more of the storm red VR6

[Rams 0]

All red rear lights might compliment the painted number plate surround? Good work on the correction, you can't beat that mirror finish

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Yeah that could work although I think I'm going to do the plate surround black if I'm honest.

[timthetinyhorse 0]

More from my technical thread....

 

Just had a look at the throttle damper and as far as I can tell its doing very little, if I open the throttle and release it the damper just compresses and does not slow down the lever with the wheel on, I have proved this by looking into the throttle and opening and releasing it, the throttle snaps straight shut, so from this (if I understand correctly) my throttle is snapping straight shut and not allowing the ISV to cycle and this the car is stalling or the revs drop dramatically below the idol point and take a while to settle.

 

Hope I'm loooong at this the right way.

 

The damper feels fairly good, when fully compressed it rises slowly, the only thing I can see is that the damper is compressed very little before it hits the throttle stop, am I correct in thinking if I lift the doer up a little it may function better?

 

I'm sure everyone is sick of this thread but I need to sort this issue out ASAP.

 

One last thing I did find is that I have a clamp missing off my exhaust at the rear before it goes over the rear beam and its blowing a fair bit, could this effect how the car runs??

 

I'm hunting for vac leeks also as the pipe work clips for my ISV are not good so don't go fully tight nor does the brake servo vac line above the fuel pressure regulator, I presume any one if these even having a slight leek could cause an issue? I will be getting some new clamps to fit Saturday

 

I have tried to prove the maf by unplugging with the car running and when unplugged the car dies so I'm presuming the maf is ok by this?

 

The crank breather line looks to be ok so I'm ruling that out (I had read in a few places this can cause an issue)

 

Is there a simple way to locate a vac leek using some sort of smoke or similar or will this not work?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Rob.

[robrado974 1]

Hi mate car 99% of the time runs great , have been thinking bout converting to ob2 as it cuts out all ob1 problems . Mine sometimes stalls because of the idle and can sometimes drop in revs ,but is good most of the time . I have cleaned it a while back and will do it again at the weekend . Mine is a weekend car and is driven as often as i can , dont think it helps not doing many miles in it ,they need to be driven properly really .The beamer was the 325i i think , i have the mag in the loft .Rob

Edited March 27, 2013 by robrado974

[timthetinyhorse 0]

I'm thinking it might be worth sorting the blow on my exhaust, taxing the car and taking it out for a drive to see if it's an issue that's occurred due to the car being sat for too long........

 

Love the autocar quote, my dad used to subscribe to the mag :-)

 

---------- Post added at 10:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:22 PM ----------

 

My car is a pure dry weather weekend car so it may just need a big run after being sat for the best part of 4 month

 

---------- Post added at 10:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------

 

My wife informs me it's been off the road for more like 6 momth, I'm thinking it needs a run out

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Well I'm glad to have a positive update for you all today.

 

Suspecting that I may have had a vac leek somewhere I have replaced all of the old pipe clips with jubilee clips to make certain that everything is sealed and that I'm not getting any unmetered air into the engine.

 

I also had a go at sealing up the exhaust, it's a bit better but still blowing, I think I need to get it up on ramps and have a proper look as its a nightmare trying to do it on my back under the car.

 

So anyway with all this done I made the decision to start the car today and drive it round the estate (can't go far as she ain't taxed at the moment) I let the car get up to running temp and drove it a bit in 2nd, some slow running and some quick blasts (just to bring the revs up) and the car didn't cut out once! It got a tad lumpy sometimes at idol but other than that it appears to be good.

 

So with that progress in mind I got the engine plastics stuck back on the car so I could close the bonnet and forget about the last few months, I hope you agree the bay is now looking good......

 

 

I also gave the freshly painted rear badge a quick polish up and fitted, looks much better than the old snapped one.

 

 

Last of all a couple of current pics of the car, I painted the grill today as I wasn't happy with the finish so it's not back on, the point of these pics though is that the car is pointing the other way (proof I had it out lol)

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

Rob.

[robrado974 1]

Glad you are getting it sorted and the bay looks great mate . I did the same checks as you at the weekend , also cleaned isv . Took her out for an hours run and all seems good .The other trouble i had was sometimes on a warm start it would be slow to pick up the revs when ticking over . Also got to get rid of that old fuel saver .

Rob

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Old fuel saver? Not sure what you mean bud.

 

Yeah mine is fine warm start now, runs on the cold map for about 3 sec and then settles at about 900rpm :-)

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Another step forward in the quest to get the car on the road,

 

Finished the grill off and got it fitted, the fit isn't great as I had to repair the clips but it's on and better than nothing.

 

 

 

Another little niggle was the cracked mirror glass so that has been removed and separated from the frame ready for a new glass to be ordered and fitted.

 

 

 

And last thing for the day was to get the new indicators fitted.

 

 

Couple of days off the car now as I'm on nights but should be finished next week!! Can't wait!

 

Rob

[GrahamU 6]

Looks great, very clean

 

but why have you parked it in your kitchen? :D

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Lol indeed, can't beat having a bench and sink in the garage along with a fridge full of beer.....unfortunately the house is going up for sale soon so I loose the use of it soon :-(

[robrado974 1]

Old fuel saver? Not sure what you mean bud.

 

Yeah mine is fine warm start now, runs on the cold map for about 3 sec and then settles at about 900rpm :-)

 

Cheers

 

Rob

Coming on well mate , mine has a fuel saver , its like a metal tube about 6'' long , it fits on the two fuel pipes as they run along side the head , instead of them running straight into the fuel rail .Its had its day and i think my problemi have accasionally, is caused by this

Rob

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Ah ok bud I follow you now :-)

 

Well today I got a bit more work done on the car.

 

First up was fit the new mirror glass, massive improvement it has to be said.

 

 

Finally after finding a parts department that didn't automatically tell me everything is obsolete I got my splitter reinforcement bar and got the splitter fitted.

 

 

 

After much battling with the wires I got the head unit fitted (it was never fitted properly in the past) I'm not sure that I like the look of it so it may have to come back out.

 

 

I then set about an interior detail, it's not 100% finished but looking a lot less sorry for itself.

 

 

 

Still need to remove the old tax disc holders sticky stuff from the front screen, paint the wiper arms again and also get them fitted, paint the rear plate plinth then give the wheels a detail and I think I'm as good as done for this year.....

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[clumpy1 11]

Where did you get your mirror glass from mate? And is it heated?

[timthetinyhorse 0]

eBay bud, perfect fit and it's heated yes, just put corrado mirror glass into an eBay search, there are plenty heated ones on there, you have to cut the backing plate a bit as the terminals are spaced differently but other than that it's a perfect fit.

[clumpy1 11]

Thank's buddy :thumbleft: Car is looking good glad you got the running issue's sorted.

[lilfuzzer 1]

well done rob glad its sorted looking forward to seeing it now :)

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Lol cheers Chris but the joy has been short lived!!

 

 

Today wielded very bad news, I started the car up and ran it to temp and I could hear a hissing noise, I had a look under the bonnet and found this......

 

 

I'm sure you will agree my head gasket has given up on life.....I have to admit I was a bit annoyed about this at first but then decided it was a nice way to learn a bit more about the engine so I decided to strip the thing and change it, I made a start today and I have got as far as removing everything but the timing chain ready to lift the head off and I have the engine set to TDC, I'm now waiting for the cam locking tool to arrive before I can go any further however I have a baby due on Friday so progress is going to slow down big style!!

 

pic of how far I got today.

 

 

Thanks for reading

 

Rob

[sankysvr6 0]

Thats bad news, hope you can you get all sorted soon.

[VR6Pete 0]

eBay bud, perfect fit and it's heated yes, just put corrado mirror glass into an eBay search, there are plenty heated ones on there, you have to cut the backing plate a bit as the terminals are spaced differently but other than that it's a perfect fit.

 

You got a link to the seller? There's loads of different types on there...

[fragsxr 10]

probably a bit late but i have a cam locking plate i could drop off for u mate...

[VW_chris 10]

ahh jesus, sorry for you mate, ive had the same sort of luck with my golf, gearbox went on my way to work on thursday, but spent a solid day on it today replacing the box and its all sorted.

let me know if you want a hand mate, also regarding your headunit, ill have one lying around spare tommorow if you want it, fully working, the lcd display doesnt illuminate but works, pretty period too, cassette player/aux, dont want anything for it

[timthetinyhorse 0]

Ok so work froze for a bit on the VR as I now have a little baby boy to look after so I have been stealing the odd hour when I can to get this car sorted......

 

Anyway here is how I now stand. Managed to get all of the head bolts out of the head bar one that decided to shear so that filled me with a world of joy! No problem I thought, just life the head straight up and it will slide right off there.....how wrong I was, after two hours of graft it wasn't budging, I used tones of WD40 and still got nowhere as the bolt had sheared right at the head, eventually after loosing my rag I juts pulled on the inlet until the lower part of the bolt snapped off....I still have the bolt stick in the head but I will press that out no problem so this is what I was left with.

 

 

 

The stud as I'm sure you can tell from what little was left of it proved to be a nightmare, nothing could shift it, I left it soaking in plus gas over night and went back with mole grips etc and still nothing.....eventually I gave up and called my mate to bring a welder down so I could weld a nut to it and get it out that way....whilst waiting I filed some flats onto the stud and got a big set of stilsons on there and eventually it craved and came off just as my mate arrived with the welder!! Here is the offending item.

 

 

Head all removed and on the floor ready to go back on.....don't worry it's not resting on the valves i have it supported :-)

 

 

Now all that's left is to get hold of new gaskets etc and bolt her all back together again......of course it would be rude not to have the aux belt tensioner and alternator powder coated whilst they are off/easy to get at ;-)

[VW_chris 10]

awesome work mate, you going to do any upgradings whilst shes all apart, arp head bolts? mk4 gasket? polish exhaust ports? ect

[timthetinyhorse 0]

To be honest mate I'm short of time getting this done what with the new baby and my mam soon selling the house where the car currently lives so I will loose the garage space and thus I just need to get the car built back up.....

 

I'm in two minds weather to have the head skimmed at the moment as it never overheated or anything as the gasket went on the outside edge but I MIT just get it checked to make sure......