RobinJI

Awesome, thanks guys, I do love this place! The relevance of my current qualifications is a bit of a worry for me. Although my degree's a First Class BSc, it's in Motorsport Technology, and although it involved a fair bit of Physics, it is a pretty specifically applied form on physics, so I'll need to see if I'd be enough for entry, and find out about the need for a Physics A-level. I guess the college/uni where I'd be aiming to do the PGCE would be the place to ask about that? I'm working full time at the moment, but I've spoken to my boss about it and he's fine with me only doing 4 days a week whenever I want, his wife is a teacher and he's been helpful to talk to about it. He's an understanding guy, who's happy helping me out with it in any way he can, which is a big help. I'm planning to use that 5th day to get into a School or two and do some shadowing and chatting to teachers, which I'm sure will clear some things up, and hopefully give me an answer as to whether it's worth pursuing the idea further. I'll try and get up to my old school this week and see if they'd be ok with me doing some shadowing. I did actually do about 6 months as a bank learning facilitator in the automotive workshop at my old college, helping first year students with their practical work, which I'd hope would count as at least slightly relevant experience? I really enjoyed that but needed to work full time and they couldn't give me the hours. Paul, thanks for that. Good to know of someone going through the motions them selves. I'd be fine with teaching a little Maths, in fact I'd probably find it interesting. I had seen the mention of the 20k bursary, but I wasn't sure if there was some sort of catch, like the tuition fees coming out of it or anything? If it is catch free that'd be amazing, and not having any bad money worries would massively help with the work load, from what people are saying it sounds like it's not the sort of thing you can keep a job on the side during. Thanks for all the info guys, it's definitely a help.

Hi guys, this place has been a help to me before in this sort of thing, so I figured this might be worth asking here. I was just wondering if there's many people on here who are either teachers or know people who are? As I'm considering a career change into teaching and I'd like to make sure I've got it all clear in my head before going too far with it. Plus writing this all out will probably help me in its self! I've always quite liked the idea of teaching. The way I see it, it's something that could well be a satisfying lifelong career with decent benefits, reasonable pay and quite a lot in terms of flexibility of location and job security, as well as looking good on a CV should I decide to go back into industry. It should also help a few character flaws of mine which I'd like to improve on. I finished my degree last year (BSc in Motorsport Technology) so from what I've read it looks like my best bet would be to get enrolled for a PGCE course, which seems to be university based, but with a lot of time spent in a range of local(ish) schools. It sounds like to get onto this I'll have to take a QTS skills test. Then at the end of this I'll be able to start out for real, as a qualified teacher? It seems suspiciously short (although I've been warned it's pretty full-on) so I'm a bit cautious that I may have left out something? Finances are also a potential issue, unfortunately I'm not really able to live at home too much longer (nor do I particularly want to), so if I go for it I'm going to have to be supporting my self through the training, which I could see being tricky without much in the way of savings. That said, I'm pretty frugal, and the financial support during the training appears to be mostly based on your degree grade, and as I'm lucky enough to have a first class BSc, hopefully it'd be manageable. I'd likely be living in a fairly cheap place shared with a mate, so my overheads would be quite low with any luck. Does doing the PGCE course without external financial support sound achievable to anyone in the know? Or will external support/a part time job be essential? Then there's whether I'd actually get on with the job. I'll happily admit (and anyone who knows me will back-up) that my personality's quite odd, and a little awkward, but I don't think it'd be too much of a hindrance as when I get into things and especially if I'm confident of the position I'm coming from I'm pretty switched on and loose most of the awkwardness, as well as being pretty good at coming up with answers to questions on the spot. I've always done well in exams, as I respond well to that sort of test of knowledge. I'm good with lateral thinking, which I'd hope could help me come up with ways of getting my point across. I'd be aiming to teach Physics at School level to start with, but moving onto A-levels as well later I expect. I'm a bit worried that not actually having a Physics A-level could hinder this though? (I did a National Diploma in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering instead of A-levels.) I'd have said that areas of my physics knowledge are above a-level standard, but there's also areas that engineering's never taken me to that I'd have to refresh my self on. Gaining knowledge is something I enjoy though, and half the reason I'd want to teach in its self, so I think I'd actually like that, as long as I could keep up with it. I'm guessing the nature of Physics would result in a fairly average amount of marking to do? I've been warned by my current boss that his wife (who's an RE/Philosophy teacher) doesn't get much in terms of weekends during term time, which I don't like the sound of, I'd want at least one day when I could switch off really. Does anyone have any idea what the average number of hours a teacher would be expected to work including marking/paperwork is? I'm thinking my best bet for now's going to be to go to a few local schools to have a flick through the textbooks to check/test my subject knowledge and see if they mind me sitting in on a few lessons and chatting to some teachers so I can remind my self of what the environment's like to work in and see what I think of it, then if I like it get on with taking my QTS skills test and applying for a position on a PGCE course. Does that sound like a sensible plan? Thanks in advance for any advice guys. At the moment it's just an idea, but the more I look into it the more it seems to fit the bill, so I'm quite keen to amass all the info on it I can. The government sites aren't the best for someone coming from a position of relative ignorance (it's one of those sites that throws about 6 links at you per paragraph, so you get lost in no time), so other human beings opinions/experiences are more than welcome. (PS, the plan's to be living in Bristol while doing all this if it's of any interest/help to anyone.)

Can't do that August weekend, as it's Nicks annual party, and I can't do the one before it as it's Retro Rides Gathering. Unless you guys wanted to make Retro Rides the time/place? Big ass car show, with an open hill-climb course, fairly central location (Prescott hill) and what seems like a decent date? (17/18th) Only trouble's 1) I'll already be drunk, and with a bunch of people I know, not really an issue, but as much as I'd love to meet all you guys, my attention will probably be a bit divided, and 2) Most of the cars off here won't really be relevant to the show (you're only allowed in with a post 1990 car if you're part of a pre-arranged club stand.) That said, Saturday's normally pretty chilled, we could all meet somewhere in the daytime to admire cars/catch up, then retire to hotels/campsites/the show campsite then meet up and admire the show on the Sunday? (My Photos from last year to give an idea of what the shows about) Oh, and also, if we're doing it that much later, I'll also hopefully be located in Bristol not where I am now.

You appear to have stolen my plans. Give them back. I'm also currently looking for a job in Bristol in order to move there. Different industry (and I'm actually considering a career change myself, but still won't be competition for you!) I've got exactly the same issue though. The roles advertised are all out of my league as a fairly recent graduate, and everything else is just junk-mail. So I'm pretty keen to here of anything out there. For the record, I'm looking at Motorsport/Engineering jobs, but possibly looking at a move into teaching, in which case I'll just try bike shops to see me through until I'm trained.

Dan, I can't express how much more I like your car now! I really wasn't a fan of how much rear poke you had, and this makes it sit sooo much better. Nice one. Really nice looking A4 now. (not that it wasn't before, just that it's even better now.) Just been back through and skimmed over what I missed over the last few weeks, and all I've got to say is: I'd take OEM pads on a road car that's being used as a road car anytime, they're fine, there's zero safety advantage to uprated pads unless your car was built in/before the 80's or you're driving like a willy. To offer some anecdotal evidence, just a couple of days ago coming home from work I was driving spiritedly, (my car has around a 70% power increase over standard btw), I threw it around a corner as quickly as I considered didn't make me a willy, and waiting for me on the corner exit was a LWB sprinter being towed up hill by a Ford Galaxy! Must have been doing under 10mph. I hit my brakes, which are largish (280mm in 15" wheels) but standard calipers with EBC green stuff and a servo designed when men were real men and worked in coal mines, and it was unthinkable that a woman would drive a sports car anyway (in otherwords, they're crap, and make even a base spec A3's brakes feel amazing) and I didn't kill a single nun, kitten or child. They hauled me up from ~65 to ~5 as quickly as my tyres would allow, no problems, no drama, not a single explosion or massacre, not even a really small one. On a more serious note though, if my brakes had been hot because I'd been driving hard previously (well, I had, but I like being silky smooth even if it's not as fast as possible, so don't tend to hammer my brakes too much), then I'd have been taking that corner slower to allow for it, and I still wouldn't have crashed, brake fade isn't really a safety issue unless it happens in 1 or 2 stops from sensible (i.e. legal) speeds. The bonus of which is that when you hit the brakes in town, because a kid steps out in front of you and you're brakes are stone cold, as you've only just started your journey, the kid gets to keep on pretending to be a jet plane, rather than actually thinking he's a jet plane because of brain damage. Also spigot rings were mentioned along with stern words about safety. They're not for safety, and aren't a safety item, they're a fool-proofing item. Spigots aren't load bearing in use, they're just there to locate the wheel centrally while the bolts are done up. Without them you can just do the bolts up carefully and in the correct order to locate the wheel instead, it's fine. A bit of a pain in the arse at the road side in the rain, but perfectly safe. (Right, that's that off my chest! haha) Oh, and cool pictures Alex, and Mike, you're car's looking good (but badly needs spacers) and the pictures from whatever that VW/Audi/Scene event was look good, nice shots.

I've been away from TF for a little while, as my laptop threw a tantrum and just wouldn't load it for some reason, every other website was fine, and TF worked if I cleared my cache, but the instant I logged in it wouldn't load again. Weird. Anyway, hoping I've not missed much, just more of the usual A3/Leon chat I guess? (Hopefully with the odd picture of Bernard that I will have seen over on Retro Rides anyway?) I had an issue with a bit of the Sciroccos fuel line splitting, and when I went and found some more from my spares department scrap pile to replace it I noticed that the Passat fuel rail I had lying about was fitted with a 4 bar pressure regulator. My car's got a Passat engine, but I fitted an A3 inlet complete with fuel rail, I know A3's use a 3 bar reg, and I didn't think the Passat would have been any different, so I'd fitted the whole manifold/fuel rail/reg together without checking. Turned out I'd been running too little fuel pressure since getting the thing running! The ECU had been adapting to the under fueling impressively well, so my plugs had been a nice colour, meaning I'd thought it was alright. I stuck the 4 bar one in to match my management and hey presto, suddenly under changing conditions when the narrow-band lambda's out of it's depth it's now much smoother, and there's noticeably more torque low down, as well as being much nicer on part throttle. Plus as a bonus it sounds much nicer and happier. What a tit that I didn't check it earlier!

Ahh.. that makes more sense, didn't think it was live for some reason, and I remembered my boss saying I'd have liked the MX-5 racing the last Monday at Combe. Good luck with the race! Also yeah, Rainbirds car looks awesome like that, well done.

Adam, was that at Combe on Monday? My old college was there, who's Radical my work sponsor (white black and orange) and so was the Nemesis the front end I posted a little while back was destined for (black and green.) Unfortunately I don't have Sky, otherwise I'd love to tune in and watch that.

Said as if talking to a dog: No! Bad Skoze, no! This coilpack thing has further cemented the fact I need something weird old and silly as a daily. Only restrictions being that is has to be old, be an estate and get at least ~30mpg on a good day. (I'll convert whatever it is to LPG in the long run.) The one and only thing that puts me off the idea is crash safety, I love old cars, but as a daily it is a worry.

Wheels look really smart Luke. As for them being reps: Do they look just as good? Yes. Are they heavier? Maybe. Are they weaker? Maybe. Would you ever notice the difference anyway? Unlikely. Are you a few hundred pounds better off than you would be if they were genuine? Yes. Sounds like a win to me. I've got a bit of an odd question with regards to 1.8t coilpacks. Basically on Sunday I drove for about 3/4 of an hour and the car started missing under load, letting off for a bit then going back on the power didn't help, so it wasn't fuel supply, slowing down and running at lower RPM for a while seemed to do the trick so I figured it must be an ignition component overheating. I finished the trip and being a 1.8t I figured a coilpack was dying, fired a text off to Nick joking about it being inevitable and checking if he reckoned the symptoms fitted, and he said yeah, coil-pack of the ignition amplifier. When the time came to drive home it was getting worse, and before I managed to limp home, it was getting to the point where I was having to stop and let it cool off a few times to get up hills. Now with a single coil-pack shot surely I should be able to drive the car still? It'll sound like shit, and be a bit slow, but there's still 3 cylinder producing more than enough power to get a 900kg car up slope at crawling pace. So before setting off for a mates place the next morning I replaced the ignition amp, thinking it must be that as it's the only thing that'd kill more than one cylinder and actually stop the car. About a mile down the road it started missing badly again, so I pulled over and threw on the spare coilpacks I'd chucked in the car just in case. Problem solved. So my question is: Did I have multiple coilpacks go at once? Or can a single coil dying cause the car to actually grind to a hault?

3.5 ton gross weights the max on your licence, size doesn't matter, just the weight. I'mpretty sure you canget LWB's under 3500kg, but not all will be.

Good stuff Luke. It'll be worth getting the tracking done when you get tyres, partly because you've lowered it, and partly because that tyre wear's really not right!

With regards to China not caring about America because of them owing them money; If someone owed you money, would you rather they were stabbed? or they got a promotion? I know which I'd rather if I wanted to see my money again. Also yeah, pretty sure no bombs have been set off on the moon, let alone nukes. There were plans to in the cold war, but nothing came of them. A quick Google says no, and I find nuclear weapons testing pretty interesting and I'd have though I'd have read about that. If it did happen though, any more info? (For the record, I don't like weapons in general, I just like physics. I'm a complete pacifist and can't even begin to understand going to war as anything but a retaliatory measure.)

LCR seems like a more sensible choice then Danny, as you don't really need 4wd with standard power levels and you'll get better economy with no sacrifice in anything else. Plus 5 doors can be pretty handy, and the Leon seems to be the exception where it's not a bad thing looks wise, so again, advantage with no disadvantage. I'm an actual idiot. 100%. I took a car designed and made by German engineers, and tried to improve it by fitting an engine designed and made by accountants. At the moment I genuinely wish I'd fitted an 2.0 16v NA engine. The 1.8t gets a lot of praise, and it's an alright engine for tuning, but like all other modern crap, everything about it's made to a massive budget, with a definitely noticeable sacrifice in reliability as a result. Plus with the standard puny turbo you've got all the downside of a turbo engine (throttle responce etc) with the power of a naturally aspirated lump. Sorry all you guys who love them, I like them, but they need stand-alone management and completely new turbo set-up to be any good in my eyes, I'm less than impressed with mine so far. I want something old again (Disclaimer: This rant may have been just slightly brought on by having to limp my car home from my dads house miss-firing all over the place and generally driving like an unpredictable pile of wank, because of what I'm about 80% sure is a failed ignition amplifier. Sack of crap.)

Nice wheels. Going 5 stud then? I was always tempted to convert my Passat for the extra wheel choice. They look a bit narrow for stretch though, surely they'll go in the arches without it? I always think it looks silly unless it's actually needed, just makes the car look under-wheeled, plus surely you'd have to run narrower than standard tyres to stretch on there? Tic, that LCR looks great, definitely prefer the wheels lighter on a grey car though. A mate had a red LCR with wheels about that colour which looked really good, but on the grey car they look a bit odd.

I skim read that and thought you said it'd be 'a reservoir for the saab' which didn't seem like a very responsible or cost effective way of disposing of the car I'd agree that the lights would look a little gash, as said, Leon lights look fine. All red can look good on some cars, but I actually like the standard lights on Leons, they're far from ugly as they are. A very light tint just on the clear bit could look alright though. I'm tempted to do the Sciroccos lights all red when I get around to replacing them (reversing light lens is broken on one of them).

Pretty sure that unless things change job wise I couldn't afford a track day anyway, plus I'm reluctant about taking my only car on track, if it breaks/I bin it my life would suddenly become very, very boring. The joys of living in the country. I'm up for bringing a bike too, pretty sure Tom mentioned the idea in the car thread and a few of us said we were up for it. I'm properly shit on a trials bike at the moment as I've only just got another bike after about 4/5 years without one, but it'd still be good for a laugh. That said, a weekend's not all that long, and the car stuff takes priority for me as we don't all have bikes anymore, and it'd suck to leave some guys out.

I don't get why they ever put the ARB over the shaft in the first place, mk2/3 Golfs always had it under the shaft, and the wishbone/subframe design's pretty much the same as the mk4, so why screw with the ARB when it worked just fine? Mk1s are even simpler, they don't even have drop links at all, it just bolts straight to the wishbone with a D shaped rubber mount, and that's faultless and surely it HAS to be cheaper to produce with several less parts. Reeks of the designers changing it and making up some BS in the board room to make it look like they're worth their wages

GSF's website suggests that they're under £20 for a pair of LCR bearings/top mounts from there. (Link and link) Any of the A3/Leon guys able to confirm that they are the right ones? (I think the LCR ones are stiffer, so will help the handling a bit.)

The plans don't really revolve around the engine, but they'll involve it being pulled out for a bit while I work on other bits, and while it's out there's a few ideas I'd like to try out. It all depends on budget though. If I move away then I'll be pushing it to get the money together unless I land a pretty decent job.

I'm doubtful that an up and downpipe set-up would fit mine, there's a bonnet and scuttle tray in the way, and I'm not loosing my heater or having any external modifications. Remember the bonnet on the Scirocco's a LOT lower than yours, the inlet manifold barely fits under it, let alone a turbo perched on top of the engine. Your old k03s could be awesome, there are big plans for the summer, but I'm not 100% they'll happen, so if you change before then, or if the plans don't happen then I'll pretty much definitely have it off you. I'm not planning on changing the rods unless the plans happen, in which case it won't be quite as simple as just changing the rods

Found out the work experience guy at work sold a GT28 over the weekend for £100 I'd have snapped that up if I'd known! Jardo, I could do an up and under kit, but I'd need the car here to do it as I've not got anything to test fit it on. Mine wouldn't work as there's no way it'd fit in my engine bay. If I did anything GT28 I'd b just tempted to do a manifold that'd fit mine, and make another for you while I'm at it then just adapt your downpipe, which would also be a much nicer way of fitting it flow wise. Trouble is we're pretty busy at work (as in lead times are increasing pretty quickly at the moment) and I may be looking to move away, so I can't really say anything for sure right now, it'd just be a case of seeing what the deal is at the time should you want it doing.

Do what? (It's no secret that despite knowing a little about cars, I'm actually a retard in most other walks of life ) Luke, exhaust wise it depends what you want. I can weld, have access to a 4-post ramp and know how to order pre-bent sections of exhaust tube off the internet, so I can sort of make exhausts, haha. Only trouble is it relies on using the ramp at work and we've got a TVR sat on it with no wheels/suspension/chassis for the next few weeks, not really sure after that. Also yeah, I made the Scirocco's turbo-back system: unfinished downpipe and no tailpipe: Downpipe: Nothing amazingly pretty, but all the gasses come out the back and it sounds pretty reasonable, could do with another silencer though, it's a little loud for a daily!

Personally, even if I wasn't going very low I'd still want to do something about the ARB, just because I really don't like the idea of the suspension not being able to use its full travel without clouting part of its self, it seems a little retarded to me. MPG wise the Scirocco manages ~33mpg with local driving and ~37 on a run, the difference will be more in a leon (as Lukes figures point out) as my cars worse on the motorway thanks to worse aero and small wheels and better around town thanks to weighing about 400kg less. Got my front poly-bushes fitted on Saturday night, the difference isn't as dramatic as I was expecting, because my old bushes were in much better condition than I was expecting, but it's still noticeable. The cars much more predictable/controllable when it looses traction now, which makes pushing on much nicer, even if the difference in grip isn't huge. Also there's no noticeable difference in comfort, in fact I think it's actually a little smoother now, which is pretty awesome. Can't wait to get the rear ones fitted.