Handy this internet eh?

Spent many hours dismantling my engine to remove cylinder head but always in the back of my mind I was wondering if the clutch which has the timing marks on it was incorrectly installed making the process impossible. Searching tinternet last night came across a site called vincewaldon.com where a comment was made suggesting clutch installers have been known to get the things on wrong becuase they use those bloody air impact tools which squashes the cover plate assembly on even if its not correctly alligned. So as suggested I removed number 4 injector, easiest to get to, and fed a small wire down through the swirl chamber so I could tell when the piston is at the top. Ladies can stop reading at this point.    Well, turns out my timing marks are way out! Luckily I havent actually taken the head off yet, couldnt get the bloody turbo off, so I just need to order some gaskets and stuff then I can put it all back together and try again. What a fecking ballache.   Thanks to the marvellous internet and especially to vincewaldon.com, always trust a Vince, who has spent hours putting down in good English that you can understand everything you ever need to know about a VW engine.

Topdog PMd you...

Yip, he's suggesting putting a banger in No4 injector hole...

I did put some bog paper down there to clean out all the shite that fell in when I took it out.

3rdforum wrote:

Oi, think you'd be best shutting it where engines are involved...

PS, how is the neighbours dead car...

still under warranty!

Modern shite. Something goes wrong you got no chance of sorting it. Into the garage for all the electronic diagnosis and then £50 an hour for some spotty kid with gloves on to dismantle a full to capacity engine bay full of more electronics and unnecessary bits like aircon, power steering cos the tyres are too fecking fat, ABS, same reason not to mention all the gubbins which allegedly makes it more fuel efficient. I just love my little Panda 750. Everything under that little tiny bonnet is easily accessible, you can understand what it does and it bowls along doing in excess of 50mpg. Mind you, its not perfect. What does F I A T stand for? Fix it again tomorrow. It does in fact have a current problem. There was an occasional banging noise coming from the rear end so I booted the exhaust pipe. Yep, its moving too much, I expect its lost one of those little rubber rings that hold the silencer up. Five minute job then, when it stops raining.