jonrb

edit: It's also true that "new Stig" is no one person, but a number of people.

Impressive. We managed to get our similarly-aged Lotus Elan SE Turbo down to just under £200 Fully Comp on a limited mileage classic policy. I've always been nervous of TPF&T on anything other than bangernomics personally. (Edit: khurrado - thanks for your input. You really made a contribution there. ;))

I thought that the classic 5-spoke Speedline (2110 I think it is) is not available in a 5 stud pattern suitable for the VR6?

I'm considering moving from the standard 15" VR6 Speedlines to a 16" wheel but want them to look as close as possible to the originals, just 16" Does anyone have any suggestions? (Note to Repost Police: I did try a search but didn't turn up anything that specifically answered my question)

I bought a genuine tow bar (secondhand, I hasten to add - cost me £100 + postage) as at one stage it looked like the only way of keeping the car, but fortunately the wife relented and we bought a family car and I kept the Corrado as my daily driver. I've never fitted it because a) it requires a hole to be cut in the bumper and b) it weighs 15kg! c) I obviously don't need it now. Anyway, it is a sodding big bar that bolts to holes already in the chassis ready to accept it, so if you are lucky and it is one of these it should just unbolt. Given that the Corrado has holes for a bar (as mentioned above) I would be very surprised indeed if yours was welded on.

I've got my C booked in with Vince for Sat 20th and he'll hold on to it for a week or two until I can get back up there on another Sat to pick it up. I'd quite like to make a decision on what exhaust to go for (even if that decision is to replace the blowing mid-box with stock) before then, so suggestions gratefully received.

My Corrado VR6 is over 10 years old now and has 118k miles on the clock and it is still on its original exhaust, although the mid box has just started blowing. In contrast my wife's Seat Cupra 2.0 GTi 16v had 2 back boxes and one mid box in the 5 years we owned it.

For the price Corrados now go for it would be more cost-effective to either sell or keep your existing LHD Corrado and buy a RHD Corrado. The other thing to consider is resale value. Who would buy a LHD -> RHD converted Corrado when they could just buy a proper RHD one for the same price?

I'm probably a bit late to the party, but here is a procedure I wrote years ago. It was hosted on the VWCCGB website (with my permission) for ages but I don't know if it still is. Regards Jon Edit: mk3 yeti - look at my procedure and all will be revealed about the horn wire. Well, hopefully. :)

I love the V8 burble of my TVR, and I know what TVR achieved with the V6 in the old 'S' (as I mentioned earlier), so I would very much like to liberate a little burble from the VR6. I don't like the idea of a droney sound though. :(

Tony is long gone on the Corrado front, but I still occasionally bump into him on pistonheads.com where he posts as M-five. He's an M5 man through-and-through now but still speaks fondly of the Corrado. As I recall he had a hell of a problem selling that car and let it go for a song in the end. To this day I regret not buying it from him, transferring all the choice mods to my own car and then selling his as stock. :( (BTW, Kev YHM)

Hmm, that wouldn't be on a car previously owned by a certain double-barelled gent who now drives an M5, would it? :)

Really? That doesn't bode too well, especially given you have a Chimaera 500. (PS. me too. :))

Still got the original OE exhaust on my VR6 - it has never been changed from new (10+ years and 118k miles). The mid box is just starting to blow now, so I need to decide what to change it for. I've always felt that the car could do with a bit more of a burble at low revs. When you consider what TVR were able to do on the S with the old Ford Colgne V6 (as found in the Granada) it makes you wonder what could be achieved on the VR6 too.

I've been using Castrol GTX Magnatec 15W 40 for the best part of the past 10 years / 117k miles on my VR6 and it seems fairly happy on it. :)

I'll start the ball rolling with... "New Corrado accessory allows you to park in the shade wherever you go" "Car thief misunderstands the need to find a fence for stolen Corrado" "Jon really should wash his Corrado more. ;)"

An extra 8mm over standard doesn't sound that significant. Is there much of an improvement then?

There's something I don't understand about up-sizing the wheels and tyres. Everyone who is running 16's seems to be running 205/45 R16 but the various tyre calculators show 225/40 R16 as having a closer rolling circumference to the standard 205/50 R15. Is it a case that in the real world 205/45 R16 is more suitable than the on-paper figures would suggest? Tyre Size Comparison Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Difference 205/50-15 4.0in 11.5in 23.1in 72.5in 874 0.0% 205/45-16 3.6in 11.6in 23.3in 73.1in 867 0.8% 225/40-16 3.5in 11.5in 23.1in 72.5in 874 0.1% 205/40-17 3.2in 11.7in 23.5in 73.7in 860 1.7%

Hmm. Guess I must have been lucky - mine lasted for years before wearing out and needing replacement. I'm seriously thinking of moving up to 16's and doing the 312mm upgrade. I want to keep the car looking as OEM as possible so will need to find some 5-spokes that look similar to the standard VR6 Speedlines. I know this is a bit off-topic, but can anyone let me know the exact size (inc. offset) of the wheels I'll need and the size of the tyres that go with them please? Edit: 225/40 R16 seems to come out as an almost perfect match on various tyre size calculators for maintaining the same rolling radius and circumference.

I've just been through all this. You do not need the Short Roof Adpator (477) as the Corrado has slots above the rear windows for the rear bars (there are small arrows in the rubbers to locate them). I wish I'd known that before I bought one. :( You actually only need * Bars (761) * Foot pack (950) * Fitting kit (094) * Locks (544) [optional] Fitting kit 094 has recently gone out of production so you'll need to phone around and find a supplier who has actual stock. If they say they'll have to order them then tell them not to bother and move on to the next supplier.

That's not the point I was trying to make. I was just trying to say that when I tell people I have a TVR they say "oh, they're really unreliable, aren't they?" whilst when I say I have a Corrado VR6 they say (if they've heard of it) "oh, they're great cars." and yet both cars have had similar levels of reliability. I just think that TVR's reliability reputation is undeserved and I get tired of people banging on about it. Incidentally, ask dr_matt if he enjoyed his trip out in mine. ;) :D

There's a lot of crap talked about TVR reliability. I've owned a Chimaera 500 for almost 5 years now in addition to my Corrado VR6, and I wouldn't say that the Chimaera was any less reliable than the Corrado.

That's worth knowing. Pity all the on-line roof bar companies don't know that vital snippet of information and encourage you to buy it. :( Maybe I can move the Short Roof Adaptor along on eBay. Which roof box is that, BTW?

Sorry, I don't know why this post ended up in this forum. It was meant to be in 'exterior'.

Hi folks If you want a roof rack for a Corrado then up until now Thule have been the only choice. The exact kit you need is: 1. Bars (761) 2. Foot pack (950) 3. Short roof adaptor (477) 4. Fitting kit (094) 1-3 are readily available and come up for sale on eBay every so often. Indeed, I managed to get all 3 from just one auction on eBay for £38 recently including delivery. It had apparently been on a Punto previously. However, Kit 094 is Corrado specific and I was informed by a supplier I tried to buy it from that Thule have discontinued this item and they were refunding my order. I was lucky to find another supplier who had one in stock (their last one), so I would strongly advise anyone considering getting a roof rack for the Corrado to go track down and buy kit 094 ASAP before they all go. Cheers Jon