Allanw

The germans have to comply with their greenie laws of using a whole heap of recycled plastics - that's why so many of the German plastics disintegrate early. Even the underbody trays etc start going brittle and weak. I tend to replace them with alloy versions were possible. In reality - once the plastics are on their last legs, you'll usually find half the rubber pipes aren't much better - especially those on the hot side.

I had a 6 x 7.2 garage build on the gable end of our house, with a 1.2 eave that extended and matched up perfectly with the roofline of the house. It was the closest we could get without having to actually extend the house (which looked to be about twice the cost!) Versatile quoted a horrendous amount of money for a half-arsed suggestion and were still not even including the options I wanted. SKYLINE here in Whangarei were AMAZING, came in cheaper, even with the mesh in the concrete, perfectly aligned roof and it integrated into the house, exactly like it was supposed to have always been there. I'd 100% use them again. I don't know if the other Skyline franchisees are they same, but these Whangarei guys are superb!

So did I... $4.78! I spent it on tools... along with several other hundreds of dollars ?

My neighbour had the floor of his tilted slightly, so he could wash his cars out of the sun, wash underneath while on the hoist but even in the garage bays, so he can hose them out if required. The hoist bay is walled off from the other 4 bays, it it can be wet as hell in there without it getting on his other toys. He also painted the floor, so it's easy to wash away the Austin Healey stains ?

It's not factory manual, which I guess devalues it as a full-on collectors item... but it looks to be a tidy car!

https://www.gsparkplug.com/1x-ngk-copper-core-spark-plug-bkr6equp-3199.html Nearly half price. 8 of them, shipped to NZ (VAT is taken off when shipping to NZ) is 51.66 pounds.... NZ$13.50 each.

"Different", like "rare"... does NOT automatically equal "desirable" ?

If you are looking at the 1.4TSI... it's NOT as reliable as the GTI, depending on the model. Certain twincharged 1.4s are notorious for destrying pistons. Make sure she knows that and "makes" you get the GTI. As a former E39 owner, moved to 2x VW Tourans... VW parts are generally MORE expensive too. Weirdly.

But the BMW ones are freakin uhg-leeeeeeeeee

I installed an R32 VR6 ?. More complicated than a catch can... but very effective ?

It appears to be a VW group 2.0 FSI engine - same as in my Mrs Touran, and what was in mine, before it had "the operation".

I used petrol ? I tried 2 cans on the CRC cleaner, and the Nulon one, prior to stripping down my Mrs Touran FSI engine - they appeared to do nothing, other than pooling in the intake! I cleaned it all out with petrol, a small wire brush, plastic scraper and a toothbrush. Right as rain after that. I'd run the cans throught a couple of hundred kms prior, then had to do an emergency repair one evening, so decided to strip off the intake at the same time. I already had a spare intake I'd cleaned prior, but the head ports and valves had to be done in place. Turn the motor to close each port, scrub, clean and rinse, then I emptied the ports with a mityvac (Use a non-explosion-causing vacuum source!). I think they sprays work well enough on port injected cars, as the port injection washed the ports and valves with petrol. On direct injected cars, EGR, Oil vapour, vlave stem oil and valve timing all contribute to the build up, and heat REALLY bakes it on.

You can wrap it for her present. Then tell her you'll help her fit it ?

Turners: Because if I sell it on Trademe, they want to know where I live for pickup... and that could be dangerous after the sale...

My experience with aircooled VW heads - I'd use a timesert EVERY time. If a helicoil comes out, they try to expand on the way out - makes a hell of a mess. Timeserts don't try to expand, so you can generally just put a new insert in.

But your leaf isn't the ///M version. Maybe you should visit eBay and sort that out.

Blocked injector? Exhaust leak?

On later cars, there is an round connector under the intake manifold, it can cause bizarre misfires, or the occasional hiccup. Worth spraying the terminals with a decent contact spray. Dads old E30 would VERY occasionally have what felt like a single misfire - cleaning that plug solved it..

I thought you could have a "half space" and 6 characters. As Dave said, it doesn't quite work with all characters though.

The smoke will be from a rocker cover crack. It drips onto the exhaust. The Mrs old E39 looked like it would catch fire occasionally... until @Young Thrash Driver put a new one on, after he adopted it. Common problem. And like Glenn said - IF you EVER take the head off a M54, get the block threads replaced with time-serts. If it's been hot, you'll probably never get the head bolted back on. If it hasn't, you're still asking for trouble. It is NOT a simple job, you need the right tools and screwing it up means new block time.

I was at AMI prior to swapping - they very nearly had the policy written up... but a manager saw the list... engine swap 4cyl to VR6, auto to manual, FWD to 4WD, custom fuel tank, subframe mods, minor underbody mods, battery relocation... NO WAY they said. They had previously insured my VW Kombi with double it's standard HP though. I still use them for everything else, and have been really good.

My Touran is with Club Auto. It's my daily, but I've never had to claim so far. They were the cheapest I found, that actually had suitable cover. My (or any) standard insurer wouldn't touch mine either - A Golf R32 = OK, a Touran = OK ...but both frankensteined into one = NO WAY!

That's pretty standard for an M54. The crap solidifies on the coldest part of the rocker cover. The cream is just from condensation. Your valve cover will have a crack somewhere. Also standard for M54's Buy a new one. It's not the cleanest of engines inside, but you'll notice the crusty stuff is limited to the cold areas, and the cams etc aren't too bad for the mileage. The change intervals or oil quality is possibly lacking a little. DON"T rely on the service indicator for oil changes either - ours used to go out to about 22K, but I shortened it up to about 15K, which is fine with the volume of oil in there and getting up t temp properly. If you do short trips all the time, reduce the mileage a bit. You possibly do quite a few short trips and/or your thermostat is a bit dodgy - taking too long to warm up. Don't trust the gauge, use the OBC secret menu - the gauge is a waste of time for telling engine temps - straight up covers from about 75C upwards, which is still very cold for an M54. See here:

In the very late 90's, I used to see one not far from Ponsonby, just about every time I went that way (Heading towards the Zoo). I assumed it was either someones daily, or that's where it broke down, and he pushed it to a new spot every now and then, so it didn't get towed ?

Idle control valve is common issue. Clean it with CRC or similar, and if that doesn't work, borrow a good one to try. It will be stinky alright - especially cold - if it doesn't have a catalytic converter... Dads E30 was a 1990 NZ new version and there was zero emissions stuff on it - not even a charcoal cannister.