unclean

I'm leaving from London too, looking to get there for about 10am though. See you there :)

My previous plans for this Sunday have fallen through, so I'd love to come down to this, however I'll have to pay on the day. Tempest - is this still possible or will I not be able to fit on the stand?

Awesome, thanks Chris! I've also created a group buys thread which links back here: http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?t=87447&p=1033527

Redborbet - matt Sharpy-vr6 - Sam unclean - Phil

A few people had been looking to get some DG slim fan brackets in the wanted section, but these are unfortunately no longer available. ChrisL has very kindly drawn up a bracket which 9" and 11" SPAL suction fans can be mounted. A list has already started in that wanted thread, so please add your name there if you're interested: http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?t=87227&page=5&p=1033519&viewfull=1#post1033519 Thanks, Phil.

Looks like this one should do the trick. 11" SPAL suction for £60+VAT - http://www.serckservicesmotorsport.co.uk/11-inch-fans/spal-11-inch-fan-12v-suction-type-curved-blade-2076609-285847-669400.php and here's the spec sheet http://www.spalautomotive.co.uk/product/va09-ap12-c-54a/

It's also now been a couple of weeks since I made the journey down to Le Mans. It was the first big roadtrip for the car, so I was pretty nervous and opted to go with the mega++ AA European breakdown cover. I'm happy to say everything went swimmingly, aside from couple of times when I took the precaution to switch the engine off in Rouen traffic and Chunnel queues (the non-driven radiator fan bearings are on there last legs). The first enlightenment of the trip was the discovery of the car's van-like properties. I wasn't aware that you can fully remove the rear bench from the car, which allows the rear seatbacks to lie completely flat and offers up tonnes of room; Van-rado. Plenty of room to ferry low-rent French beer back with. We departed at 3am(!) to meet our convoy in good time. Having given the car some stick over the last few days to ensure everything was ship shape, I was surprised to find my tacho fluctuating wildly at the off. It was too late to back out now, so I just had to pray it wasn't indicative of anything properly awry. As we left Le Shuttle, outside temperatures climbed and climbed, reaching in excess of 30 degrees. This definitely had me crying out for AC, although I'm happy to report I am now sporting go-faster tan lines thanks to the sunroof. We extracted ourselves at the other end, a little sweatier than ideal, but dead chuffed with the car. The next day I made it down to the PH Friday service and had a good laugh at the Subaru branded Evo and a fun pair of Cadbury's stickered VX220s. On the way back to camp, we got the full Mad Friday treatment as my co-pilot thought better than to close his window(!), and we experienced full super-soaker-in-face. I managed to satisfy the mob with a bit of noise and loss of traction ;) Our convoy had seriously prepared for Mad Friday and a little later we brought down our very own set of traffic lights. Unfortunately, an over zealous Bentley managed to clip and driver OVER the foot of one of the group, which later turned out to be broken in two places. Other highlights of the trip were meeting our Houx neighbourhood Corrado friend and enjoying the dubious honour of having to sleep inside the car for a night to get away from the noise of our SXOC neighbours. They had an extremely camp party involving YMCA & Sexual Healing on repeat whilst wearing not much other than hi-viz jackets and glow sticks until 6am. I kid you not. Bombing around in a 100cc-engined mobility scooter was a complete laugh, and mildly terrifying, too. This year I managed to watch about 17 hours of the 24, called it a night by falling asleep to The Transporter 3 on our campsite TV (with Sky!). Next morning we struck camp and hit the road early(ish). Keen to get back we kept in excess of 0.9 leptons the whole way, had some fun with a Griff 500 and then a well deserved nap on the train. It was a great trip, definitely grew a bond with the car and big props to my co-pilot Josh :) Now to fix that dicky tacho and radiator fan...

Quite a lot's changed since my last update. Whilst the car was in pretty good nick, it looks like the last couple of owners had been holding off on preventative maintenance a little bit. I'd noticed an outer CV boot split and there were two types of black/brown fluid left on my driveway when the car hadn't been moved for a few days. For some peace of mind I ended taking the car down to John (JMR) in Littlehampton to get a thorough service and checkup. I was really happy with the process down at JMR, John had a through check of the car and was quite happy to point out any problems and explain what needed addressing as a priority, things I could wait a while longer to do and so on, whilst the car was up on the lift. The biggest single thing upsetting the car was the state of the suspension, specifically completely shot dampers(!) at the rear end, which explained some handling inconsistencies and occasional lift off oversteer I had been having, even at low speeds. Given I had planned to fit some better quality suspension anyway, it seemed*a logical time to fit some KW Variants. The source of the two leaks was also diagnosed as the oil cooler gasket, oil sensor and gearbox mount - which was completely shagged. Then as part of a major service, a number of items including air/oil/fuel filters, new Bosch distributor, OEM HT leads, CV joint & boot, etc. were all renewed. With the stamp fresh in my service book, I made my way to the CCGB annual meet at the Bruntingthorpe Cold War jets event. It was great to blast down some country lanes and I've been hugely impressed with how the car handles with the new coilovers. The meet was a great opportunity to meet some new faces and exchange some findings :) Here's a couple of pictures from the day:

I'd be interested in getting in on this.

Also interested in these, which thread is this ChrisL?

As title, willing to collect at a fair distance :)

I'll have both fogs and indicators, gearknob and handbrake cover from you if available mate. Happy to pick up, thanks. Any chips/cracks in the headlights, tabs still in place?

Looks great, nice to see another K-reg DBP :)

That was me (-: it's a DBP. I saw yours too, looked lovely, I was lusting after your interior!

Saw that on the day, looked lovely and sounded great down the straight! Just to ask about the wheels, has the car always had them or are they for track use?

The K reg dark burgundy pearl not-in-the-pits was mine :) I'm new to the car so wasn't taking it out on track, but soon!

Boom! I'll have the first aid kit off you please mate :)

Hey mate, I'll have the VW front logo if it's still about.

Mine behaves in exactly the same way as yours Rog and I agree the first page is confusing. With further reading elsewhere, the *controller* always stays on for the ten minutes after running the ignition; which allows the fan and pump to be powered on for up to ten minutes or until (which should be the case) temperatures are lowered sufficiently. When the ignition is on, the aux pump will always run. EDIT: This is another guide which is very similar, but a bit clearer - https://sites.google.com/site/stoyneff/miscellaneous/the-vr6-cooling-system

Interested in the Teledials, can you give me some more details like offset, width and spacer depth?

Came over here from my thread on PH, sad to hear about the timing chain, but it looks like it won't have you off the road for long. DBP brothers unite (-:

Ah! This is the G60 I went to test drive a few weeks back. Looking forward to hearing more about it!

Cheers all! Have been collecting a few bits and bobs to install this weekend. Replacement radiator temperature sensor has arrived, so that'll sorted along with a complete coolant flush and replacement with G13. I also managed to track down a red front VR6 badge and original 3 open-slat grill. A friend jokingly suggested getting a few of the badges 3D printed with the silly money they can go for now. I've decided this is actually a good idea and have been in touch with a friend who should be able to get it scanned and some printed. Alpine 173BT has also arrived, which is just about inoffensive enough and has matching(ish) green backlight to the dash. [ATTACH=CONFIG]78013[/ATTACH]

Thanks! Unfortunately I hit edit and I assume it's gone back for moderation :X

Hey all, new to the forum - but it's already been a huge help. Long time VAG nerd, and the family has owned nothing but; including Beatles, Type2 campers (T1, T2, T3), Passats (B1, B3, B5.5), Polos (Mk1, Mk2, Mk2f, 6N, 9N) & Golf Mk3. My daily is a Polo 6KV (estate). After much sleuthing on various forums and classifieds, I took the trek up to Norfolk to check out a nice looking example of a VR6. At this point I was still undecided as to whether I'd end up with a G60 or VR6, further complicated by a nice G60 with stage 4 charger I'd driven earlier that day. It was a bit of a gamble, with the advert's description consisting of two lines; one about a questionable clutch but the latter a reassuring "selling to make room for an e-type". It's an early spec VR with around 140k, but seemed clean and most importantly, for the right price. [ATTACH=CONFIG]77941[/ATTACH] Joined by a pal, roads went from three lanes, to two, then one and finally what I'd say was half, at which point we were well and truly out in the sticks. We wound through lanes until around the next kink there's a sight to behold, a clean dark burgundy Corrado VR6 just visible form the road, with E-type roadster peeking out from the garage behind. We approach and exchange pleasantries with Brian the owner, an older chap flanked by Monty the great dane. Radio 4 blared from the workshop on this Sunday afternoon with the rare February sun beginning to dip. Well and truly living the dream A brief test drive ensues, at which point I test the brakes; or rather don't, because there aren't any. This alarms myself as much as the rapidly approaching Focus. I make my apologies and limp the car back to Brian and let him know that there might be a problem. I'm sure it's just corrosion on the discs, confirmed when he informs me the car has been in storage for the last 9 months. Brian then proceeds to jump in, "Shall we have a quick check?". I hop in the passenger seat and at this point the car is up to temperature. The road flows through the forest and then opens up into a 1/4 mile or so straight, but with pretty poor quality surface. Brian then proceeds to matt it through 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Fast! Noise! THAT NOISE! Then stamps on the brakes; "seems pretty good to me". This happens again on the return. Hero. Josh and I go for another brief jaunt and the car feels great, definitely some spongy brakes, not much clutch left, slight knocking sound over bumps from the rear left but new stainless exhaust sounds great. No chain rattle. All the electrics work too, the only complaint I can level is the slightly dicky O/S electric mirror adjustment. There's a bunch of history, and it looks to have been only subject to a few thousand miles a year since an initially high milage few years. The front is indeed a little too mint, and on further inspection the bonnet is a very slightly different shade. Then there's the truly great thing about the car, no rust! At all, anywhere. And aside from that bonnet respray it's all dead original. Before I can say "mayo on the oil cap", I'm sold and so is the car. Brian informs me he and the wife are off with Monty the great dane to Sunday roast at the pub and that we can follow him to the nearest cash point to get the deposit. I reiterate, Brian is living the dream After a nervous couple of days after I realise I didn't check the oil cap for mayo, I arrive to pick up the car. Fortunately everything is sound and Brian digs out a couple of extras including some unused floor matts. Turns out this was his third or fourth Corrado, including a previous G60 and VR6 since new (one of which was stolen within a week of delivery!), I'm reassured that Brian knows what he's talking about. That said, he did regale me with the story of his dissatisfaction when his 68mm pulleyed G-lader blew up and ejected itself into the motor whilst "having a bit of a go at a 325i" circa 1993. I'm assured I'll have a very pleasant drive back to London, which I take easy and do. Here's a couple more pictures from the sale: [ATTACH=CONFIG]77942[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]77943[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]77944[/ATTACH] Over the next few days, I drive the car wherever I can. This isn't all that much given I'm London (it'll eventually live outside town at the folks' house). This decision is crystallised immediately. The early 90mm front splitter scrapes on almost every speed mountain we have in Islington (suspension is stock!), the mileage is atrocious, I wince every time I have to bring the clutch closer to its inevitable demise and sitting in traffic (which is the entire time) seems to overwhelm the VR's cooling alarmingly quickly. The drug dealer spec blacked out ridez of London (120Ds, GTDs & A3 TDIs) are also a constant source of suspense as I find myself caring more about the body work of the 22 year old car than I had intended. My attachment to the car is then cemented when I inform my girlfriend "I have bought a silly 90s coupe in purple(ish)", and she immediately names it Barney after the purple dinosaur of the same vintage. I sigh, but secretly don't mind. After some research, the temperatures are definitely not healthy, so I'm currently in the process of debugging just exactly what is wrong with the cooling. I've followed the invaluable "Definitive VR6 cooling" thread and it seems the fan, although the slave bearings are noisy and shagged, is functional but not coming on at the right temperature when the ignition is on. This implicates the radiator sensor. I'm also at a loss to explain why the aux pump doesn't remain on for the ten minute period the same thread claims it should. Anyway, new sensor is in the post and I plan to fit it next weekend in time for the Pistonheads Silverstone Sunday Service, whilst taking the opportunity to fully drain and flush the (G11) coolant to check for any other gunk. The local VAG dealers recommended replacement with G13. The car also has an original (I believe) early spec red badge on the back, but the front seems to be a late-spec silver badge. Were both front and back badges originally red? It's also only got a single open slat in the grill for airflow, is this an early/late spec difference, too? Either way I've also got a VW heritage grill with all three open slats on order. Regarding future plans, it's all aimed at taking stock and getting the car working in original fashion, and then apply some choice upgrades. Right now this roughly looks like: - Upgraded headlight loom - Braided brake lines - Alpine headunit - NERD: First aid kit to replace the then redundant CD changer (although I love that :bonk:) - KW Variant 1/2/3(?) - 50mm front splitter to deal with the drop - Performance panel filter or BMC CDA - Replacement driver's seat bolster - Mocal oil cooler - Replacement slave fan - 16" wheels (looking at Compomotive bronze splits or maybe 7J Anni RXIIs) - Eibach/KW/H&R 22/25mm ARBs - Helix clutch Finally, a few more pictures of my story with the car so far: [ATTACH=CONFIG]77945[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]77946[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]77947[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]77948[/ATTACH]