davidwort

yeah, I'm sure I read a page from the Bentley manual or something that said the bottom ball joints should NOT be used to adjust camber, as you say, it's all done via the leg bolts, narrow ones can be bought from VW if you need more adjustment. When I replaced my balljoints I had the wishbones off the car to fit new bushes and simply put the new balljoints in exactly the same place as the old ones came off, was easy to see as the old ones left quite a mark after bing on there for 16 years! in fact the original balljoints were still in perfectly servicable nick but I'd bought new ones so changed them anyway .

no, no, don't start fiddling with CO and idle bleeds until you're sure you've got all the mechanical timing settings right and the ignition timing right. It should run fine with nothing changed other than the cams providing everything is pout back where it should be.

:scratch: :) I'm sure I've had both inlet gaskets (42mm) from GSF before, rocker cover ones are just as good(or bad, rubbish design) as the FEBI or OEM ones, I've tried all 3.

it's possible you have slightly wrongly fitted your bottom ball joint(s), they're not supposed to be used to alter camber but I'd imagine they'll have that effect if they are two far in/out on their mounting bracket in the wishbone end. Camber can be easily checked with a spirit level and something to evenly space it off the rim edges of the wheel, I used a 2ft level and a couple of short bolts double sided sticky-taped to the level :) (obviously the tyre bulges at the bottom so you don't want to rest it on there!) the actual specs are in another thread somewhere but -0.5 to -1 degree is about right for a 4 cylinder Corrado, i.e. top leans in /-axle-\ if it's bang upright it'll feel much less planted on cornering as it will tend to positive camber on the weighted up side.

It's also about the strength of the springs in the arms, most old Corrado ones are just too tired now, astonishingly my old ones (circa 1990) still did the job pretty well but I just liked the look of the Lupos and got them for 17 quid each with blades before VW upped the prices. I'd go for the TT ones now, the shape of the arm looks a little nicer.

I can't see it separate on ETKA if that helps :?

have you got loads of adjustment left on the other side then? if one tyre wore on the inside edge then it's not tracking but the camber on that wheel which is off (too much negative) if you had toe in then both front tyres would scrub on the inside edges. I suggest you get the car on level ground and check the camber with a spirit level. You haven't moved the bottom ball joints for any reason? I'm assuming your rear wishbone bush isn't shot on one side.

it's funny, I've always been scared of touching the thing as I've heard all sorts of comments about needing special VAG tools etc, but earlier in the year I finally took one apart, from inside the car to replace all the bushes and it was suprisingly easy, and was also easy to set up fine after refitting. I had a spare passat mech lying around and was interested in why some parts are different numbers toi the corrado. With all the bits out it was easy to see, the passat has a different pivot point to the C as it needs a taller lever due to the seating position. The passat part fits but the bottom ball connector is just too low to clip onto the cable end, see my post here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=66276&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=short+shift

Looking at the pic from the Neuspeed site it's basically VW bits anyway,but with their own plate, which is the same as cutting down a passat plate. In fact a substantial part of the cost will be for identical parts you'll already have on your car anyway, just buy some new bushes from VW for about 4 quid. It's not like they've redesigned the whole mechanism, and if you want reduced selection movement (left/right) then a dieselgeek-like mod of an early shift tower cable connector pin welded to the head of a bolt and mated up to the later Corrado shift tower lever will give about 1/3 less travel. I don't recommend this as the later Corrado shift towers make it fairly close anyway.

or alternatively get a passat gearlever plate (the bit with the ball on the bottom for connecting the shift cable) cut about 10mm out of it's depth and weld the two halves together and you have about 25% reduction in throw. total cost, fiver for the plate second hand (at most) and a beer for someone to weld the bits together.

65/70 kgs would be 5 or so percent of the weight of the car, if not more, so that would make it feel 5% less torquey??? I dunno, sounds good.

you can always test for TDC with a wooden dowel or long screwdriver or something ow the no.1 spark plug hole. if you look at my pic here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37235&hilit=timing+marks you can see the timing mark (6 deg advance) and the white marked timing reference point on the gearbox casing, the TDC mark is just out of view IIRC probably about 4 or five teeth to the right

Tail out behaviour? What are you doing to it? :nono: Never ever experienced anything close to tail out action from a Corrado. 100mph down a twisty lane with shot rear axle bushes and it might feel a bit funny, but I've never got the back end to do anything either, you've got to be either incredibly stupid or hit diesel or something to loose a Corrado on the twisty bits.

pink passat 1988-92 Haynes manual (out of print I think but pop up on e-bay, car boots etc), bit confusing as the diagrams cover 4 door electric window circuit, but I worked it out easily enough from the haynes diagrams and I'm no electrician :)

it's pretty much as this pic

there's quite a few subtle differences to the corrado when compared to the mk2 and 3 golf even though a lot of the running gear and individual components are shared, in fact the same is true of the equivalent generation passat. Some of the motoring magazines put the handling of the Corrado down to the higher pressure specified for the tyres, but I think there's a bit more to it than that. Although the floorplan is essentially mk2 golf, the rear hatch opening structure, roof and the pillars are of course significantly different and the seats are positioned lower and possibly further back than in a mk2, the whole car is quite a bit heavier with a much heavier tailgate and bonnet, possibly the front/rear weight distribution is different to a mk2 or mk3. Then roll bars and springs are different specs, it all adds up.

yeah, should have the orange temp sensing valve and two vac lines connected underneath

not sure, I thought VW supplied separate parts for replacements so you could cut the old system to replace just the back box for example.

the rubber angled boot with thermostat? - 027 133 648 no idea what VW will ask but if you look second hand it's worth noting that pre 1989/1990 golfs use a different part otherwise 2L 16v's do use the same part

thanks for the replies, didn't read the forum yesterday and I've hammerited them now! was a complete pig of a job cleaning them up and getting all the old flaking paint off but I got them pretty well stripped in the end. In hindsight shot blasting might have been a good labour saving idea though! Hammerite actually seems pretty flexible from where I've used it before and removing the stuff is more of a scrape and peel job than chipping and flaking coventional paint. If they do go tatty quickly I might just pull them off again and do it properly but I imagine a new set of eibachs would be about the same as shot blasting and coating four springs? I'm having some new grooves cut in my rear koni dampers to give a wider range of height settings so the next thing is finding something suitable for painting them up with, they're also starting to look a bit scabby, so will have to look for some yellow chassis/industrial paint or something. And yes, painting springs by hand is a mare of a job, I'm still peeling paint off me and the B&D workbench will never be the same again :lol:

as said before, only get a genuine VW or FEBI replacement for the rear mount, the GSF one I tried was too hard and on the 16v makes the car rattle and shake at idle. from memory on my 16v you needed to get the drivers wishbone at a particualr angle to unbolt one of the two bolts from underneath as you put an extension bar through a hole in it. the bolts from above are easy, but you need a long extension bar (or two) and a wobble bit on the end to make life easy.

prise one off a mk3 at a scrappy.

can't believe I'm going to say this, but a 306 might fit the bill, at 2 grand you might find a mk4 golf based leon or toledo too, keeping it VAG an Octavia or Fabia is proably in that region also. If you can bear the pace a mk4 golf SDI might come in range, but you won't be wining any prizes at the traffic light GP.

just bought some ECP ones, don't bother, they're a pretty shoddy copy of the VAG ones TBH and 2 quid each :(

if you're going to remove the distributor, mark the body against the cam cover with a screwdriver score or fine marker pen so you can put it back at the same base ignition advance. the two 10mm bolts are slackened to adjust the timing and removed to remove the 'dizzy' very easy, just don't bash the hall sender connector block to replace the inner seal (the specs of that seal are buried somewhere on the club GTI forum) you need to press out a small pin that holds the cam drive end to the distributor shaft, not easy without a vice or press. In fact to replace the hall sender you have to do much the same thing.