Are there any other couriers in the country...

[Tahrey1043]

APART from Interlink Express? Seems that anything the gets ordered these days goes through them, and they can be a bit dodgy (apart from that one guy who ferries computer bits, he's cool). Either that or ParcelForce, but they're wallet-raiding expensive.

(Grr.... the garage has put my booking back a week because the gearbox that I ordered Tuesday, to be there Wednesday morning, is still not there, in fact Interlink says they have it but none of their trucks have left the depot yet! (why wasnt it delivered yesterday?!) Really, the somewhat put-upon mechanic says he wants the liberty of taking all day to be sure it's properly sorted, which is fair enough. So for the 400 mile round trek to dads, and another 70 to and from Stoke for an interview, plus another 40 or so to and from work and pub, I'll be on the knackered clutch, 4 speed, and leaky exhaust manifold. Lovely. Hope it can all last another half a K!)

This means I can't give you any results for another 7 days, GroovyCarrot.

Also the doctors were fully booked, can't even get myself in at the human-garage, so I think I'll go put the Mk4 wheels on now. The Panda eyes look is all well and good but I think I'll save it for another day
(and sorry dave, some drunken fool has got my digicam at the moment so it'll have to wait a day or 2, unless i can use mum's horrible old 1998 thing that she refuses to upgrade despite it being shockingly slow, serial-port-only, and turning out pictures that a modern webcam would be ashamed of)

[KarlM]

ANC, Citylink, UPS, TNT...

Your not looking hard enough!

[Tahrey1043]

Hehe no matter mate... it was just a little rant. I have no control over who they use, its a bulk carriage deal I expect.

May I, however, just add a little extra to that. The buggers actually dropped it in transit and weren't even polite enough to mention it to the mech when it arrived! Luckily he took a look over it before signing - it had a dented end plate, which broke the oil seal, and it was leaking. Complained to the driver.... driver says.... Well, it's a gearbox innit, gearboxes leak! FFS!!!! My current one is 13 years old and i'm always meaning to check it, but it never feels high priority because its always dry! What..... just..... eh.... arrrgh!

I hope he made a note on the sheet that it was inspected and found to be damaged before signing it, rather than just signing on the default "arrived intact" clause.

Luckily enough the rest of it appears to be in good order, except for the scrapper forgetting to include the linkage .... they're top chaps though, gave them a quick call and they were as set aback by is as I was - they straight up offered to pop the linkage parts and a fresh end plate/seal in a biiiig jiffy bag and into the post.. it *should* arrive by thursday.

I'll be lovin' it when its on, bustin down the motorway stuck on the tail end of a queue at 72mph will then be (almost - wider throttle setting) as "quiet" (moderately noisy) as trucking at 60, rather than bloody noisy (and not even a nice engine note - that 1-litre groan ), still with the option of changing down to get the proper top speed.

[Tahrey1043]

Apparently the bits were going in the post on friday...
but the garage still doesnt have them (wednesday, later in the day than the box itself arrived last thursday)...
The yard owner knows bugger all about it and the parts guy went home early....

...KILL...

goddamnit, some people cant organise a p*ssup in a theme bar..

[GroovyCarrot]

Ah, thats a bugger Couriers can be annoying at times. I just hope they pay the repair costs of the gearbox if they knackered it..

It's odd, you say that your engine's quite quiet at 60 and horribly noisy at 70.. for some reason mine sounds like it's about to explode at 60, then when I go over 65ish the noise just suddenly backs off and it becomes a sort of quiet whine.. never worked out what causes that, but it suits me fine Although I'd still love the 5th gear...

[Tahrey1043]

Guess its probably slightly different characteristics of the carb vs the injector engine, resonances, etc Its a fairly constant noise increase from about 35mph on upwards, but there's little sounds that come and go (but mostly come) as you accelerate, making the engine get appreciably louder than eg the tyre noise.
In my case, it has one noticable hike *just* as you reach an indicated 40mph, so the quietest cruising of all comes at around 38, probably about 36.5mph real speed, exactly on 60kph?... (projected to about 45mph with theoretical 5th ) ... then whatever buzz or whine is there decreases a little, or at least is absorbed into the general rising background noise til the low 60s... from 63 thru maybe 67 it gets quickly a lot.... whats the word... hummier, dronier, something like that. Starts to penetrate through the stereo. But thats fair enough seeing as it's sitting at 4000 revs when you drive the legal motorway limit.... 65 is about the best balance of not falling asleep and of mind-drilling resonance. With 5th, that particular blend wouldn't be back around til 75 and the tyre/wind noise would be more of a problem then.
(It's also got a lot to do with throttle position of course.... which may scrub off a little of the benefit if I have to use a wider setting in high gear... if i try to keep a constant 70 it's VERY noticably boomier than low 60s going uphill)
Over 80 its a wailing banshee; past 90 it's a howling banshee being drowned in a bath of boiling acid.... but again thats because the revs are about where the speedo change-up marks are for the lower gears... and you have no choice if you want to go at those speeds, itd be 4th or nothing past ~130kph, really (well... you might make 85mph, but would lose it *immediately* on reaching a hill).

Anyway I dunno if it's the couriers this time... I think the blame probably lays with the breakers. If it all goes to hell and it's tracably their bad, then I'll put their name up as a warning. Or it might be that first their couriering firm, and then the royal mail (apparently the parts are small enough to post) have screwed the two of us over.

I'll see what the situ is in the morning. If no bits, then screw it..... i'll say with the 4-speed massive and get my money back by hook or indeed by crook (or by complaining vocally to BreakerLink ). I'm not putting the clutch or exhaust repairs back yet another week. At least then I'll have those 'is it the clutch or the linkage?' answers for you!

Cuz seriously... having it done now was to save both cash and hassle. If it doesnt happen tomorrow, then it'll be far easier and cheaper to buy another polo with 5sp (and 1.3? or a whole different car.. ) and sell this one on after taking a weekend to tart it up a bit.