davidwort

can't remember the number relay but it's the small blue one with two f**k off large connection pins when you pull it out (I guess it takes a fair current) and a couple of much smaller pins IIRC. OK, so the parts list says location 12 and the part number is 191906383C - same on all corrados

the only difference is the number of splines on the input shaft, so you need a UJ that matches the rack, 36 (1.8 ) or 22 splines (2.0)

yeah, what's that all about? straight bits, right angled bits, all quite dense grey stuff, must be for sound but it's just rammed in, in no particular obvious arrangement.

surely the clocks are sitting too high?? none of them seem to line up great, it may well be the dash. It's possible it can be adjusted a bit by slackening the dashboard fixings, but I think it's partly down to the less than perfect design/quality of the C interior. Might take a bit of inginuity on both the instrument pod mounting bracket and dash itself to get it all to line up better,

the plot thickens, turns out a year ago it massively overheated even melting the timing belt cover :shock: rings, bearings were changed and the head was very lightly skimmed (apparently it wasn't warped at all so it was really just resurfaced), they're going to check with the engineeering firm that did the head as they are apparently pretty good at doing the correct work and refusing to skim heads that they know can be a problem it has run fine for over a year though this time when my dad fitted a new gasket, the old one (year old) was rotten really badly, but when he fitted the new one he did follow the complex head torquing to the letter they're going to check the radiator thoroughly, but it does seem like that head may be suspect.

yep it was pressure tested apparently, but I'll ask if it was skimmed, ta.

only the downpipe and straight front small silencer are the same between mk2 16v golf and 1.8 16v Corrado, rear hangars are in a different place I think

nope, def not, only bit of a corrado that won't go inside one :) - apart from the shell :)

it won't fit in a corrado boot and my mk4 doesn't look like the rear hatch is any bigger, the rear lights intrude a fair bit on the golf rear opening.

:) no, I'm not in the motor trade at all, but my dad works for a small independent garage and this is a longstanding customer's car that's had a few issues, was talking to my dad last night after we picked it up from the guy to take to the garage, me following with a tow bar just in case :) and we decided the radiator needed carefully checking out at least. We drove about 15 miles before it started to overheat. One of the other mechanics did the rebuild last year and it ran fine for 12 months, the old codger that drives it is a bit on the simple side and is difficult to get any sense from when asking about how much water it uses or how the temp behaves. It's just odd that after fitting a new head gasket a couple of weeks ago, my dad drove it for a couple of days to check it was OK and it behaved perfectly, a week or so back with the owner and it started boiling over, I think he drives everywhere in 2nd gear which probably doesn't help :lol: but those little suzuki engines should be able to run at full revs all day long I would have thought :shrug:

you could well be right, that's reminded me of another corrado I saw a while back that had gear selection problems and it turned out to be a cracked component of the gear linkage, gearstick end I think.

cheers, could well be something like that, going to remove and reverse flush the radiator, if it is an airlock it's something that repeats itself with drains/refills of the coolant so perhaps there is some obstruction causing this to happen.

just thought someone on here might have an idea what's going on with this little ugly thing, Suzuki Wagon R, 1.3 petrol engine, drives fine for 10 miles+, warms up perfectly as it should, heat from the heater in the car etc, runs with needle bang on where it should on the temp gauge, then suddenly it'll go mental and blow all of it's coolant out of the system. it's even being run with the thermostat removed and behaves the same. It overheated a year ago and had it's head pressure tested and skimmed, refitted with genuine Suzuki gasket and has run fine for a year, then the headgasket went, turned out it had rotted away like a 200,000 mile engine or something, refitted and it's started with this random cooling system over-pressurisation thing again. could a partially blocked radiator cause this? Seems really odd that it'll run fine for some time after it's coolant is warmed up :scratch:

use the search! this might help a bit: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=83419&hilit=aerial#p964995

Gasket failure symptoms depend on where the gasket has gone, if it goes between two cylinders then it'll have no power, will barely pull itself up a hill (effectively only powered on two cylinders on a 4 cyl car) If it goes between a water/coolant and oil galley then you'll get a loss of water and mayo in the oil cap and sump. If it goes from a cylinder to a coolant galley then it can pressurise the coolant system (far more than the normal hot pressure in the coolant system)

I don't think you can get a seal kit from VW as it's not the main outer seal but the inner ones which cause the problem, the actual seal sizes are buried somewhere in the 16v section on the Club GTI forum, a bit of an odd size IIRC. TBH an exchange or e-bay distributor new can be had for around fifty quid and that way you'll be getting a new hall sender too.

in gear acceleration times will give you a pretty good idea, just compare with VW driver figures for a standard car, doesn't even need to be a VR, you'll need to use the full rev range though. Might have to do a few simple sums and preferably using something other than the speedo to get an accurate speed reading, they underread by a fair wedge. It's wheel hp that counts anyway, not some calculated, transmission loss, temperature corrected fiddle factor, so driving on the road will tell you the truth :)

I think I made a reasonable choce with a Garmin 255WT about a year ago, nice and compact, widescreen, UK and western europe maps, free Traffic updates via the special power lead that comes with it, and speed camera info (yearly update fee). Has an SD card slot. I think you can get this or it's updated version for around 140 quid. It works really well has excellent satellite pickup and is nice and easy to use. Lifetime map updates for the UK are a bit steep at 99 quid though.

been a long time since I saw a set of those mk2 alloys :) great you haven't taken it to bits for parts :salute: there's something special about a silver Corrado.

you can remove all of the shifter gubbins from inside the car if you grind a small amount of metal off the lip of the opening in the centre tunnel, it's described in (and links from) my shifter rebush thread (somewhere!) here we go: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=66276&p=773646&hilit=gearlever#p769911

the selector cable (1) looks like it's adjusted quite a lot to one side which might be an issue on selection, but the shift cable end (2) which can often break (the loop of metal around the rectangular rubber bush) looks OK, although I can't see all of it. Is the 13mm nut on (1) secure? shifter.jpg[/attachment:a74q9olj]

what's going on at the gearbox end of the cables? any pics of those handy?

corsas have a more upright one, but I don't think the calibras and vectras do, the unscrewable tips are all interchangeable too.

the one with the least rust in it. overall condition is your best guide, see what cars you an find with both engines, there's little in it performance or economy wise, some people prefer the late style dash but it has it's own weaknesses. Some of the late cloth interiors aren't particularly nice looking IMO and have the flat rear bench A 2L will have ABS and the slightly different electrics, a lot of 1.8's have dealer fit electric windows, check by seeing if it has one touch drivers window controls. The 2L injection system can be a little tricky to diagnose problems with, the 1.8's is simpler and you have no CAT to worry about.

I wonder how much they are from Vauxhall?, they appear to have identical ones on a fair few models. My mk4 one seems the same too although I can't remember what connection they have under the roof lining, will have to take another look sometime as that gets excellent reception.