto the inner CVs which can quickly see off the diff bearings.

How much backlash does your box have? I.e jack it up and turn the road wheel back and forth. That'll make a nice clunking noise! Also check to see how far you can rotate the wheel before the driveshaft starts to turn. Check at the gearbox end too.

I think you have an external influence causing the bolts to come loose. As I say, on mildly lowered (~30mm) or standard cars, it's never a problem, or shouldn't be at least.

On the one hand it makes absolute sense, but it's the typical response we see to every situation. Rather than trying to understand why car drivers drive that way and look to educate them, they look to modify their behaviour by fining them.

That's the problem. People don't seem to get the message until they are hit where it hurts: in the wallet! How many years have the government / police been trying to clamp down on speeding, drink driving and using mobiles? But people still do it. Some people still don't wear seat belts and that was made law in the 70s IIRC.

I agree that education is important. It's ludicrous we're in 2013 and Motorway tuition is still not mandatory. It will certainly help a lot of people but the biggest issue imo is still attitudes. People don't respect of fear the police anymore and they care even less about fellow motorists. Complacency that they'll just get a warning or at worse a few points and £60 fine. And there are far too many SARPs on the roads (Self Appointed Road Police). The "I pay my tax, I can drive how I like, I am right, everyone else" is wrong types. What people seem to forget is driving is a social activity and we have to share the same road space, regardless of who pays what amount of tax, or any tax at all. There are too many selfish idiots who won't behave in a civil manner and cause road rage.

If I was a traffic officer, I would spend all day targetting and fining 40 in a 60, 40 in a 30 types, mobile users, lane hoggers etc. No warning, slapped with points and a fine. Zero tolerance. It's what this country needs. And bring back public stoning for minor offenses and death for serious ones.

I am having the same issue in deciding in what is best for the car seems to be so many choices and the prices vary a lot from product to product - i am currently running on standard suspension which is a comfortable ride but very soft/rolls round corners.

 

I have read a lot and the KW V3 seems to get the best vote but where can i find them at a reasonable price - best being £1400 so far - possibly a bit too much for me at the min.

 

Cheers

If you don't mind the ride height, I would try Bilstein B8 dampers with the standard springs and Eibach ARBs. That'll sort your cornering out with turning the car into a bone shaker and also won't break the bank.

Having tried 4 different brands of coilovers on mine, in hindsight that's what I would have done. Although the V3s were the best I had, they don't solve the issue of lowered Corrados being worse than standard on bumpy back roads.