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Thats why I did chains, tensioners, oil seal, clutch, hydraulic lifters, water pump and I'm now forced to buy a new electric auxilary water pump too. All in one hit. It's has cost me a small fortune so will doing a few jobs on the side at weekends to try to replace the cash. Am tempted to put it up for sale as would be a good selling point and a good buy to anyone who wants a VR6 with everything done. Most of the Pics are now in my gallery.

The finished Article. With an exception to a leaking Auxilary Water Pump. The engine is definately a lot smoother and has a different note to it. Should have changed the tensioner bearing as with that done the engine would just sound like a humm. Glad it's done finally... Spent a lot of time cleaning parts up as I refitted, I could have done this job quicker but as was my first venture into doing this engine and as I wanted a good outcome have done it over 3 weekends.

Thought it might help people to see that it is not really a nightmare just time consuming.

Did a bit more today, The gearbox was a nightmare as I did not get the car high enough in the first place' it was difficult to get under it while cuddling a gearbox, not to mention the weight of the thing when in tight space. When it finally agreed to go in I double checked the cam caps torque settings and one felt a bit loose, so giving it a little tweek and the stud snapped. Also did the waterpump as well so unbolted the rear (servo side) mount, when putting the bolt back in 'snap', that was greased as well. That was it, I'll leave the rest for another day.. When VW parts are open Monday. They also supplied me with a 507A tensioner bolt, so need to get this replaced with the newer item.. The job is a headache, but worth while. Here are some photo's...[schild=18 fontcolor=0000FF shadowcolor=00008B shieldshadow=1]'Knackered' ![/schild]

Like I said before I decided to go for it on doing this job I did some research into what parts I would need. The original Corrado tensioner was made up of the same type of 'brake pad' design. On the MK4 Golf that improved the design with a solid tensioner but to use this it's needs to be used in conjuction with the appropriate tensioner bolt that suits this pad. Thats about all there is to it really. I also had Mk2 escorts, about 50 of the things in reality but not all were used for the road and this is where I learn't my mechanical knowledge from the beginning. Having now tackled the VR engine it really is a piece of cake so £1300 is horendeous for a fairly straight forward engine.... I agree if you don't feel confident then best not to attempt it but the engine not as difficult as what some would like to make out. :?

Will Document the whole job at the end and put the Photo's in order.

That's true, I did mine though because I knew they would need doing as no receipts or paperwork to say that they had ever been changed. I just wanted piece of mind and once done their done.

Thing is if you love these cars to bits, you'll want one regardless and once the job is done you can sit back in confidence knowing you have one of the Corrado Daddies that is sorted. I want to be able to cruise around the country this summer hearing the superb engine note with no developing rattles or worries..

Kev: I'll keep snapping away until the job is complete and post them here, when I have finished I'll pop them all into my gallery. Here are some more pics with the cams back in and the 2 chains/tensioners reassembled.. I work for an MOD Uni so they have a machine shop who kindly made me a cam lock tool. Providing you use the correct camshaft locking tool you cannot get the cams out of alignment as it will only slide into the cams machined grooves providing they are in the correct position. I set the engine to TDC then offset it again by a few degrees to make sure none of the pistons where at the top of the cylinders when I tightened the cams back down which in turn forces the relevant valves down. I then timed the cams with the locking tool as you can see in the 2nd photo and then brought the engine back up to TDC by realigning the 'cornered tooth' with the main bearing end cap joint. (forward facing) Pre align the Intermediate shaft as you need to wrap the chain around the sprocket before bolting the sprocket back on the shaft. This is how I timed my engine. Once both chains where on, i popped on the upper chain cover so I could screw the upper tensioner bolt back in to tension the chains, then I was able to turn the engine over with a large spanner (iron bull!) to make sure no one inside were secretly meeting each other. You'll notice I used the 509E item for the upper tensioner instead of the lame standard Corrado one. This means I have no use for the old tensioner bolt as this better type tensioner needs to be used in conjunction with the 507B tensioner bolt.

Too much !! Personally I think that if you have a good set of sockets and spanners you will need a few additional tools like a torgue wrench and some splined sockets and just take your time this engine is nothing more than an inflated puppy. This way it will cut your bill dramatically.. I did a bit of research on the net first and bought a Bentley Manual etc.

PHOTOS : Like I said, no noise yet one of the broken pieces from the upper tensioner was just 'floating' about !! And where did those rivets go ??

They weren't kidding when they said it was a big job! Started on the 'must be done' job this weekend and have stripped everything off and removed the chains, took best part of 10 hours to get to this stage with one thing or another not wanting to seperate. I had no noise but with 130K on the clock I decided it had to be done. As said before just because there is no noise does not mean that the chains are ok. After finally getting to the chains I found that the upper tensioner had gone through the rivets and the upper guide had snapped! Not to mention loads of scoring to all parts. Glad I caught this in time.. Word of warning to those who are thinking of doing the job, be prepared for lots of the plastic parts to crumble like paper due to becoming brittle and expect battered hands! Not very happy with having to ride a mountain bike to work ! Will Post some pictures shortly...

Yeah, I knew that the compression is need in the bores to hole the valve, it's the tool required that compresses the valve spring to remove the collets I was enquiring about? Any idea on that ??? Part number for VW etc maybe?

I am replacing chains tensioners clutch followers etc etc.. photo's will go on my gallery. What I need to know is .. has anyone replaced the valve stem seals without removing the cylinder head as I know it can be done but need to know the tools required ?? Failing this I will dig deeper and replace the head gasket...

Start off from cold in the morning or when leaving work, feels like the ABS kicks in on one caliper only for about 1 second. Once it's done this nothing until next time the car is not used for a few hours? Took the NSF wheel off last weekend to find that the caliper needed freeing up and greased up the piston within the rubber gaiter. Was free as a bird but still getting this ABS feel. No ABS light on the dash. Did replace all the discs 2 mths ago and fitted new rings to the rears. Any ideas?

Developed rattling sound between 1000-1300 revs. I suspect the chains as motor has done 137K. Will be doing these next week with tensioners, clutch and cam followers. Anyone tell me what sort of a job it is to replace the Hydraulic tappets on these engines? Also I can get trade price from VW but does anyone have any recommendations on suppliers for these parts or should I go for OEM?

I did the same, I pulled the Grille off carefully not to break the tabs and got an old metal coat hanger, trying to find one of those was hard enough. I managed to hook it round the drivers side release catch and give that a tug to release one side and then with a wiggle of the bonnet the other side popped open. Talk about a relief.

To be honest I was replacing my Bonnet release cable and took the thing off the car and went indoors to get the new one and have a brew at the same time, when I mate came round and walked in the back door saying, 'Sean I closed your bonnet for you just in case of someone came along and nicked something out of there' my first words were 'tell me your f'king joking!' I have been led underneath trying to get the passenger side release with my arm up there which has to be tighter than having your arm up a horse's ass! Any assistance would be appreciated. Take the passenger light to pieces?

Grille is off but faced with the oil cooler and rad. I'll keep searching

The VR6, the valver would be easier. I'll do a search for these threads, a snapped cable must be quite a common occurence?

Henny, That is useful providing that the cable is intact and the bonnet is being a pig to release. But my cable is not in tact and has snapped It does say "If neither latch releases (rare), then the cable is either too slack, snapped or the latches are too dry and therefore seized." I know that the cable is snapped so these methods won't work. I could get the drivers side release by using a hook but it's getting to the passenger side one which I can't work out?

My Bonnet Release cable gave up the ghost on me today, has anyone any suggestions on how to tackle getting the bonnet open before I strip the front end?

Clocks are simple mate, 4 screws holding the black surround, 2 others holding the cluster housing, 1 electrical plug, 1 pipe and the speedo. Need to take out the drivers airvent also which is only one screw to get enough space to maneouvre the clocks out. Takes 10 mins.

Could do, Did not realise that the black interior was available for early cars? do want a black dash etc though as hate the grey interior. So a Black dash is availbale from early cars then?

Is that right? Never realised that! Will have to look out for a space saver wheel and make myself I nice boot carpet.