gjm

PeterVR6's post tells you all about how to grease the bearing, but if it's started to make a noise it may be past this point already. The tensioner we used came from GSF - a local VW specialist told me the GSF item is exactly the same as that supplied by VW, but comes in a different box. And costs half the price... Vince at Stealth told me that the tensioner bearing is available on its own for some VW engines, but not for the VR6. The only option is to buy the whole tensioner. Didn't bother me much as we didn't have any pulley left anyway... And don't forget the new belt too! Graham

On Thursday of last week, Carol dropped me off at work. As I got out of the car I thought I could hear a metallic rattling sound from the from offside of the engine. It went away while I listened for it, so I thought "better look at that this weekend"... The following day Carol collected our daughter from school and went to buy fish and chips. On the way home she heard a bang and suddenly there were clouds of white smoke from the engine bay and the back of the car. Brake, pull over, switch off engine, hazard lights on. I got a phone call - "There was a bang, lots of smoke, and it stinks!" -

I'm going to do some research and compare specs for the Schrick and Dbilas cams. While Schrick produce a 268 cam, Dbilas produce cams with 264 and 272 degrees of duration. I will speak to Vince too. We've visited him a few times over the years with our first Mk3 Golf - a very, very early 1.8CL. By the time we finished it handled well, stopped well, looked great, but really didn't sparkle in the acceleration or top speed department. Hence the purchase of a VR6. A Schrick inlet manifold, 272 cams and suitable engine management should idle reasonably well - the Manta I had (like me Opels, does I!

Is it likely to be necessary to replace just the front mount, or all three? Graham

I've searched the forum and found several references to Schrick, but none for Dbilas. Does anyone have any experience of Dbilas cams or other tuning parts? I used a cam kit from them in a 1979 Opel Kadett coupé and it certainly worked well in there. Graham Not collected the car yet, and already planning how to modify it...