Hi, rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled used to be quite an active group. Where has the discussion moved to? When I search for alternative groups for watercooled VWs, I find mostly very narrow groups that, for instance discuss modifications, or discuss just one model of VW, rather than the more general discussions of VWs overall. The other possibility is people in general are not doing their own maintenance and repairs on cars and so discussion is dropping off.
So curious where the discussion, if any, has moved to.
I go to vwvortex occasionally, but their email notifications are so messed up they point to the wrong URL, even after 5+ years. Tell 'em about it, they'll blame the host... Really? Even after this long??
If there's another that's good, I'd love to go there.
Yup. Either people got no money, or their holding on to what they got (like me : ) ), or perhaps the bigger thing overall is that all the crazy credit dried up! Pics are here, if this works... don't know if you have to be logged on or what to see them...
"Jim Behning" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
Hey Jim! Were you around way back when... LOL... I think I was going by the name "formerly Jeff" as I recall from back then another Jeff started posting stuff I wanted no association with and was forced to change my name! Oh we had some FUN FLAMING going on in those days... like a total addiction! I started out with an 82 carburetor Rabbit with Lambda, which Bentley never covered and everyone told me I didn't even have an O2 sensor... LOL. I was running that old Rabbit to go pick up my brand new computer (386 with windows 3.1 that cost me 3 times what I paid for car), learned how to surf the net and found this forum in search of carb and Lambda info. Ha! That car would run great 90% of the time but on a rainy day (and usuallly when the wife had it so she got to go lease a brand new Corolla... in 1993...) it would run really rough, not idle, stall, outright die, not start... then suddenly be fine. She'd come home complaining, and I'd go drive it and it would be perfect. I even resorted to getting salty water out of a roadside puddle in my spray bottle and soak everything (after having taken a garden hose to it) and it would still be fine. But if you were away from home and it was rainy or damp, foggy,... it would act up. When I finally learned that it did have an ecm, and the carburetor had a frequency valve that worked just opposite from the CIS frequency valve, I fiddled with the system long enough to finally determine there was a bad wire right where it entered the carburetor. And, it was rain and moisture that would help it to make the connection. And when it (or I, finally) would make that connection the frequency valve would operate and it would die and not idle or start easily. So I found the ECM under the dash, unplugged it and the car ran perfect ever since. Very powerful for 1.7 and really ran great for another 150K. Was still running strong when it finally went to the junk yard for rust. Thus began the Bad Rabbit Habit. I had learned CIS inside out, just trying to apply it to that old carb system. Had numerous 82's, an 84 GTI (rusted floors and clutch started slipping), 83 GTI that was so dented everywhere I could see ever fixing it, became the donor for the 79... more convertibles than I care to remember... I spent stupid money getting the 79 painted. No value cause it's a 4 door, even though it is so much nicer interior then they ever put in any GTI's. It doesn't buzz and rattle like all other Rabbit's I've ever met : ).
Since the pictures were taken, the 79 broke a front coil spring. I had a pair of truck springs so I put those it in. It raised the front about an inch and a half or so. I made spacers to slide over the rear shocks, raising the spring perches to match and did a 4 wheel alignment. Just the opposite of current day "slamming" LOL. But I got great clearance for back road and mild off-roading. Can't sell it for much, so I'm going to make a skid plate for under the oil pan and off-road it in the mountains. Don't know what's available for 13" mud tires... : )
anyway, none of these newsgroups are what they used to be!
Yes this group was fun and active back in the day. I bet I was visiting this group 15 years ago.
After I wrecked my '80 I found a stripped GTI in the junkyard. Hood, seats, oil seals, brakes, paint, later engine, higher 5th, stereo ..... Yes fixing up an older car can be a dangerous money pit. Although a new car can be a pit too.
I took my my 1967 Beetle up and around Hahns Peak >
For me a big problem is that I have been losing access to netnews. My employer (a major telecom company) took away most access over security concerns and my personal Internet provider, Verizon, did the same thing. Using news.aioe.org currently which some time back was unavailable for months.
VW Vortex must be the 'main place' these days, and I say that in spite of the recent forum drama they have been going through.
I'm usually lurking over there and on an email list spec'd to a certain model of car.
But, here I am, reading and replying to this thread.
Actually I came in search of help w/ Digifant and an 89 Jetta. (It's got Previous Owner's Syndrome coupled with the current owner not being a gear-head.)
LOL! Over a year later and I come back to find this thread still almost at the top of the list. Where had everyone gone???? Don't know, but seems everyone, and everyone that was left, has now gone!
Newsgroups in general have really dropped off in recent years. I think a lot of this is due to ISP's dropping newsgroups from their services (like my Comcast did). Most people aren't willing or able to find other news servers.
I still check this group daily, but there's not much traffic here.
Most of the time I go to the VW Vortex forums when I need advice or just want to chat with other VW fans.
The decline of NNTP is a fact. My ISP closed (WTF?) a few weeks ago, leaving us all out 'in the cold' so to speak. I had been using their NNTP servers, but they pulled the plugs on them as one of their first acts.
Now I'm stuck (at least for now) with AIOE, which sorta works. I won't pay for NNTP so my choices are limited. Oh, well.
I switched to Motzeralla (now called Eternal September) when my ISP shut down it's NNTP services:
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Their NNTP services have worked great for me, but they only carry the text newsgroups. If you need the binary groups you will need to look elsewhere. I was only using one binary group (woodworking pics), so it wasn't a huge loss.
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