Joe Gowland

Hi swiftkid, In answer to your question, no, I'm not furstyferret, neither did I buy his car, I just posted on here as a 'newbie', and, as I explained, I think my earliest posts are still 'in limbo' somewhere. Joe G

Hi swiftkid, I suspect Parts one and two of my missive are still 'in quarantine' awaiting approval - you're not missing much! I posted them because, as you'll know, I need to submit a number of posts and have them approved, before becoming 'active'. Joe G

Part eight One final thing (for now) that's going to need a good coat of thinking about, is that I'd like to fit a 'high level' brake light. I've never been a fan of the modern craze for SUV's and the like, and in traffic, ordinary light clusters are often obscured by their high bonnet lines, so I'm a fan of a higher level brake lamp. Oh, I I almost forgot to mention, the car is very much ‘original spec’ and I’m looking to keep it that way, although I must admit I think it would look nicer a little ‘lower’, but I’m resisting the temptation to ‘drop’ the ride height – I may reconsider, but for now I’m happy with the setup. I can’t get off the drive forwards without the front bib (the smaller one) touching the road surface as it is, so going lower doesn’t seem wise at all! Anyway, that’s enough from me, I’ll try to post a pic or two once I’m no longer a ‘probationer’! Joe G

Part seven Upcoming jobs (other than attention to the paintwork, which just has 'lacquer chips’ and the like) are a few areas of surface rust treatment (inside the boot lid bottom edge, for example) and the, what appears to be obligatory, sunroof mechanism failure. The mechanism and electrics do operate properly (or attempt to!), but the roof doesn't depress sufficiently to 'slide under' without catching. I think I can detect a ‘missing’ roller on the offending side, but removal of the headlining and cassette will need to wait for some much better weather, or a slot indoors somewhere. While the headlining's out, I will change the radio aerial seal (and possibly the aerial too). Joe G

Part six Other 'issues' have been the need initially to replace a handbrake cable and the rear calipers (the car seems to have been 'Sorned' for a long time) shortly after purchase, and then last week, I needed to change the front brake calipers (in all cases they were ‘sticking’ thanks to rusty pistons) and while I was in there I decided to change a track control arm (it was showing early signs of a rear bush failure - which such a common failure on all sorts of cars), and, as a result, now the steering wheel's a midge's 'off' – which will be easy to correct with a spell on the ramp with the laser tracking gear. The brakes are now fine and dandy, and there's no more 'clunking'! Joe G 

Part five Another 'cowboy' inheritance the car had, which, with the engine out, I was able to attend to, was the fact that some numpty had wrapped the wiring harness with 'tank tape' - grrrr! Now its all correctly wrapped with the proper harness tape - the good news is that I had the chance to inspect the wiring and found that it was all in good condition - no thanks to the melted tank tape adhesive though - what a mess that was to clean up! Joe G

Part four Eventually, the big moment came, and, I was absolutely stunned that the engine burst into life on the very first turn of the key, not even a full revolution needed! All went well, although, as I 'newbie' I did fail to fill the radiator separately and struggled to bleed the 'system'. All niggles eventually 'sorted and now the car's running fine, without leaks or misbehaviour. Joe G

Part three Engine rebuilt, and given a new clutch, it was then a case of waiting for another slot' at my friend's garage to replace the lump - I had to wait until he eventually went on his summer hols to get the car towed there! Engine and ‘box reinstalled (with a little help of a friend for a couple of 'fiddly' engine cradle bolts) quite straightforwardly, exhaust and all coolant hoses connected up – although I was beginning to fall out of love with the offside driveshaft flange bolts! Quite a struggle on the hottest day of the year! Then the car was towed home for the remaining bits to be fitted.   Joe G

Part two: However, a few months later, without any warning at all, the engine ran a big end bearing - so, engine and 'box had to come out this time, rather than just the head and sump removal required previously (once a ‘slot’ was eventually arranged at my pal’s garage) and the extracted engine was stripped to determine what had happened – I never did discover a cause, although the heat generated had destroyed the relevant conrod! Before anyone jumps to a conclusion, the car is a road car, and doesn’t get thrashed - I’m too old for that! An oversized rebore, new forged Wossner pistons at eye-watering prices, a replacement G60 conrod (which is not your average 1.8l VW conrod, since the gudgeon pin is 22mm Ø rather than the standard 20mm Ø) at a very reasonable price from Eastern Europe, a regrind of the crank with new bearings all round, a new oil pump and all the other associated bits needed, and I rebuilt the engine, as you might imagine, quite meticulously. Now, I'm not new to wielding a spanner, but I am quite unfamiliar with this engine, but gladly managed to discover all the useful information about torque wrench settings, and even the lengths of studs/bolts and so on. Suffice it to say that someone in the past history of the vehicle had been, let's say, quite cavalier about putting the correct bolts into the incorrect holes - if you get my drift – if it was possible to have the wrong bolt there, then, on most occasions, that’s where it was! Despite having labelled every fixing as I separated the engine, there now began a lengthy 'trial assembly' making sure that I had the right bits in the right places - eventually managing to get there - don't you just hate 'cowboys'!   Joe G

Hi everyone who might be reading, I’m also new to this Forum, and relatively new to Corrado ownership. Apparently, I need to have at least five posts ‘approved’ (and there’s no problem at all with that) before I can be ‘active’, so there follow a few posts about my ownership thus far. I bought my ’92 G60 in '17, and it’s essentially a sound car, but it's been a relatively lengthy project, with a ‘learning curve’ for me, and, like most no doubt, it’s not yet (if ever) finished. One of the first things I discovered was the appalling performance of the headlights, and a quick search illustrated that it seems to be an ‘issue’ for Corrados. I made a harness to operate the headlights by relay, using direct connections to the battery for power, and the lighting switch supply to energise the relevant mini-relays. Much improved performance, so I gave myself a pat on the back for that! The slight 'misfire' that the otherwise sound car had, when I bought it, was eventually discovered to be a broken piston. Ouch! I managed to find just a single new piston, and that was installed - along with new big end bearings. While getting on with this job, I took the opportunity to get the G-lader rebuilt at OCD in Doncaster. Engine put back together, and all seemed well! Joe G

Firstly, many thanks for accepting me to this forum. I have to admit that I was oblivious to its existence until a post on the CCGBFB page mentioned it - ah well, more stuff to read and assimilate! Secondly, and perhaps a little 'off topic' but I suspect quite relevant to the forum, I read in a recent Practical Performance Car (the direct descendant of the much-missed ‘Cars and Car Conversions’ of the ‘70’s/’80’s), that someone has begun the exercise of rescuing Renault discussion forums. I quote: “It’s a weird sign of the times that once-busy forums and discussion groups have died away, as everyone just argues on Facebook instead. A great deal of hard-won experience could be lost, which is exactly why the guys at TurbRenault.co.uk have used a generous database donation to rescue all the old threads from Clio16valver.co.uk. That’s not all – they’ve also rescued boards from Retro-Renault, Renault 21 Turbo Owners Club, Renault 5 Gordini and Renault 5 Turbo Forum. If you know of other Renault-related boards worth saving, email [email protected]” Now, I don’t know whether the organisation behind this is attempting to simply hoover up all the info, or it’s a benevolent, non-commercial offer. In either case, might it be something the CF need to consider? I'm also a member of the Ginetta Owners' Club, and last year we suffered a major 'server meltdown' where, not only did we lose the whole website, but also the online backup of the site (which was also stored on the same server). Although most of the website has subsequently been rebuilt from scratch, many years of valuable experience and knowledge were lost forever, which is why I mention the 'rescue exercise' above, as it may well be a valuable thing to do. I doubt very much whether any enthusiastic individual would have the time or energy to collate all the info in this forum, but it would be a great shame were it to be lost. Lastly, returning to the topic of this thread, I also think it would be an extremely good coordination of effort were the Facebook and Forum to amalgamate, or, at least, cross-fertilise their exercises. Joe G

Firstly, Thanks for enrolling me in this forum - somehow I'd completely missed that it existed prior to a Facebook post about it - oh well, better late than never I suppose. Secondly, although I'm new, and not aware of what's happened before, but I read in a recent Practical Performance Car (the direct descendant of the much-missed ‘Cars and Car Conversions’ of the ‘70’s/’80’s), that someone has begun the exercise of rescuing Renault discussion forums. I quote: “It’s a weird sign of the times that once-busy forums and discussion groups have died away, as everyone just argues on Facebook instead. A great deal of hard-won experience could be lost, which is exactly why the guys at TurbRenault.co.uk have used a generous database donation to rescue all the old threads from Clio16valver.co.uk. That’s not all – they’ve also rescued boards from Retro-Renault, Renault 21 Turbo Owners Club, Renault 5 Gordini and Renault 5 Turbo Forum. If you know of other Renault-related boards worth saving, email [email protected]” Now, I don’t know whether the organisation behind this is attempting to simply hoover up all the info, or it’s a benevolent, non-commercial offer. In either case, might it be something the CF need to consider before valuable stuff gets lost forever? I'm also a member of the Ginetta Owners' Club, and we recently suffered the trauma of a 'server meltdown' losing the full website and we also lost the on-line backup of the site - along with a wealth of years of irreplaceable valuable first-hand knowledge and experience, which, sadly, it transpired, no-one had kept an 'off-line' backup of, probably exactly the same sort of info that populates forums just like this one. I look forward to a few 'trawls' through existing threads to discover more of the info I need to assimilate for my G60 when the weather is grim and the nights are long! Joe G