jonrb

Simple and quick question. I think the Heater Matrix on my 1995 Corrado VR6 is leaking (classic signs of misting up and smelling of coolant). I've been offered a Heater Matrix from a Mk2 Golf by a colleague. Will this fit or does the Corrado use a different part? Cheers Jon

What levels of adjustability does each V have? I'm guessing V1 is height only, V2 is height & bump and V3 is height, bump & rebound?

Oi! Nutter! :)

You may have a point there. :)

The picture in the profile? That's the final chicane at Thruxton, so you don't clip the apex on that bend because of the next one. :) The Corrado really dances through that chicane - I love it.

Apparently I've spent £50,568 on my Corrado over 11 years in depreciation, fuel, tyres, servicing, repairs and upgrades, but not including insurance and tax. See http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showcar.asp?carId=128

Yes, I know that! The immobiliser was a tangent to the main thread and I was just confirming which cars had the immobiliser. As I said a couple of posts ago, I think it is the crank position sensor and/or the Hall Effect generator that is at fault here.

Yup, this is correct. It was only the very last examples of the Corrado VR6 that had the immobiliser.

When I had a non-start problem like this a few years ago it turned out to the crank position sensor and the Hall Effect generator. Replaced them both and the engine sprung into life.

Hiya Reekie. I still have a TVR, but not the Chimaera. I traded it in for a Sagaris in January and then promptly blew up the engine within a month of ownership and it's been with the dealer ever since. :( So not really a good start. The suspension on the Corrado is much better since Julian at Balance Motorsport helped me set it up a couple of days ago. Basically we raised the ride height to near max to get the wishbones pointing at the correct angle. It looks almost stock now, but that isn't really a problem for me as I'm an advocate of "OEM+"

Very late examples of the Corrado VR6 do indeed have a factory-fit immobiliser, but Vince @ Stealth has developed a defeat for it that he can apply at the same time as a remap.

Indeed, but I had a fairly modest drop and it still made a big (negative) difference.

Sorry guys, I haven't been keeping my eyes on the Corrado forums for a while, so I missed this thread. I owned a Chimaera 500 for 6

Yup, as mentioned previously, I did spent a frankly insane £7,000-odd on my Corrado last year, doing lots of things that I had wanted to do but didn't have the money. But surely this thread is pointless with Kev "my pockets have no limits" Hayward around?

Well I had a bit of revelation today. I spent much of the afternoon with Julian at Balance Motorsport (readers of PPC Magazine will recognise him as the guy with the Peugeot 205 GTi with a turbo where there the rear silencer should be) and he was convinced that my handling issues were due to the ride height being too low and therefore the lower front wishbones being at the wrong angle. We raised everything up to the max - pretty much looking like standard, apart from the arse-up rake, and the handling is totally transformed. So whatever you are running, don't slam that ride height too far if you are in any way interested in handling.

When you say "seized", do you mean on height adjustment or the bump and rebound adjusters, Kev? Sorry to hear all was not well with the KWs, especially since I kind of had my heart set on them up until now.

No, unfortunately. We didn't take accurate measurements of the resulting spacers - it was very much a "fettling" process rather than an accurate engineering-led process, I'm afraid. If you were to take a set of Gaz to them for fitting then they would undoubtedly get them fitted first time, especially given their experience on my car, but it would be virtually impossible for them to make up the required spacers and just send them to you.

No - unfortunately not. Gaz don't seem overly interested in making an official Corrado fitting kit so anyone wanting to fit Gaz would need to spec a cutom "mix & match" like Kev and I did, and then go through the same fettling process and have the custom spacers turned on a lathe. However, at least the groundwork has been done and a solution is now known (particularly by The Phirm)

To be honest, the Gaz setup is very good now that the fitting issues are resolved. Tim at The Phirm turned some spacers for me on his lathe and fettled things until the fronts fit perfectly. The only reason I'm considering the KW Variant 3 is that I want more adjustability than the Gaz give me (the KW being 3-way adjustable and the Gaz 2-way) and, to be honest, that isn't going to happen until funds allow. Until then I'm pretty happy with my Gaz setup.

Fussy? Moi? :) Well, I guess maybe I am. I'm just chasing the elusive goal of good primary and secondary ride without compromising handling - just like every engineer does. :) Although if things go the way they possibly might, then my Corrado could cease to be a daily driver and become just a track day car in which case my requirements may be different, so I'd best hold off any suspension purchase for now I guess.

Just to resurrect a previous comment of Kev's which passed me by the first time, my Gaz setup fits pretty much perfectly now, and it was the fitting of the front dampers that was the main issue that I had. Tim at The Phirm turned down the custom spacers that Stealth had made up for me so that they actually sleeve the damper rod and it all now fits together very well. My problem with my Gaz setup is that I don't feel the springs and dampers are correctly matched and I also don't feel that the damping is right for me - I can't find a road setup that works for me. The reason I'm considering the KW Variant 3 is because it is a kit with matched springs and dampers and also the bound and rebound settings are independent which (I understand) they are not on the Gaz. Does anyone know if there is any resale value in my Gaz setup?

You know Kev - he changes his ideas (and his suspension) more often than his underpants.

Get thee behind me Evil Kev, and stop tempting me. :) So what have you done with the Gaz setup? Literally junked it? Got a P/X somehow? Managed to sell it?

Well, yes. But equally if I'd known what my preferences were to begin with then that might have helped too. ;) I tend to lie on the floor on my back and reach up and adjust blind on the Gaz anyway, so maybe that procedure will be what you need for the KW. Top adjustment on the rear is always a pain due to clearance, or certainly was with my Koni TAs. Let me know how you get on. :)

Ah, well that's where we differ as I have found to my cost. ;) If I were to buy then I'd go for the stiffer setup as I have different requirements and demands to you, not least the fact I track mine. :)