One thing to remember when considering tuning a RV8, is that unlike a modern engine, they dont age particularly well.

The camshafts and valvetrain tend to wear out which reduces engine power gradually over time without you really noticing.

So actually, the gains of sticking in (for instance) a upgraded camshaft are twofold, you get the original claimed 5 or 10% boost, but also regain the missing 10-20% due to the original camshaft having turned itself round. Now clearly most of the gains actually came from the replacement of worn out bits, but the costs of upgrading the cam when your replacing it anyway are fairly small, so you might as well.

The real issue is once you start, where do you stop. The valves will be leaky, so you'll want the heads off and a valve job done, and while your there you might as well port them, the compression on the cylinders will be iffy, and if your stripping the block to hone or re-ring, you will probably start considering top hat liners. You end up going down the route of a complete engine rebuild which you'll sink about 5 grand into.

Its something i've been struggling with on mine for a while. I dont particularly like the rover engine, and mines suffers all the above issues along with hopeless fuel consumption and a good thirst for oil as well. The idea of pouring 5 grand into it is something that i just couldnt deal with. I'd rather spend the 5 grand on an LS conversion or similar.

i guess just check the centrebore is at least bigger than stock.

Personally, i wouldnt be spending money on wheels just to scrap it. Either get someone with a HIAB to lift it from your drive, or roll it onto the trailer with the existing wheels then jack it and remove them.

That side had a new bearing at the same time as all the balljoint work. The other bearing felt fine so i left it.

I guess i should check the bearing for play!

Seal was tapped in gently with a large socket.

One of the collets was rusted solid, but the other one, i think on this side, went loose when i removed the balljoint. I was careful not to turn it, but i do remember thinking "thats a bit wobbly" and realising it was actually in two parts, which i guess wedge out against the thread when the balljoint is tightened.

As i happens i had an interesting arguement with my MOT tester last week...

They failed my A4 for having a non-functional Engine management light.

It doesnt have one. Theres a bulb position on the dashboard, but A4's built before 2001 simply didnt have it connected in the European market. No idea why, but they're all like that and theres not even any wiring between the cluster and ECU. Many pre-2001 VAG models are similar.

However they've recently added the check for a working EML to the MOT, and the test has no provision for saying "it doesnt have one". It simply assumes all cars have one and that it will work.

He phoned VOSA, who just sorta shrugged and said "we've seen it before with a VW but not an Audi". He then phoned Audi, who insisted the car should have a management light (clearly main dealers with no clue about >18year old models!).

In the end i ended up printing out the wiring diagram for my car, and also for a 2001 model, which clearly showed the 2001 car had the bulb and wiring shown, and my car had nothing which was enough to satisfy him and he passed it. But your average joe isnt going to have that sort of info available to convince the tester, clearly these changes havent been fully considered!

yeh 0.5% is typical of any modern engine running on petrol or LPG with non-working cats.

Had a few decatted cars over the years that have always done 0.5%.

I had similar with mine the first time round where they tested it on the full cat test and it failed, but it was running like shit. Once I fixed the issues, and had it retested, they put it thru the proper LPG test, but the figures it produced would have passed the cat test anyway. From memory it managed 0.1% CO.

This year they put it on the proper LPG test and it failed that with 3.6%CO. Replacement maf and adaptions reset and it went thru with CO near 0.

So while yes, they have tested incorrectly, a properly working LPG system should have no issues passing the cat test. I guess it depends on your outlook whether you press the issue and get the car tested properly and pass knowing something isn't right, or you fix the fault.

Urgh typical. Few months back I changed all the ball joints on the front end, and also replaced the axle oil seals and CV joints.

While investigating my shit brakes, I found this:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VAGcqjiidzjs6neX8

Looks like the axle oil seal on that side has failed pretty badly... Which makes me concerned as they were genuine seals, not cheap shite. Either I've somehow installed it incorrectly or theres something going on with the ball joint adjustment collet thingy that's ruined the new seal rapidly.

yeh i'll do some more miles and see how it goes, then give it all another bleed. Is it just me, or is getting to the two booster bleed nipples really difficult?!

i've bought a couple used original ones off ebay for mine. Wouldnt trust the chinese ones and the 800quid for a genuine one is ludicrous.

The easiest way to tell if its faulty, is simply to unplug it!

The original one would die once it got hot. you'd get about 15mins driving around, then it would cough splutter fart and die.
The first replacement one (used OE from ebay) worked fine, for about a year, then died without warning, with wild fuel trims and pouring black smoke out the back.
Second replacement one is fine so far.

Superpro are excellent quality. Amongst the best i've seen.

Touched on this before a bit but still not sure where i stand.

The brakes on the P38 have always felt poor. But its a big heavy car thats fairly old, and comparing it with modern cars is quite difficult, modern stuff always feels a LOT more powerful due to much greater power assistance (some might suggest too much). Its the heaviest car i own, and also has the smallest brakes of any car i own or have owned for a number of years. So i'm unsure if its right, or it has an issue.

When i bought it the accumulator was burst, so it got a new accumulator and a full system bleed following the instructions in rave. It all worked well enough, but the pedal always felt a bit "wooden", There wasnt a lot of bite to the brakes, and you needed quite a lot of pedal effort to stop quickly. If you heaved on it, it did stop, as we discovered when my mate was driving and didnt notice a motorcyclist, and full emergency stop spec braking had it stood on its nose.

Last year, one the the rear calipers had siezed. Upon inspection the opposite side had been replaced recently (it was shiney silver vs the siezed one which was very rusty) so i replaced the siezed side and bled the new rear caliper only, using the hydraulic pump (ignition on, open nipple, press pedal, wait till nice clear stream of fluid, close nipple, release pedal)

After that the brakes felt noticably better with a more positive pedal feel, which puzzled me at the time, given i'd only replaced one caliper.

When i did the front suspension a few months ago, i noticed the front caliper dust boots were all torn, and shortly after the drivers front started sticking, and also developed a horrible "warped brakes" vibration. I decided to fix it all properly, so ordered a pair of new calipers, and nice new brembo disks and pads (not fancy drilled or owt, just decent quality standard parts). I guess, after things improving so much when i replaced the rear caliper i expected big things...

Today i managed to get them fitted, and bled the system following the rave instructions, except i didnt touch the rear booster or rear caliper bleeders as i figured those hadnt been disturbed.

Took it for a drive and i'm still not convinced its right. Maybe the new parts just need some time to bed in, but the pedal feels (i think) softer than it did before, and not really any more effective. I had expected it would have improved a decent amount once i replaced the siezed calipers, instead its left me feeling a bit "meh". I did 20miles, mostly motorway so not a great deal of braking, and it did seem to be improving towards the end of the trip, so potentially it does just need bedding in.

I'll put some miles on it and see, maybe i should redo the whole bleeding procedure including the rears... what would be really handy would be having a go of a good working P38 to see how it compares. Unfortunately i'm not sure anyone on the forum is particularly local to Fife/Lothians area.

AFAIK Thor is returnless, and thus cant have a rail mounted regulator.

i had a loose tinkly rattle from mine over bumps/potholes.

Eventually traced it to some shit brakepipe work on the rear axle. Someones fitted a later axle case, where the brake hoses go from the calipers direct to the chassis at each side, but then clagged on the earlier pipework with the central pipe connection and hardlines across the axle. The hardlines have nothing to mount to and were rattling.

I wrapped some ducttape around them to stop them rattling about.

ah yes i know what you mean now :)

Whats Russells modulator upgrade?

The later sensors (97>) arent sided (which means you can extend their useful life by swapping them side to side when they start acting up, as it moves the wiper round to the un-used area)

I was mainly wondering if this kit simply converted the early cars to use the later sensor, by providing the required brackets and wiring tail, or if it was a specific sensor for the early cars that wasnt interchangable. I suppose it doesnt hugely matter, it would just be nice to know if it did act up again, i can simply buy the sensor on its own, than the full conversion kit.

Hmm i wonder if its worth pulling the linkages and checking/cleaning everything up before just fitting a new sensor? Or maybe replace this one, but remove, clean and grease up all of the others?

I've done the "back the nuts off a turn and drive round the block" trick before. Sometimes you dont even get out the driveway. I've had it where lowering the car off the jack onto the loosened wheel was enough and you get the satisfying "click" as it breaks free.

Probably not, but despite their reputation, most of the 23 year old electricals in the P38 do still work, where as the "Lucas" crank sensor i fitted a year ago died after barely 5 thousand miles...

Lemforder have been part of ZF since the 80's (and still are).

Its not like Lucas (and many others!) where someones bought out the brand and churn out shite with their name on it. Its a bonafide high quality OEM producing parts for many major car manufacturers.

for the third time, the car has popped a fault code for the front left height sensor, so i've gone to order a new one.

Seems that for early cars like mine, they sell a "Kit" which contains a new bracket, some wiring and bolts and things.

The kit is obviously handed, because the bracket is side specific, however what i'm wondering, is are the sensors used the normal 97-> sensors or are they specific to the conversion kit?