davidwort

beats poking about with watchmakers screwdrivers :)

perhaps a post/trawl of the VAG COM section on the UK mk IV's forum would be useful? http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/37.aspx

good point, the website register/paypal route doesn't say, but it is on the PDF app form £10 for the year running april to april for that you'll get access to PDF's of all the previous magazines, lots of technical articles in those, some still need scanning and putting up (eventually everything back to 1996? will be there)

so you could say 'early indications are good' ...I'll get my coat.

yep

I vaguely remember some issue about people using speedo feed by accident that is related to the spoiler control for the radio trigger feed, or aerial trigger, something like that. It's possible that might have something to do with it. Sounds like you have a later dash if you have an electronic speed sensor on the gearbox, vac connection is for MPG on early cars, not related to speedo readout AFAIK. Do all the other dash funtions work?

you could fit an oil catch tank but you can't vent oil vapour to the air (MOT) and the original system is probably designed 'suck' from the crankcase anyway, it's more of a problem on some engine types than others, especially at higher mileages where all that oily crud affects throttle bodies etc.

drive from London to Birmingham, swap bonnets, bend old one in half and take it to nearest tip :shrug:

nope, only corrado bit that doesn't.

what engine are you looking at VR6, 16v??? engine numbers are stamped on engine blocks in various places, but they may also be recorded on factory stickers in the boot floor or on original cam belt covers etc.

We were talking about this at the CCGB AGM. I think the two complement each other very well, but obviously there will be a lot of overlap! The forum is a great place to get instant responses or discussions going, or stick things up for sale or ask for items in the wanted listings, but when it comes to events throughout the year the CCGB has public liability insurance which is essential for some venues to even accept a booking, let alone the organisation of where stands should be, how many cars etc. Having a more formal club setup with responsibilities assigned and the clubs funds to put behind and subsidise events works very well. Personally, I think keeping interested in both means you make contact with the maximum number of Corrado and VW owners and enthusiasts, which can only help everyone. I accept that some peoples focus on purely the aftermarket styling or tuning side may be very different to other's focus on concours and originality, but that variety only makes it more interesting for me. sign up for both!

according to Euro Car Parts website, your car is a blue 1990 KR 16v, so you'll be wanting K-jet 16v injectors then :) and they're 36.40 each, there's no 'performance' K-jet injector, just the original bosch ones are fine. you could try some second hand ones, but I was chatting about this today and apparently they're well past their best after 80K and can't be cleaned

a lot of early 16v cars had this done at the dealership, there's a set of aftermarket switches that don't need the window control box (saves on a lot of wiring) which look similar to the early VAG switches but have an extra connection to allow permanently live wired windows. This is the simlest way of converting, you could then add a relay linked to the ignition live if you don't want live windows with ignition off. some passats were fitted with this aftermarket kit, so you might be lucky and find a set from a breaking passat if you can't find corrado ones (switches the same) what you need are the early style switches, but ones without the plug in connector blocks on the back, just directly soldered. the other alternative is a complete loom and control box and plug type switches from a factory electric window system. window regulators from any electric-window-car will do, regardless of the route you take to wiring them, they just need riveting in place.

you can test the radiator fan switch, but you need to take it off the car, which unfortunately means draining your coolant really. bit crude, but this is what I did: if you have it off the car, the three pins consist of a common earth (can't remember which pin but look at the wiring to the connector block for that (brown)) and then the two speed circuits if you connect a test light or multimeter up in continuity or resistance test position, neither path (earth to speed 1 or earth and speed 2) should be closed, i.e. a circuit through when it's at cold/room/air temp heat over a candle or gently over a low gas hob, and you'll hear the circuits click shut, don't go too mad heating them as you only need to get to about 95 and 105 degrees. repeat for each of the circuit paths (speed one and speed 2) first speed should audibly click when it goes ON when heated and the circuit makes, speed 2 will follow a few seconds later as it's a few degrees higher they should close one at a time as you let it cool down off the flame, multimeter just proves the circuit completes. obviously heat gently as you don't want to melt the thing, and hold it in some mole grips rather than burning your fingers :) the switches are designed to open on cooling at a different temp to closing and switching ON, to stop the fan contantly cutting in and out, I've got a fancy laser pointer IR thermometer which just confirms the temps, but 10 secs (roughly) under a flame is enough to heat to about 100

my 1990 (KR 16v) has one, perhaps the later cars with the digital clocks have one integrated into the cluster PCB 2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfDsc00512.jpg[/attachment:2y1bwxzm] Dsc00513.jpg[/attachment:2y1bwxzm]

hour seems fair, depends on whether that includes a geometry check afterwards though

I've one from AVS on my valver, looks like it's very similar material to the plastic used on VAG ones (rathe than rubber) so should last well, definitely avoid the glue together ones. CV boot requires: hub nut undone (v tight - need a big breaker bar for this) two bottom suspension bolts removed to allow hub to be swung out enough to remove outer cv shaft from hub (mark bolt positions on susp leg) then you have to tap off the out cv joint from the main shaft slide new boot onclean up cv joint repack with crease and ressemble everything making sure you get the right camber by putting the bottom suspension bolts back in the same marked position messy job, CV grease, but it's not difficult I like taking CV joints and bearings apart to clean them, it's a nice little puzzle reassembling them :lol:

I've had both front and rear bearings howl like crazy on VW's in the past and yet all they have is a tiny bit of pitting on the bearings and races when you dismantle them. Recently I did both of my fronts and although the hubs roared when spun when I took them off the car they still had no play in them. I'm not saying any bearing can't have a fault that makes them suddenly break, but I've a feeling that especially with the rear ones I've seen go in a big way on some peoples cars, that they were adjusted incorrectly when fitted, far too easy to overtighten them if you don't realise how they should be fitted.

you'd need not only the wheel and possibly fabrication to fit a mk4 column, but the control unit and trigger sensors. have no idea how or where these are incorporated into a later VW, but it's unlikely it would be easy to do, you might even need the instrument cluster with a mk4 setup. Even then, you'd have a wheel and bag not designed for the car, which could potentially be dangerous to the driver, I doubt an insurance company would be happy about it either. Some foreign corrados came with knee bars and airbags (LHD American spec AFAIK) but I don't think a retro fit would be easy even if you could source the parts. In summary, I don't think it's a great idea, you're probably safer by simply sitting a bit further from the steering wheel.

my AVS ones are FEBI and although they needed painting after one winter of light driving and they only have one pair of flats for tightening, it wasn't a problem doing them up, getting purchase on the old ones was the main problem, had to lower the subframe a little to get at the rack and they were multiple 'flats' VW ones!

those caps just aren't made to fit, I had some febi ones and just assumed they were made incorrectly, reused the old ones (very old GSF supplied ones) and they were fine. I've always used a rubber mallet to tap them on, or when I can't find that a plain old metal hammer (tap very lightly around the edges of the dome) never any problems :shrug:

yeah, radiators can get partial blockages and yet appear to flow water through fine and thermostats cause loads of problems, pattern parts are generally the worst, but even VAG ones can be temperamental, stick 3 or 4 in a pan of hot water and they'll all open and close at slightly different temps :lol:

yep, and less filtration means a nice grinding paste when it mixes with oil in the charger, not what you want.

sorry didn't mean to be funny with you in any way, it's just that question is usually asked the other way around (Kr inlet cam into a 9a 2L engine) if you want to read up on the 16v engine and tuning options, there's a lot of good info on the club GTI forum (16v engine subforum) the 1.8 engine responds well to good quality headwork, port and polish etc, but you may find putting any peakier cams in a 1.8 is a bad move particularly on the Corrado which is a bit heavy for this engine anyway, the KR cams are a good compromise in power and torque IMO the good news is the 1.8 KR engine is a better point to start from than a 2L for tuning, the injection system is more open to tuning as there's no ecu controlling the fuelling and you've no cat to worry about or restrict the exhaust. You'll find the general consensus is something like, 1st fit a 2L bottom end, then get headwork done, after that power improvements are more expensive and less easy to come by, 4 branch manifolds, wild cams, aftermarket ECUs and injection systems etc...

couple of things, sounds like you may have a stuck open thermostat, that would overcool the engine and cause all sorts of running problems. no.1 issue for idle problems are vacuum leaks, check thoroughtly all of the rubber intake boot folds and all the little vacuum pipe connectors(replace if any look perished) it's also possible an inlet manifold gasket is leaking, get some carb cleaner and spray a mist around the inlet boots pipes and manifold if any does get sucked in by a small vacuum leak then the revs will rise. Also if the crank breather pipe on the front of the engine leading to the airbox leaks, you will stall at idle. Does the throttle body lever shut the little microswitch on the front of it off when the car is at idle? - that engages the idle cicuit and valve. An ISV valve will tend to leave the revs too high if it's sticking, providing the idle circuit is actually switched on.