richm

totally agree with mannyo's advice! DO NOT underestimate the grief you will be giving the car at the 'ring, it's absolutely nothing like it gets on the road. It isn't like a race track in the sense of being nice and smooth and gentle, there are plenty of bumps, camber changes and dips, you will be travelling considerably faster than on the road in equivalent conditions not to mention the kerbs lol. As mannyo says, if you want to run "low" you will need te pretty stiff, and progressive springs won't do that, they will still allow a lot of compression early in the travel. There are dips where you will pretty much bottom the car out with the G force, and the Karousel is waaay rougher than you will expect - the combination of the compression and the downright roughness WILL take the splitter off if you run it low enough to be worried about the train and have spring rates that are tolerable for the road As far as pads are concerned, from my experience I doubt DS2500 would be hard enough on standard discs, depending on how demanding you are on the brakes - personally I would seriously consider taking a set of ready-bedded in hard pads, eg. EBC yellowstuff or DS3000. But if you try 2500's on track conditions beforehand and they work for you then all's well! The 'ring is a unique and awesome place, you will have a ball, but if you do nothing else just RESPECT the place or it will bite you on the ass big style. That way you will have the biggest smile ever for a week afterwards .

how much did you "dsimantle" them? As far as taking all the pads out, or just enough to see that there's plenty of pad left? The rear brakes do so little, it's not unusual for the pads to seize in the caliper just because they don't move enough, pulling them out and cleaning everything up so they sit freely in the caliper will fix that. Alternatively for the same reason, the piston could be seized in the caliper enough to be keeping constant pressure on the pads, so try winding the piston all the way back in to free it and try again. Also possible as mentioned that the handbrake cable is dragging, partially pulling the brake on. It'll be easy to check if that's moving freely and allowing some slack when it's released.

It's quite likely to be just the brake pads moving in the calipers or calipers moving on the carriers. The calipers and pads get settled into their "normal position" when predominantly braking in the forward direction, then when reversing any clearance allows the pads or caliper to move in the opposite direction until they reach the limit of the available travel, hence the clunk.

We use Yellowstuff on a couple of race cars - 200bhp MGZR, standard calipers and rotors, and a 400bhp TT with 335mm rotors and Alcon 6-pots. Both work as well as anything else we've tried (including Mintex 1144, DS2500, DS3000), work well from cold and never have issues when used hard. They don't transfer pad material to the disc, wear well and don't seem hard on the rotors. MM1144 we've found to soft and overheat too quickly for race use, but fine for road. Similar results with DS2500 but to a lesser extent. DS3000 are awesome, ferocious friction, but very agressive on rotors, and I really wouldn't want to use them on the road - I had the race car brakes on my vRS for a period to get some pads bedded in properly and the DS3000's were scary - work surprisingly well from cold but get MUCH stronger as they warm up, so braking ends up VERY non linear from cold on a reasonably strong stop. On the road the pads are fairly much going to be cold at the start of each braking operation, so same thing happens each time. Not to my liking at all, just couldn't get nice progressive braking at all, you are slowing down nicely then all of the sudden peeling yourself from the windscreen. Regarding warranty and yellowstuff, I believe EBC specifically don't reccomend them for road use, possibly don't have R90 approval for road use even, so may well consider that they aren't suitable for the purpose from the outset..

don't use Greenstuff pads, they are horrible, better to stick with standard. I've not used redstuff personally, but yellowstuff are great, even for road use. We use yellowstuff on our race TT and they get proper abuse and work well, easy on disc rotors and work ok from cold. I'm waiting for some horseshoe groove discs from CRN, I've heard good reports of their quality for the price too. For normal road use, you can't go far wrong with the Mintex Box kits, good quality and sensible price.

I've had one of these generic piston valves on mine for 3 years (1.7bar boost), fitted and functioned perfectly since the day it went on. I pop the top off occasinally to check the piston is moving freely and sealing properly, but haven't had to touch it, just put the top back on

TT hub carriers are quite different to "normal" A4 platform - TT wheelbase is significantly shorter than the standard platform and hence the steering arms and overall steering geometry will change. It may or may not have significant effect in practice, but bear it in mind and investigate before rushing off to change everything. Some Leon Cupra also use the cast arms, so maybe their hub carriers may be more compatible?

2004 Octavia will be ISO9141 (K-line) diagnostic, not CAN. Mk2 2005-on cars are CAN

I'm with westallc - turn off asr and be sensible with the right pedal. Wrong Wheel Drive has crap traction designed in, just have to live with it. Only real improvement will come from LSD and the best tyres you can afford to wear out in 8000miles..

the AUQ engine is mapped for 98RON fuel to achieve the quoted 180bhp. Whilst it will run quite happily on 95, at higher loads the engine management will be pulling quite a bit of ignition retard in response to knock signals (quite enlightening watching the figures on vagcom etc), and will not produce the same power. How noticeable this is when driving seems to be a matter of individal perception and/or vehicle, but once remapped (unless deliberately mapped for 95) it will be very noticeable. Mine was significantly better with 97/98 even when standard, other people report less noticeable differences.

this is a very interesting point which I wasn't aware of until recently - my local VAG specialist was replacing a starter on a TDi Golf that I'd looked at and said it would solve warm starting problem (although he couldn't explain why). Disconnecting the coolant sensor made the warm engine start instantly every time, and I couldn't understand how changing the starter would fix the problem, as it "seemed" to be turning over fine. Disconnecting the sensor makes it appear as if it's cold so presumably the minimum 250rpm cranking speed doesn't then apply. Do you have any links to more information on this? Or is it just "one of those things" that experience discovers? Cheers Rich

alternatively get yours ultrasonically cleaned, they will get back to essentially new performance and you then know what you have got.

The only thing that precious metal tipped plugs do for you is extend the service life, but you pay accordingly, there is no measurable benefit over a correctly spec'd copper core plug. NGK BKR7E works perfectly, just needs changing more regularly to get the best performance, and they are cheap as chips. Another alternative that may not be so well known is Motorcraft AGPR071C - these really are cheap, can be had for £8-9 a set - popular fitment in Sierra/Escort Cosworth to 400bhp or so and work brilliantly.

Are you guys trying to run a AFR gauge from the rear (4-wire ) sensor? Is the Cat still fitted? If so then you will never get any sense. If the cat is working and the system is operating in closed-loop (ie cruise conditions, not accelerating or full throttle) then the back sensor output just sits static. The second sensor is there purely to monitor that the cat is functioning correctly and has nothing to do with fuel control and doesn't switch in the way you are expecting. Neither can you get a signal off the front widebend sensor for the AFR gauge. The only option is to get a dedicated narrowband sensor fitted pre-cat to drive the gauge.

have you considered Celtic Tuning - http://www.celtictuning.co.uk/Locations.aspx - they are not far awy.

Yes I have one - good build quality and fit. I cut the resonator box out of mine and welded in a 200CEL £70 sports cat , had it on the car 2 years now and no problem. Waaaay cheaper than the normal "sports Cat downpipes" that are otherwise available.

anyone got any reliable data or experience relating to how much power/torque the 5-speed box will cope with in a 1000kg race car? (also considering it may be run with full slick tyres from time to time, rest of the time on Bridgestone RE070 due to regulation limitations ) The 6-speed box is hugely heavier that 5-speed but we're reluctant to change if it will introduce reliability issues. Currently running a 2wd TT with GT3071R at 1.6bar and 340bhp but will be more than 400bhp for this year, and my opinion is the 5-speed just won't be reliable enough.. any views from thos that have tried?

Well for anyone interested, I have confirmation from Bosch: 038 906 051 C (Bosch ref. 0281 002 401) is 3-bar 038 906 051 D (Bosch ref. 0261 230 073) is 2.5Bar I have seen at least 2 companies on the 'net advertising 0261 230 073 as a 4Bar sensor... :wonder:

Can someone positively confirm the pressure range of a couple of MAP sensors please?? 038 906 051 C (Bosch ref. 0281 002 401) 038 906 051 D (Bosch ref. 0261 230 073) My information says that the "C" suffix is 300KPa absolute, and "D" suffix is 400KPa absolute (ie up to 2-bar and 3-bar boost respectively) - can someone catagorically cofirm? Strange thing is I have a "D" suffix part (genuine VAG part with correct labelling etc) but it only has a 250KPa range - outputs 4.65V @ 250KPa as per bosch spec for 250KPA sensor) MAny thanks for any assistance

You could try these guys for an engine - http://autos.blue-sock.com/clients/9/blist.php They have a huge place with a lot of stuff and will ship to you on a pallet if need be

Sorry, it is you that is mistaken my friend. There are a number of suspension bolts that are "stretch" type. If the torque specification includes a stage which turns the bolt through an angle rather than just tightening to a torque setting, then they are stretch bolts and should technically be replaced.

Try these guys for major parts, they are a huge concern with a wide range of good quality parts - http://autos.blue-sock.com/clients/9/blist.php

depending on your outlook and how keen you are for the car to behave nicely, bear in mind how cr@p the standard rear bushes are even when new, they may as well be plasticine as far as handling is concerned. So you could add the choice of changing the bushes for something that will work, either polyurethane aftermarket or the solid variant used in the TT. They are easy enough to get out without a press - cut through the outer metal shell of the bush with a hacksaw fed through the void, that will release the press-fit of the bush and you can tap it out easily. Depending what you replace them with will determine if you need a press - poly bushes you can fit yourself, the solid OE TT option (or indeed a standard OE Skoda replacement) will need pressing in.

Totally agree, DMF is a load of tosh, no vibrating and rattling gear train on mine after fitting SMF. Gearboxes never used to break, so what is supposed to have suddenly changed now? The abundence of SMF flywheel/clutch kits available as replacements must tell you something

only just noticed this - as you presumably discovered, it's easy to prise open the stalk and get to the contacts. Same happened to mine, dodgy contacts meant it kept dropping out randomly. Readjusted the contact springs and all was well