davidwort

foam carpet cleaner from Tescos etc is probably far cheaper, think I used 1001 or something, dab about with a sponge and then paper towels to remove.

nocrap, did you fit the merc ones then and sucessfully swap the top hats and replace all the seals then, including the little ones on the top hats? Interested 'cause I'd like a new set but can never justify the 30 odd quid each the GSF ones always seem to be. cheers, David.

you either need a VW code reader/programmer (1552) or the VAG COM software on a PC and the appropriate leads to connect to the diagnosis port under the gearlever cover. It's possible that this system (on the KE-jet 9A engine) can be 'read' by using a test light, you'd need a Haynes bosch injection system manual or Passat manual that covers this engine. Basic handheld fault readers and resetting tools are used by most independent garages these days, find a friendly one and ask if they'll check for fault codes, or you could go to one of the Corrado Club or forum meets where several people have laptops and VAG COM.

lupo aeros aren't the only option, there are some TT wipers that fit OK and the lupo aeros tend to hold water in the connector piece from the blade to the arm and then spray water over your screen, bit annoying as you constantly have to do 'one more wipe', some of the later VW versions on polos etc may be better. Just out of interest, the new Ford Focus passenger side blade is the same design and length as the Lupo one, 19" aero blade.

if you pull the plugs to the sensors on the metering unit it should run in basic K-jet/get you home mode, in theory I think that will then cause the ECU to use middle range values for temperatures etc and it should run OK. you also need to get the ECU faults checked/reset I'd have thought. May be good to get all the system pressures checked out too. Haynes Passat manual covers some of the things you can check on the 9A fuel system, sensor resistances etc. so you could at least narrow it down before taking it to a specialist.

manual says back off at 145 :lol: 116 is fine though, if a little on the high side for steady cruising with a good flow of air, some run nearer 100, others over 110. Radiator may be past it's best or the sender/gauge might be fibbing a bit, I wouldn't worry much though, valvers tend to run hotter than 8v 4 cylinder VWs. Just make sure you're not loosing any water and consider replacing the water pump, stat, rad and heat exchanger at some point, especially if you're reaching 150K. Heat exchangers will suffer if coolant is not the right type or strength and can corrode quite badly inside. Sometimes running with the coolant too strong can up temps a few degrees.

(G50/51) don't think they are available now, the mineral oil G 052 726 A2 replaces G50 from what I can find, dealers only tend to stock this and it took my dealer over six weeks to get the G 052 171 A2 fully synthetic.

Will do a proper write up at some point, but I've just replaced the shift tower on my early 1.8 16v with the design used on the later corrados (most easily identified by the shift weight and cable on top of one another at gearbox mounting bracket, rather than side by side) The result is pretty good, the really old style shift towers seem prone to play everywhere and the selector mechanism is quite a bit different in design on the later cars. Step one was a gearbox refill with the standard current VAG gearbox oil part no. G 052 726 A2 (smelly mineral oil stuff) about 4 quid a litre (2 bottles needed, only about 1.5L will go in as it won't drain fully) This replaced the rather dark and mucky previous fill and slightly improved shifting, even though it wasn't the original gearbox fill from the factory. Next, I replaced the old style shift tower with a unit from a 94 passat, two 13mm bolts and the whole tower just slides out of the gearbox, cables removed first of course. I had already previously fitted a shift weight from the later setup which gives a slightly weightier feel on shifting and this went back on the new tower. The mounting bracket for the cables has three mounting bolts (2 on the old one) and needs a third hole tapping into the top of the gearbox really, particularly as the later bracket is sat on rubber bushes unlike the older ones. With the new tower in place and the cables attached, a rough positionning of the cables on their adjustment done, the shift felt much heavier and smoother, driven it all seemed aligned OK. This was definitely an improvement over the original early O2A shift tower, although beware of the plastic connector on the top of the tower for the selector cable, these break up easily it seems, although it's a cheap VAG replacement part. Finally, as I'd bought some, I drained the box again and filled it with: part no. G 052 171 A2 fully synthetic gear oil, as specced for 6 speed 1.8T's and 6 cylinder mk 4 onwards golfs, also TSB for removing some gearbox noises from cable change boxes on mk4's and TTs. This stuff has no smell and definitely improves shifting further, about 23 quid for 2 litres from VAG. although I have a slow 2nd gear synchro on my old 16v box (synchro actually replced a few years ago) the fully synthetic oil does improve it. In summary, for an old early C the combination of later spec shift tower and VAG synthetic gearbox oil is a good improvement, about 40 quid in total, including a fill and drain with the mineral stuff which helped clean out the box. These two oil part nos supercede the old G50 and G51 specs. take the notes on the pic with a pinch of salt for the G50/51 specs (not my pic), not sure both were ever synthetic, think only the G51 was.

from your pic, that's not a 16v pump, but as the racks are basically the same the pump must be a very similar design, apart from the body and pulley being slightly different to suit the VR6 engine.

the feed pipe to the pumps on the 4 cylinder cars have a metal elbow like this, which is just an interferance fit, they sometimes come loose and leak PS fluid, they're not under pressure but should be secure and not removable by hand. Not sure if loctite or something similar might help but you'd need the pump off the car and thoroughly cleaned of all traces of fluid around the join.

more than the cost of a low mileage 16v corrado I'd imagine :lol: not knocking the CNC heads quality, but unless you are building a blueprinted race prepped car I wouldn't have though you're going to get near the heads maximum power potential, for a start the K-jet system wont deliver enough fuel and air, their small print does cover them there! There's plently of 16v cars with TSR heads or similar (for much cheaper) that have put out over 180bhp on Stealths rollers, and for comparison standard 16v's make about 130-145 bhp on their rollers so they may overread a bit on the calculated crank hp but they're a good guide. You do get what you pay for though and a cheap job that just opens up the inlet ports wide and concentrates on the bits of the head that are easy to reach with tools are always going to be inferior. My head including 4 new valves set me back just under 600 quid, and although a while back that's the sort of money that will get you a carefully modified head from someone who knows what they are doing. The guys that did mine were not VW experts, in fact they prepared bike heads mainly, but their reputation was good and the work looked good and certainly did the trick on the road. I might not have the power of the wild cam brigade but over 175bhp on standard cams at 600rpm lower than CNC quote for just over 200bhp is pretty good as far as I'm concerned, the engine will almost hit the limiter in fifth which means there must be a bit of torque at the top end :)

as far as doing the job yourself, it's not the easiest thing to do, I recently replaced both track rods on my rack and to do the rack I can't see any other way than dropping the whole subframe, you might get away with just lowering it still attached to the wishbones and hubs on the car to get enough clearance. Ideally you need a proper garage two post ramp, to get celarance for everything and you'll need to support the engine as the rear engine and gearbox mount sit in the subframe. The rack itself is just four 13mm bolts, but you've got the UJ to the steering column and hoses and unions to consider too. It's not a five minute job even with all the kit, specified workshop times vary but anything up to four hours is allowed I think, depending on model. all Corrado racks are basically the same setup as mk3 golf although the 4 cylinder Corrados have a slightly different subframe and longer track rods for the plus axle (5 stud hubs) like the Corrado VR6.

early 16v's were just under 17 grand in 89/90

assuming you haven't already had this done, for under a hundred quid (possibly nearer 50) you should be able to get the engine properly set up on a rolling road, it's not uncommon for a 1.8 16v that runs perfectly well to see gains of 5-10bhp just from having the fuelling and ignition timing set up to get the most at the top end.

only the manifold, downpipe(with it's integral silencer) and the front box (the small straight section after the downpipe part no. 191253209J, circled item 8 in the pic below) are the same as the golf 16v. The 'suitcase' box before the rear axle and tailbox are different on the Corrado.

There's a '88 toyota carina II in our family (bought when a year old) on 200,000 and it's 1600 16v engine is incredibly quiet and smooth running and the gearbox is still slick, light and smooth, uses next to no oil and all it's had replaced is rear shocks and one exhaust system. On the ramp at MOT time you can see just how well engineered it is, dull but amazingly dependable.

don't know about the VR's but I've seen so many 8v and 16v engines that have done approaching 200,000 miles and are sweet as anything, granted they need regular oil changes, but it's not always the case that even the 16v heads need a rebuild after 100,000. Given reasonable servicing most 4 pot 1800-2L's will outlast the rest of the mechanicals and the body (pre 97).

that is such a shame, I'm sure that could be sorted, I had a mk1 that I drove up a kerb and into a double skinned brick wall at 30mph (shortly after passing my driving test :roll: ), the wall actually cracked down the middle. The inner wing was bent across miles but I got the car jigged straight by a top body guy that I knew and it was perfect for years afterwards. Buy back from ins co. should be peanuts, from 2 recent ones my family have done. Got to be worth getting a bodyshop to have a look.

well mine just unscrews.

to be fair the 'pink' Haynes passat manual is only up to 1992, and although the passat had the 9A engine in 1990-91 the tensionners were the same as the KR's up to then.

good point, I'd imagine all those figures apply to early type 16v engines, I can't imagine the later type of tensionner is much different, you should be able to do it up with just a plain ring spanner, although I use a torque wrench now, in the past I've just guessed and nipped it up, can't see a small dap of threadlock would be a problem if you're worried about under-tightening it a bit.

Im getting a bit of deja-vu here, wasn't that in another thread recently?, I've always used 45NM and that's not very tight really???

at the bottom of pic 1, 33ft/lbs 45NM

KR system is just simpler, the knock sensors, lambda probe, differential fuel pressure regulator and controlling ECU just make the 9A more complex, and it's limited fault finding ability make it hard to diagnose. In theory a 'chipped' 9A system would be better at supplying fuel at the to end where KR's tend to lean out and you wouldn't have to run it rich throughout the rev range. In practice there's little advantage with the 9a system power wise , and it seems like they become more troublesome than the KR (plain K-jet) system with age.

that would be a last resort and you must replace the bolt if it's removed as it's a stretch one, must be torqued correctly too.