Funkster

The advantage of plastic blades is that they don't get eroded by cavitation. The OE one I took off had done 160k miles and the blades were in perfect nick, the metal-bladed one from GSF is showing signs of cavitation erosion already and it's only done ~6k. fwiw, -- Olly

Yep, gave him a ring to get price etc. and see if he had the parts in. I'm sending my Dad along to drop it off who is also fond of a natter so we shall see how they get along! Ta, -- Olly

Many thanks, looks like it'll be making its way there on Saturday morning ) Cheers, -- Olly

Hi All, Can anyone recommend somewhere to recondition my VR6 alternator in the West Midlands? Preferably close to Redditch. Needs a new diode pack, as the B+ stud is properly rusted up. Might also consider changing it myself, new alternator from the factors is ~£140 and I'd rather save my pocket money for more exciting things ) Cheers in advance, -- Olly

You're not kidding... it was the sight of the gutted car with everything taken out that really put me off getting on with it, it just seemed such a massive task! Much easier with two people, although I did still lose a fair bit of blood due to all the bloomin' clips! Why they put razor edges on them I'm not sure. Happy to report that there are no new rattles though, which is a relief... and I took the chance to grease up my heater box so that the air direction control is much easier to move. Hope that's that sorted for the next 10 years! Cheers ) -- Olly

'lo all, After having the heater matrix burst a week before christmas, I got a bit disheartened with the C and left it in bits on the drive... I just couldn't bring myself to work on it in the cold, and the garage is full of project cars. Well, last weekend I had a friendly volunteer to help me and got the dash back in! Everything seems well and I can now once again enjoy the unstoppable force of the VR6... I'd forgotten how good it is! Just thought you'd all want to know that ;o) Yarr, -- Olly

I couldn't expect anything less really could I ;o) Cheers RW, silicon spray seems to have done the trick nicely. I didn't split the halves in the end 'cos those plastic clips looked like they wouldn't let go without breaking. Muchas gracias ) -- Olly

'lo all, I'm halfway through replacing my heater matrix (oh joy) and I'm going to split the heater box in half so I can wash the coolant off the foam parts inside. I would like to make the flaps easier to operate so that the heater controls don't smash themselves to bits every time I try to turn them - the worst is the face / screen flap which has an idler in between the lever and the gear on the flap - everything tips and binds! So, what can I use to lubricate the crappy plastic bearings? I know I can't use ordinary oils and greases as they'll make the plastic swell. Butter perhaps? ;o) Cheers for any hints, -- Olly

Here you go: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.ste ... e_hard.png That should have 1200 dpi embedded into it, and if you trace it you should get the right size and shape. To make my prototypes I just printed it out on the laser, then glued the paper to some sheet metal and filed around it until there was no white left. Usable without the switch internals... probably not. You could always get some normal switches and spade connectors and make up a temporary substitute. hth, -- Olly

Nope, turned out my CAD jockey friend can't tracke bitmaps to scale, so I never got any pieces cut. Any CAD fiends on the forum? -- Olly

Hello all, I haven't been working on my Corrado much of late so I haven't been round these parts, but this weekend I decided that I would try to fit a VR6 water pump to my MGB. It has a Rover T16 turbo motor in it, and up to now has had an electric water pump which is woefully inadequate. The VR pump is fairly unusual in having a long bit behind its mounting face, which just happens to line up perfectly for my T16 application. I hit on a small snag, though, when I realised that the VR6 pump drives off the back of the belt, and as such goes round the wrong way to what I want! So, can anyone think of another water pump (doesn't matter what make or model, so long as it's around the 200 horse mark or more) that's a similar package style to our VR jobs, but is designed to go the other way round - clockwise as you look at the pulley? VR pump for reference: Cheers for any hints ) -- Olly

Saw G6* 6ONE (nice plate!), green and I'm guessing G60, while queueing for fuel last tuesday in Leamington, but he didn't see me. Convoyed breifly with a K-reg VR6 on the M42 yesterday, he left at junction 3 so may be a member of the Redditch massive? I think it was blueish, can't really remember though. Either sound like anyone on here?

Interestingly, I went to GSF and complained, and the chap looked on the computer and said that was all they had. I then pointed at the correct one which was sitting on the shelf behind him, and he looked and saw that it had the same GSF part number on it! They did at least give me the correct one for free, though. -- Olly

The replacement for the yellow one I got from the dealer is black and blue, not black and green. I'll try to find the part number but I expect I've lost the receipt by now. And it's probably changed anyway! -- Olly

Here you is, then... http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29768 hth, -- Olly

'lo all, I have finally gotten around to writing up my water pump replacement guide. It is on my website: http://www.funkster.org/ Click on Cars on the left, and you'll see it under the Corrado section. Sorry I can't give you a direct link- I like to keep the frames but my cheapo hosting doesn't support referrer info so I can't make it very slick ) All feedback appreciated! -- Olly

Heya, You shouldn't need a new tensioner. Water pump is 30 quid from GSF, belt should be under a tenner? I changed my pump in about 3 hours, having never done one before. I took photos too, and keep meaning to put up a guide. You don't have to take too much of the engine off - just undo a couple of mounts and pipes and jack the engine up to get to the pump. Are you certain it's the pump bearing? It's always worth checking that the pulley hasn't just come unscrewed... not particularly likely though I must admit! hth, -- Olly

Heh, it doesn't sound any more rattly at start-up than it did before! Will get the right filter and swap it asap. Do GSF do the right filter at all, or is a VW-only part? Thanks for the info. -- Olly

Hey all, I went to a GSF and asked for oil and filter for my VR6. The filter they gave me was just plastic/felt/paper, and I didn't realise until I removed the old one that the two weren't the same - the old one has metal ends and what looks like a on-return valve. I fitted the new one 'cos the old one was dirty... but is it even functioning as a filter at the moment? There didn't seem to be any proper means to stop the oil just going round the end. I had a search on here, and although the difference is mentioned on a couple of threads, no-one mentions the effects of using the paper one... Should I refrain from driving the car until I can put the right filter in? I'm running out of working cars... Cheers for any advice, -- Olly

Coolant has a corrosion inhibitor in it, to stop the insides of your engine and rad from going manky. Hopefully won't do too much harm to the metalwork, although it might smell a bit funny? hth, -- Olly

Ta! I need to update it with my recent progress with the car though - haven't touched that bit of the site in well over a year. Cheers for the comments, -- Olly

Oily bits eh? From front to back... 355 cubic inch small block chevrolet engine - nothing special, but has a moderate cam and home-ported heads. 350 lbs/ft, ~300 horses. GM TH350 3-speed auto transmission, full of modifications and I'm still a bit concerned about its health tbh. Last rebuilt about 20 runs ago ) Austin westminster back axle, 3.91 gears, 9" wide slicks. The nitrous kit is a genuine NOS Cheetah setup, jetted for 150 horses and applied via a spray bar mounted underneath the carburettor - nice and crude! The full-throttle switch is a doorbell push that the throttle linkage hits at full travel. There's a 10lb bottle mounted where the back seat would normally go. Full history of the car on http://www.funkster.org - my dad first turned it into a hot rod in 1967 ) Yarr, -- Olly

60 is indeed feet. No accurate gauge of 0-60mph sadly - my guess is a little under 3 seconds in that trim, but that's just a guess. 0-100 Comes up in around 7.5 seconds, going by the mid mph and time. All damn good fun! Oooarrr, -- Olly

Mornin' all! Had a full tank of nitrous and the big slicks on the Morris 8 at the weekend. Pulled a big wheelie off the line (never done that in a car before!), made a couple of random gearchanges, and came up with the following stats... Reaction 0.256 60: 1.695 330: 4.730 Mid mph: 97.78 660: 7.238 990: 9.361 Terminal mph: 119.73 1320: 11.29117 Some stills from the videos... First, car at rest on the line, no forces acting anywhere... a fraction of a second later, after the throttle linkage hits that doorbell mounted on the bulkhead... Check out the front wheel position with respect to the guard rail. Yep, that's right - both front wheels are clean off the ground! :oD Bit harder to see in this one as it's from a distance, but note how you can suddenly see a lot more of the underneath of the car... Here be vids - all DivX 5 with mp3 sound so you'll need a decoder from http://www.divx.com if you don't have one already: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.stephenson/run1.avi - 3.03 meg That first launch up close... on my first was-to-be-nitrous run, I forgot to turn the frikkin' bottle on! Got the wheels up with what was in the (long) hose, but did the rest of the run being rather confused as to why it was missing (150 horse of spare fuel going in!) http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.stephenson/run2.avi - 8.18 meg This is the quick one, and I've left the bit in at the end after returning to the pits... just look at the grin on that daft driver's face :oD http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.stephenson/run3.avi - 5.77 meg http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.stephenson/run4.avi - 3.22 meg A couple more for your perusal. Not as quick as run 2, but still some stunning examples of oooh-look-that's-the-sky-isn't-it! Woo! -- Olly

People look at the corrado, but I don't really notice 'cos it's nothing compared to the shouting, pointing and waving that goes on whenever my BGT is on the streets... :oD -- Olly