CurtisRider

And because those standard brakes are a bit lacking, they do the job but aren't confidence inspiring when driving hard

You need to know the oil amounts and viscosity for the fork legs and damping ideally, I didn't find them after a quick browse but i'm sure there must be info online they are a common fork. To do a basic service you should empty the air chambers, then undo the bolts at the bottom of each fork leg, you may need to leave the bolts screwed in a few threads and then give them a gentle tap with a soft faced hammer so the pistons release from the lowers, expect some oil to dribble out of each leg. Once you have done that you need to slide the lowers off the uppers and then clean the seals, get a rag on a stick and clean out the lower legs, you need to make sure there is no poop or grit in there. Slide the uppers back into the uppers but not all the way as you will need to fill each lower leg with the suitable amount of oil, then you can slide them fully in and fit the lower leg bolts. Pump them back up and away you go

Well I'm hoping he was just having a bad day, I understand how my car could be a problem and would be more than willing to resolve any issues if somebody approached me in a polite and calm manner, unfortunately he did the opposite and I feel less inclined to make an effort with him. I'm a bit glad my tall gates had just been shut, he did look like he was going to lamp me and he's not a small fella. My house will be up for sale soon so hopefully an owner of a more obnoxious car comes along and buys it

But that might make too much noise?

Wow my previously chilled and friendly neighbour just came round making threats about my car because of the noise, even asking me if I wanted to fight it out on the drive... not quite sure how he came to the conclusion that would resolve it, how pathetic. The funny thing is I haven't even used it for about 3 weeks and I usually roll it out onto the road before starting as I know the car port can make the sound a bit worse than it really is, it's not even THAT noisy unless revved (which I rarely do unless it's being a troublesome starter). I was thinking about fitting the stock exhaust but i'm less inclined now.

I had just been reading about 1.8T swaps in T25s, I wanted to whack a 1.9tdi in mine when I get this 924 finished

I did read as much as 50! Would there be many issues with doing that? Obviously I won't be going that far but i'm just trying to learn as much as possible before I go spending money I'm potentially going to keep the stock bell housing and clutch setup by making a plate which is cheaper but won't handle much more power than a stage 1 remap as shown hear: The other option is the bell housing from a FWD box, but then that means using the hydraulic setup and seems to be far more involved...by the time I do all that i'd be wanting to upgrade the torque tube and gearbox which increases the price lots but it will allow for more power although i'm not sure i want to go that high.

1.8T question: At what angle does it need to be mounted or does it not matter? I need to work out my adaptor plate and I want to make sure I have enough room for the turbo without doing a retarded downpipe setup

Well that was a Christmas treat, cheers Danny!

Found my T25 under the depths of crap that has accumulated around it. I really want to get this thing on the road! Thinking of moving back to Suffolk so I have no excuse really...

I'm in no rush, I use the Astra mainly now but i'd like to get the Porsche sorted and rolling long again

Nightbreakers are awesome, I have some with a new harness I built so the lights go directly off the battery which was a big improvement. Could you get some photos of the crystals vs standards? I'd quite like some for the Porsche if they are really worth it

Yeah I can't quite figure it out Theres not much shaft going into the spigot bearing as it is, so moving it out by 10mm ish is surely a bad idea! I guess it depends on the housing you are using and how it sits in the previous engine The 924 2.0 engine shares the same pattern as the 5 cylinder but i've been struggling to find one for a good price since I got the car (a year ago) which is why I want to go 1.8T as they are cheap and have decent enough power, obviously a 5 cylinder would be great as the noise is significantly more appealing! I did also consider the Saab 2.3T, annoyingly I missed a complete car for £100 recently as my girlfriend was being a douche. Ideally I want something about 2.0 (trying to avoid big/heavy engines), turbo and cheap, any suggestions welcomed! The desire to fit a diesel has been strong recently just because it's kind of the anti of what that car should have

I'm trying to get my head around engine swap stuff and i'm getting a little confused. When people run adaptor plates that sandwich between the bell housing and engine, what do they do to compensate for the input shaft being 10mm further away from the engine? I'm trying to figure out the best way to make an adaptor for the 1.8t conversion, but there's important things like this that i'm not entirely sure about and don't appear to be well documented.

Well it's here if you need it, probably not worth putting on ebay

Luke I have an electric folding and heated mirror for a leon sitting here if you want it? No case, just the body as such

New glow plugs arrived, car starts well now from cold, woop! I found some carbon look vinyl left over from the Saab days, figured that nasty Vaux grille could do with a coat of it! \ It's been a while since I last did some wrapping so it's not that neat, I've ordered some more so I can redo it and do the rear chrome strip too. The car should be less loud then as the chrome really does look a bit harsh

Why haven't you ever done that? Surely restoring it properly will be far better than spunking money into cars you don't find as interesting

Dangerous territory there Mark, that pop is the be all and end all George told me yesterday that gutting the pre cat gives good free gains in the CDTIs so I'm going to have fun gutting that Best remember to get a new mask before though... I have got the car running even better now, my work yesterday has given me an extra 5mpg over before as well as the car not noticeably smoking at all even when floored which is pretty awesome! Just the glowplugs to fit and a new cam belt+waterpump and she should be good. I am tempted to see if I can swap it for something a bit more interesting, it's a far better car than I ever thought it was but Vauxhalls really don't do it for me. I either want something small and fun or something big and barge like.

I've been busy battling with the Astra this morning. I attempted servicing it when I did the clutch but the sump plug was tight on, the head was mangled already and I didn't have many suitable destruction tools at the time so I left it and just did everything else. I realised today that I have been driving it around with engine flush in it since...I guess all the crap will be free by now haha! I struggled like hell to get the sump plug free, in the end I got my sabre saw out with a metal cutting blade and hacked at it, I then managed to get a 17mm spanner on and presto The oil that came out was seemingly pretty good with no sludge near the end, also no debris in there which is a good sign...I haven't a clue when it was last changed though, my colleague I bought it off didn't remember ever servicing it so It's probably done a good 20k at least on this oil. The old oil filter was split in half, not sure how that has happened! I managed to get the swirl flaps moving, turns out 1 is very sticky but I kept working it with Plusgas and turning it back and fourth until it became free, hopefully they are all ok now... I have also had the EGR off nd scrubbed it all out then gave it an ultrasonic bath, forgot to take photos of the spanglyness though Oh and I changed the pollen filter last week...glad I did! I'm going to order the cam belt kit and locking tools this coming week to do it all over christmas. I also need to service the Porsche as it's done its 4k now.

That's what I have, well had... as I literally just finished the last dregs of it. I sometimes use washing up liquid initially on oily parts, seems to lift off better

Yeah I can't imagine it was that effective, bloody love that ultrasonic cleaner I'll do my injectors with it at some point, it made a big difference to the old ones in the Porsche although I ended up replacing them with new in the end as they were very worn. I'll whip off the EGR soon and clean that as the blanks have a hole in them therefore crap can still get through.

Yeah it's really hard to see, basically there is a rod that joins the swirl flaps and it has fallen off (if you look above where the brightest point of the light is you will see a ball joint and connector), this means the bushes have worn and also could mean one or more flaps are sticking too. I don't really want to do the ideal fix of a new inlet manifold as it's extra money and takes a day to fit. I might just get a rebuild kit for the arm and hope it stays in place... or lock flaps open Just took the car out and it's running back to how it was, so that's a relief!

The Astra was really sluggish today so I decided to look at the MAP sensor as the EGR has already been blanked. Yummy, this could very well be an issue.... A quick spray with electrical cleaner and a few minutes in the ultrasonic cleaner...clean I then noticed a dead vacuum hose upon refitting the sensor and found some silicone tube to replace it And then I noticed this The swirl flap bar is off, this isn't a positive sign although the car has been running well until today and this looks to have been off for a while...

Widebody it.