Today's spoils.

[physicsfool]

Afternoon all,

I decided to take a break mid thesis writing to determine what suspension i am running, with no previous receipts i just assumed it was standard. to my delight it looks like they are a bilstein/eibach setup. when i popped the part number i found on the spring into google it spat out a parts list from 2007, so i am assuming they were put on around then, which makes me wonder if i should be servicing the dampers and replacing the springs? when i have 2 people sat in the back i am hitting any small mounds in the road.

One of the castle nuts is spinning on the rear wheel. whats needs replacing to stop it?

Also does a decent exhaust and manifold make a big difference to a standard car? how would i find out if the car had been chipped?

finally does this ARB bushing need replacing? (pictured) and what is the piece of pipe called i am holding? its structural integrity seems to have diminished and its pushed together at points so would be keen to replace

happy Thursday y'all

[gaz g40]

The pipe is a breather from the bottom end. Only way of seeing if its been chipped is open up the ecu and see what the chip looks like. As for suspension wise il will not comment as without feeling the ride its hard to judge same with the arb bushs hope this helps

[physicsfool]

Is it worth swapping it with a silicon hose? the breather hose that is.

[G40supercharged]

By spinning castle nut do you mean one of the 4 wheel nuts? If so the thread has stripped in the brake drum and you need a new drum (along with the bearings that go in it). Not too expensive. If you mean the castle nut in the centre that takes up the clearance in the bearing then you are just missing a split pin but the wheel is likely to fall off!

The ARB bushes look standard and slightly tired. If you sometimes get juddering under braking then the bushes are allowing the ARB to move sideways. I would get some Powerflex or similar replacements rather then stock.

The breather pipe thing rots as it has oil from the breather in the bit you are holding. A VW replacement is stupidly expensive if you can still get them. You can remove the pipe altogether (look up 'boost return mod' on here). Otherwise get a second hand one from somebody that has done the mod. A bad blockage in the breather will cause oil to come out of the dipstick tube.

In my experience a chip makes no noticeable difference on its own; if you haven't got a smaller pulley on the charger there is no point in having one. You will have to open up the ECU and look at the chip to see if its been changed - standard one has a silver label if I remember correctly.  It lives under the metal can inside the ECU. The ECU is static sensitive so don't mess around with it more than you need to.   

[z3i]

I have a set of genuine arb bushes that are near enough new and genuine clamps
for cheap