jonrb

Can't think why I didn't go for the 325lb in the first place. Guess I was poorly advised. :wink: :)

Indeed - quite agree Kev. Just for the record, I'm not knocking the Gaz setup and I'm certainly not knocking your choice, just giving my personal opinion. :)

Back On-Topic... The Gaz Gold coilovers are pretty comfortable on their softest settings but don't give good enough handling to justify keeping them at those settings. And even then you pick up a lot of rumble. I think it's fair to say that you don't buy coilovers for ride comfort.

Having just done a track day at Thruxton I'm really starting to warm to the Gaz Golds now, although I do think I need stiffer front springs and (name dropper alert!) British GT Champion Calum Lockie agrees with me having driven my car with me as passenger. God, that was awesome (and slightly frightening). :)

Fair enough. I believe that Vince has mapped mine specifically for Super and says I shouldn't run 95RON which is why I'm running Super now.

Indeed. Wheelspin and torque-steer in 1st are now something to be very aware of rather than the once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence they were before.

@John - the car was running month-old 95RON unleaded when it went on the rollers, so the final figure isn't totally representative as it had been mapped for Super, but the headline figures were 226bhp @ 6465 rpm and 206lb ft @ 3700 rpm

Well I can testify that a Schrick VGI, Schrick 268 cams, metal gasket, thottle body and remap make a MASSIVE amount of difference. Oh yes.

I wasn't trying to flame either - it's just that earlier in the thread Mat did say that he had noticed a big difference after just bolting it on, despite not having had it mapped and despite it pinking. I can't see what more of an answer you need to your question? Or am I missing something? :?

...has already been given. Mat noticed a big difference in the car despite it being unmapped and pinking, a difference that I also noticed when I went out for a passenger ride with him.

Indeed. And as I said earlier, I think there is something wrong with his installation if he's seeing no benefit at all (reference my comparison with dr_mat's car). Incidentally, one other thing occurs to me. When I bought my VGI I had to specify whether it was the ODB1 or ODB2 fitment. I presume there isn't some issue here with, say, an ODB1 VGI being used on an OBD2 VR6, is there? Or would it simply not be installable if that were the case?

Incidentally, my setup of VGI, metal gasket, thottle body, Schrick 268 cams, lightened flywheel and remap yielded only 205 lb ft, which was a little disappointing but that was running on month-old 95RON and the car has been running on Super since then. It would be nice to get it RRd again to see what it's really running.

This is pointless thread. I just read the original post again (edit: and also the post you made whilst I was writing this) and I realise now that your VGI is a loaner and you just bolted it on temporarily and expected to get all the benefits with no further effort. These have to be mapped to work properly. End of. If it were yours to keep, then you would have to get it remapped especially as you're running the thin metal gasket which raises compression slightly and therefore is more prone to pinking. You'd just be wasting your time and money running a VGI and metal gasket unmapped. A custom rolling road remap is £250 + VAT at Stealth Racing which is hardly a lot of money.

I can't really comment as I had so many other things done at the same time. However, I did passenger in a Corrado VR6 that had only had the Schrick done with no other mods (that I was aware of - perhaps dr_mat can comment as it was his car) and it hadn't even been mapped either, and it was noticeably stronger at low revs than my (at the time) fairly standard car with just the TB and remap. I really do think there is something wrong with your install if you're seeing no appreciable benefit.

Yes, getting it mapped is a good move too.

Vince told me that once I had the metal head gasket and Schrick I couldn't run on 95RON anymore and had to run on Super to avoid pinking. So perhaps you should stop using 95RON and put some Super in it?

Thanks, Kev re: the website you mentioned - WTF is a Mk 2 Corrado though? I presume they mean the post-facelift model? Edit: Not to be confused with the Mk2 Golf mentioned at the start if the thread - I know what one of those is. :D

Nice. I've been looking for a strut brace for the RHD Corrado VR6 that just bolts straight on with no modifcations required for ages. I'll have to look around for one of those. Edit: Damn, you're in the states so you have a LHD car. That might not fit my RHD car then as I believe there are differences. :( Is that aimed at me? Because if it is then I'm confused as I have a Corrado VR6. :?

Trouble with Gordon Brown is that his hands are like Jeremy Beadle's - and you can guess which is which. ;) (I can't take credit for that analogy - we're having the same discussion on psitonheads.com and someone else came up with it)

What strut bar is that? Looks like a very good fit. Did you need to move the header tank or did it just go straight on? I'm very impressed with mine, but then again I already had an enlarged gas-flowed throttle body and I had Schrick 268deg cams, metal cylinder head gasket, a lightened flywheel, the 3.68 final drive and a custom remap all done at the same time so it probably isn't a fair comparison. :) Edit: For a start I have wheelspin and torquesteer in 1st now, and I never had that before.

Fortunately for all us Corrado owners it's only a £5 increase this year, but I do agree it is disgusting. Not quite as disgusting as the "Congestion Charge" (sic) though, which appears now to be a Pollution Tax or Environmental Tax in everything other than name.

Ah yes, Vince's special package deal. He offered that to me too. The rationale is that the clutch and chains have a lot of common labour (that is a given and well-known) but at the age when you're doing that then the valve stems and valve seals probably need doing, and there is common labour there too, so he has the head off to do those too. If you're staying Naturally Aspirated then you'll probably want a steel head gasket too as it raises the compression slightly but if you do then you'll probably need a remap too. And you may be tempted, like I was, to think "hold on, if the head is off anyway and I'm having a remap anyway then I could change the cams as it would be labour-free". It gets expensive quite quickly. :) Edit: Mr Sands - You do know that the £1,400 is ex VAT, don't you? So that's actually £1,645

Seriously though, in answer to the original question then not counting the latest round of renovation and upgrades which are atypical and would skew the results, over the last 125 months and 114k miles, my Corrado has, on average, cost £541 per year in servicing and repairs, £114 per year in tyres, £1,300 per year in petrol and £1,776 per year in depreciation. Full breakdown at http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showcar.asp?carId=128

I have experience of Koni TA and H&R springs, but not Koni TA and KW springs. I wonder how they compare? When I had Koni TA and H&R I found that the secondary ride was excellent and the primary ride was a little crashy, particularly at low speeds. Ironically the Gaz Gold setup I have now is precisely the opposite.

I was down in Weymouth on the weekend and they had the Revell metal kits in stock for £24.95 I couldn't decide on the black one or the blue one, so bought both. As you do. :D