StueyB

yes it will. you just need to remove the bracket for the center rest. When you say bracket do you mean the one which the four screws go into or the on centre rest clips into? Will happily do this is i decided to remove it. Spartan way... :lol: I spartan'd a parcel shelf once... :lol: Thanks for the help guys.

In the process of replacing an extremely miss matched interior and looking for an answer to a question. Have used the search but i don't think this has been covered. Looking to fit a flat rear bench into a car which has the mounting points for a hump'd one to make up a full matching interior. However I'm wondering whether the flat bench will fit with the later style hump fixings in place? I guess you could hack these out but i'd like to avoid this if possible. Does anyone bar smarties have the answer?

Having a struck a couple of deals to sell on varying head units i own I decided I could buy myself a new one. Ordered it last week and it turned up the following day. Not bad for free delivery: Alpine XDA-311 - iphone integration here we come. Finally got myself a 4 channel amp in the form of a prototype Genesis amp, collecting 2nite all being well: These mean i can finally install my audioscape pods and genesis components. My audio experience should soon be greatly enhanced. More pics to follow...

:norty:

Tis a good guess but unfortunately incorrect. :lol: Thanks Ben, understand the time, money, motivation thing but sometimes its a case of getting stuck in and feeling better about it afterwards. I know your c/c'd passat handles were inspiration for me to do this mod for sure. Once i'd tracked down another pair of wheels to complete the set i'll certainly be putting some pics up. High hopes for these being 'THE' wheels. Cheers dude, was never a fan of these previous but once i saw them in the flesh i did a complete 180 on them. Hoping to have a mess with the coilovers shortly and get the car sitting better as i'm no 100% happy with it at the mo.

So post xmas, i'd noticed a rather wet passenger footwell which is always a rado night mare, potential to be heater matrix ( :lol:), perished door seal, sunroof leak, foilage seal etc....? This happened a couple of times during the seriously rainy period we had back in November so unlike most other issues i have i dealt with this straight away. Suspected the foilage seal as this is the classic cause of damp feet so got the bits ordered from VAG as per the rado wiki, cheap as chips for once. Cheaky mid-fit shot (last shot on the merc rims): Was dreading this job due to being fiddly but after taking one apart the previous week (breaker no.3) i was well practiced. Old seal and surrounding area was mysteriously dry but plough'd on with the job any way as on removal of the foliage cover I could see why these fail. The old seal was as hard as nails and wouldn't have stood up against the elements much longer. Managed to re-secure some of the windscreen trim after uncovering the slight bodge job the windscreen fitter had down. All in all a job well done even tho it turned out i hadn't solved the wet foot well problem. Turned out to be a perished passenger door seal, water was running down the door and body near the hinge, the internal metal section of the seal had started to rust away becoming flakey and loosing form. After removing this and surrounding trim it was clear this was the cause of the leak as the back of well was bone dry where as the base was soaked. Stole a replacement door seal from breaker no.3 and after some swearing at the door sill trim it all went back together and no more wet footwell! :D December rolled round and so to the bodyshop booking, perfect timing really based on the weather that was round the corner. I fear the snow and subsequent salt would have completely K.O.'d the shell. Thankfully Martin @ MH Auto's in Bletchley worked what i can only describe as miracles with the rear arches using panels we'd cut off breaker no.2 and did an extremely tidy job with the fronts. Now have four new arches freshly rolled with both sides paint matched in. Will get some detailed pics up once we have a nice day, car's clean and i have a decent camera/photographer. But here's a few attempts i took whilst snapping newly fitted colour coded delocked passat handles (had them c/c'd when the car was in). Old grey handle: New delocked passat c/c'd effort (notice freshly reformed rear arch): Couple of late night shots following the first time i washed it after paint: All in all i couldn't be happier with the bodywork, level of workmanship on the rear arches is seriously impressive, i've spent a fair amount of time eyeing them up trying to spot weld points, panel differences etc and i struggle everytime. Been over it all with a magnet and its all metal too so no nasty filler to worry about in the future. Only problem now is that the fresh paint shows up the old paint, a bit like tattoo's this paint malarky i reckon. Once you have one you'll only end up wanting more so could be going back for some further body mods and blow over front-top and backend - skunk styles. Father christmas came in the form of a black samco kit, been well over due, cheaper than a full set of replacements and this set came up cheap as chips and without the 6 week wait from Samco themselves. Fitment wise all was going so well until the test run in which as mentioned one of the heater matrix outlets gave way, i guess we disturbed it on removal and fitting. Better to go then tho a min from home than on the motorway on the way to work. So the inevitable dash out and replace heater matrix happened between Xmas and NYE, not planned by any means but heyhoe was on the cards due to mileage. Dash is now back in solid as a rock (dash bolts were loose as arseholes so no wonder it rattled) and has improved audio and headunit fitment no end. Once it was all done tho, the Samco's in situe were worth the effort, smarten up the bay a treat and don't have to worry about old hoses blowing out when giving it beans. Jan bought a barrage of snow based abuse and not a lot of love really. Couldn't believe i was actually driving the thing through half of it seeing as it had only just been painted but this is my daily so it had to be done. Still rolling on the merc wheels i knew i was pushing it, i kept putting off replacing the worn BBS pair of tyres and swapping them over. Finally i got a pair of trusty Falkens sent to my bro's work along with two of the BBS. Changed, balanced and piled waiting in the garage ready one saturday morning i headed over to my parents to swap them over only to loose it on the ice rink that was parents road and play pinball with the passenger side curb. A mint set of merc wheels lined up to be sold were reduced to a mint pair and shabby pair due to two large curb scores on. Couldn't believe my luck! :x February seemed to be hear before i'd even blinked and consequently I was well over due for a service, so over the last few weeks i've been collecting the bits required. Bulk bought some oil filters vagparts.com as i seem to be buying these far two often singularly and went halfs on 25l of GM Geniune Semi-Synth oil with my bro for a bargainess staff discounted price. I then set about picking up a specific set of HT Leads i'd seen on rado forum members car who came over to collect some bits. Specially imported from the good-ol-US-of-A, blue gangsta spec. Tried ordering a set from C&R Enterprises in Nottingham who are the UK importer but such is my luck they are waiting for their shipment which could have been up two a 6 weeks wait. So i decided to go straight to the source - rapidparts.com popped up via google and after exchanging a few emails, Peter @ RP sorted me out, add in some highly recommended NGK Iridium spark plugs and the VR will soon be singing the sweetest tune again. And finally the 'new rollers'...here's a clue: Any guesses for what they are?

Been ages since i've updated this so thought about time i caught up: Needed to source some winter wheels as i'd decided it was time for the merc wheels to go. Take one set of BBS VZ's from the latest breaker: Shod in some new rubber courtesy of camskill.co.uk and their ridiculous tyre prices :D Add one set of geniune VAG carbon fibre look BBS centres: and we should soon be achieving something a little like this: Turned out to be a great choice, car not only drives much better on these (unsuprisingly) but most think they look better than the previous set. Couple of late night snowy pics of the car in its new home (moved out a while back) and one of my bro's Mk3 VR. Xmas Highs included some Samco Black Hose loving and xmas lows included heater matrix death on the samco hose test run. Spent two days over Xmas/NYE period ripping out the dash out, replacing heater matrix and refitting dash. Have to say a big thanks as always to my bro for cracking this out with me and Josh aka mariojoshi for realigning and engaging my box. :norty: Heater matrix death: Other than that it looked quite tidy:

Love the progress Andy and good work on the Audi gearknob, i feel like a started something now. This shot cracks me up coz its almost identical to my effort: and mine: I'll give you a shout next time i'm in Oxford dude as i've got a few friends your way. Also how did you get your alu rings to stick so well to the heater control surround, mine won't stay on.

Yes I'll get one of those tonight, there are odd numbers but they look a bit meaningless tbh. :) Great stuff, those could be the giveaway if there is one.

Pics help a little but i was really looking for a hi res of the inside of the wheel. I'd be seriously suprised if there's no markings at all.

Flick the caps out and have a look what they say on the back. May give a clue, get some pics up tho and if you can some hi res of the inside of the wheel. Should be some markings some where.

A cheeky one of my install. Piece of thin mdf - covered in carpet, screw to bass tube then amp screwed to that. Works a treat as i can easily remove the whole lot to gain full boot space.

Can you get a bigger picture up? Also what does the centre cap say?

As far as i'm aware a 6.5J wheel will measure 7.5J across from outer rim edge to outer rim edge, however the wheel will be 6.5 inches deep. So a complete overall width measurement doesn't give you an exact wheel width or depth. Also should be stamped on the inside of your wheel.

RJ's i do believe. However i'd be surprised if they were actually 7.5J more likely to be 6.5J just for reference. Would like to see them on a slammed VR rado hactually.

Agreed, not difficult just fiddly. A 2nd pair of hands to help put the new one in and get it lined up etc would half the time i takes i reckon. Oh and take note of the order things came off in.

Hello mate, I did exactly this with the car we've just broken and was amazed i actually got these off in one piece. The secret to these is what you use to take them off with. I can not recommend a set of these enough. http://www.tools-n-all.co.uk/Sykes-Pickavant-5Pc.-Body-Door-Plastic-Trim-Tool-Set.?CAWELAID=200314459 Didn't break one piece of trim using these on the whole car. Method to removing i found easiest was to the take the widest tool and slide i down under the protector along the length of the plastic. If you don't manage to remove them successfully I have a pair of very good condition items for £15 the pair. Hope that helps. Stu

Looking forward to seeing this progress, lovely little stash of bits you've got, quite jealous and nice base car too. Where did you get the sump guard from if you don't mind me asking? Looks very mason tech esq. And how much was the Reniz headgasket kit? Stu

Really Exciting stuff Sam. Whats the time line on the engine going in? Also did you paint the inlet yourself? If so what did you use? Stu

Cheers mate, Samco's are literally next on the list, just cba to wait on them, delivery times seem crazy. So am waiting for a black set to come up on here and hopefully get in quick. Mk4 washer bottle upgrade is required for sure, and would help as my current cap needs a mallet to undo the thing. Thanks Zak, big fan of your rado. Merc wheels were deceptively untidy, they were clean enough but i'm a massive perfectionist as i'm sure mates will justify and fancied trying something different. Will get remaining pics / update sorted very shortly so all will be revealed. Taken a while to get used to them tho since rocking the hub caps for so long. Tis indeed the famous bracket, i think even though it came with the exhaust package its actually one of the repro items of this forum. Very well made, and sealed the deal of buying this exhaust as i was included. Some of the mounts are more difficult to fit that others, but overall nothing too demanding, fiddly more than anything else. I'm lucky in that my bro is a SAAB technician so he seems to take my part fitting requests in his stride. I make sure i'm there passing tools, learning and doing what i can myself.

Summer 'if you can call it a summer' updates: After the start of the year woes, i decided to put these behind me and plough more money into the car. Wanted to do the classic magnex + decat upgrade-mod since i had the car and more so since helping mariojoshi fit his. Que a very reasonably priced, low mileage item to pop up on ebay. Turned up and i seriously think i can't have done more than 5k, still shiny as fook. :clap: Picked up a VR6 Miltek decat from Amber Performance in Dunstable, another ebay find but when i realised where they were i couldn't resist collecting the following day. Nice little kit which came with mounting kit including stainless exhaust clamp, nuts and bolts and adapter piece. Turned out the decat fell a touch short but managed to adapter the adapter (pikey i know) to get it fitted and recently have had a new stainless section welded on to remove both the adapter extensions and the adapter piece itself as we were sick of failing to get it all gas tight. Overall tho well happy, sounds stupidly raspy thru the gears. Worth every penny just to see the look on peoples faces when you give it beans, tis hilarious and simply divine through tunnels. If any one is considering whether or not to go decat. I'd say performance benefits are definitely noticeable although the big difference for me is the noise. If you want something which replicates the standard VR note then i wouldn't advise fitting a decat. If however you love a bit of race spec exhaust action which you just can't get bored of, its well worth the extra £70 odd for the pipe, just make sure you get the right length item. Next up was a serious cooling system overhaul, my rad started showing signs of going Apr/May time, got to work one morning and noticed some water oozing down the grille, popped bonnet to see water hissing out of the front end. It seem to be only minor so quickly got on the case to organise a new one. Threw a few emails about the place to try and track down a geniune item and to avoid the sub par GSF items i'd heard about. Managed to organise a very well priced Behr-Hella item from a UK supplier, sent next day to work. Not geniune but based on quality i really don't think you can do any better for almost half the geniune price. Old item, blown in the middle: Thanks to Andy aka Yeti for lend of his old rad to tied me over til the new one turned up. As well as the new rad i'd wanted to order a set of Black Forest Industry engine mounts and whilst browsing fourseasonstuning.com i noticed they had a sweet little cooling kit to replace some of the often over looked items. Thought whilst we were doing the rad and change coolant it would be a great time to switch various plastics which i didn't want to fail in the future: New vs Old: Kit contains: OIL COOLER TO PIPE HOSE,BLOCK TO OIL COOLER HOSE,WATER PIPE,70C THERMOSTAT,T/STAT HOUSING,T/STAT COVER,PIPE ADAPTOR, ALL SENSOR O RINGS. All geniune parts are may add, which i loved. The package from the US did take a little while to arrive and I had to pay import duty on it but seeing extent of the cooling kit soon made me forget price in comparison to what the UK VAG bill would have been. Engine mounts are BFI Stage .5 Polyurethane jobbies, the softest in the current range at 60-65A hardness. For people who want dash rattling, race spec there are two harder spec options above these. The mounts tho, once fitted turned out to be the single best mod i've done to the car. Instantly obvious that my old mounts were well past it. Gearbox mount had leaked all its fluid: Tall mounts had completely done this: Including shipping and import tax the full mount set and mounting hardware worked out at under £150, rather pleasing when thats about the cost of one VF engineering mount. Performance wise, engine movement is heavily reduced. Few added vibrations for the first couple of weeks but they have warn in a treat and i don't think passengers would noticed any difference over standard. Mid fit: Quick bay shot after engine bay steam clean at my bro's work: Attended Stonor Park this year and realised i've been completely missing out, was literally the best show i've been too. The mix of air cooled and water cooled was spot on, very relaxed atmosphere, nobody acting the fool as the hillyside grass stopped that and most importantly the calibre of metal on show was un real. Couple of cheeky snaps from the car park, car in steels mode for a change: Would have been rude not to park next to this: Refurbed mercedes wheels, new tyres & centres, rebushed painted wishbones and some keyring additions to follow...

Just found this mate, thanks for feedback, glad you were happy.

Hmm, i was going in the opposite direction at about the same time - never saw any Corrados unfortunately. Haha, only just spotted this Bally. Cheers mate, remember seeing Mk3, thinking ah nice, then realized you were behind the wheel... :lol:

Dude, hows this all going? If you say its on for E38 i'm gunna be flabbergasted.

Dude, i looked into these a while back when they were first advertised on KW site, i got a serious shock when i heard rough prices. So prepare yourself. :norty: