davidwort

I seem to be losing a small amount of water, perhaps a cupful every 500 miles, doesn't seem to be any water leaks from any of the hoses, no deposits about, no water in the oil etc.. Could it be my heater matrix? I seem to get quite a bit of moisture on the windows inside the car but not much more than I think is due to colder weather. The matrix is obviously not totally bust as I dont have wet feet or carpets, is there any way of checking it without removing the dash? How do these things actually fail, do they just corrode through like on a radiator, there doesn't seem to be any water leaking from the hose joint in and out? ta, David.

it's 02A but not the same, bell housing is diff I think to fit to vr6 block

Don't think you'll get much re-conned on yours for under 500 quid, I just had one synchro done on my 16v box and that was 180 quid 5 years ago, the individual bits from VW are just so expensive and labour will not be cheap either. It might be best to look for a 'good' second hand unit rather than the hassle and cost of fixing yours. David.

That sounds like my mother-in-laws driving style :lol:

I had a nissan with a carb and a cat no end of problems as the carb would cut the fuel as it would knacker the cat and create what started to be a 'twin choke effect' that over time turned into 'kangaroo juice' at every road junction, Ah, the exception that proves the rule I think! ;)[/quote:ebfb4] and some of the small Seat's, I remember seeing and article about how they had developed a system that enabled accurate enough fuelling to run a cat on some of those awful panda clones, Marbella I think (I'd rather walk.) David.

Just been reading about the FSI engines, blimey!, that's a lot more complicated than I thought :? , not just squirting straight into the combustion chamber. Only problem is these things are going to cost a fortune to diagnose and fix if they ever go wrong. David.

Ah no worries then :D Just pop the frozen rice in the microwave for a few mins and it'll be drivable again :D don't forget the teaspoon of water over the bag first! 'Tis a good point though, have occasionally thought a severly iced over spoiler could be a strain on the motor, but surely VW would have thought of that at the design stage!? err, isn't that what the correct rating fuse is for??? :? David.

interesting this, depends on the engine management system capability I guess, I'm sure my NA golf IV 16v would benefit, just from the throttle response alone (somtimes I wonder if it's ever going to pull away at roundabouts!), but that's an emissions friendly flly-by-wire throttle. I've no doubt that you can get loads more from chipping a turbo, but on a lot of NA cars 350 quid may not get you much of an improvement as some systems are pretty good already and even adaptive to driving style. There's always going to be some room for improvement when considering a custom map, just don't think it's the first 350 quid I would spend on a car. I'd imagine you would need days of testing at different temperatures and atmospheric pressures to get a really accurate custom map, I think AMD and the like start with a basic 'performance' map and then just tweak bits of it to suit a particular car on the rollers, certainly better than an off the shelf ' performance' chip that is just substituting the manufacturers best compromise for someone elses guesswork, hence the overfuelling, pinking mess that quite a lot of people end up with. David.

I suppose in theory if you have less torque at the same revs on the same engine then you will end up using more fuel, don't think it will be noticable though. What you won't be able to tell easily without rolling roading it, is if you have lost much bottom end, problem is the extra oomph at the top end and the delayed torque peak make it feel quicker but some of that may be down to the contrast between low/mid and high revs rather than overall improvement. A good idea would be to do back to back tests in gear on the same bit of road. You could try 50-80mph acceleration in a range of gears and try to get a stable figure/good average before and after doing the swap. My guess is you will in most driving conditions lose out, as you will rarely benefit from the improved high rev power. Having said that, IMO I would rather not have flat cams in a 16v though, otherwise what's the point in having all that extra valve area over an 8v! David.

less low end and mid range torque and more top end than a 9A cam, kr inlet is a good compromise though for a 2L engine. The 9A gives a very flat torque curve (which is good) it's just that it tails off just as you'd expect a valver to be coming on song. the plot attached shows a bog standard healthy 2.0 16v plotted against my 2.0 with a flowed KR head and KR inlet cam. The torque graph is a bit difficult to read but basically my curve only overtakes the standard 9A at 4500 revs, quite a bit of the peak at high revs (probably over 10bhp) and some of the drop at lower revs may be due to the flowed head but it gives you an idea. At about 3500 revs there is 8 or so lb/ft more torque from the standard 9a but by 6000 revs the 9A is past it's best and the KR 2.0 has 25 bhp more, also feels strong to the redline which means it's also well on cam when you swap to the next gear :-) David.

might be quicker and easier to remove one end of the metal water pipe to pump hose, rather than crawling under the car and getting very aggrovated from the PS brackets etc.. I'd fill the car up with just water and run it for a short while, then drain again and fill with the fresh distilled water and coolant. It's surprising how much more grotty water comes out on the second flush if it's not been keept in tip top condition. David

I know it sounds silly, but have you checked the expansion tank cap has a seal on it? They can come off when you unscrew the cap and it can give symptoms like a head gasket failure. David.

curved hose from bottom of expansion tank to metal water pipe and pipe to heater matrix I think. The top and bottom rad hose, 3 way hose, small link hose from pipe to pump and curly hose from pipe to heat exchanger all fit fine. A 1.5m length of 8mm bore samco hose will go from expansion tank to top of rad, about 10 quid a metre. David.

Not on a Corrado it won't... this is a common myth, it won't make a blind bit of difference as the Corrado heater valving controls the air flow NOT the coolant flow... The Matrix on a Corrado is always filled with the same temp coolant as the engine bay's pipes... 8) D'oh! .. now you come to mention it quite a few things have changed on VW's since my Polo Coupe, which reminds me, anyone know the part number for a set of new points for my C, they must be knackered by now 135,000 miles without changing :wink: David.

Golf 2 16v set will fit apart from 2 hoses (i.e. you can use 5 of 7) You will then need to buy lengths of hose and reducers and elbows from samco if you want to do everything. Golf set is a good start though. David.

I've always undone my rad bottom hose and left it to drain out (shouldn't let it go down a rain drain though) then fill it with tap water alone (at least until water is in the rad top hose) and run the engine for a while to flush the system round, then drain that off and re-fill with distilled water (5L bottle from Halfords) plus your required percentage of anti-freeze. Whole system is over 6 litres I think. Don't forget to put your heater on full or water and coolant will be trapped in the heater matrix. It also helps to release the top hose a bit to let the water fill the system, 16v's tend to trap air pockets and an over-heated head is not good news - keep track of how much you've put in, 5L or more would be good before starting the car. Check regularly after the first few trips and top up header tank as required. David.

temp senders on the side of the head first I'd say, Haynes passat manual tells you which is which, can't remember off the top of my head I think there are 3 small ones one for oil temp (MFA) one for ECU, you could pull them one at a time to check which ones which. also check earth straps from head to bulkhead. David.

Did you get an 8v carb rad from GSF?, that's what they sold me for my 16v, same dimensions but not the same number of cores in the rad, a real 16v one is more than twice that price. How does your water and oil temp run with the GSF rad, mine seems a bit higher than I'd like, not too hot, but it doesn't seem to run spot on, about 106 degrees oil on steady crusing, water about right but tends to settle just above the mid-mark whereas it used to be bang on. Doesn't help that I changed to a 2.0L Audi 6A block at the same time though, so I'm not sure of the effect that is having. cheers, David.

I've just paid 114 quid for two rear and 240 quid for 2 front koni's, plus eibach springs (or H&R's) you can add about another 120 quid to the bill. All in that's £470 ish for my 16v. A Koni complete kit might be a better price, even if you flog the springs on e-bay and then buy some H&R's instead, seen the kits for 360 quid. David.

I think I've got it sussed now thanks, I read the info from the Koni website before, but it's a bit misleading, the golf 2 G60 uses the same VW part No. struts/shocks as the early G60/16v Corrado (ETKA). The later 4 cylinder and all VR6 Corrado's don't use the identical VW part as Golf 3's but Koni list the same parts for them (8741-1259Sport). So from that I've managed to work out that I need an 8641-1198Sport Top adjustable, gas strut from Koni for the pre 92 Corrado/G60 golf! cheers, David

As the title, Anyone bought top adjustable front dampers for a Corrado and can help me out here? I've spoken to a retailer and it's not clear which Koni parts fit which year of car??? They seem to be obsessed by a 'dent' in the leg to clear tyre? Is this for the pre 92 mk2 golf style legs as on my 1990 16v or the later mk3 golf style units? I have a set of identical G60 legs to my 16v ones (off same year G60), VW part numbers are the same but I'm not sure what Koni mean by a 'dent in the leg' doesn't look like that's the ones I've got. Don't want to order bits that won't fit my bearing caps etc.. thanks, David.

Passat hoses are virtually identical to the corrado ones, equivalent year needed. I got a virtually new looking pump-to-rack pipe for about 25 quid from Volks-Apart in London for my 1990 16v. David.

I personally wouldn't go for non-standard rear shocks unless they are adjustable (e.g. Koni's) the reason being I've had Boge dampers on my C and although they are the uprated gas items sold for Golf 16v's too, they are far to firm for even the Corrado, bear in mind that most people rarely carry much weight in the back of a C too. Koni's are great though, I've adjusted up from the softest setting but they are nearly as comfortable as standard items but with better control adjusted to the feel I prefer, for the rear they only worked out about 15 quid more than the cheap shocks and are much better in terms of build quality too, you also get ride height adjustment by a movable spring seat. David.

B&Q... GSF - same old! :lol: Seriously tho Mat - B&Q sell roofing felt which is like diet dynamat and much cheaper than the real thing - come in rolls and is self adhesive! You will need to find a haberdashery (spelling?) for sticky back felt - it does exist.... It's actually an alternative (or for repairs) to lead flashing for roof joins etc.. Wickes do it in various widths too (I got some in my Conservatory kit!) I wouldn't say it's much cheaper than the Brown Bread I bought from Maplins though as it generally comes in quite narrow widths. David. - No, I'm not thinking of adding a conservatory onto the back of my corrado

yep, I did mean VW main dealer, although not much chance in getting them now from a VW dealer, I wouldn't have thought, I'd imagine you'll get a response along the lines of 'eh, what's a corrado then' or 'OK, I'll order up the wrong bits for you, and let you know they're in in about 9 weeks time' :roll: To fit the full system you would need the control box and loom for the windows, but a passat system should do, 2 or 4 door control units, 2 door one is completely the same as corrado IIRC. David.