Yes that’s a real shame.

I read a decent article about the EP3 Type R development and how it was honed in the roads around Swindon to make the near perfect British hot hatch.

Cool,any difference in valve size maybe?

More front end refurb pics - Offside - strip down and welding work.

Thank you really appreciate your advice.

Country cruising - If you have a set that would be great, Can you PM with the details please?

I already bought the DS2500. I decided to use the LE wheels, not the spacers.
I expect to have everything ready by the second week of March. I will post the results and also the total costs.
Thanks

Think it is circa 20mins for the HRW and mirrors until auto off

Looks like that price was a jan special, still available on eBay From jjraceandrally for £44!! Still a good price? Looks like opies is competitive!!

As Joe says, there's a thermo switch in the side of the radiator which controls the fan coming on. You have a dead thermostat - they stick open - and the bad news is there are no replacements available unless you are very very lucky and fine one at the back of a dealer somewhere.

There is a heat exchanger between the oil and water, on the back of the mounting block for the filter - the water goes down those two pipes on the front of the engine. So as a rule, when there's a lot of oil and water movement, the oil tracks the water temperature, within a few degrees.

The thermostat should open at 79 to 83C, and the fan normally comes on at 103C (or at least, that's what the internal water temperature tends to be, when the fan's running). The engine will hold at that all day, so don't panic about overheating unless it goes higher. Though you should make sure you have the correct level of coolant and that it holds sufficient antifreeze.

There have been a couple of attempts to replace the thermostat - BBR did one recently - involving removing the thermostat capsule from the inside of the thermostat (i.e. bashing it out!) and using an inline thermostat in the radiator top hose.

Ah needs refinement then!

So in the end I sold the car (remotely via WhatsApp when I was in Oman!) with the broken engine, and took a roughly £3k hit, ouch! The engine design is such that the camshafts act on "fingers" that then press down on the valves, and somewhere in there are hydraulic tappets. A lot of that stuff got damaged on the inlet side, including the camshaft itself (score marks on the lobes). Looks like the tensioner failed, but there doesn't seem to be much comeback, it was replaced over a year ago so any "warranty" on parts or labour would have expired. Bummer.

Anyway, we now have a new car, a VW EOS, and a new problem thread to follow...

No wait, this is the special Japan edition, goes up to 280 mph, right?

All done by hand no doubt Toby!

Thanks Joe. will give it a go!