storm_warning

Yeah, its all down to personal taste - I love the look of the kit :) Storm was parked up when the estimates to get it back to health were more than the car was worth, so I figured I would do it bit by bit myself. Then my job took me out of the country too much, so any spare time I had was spent with my little boy instead of working on my Corrado, now it's way beyond economic repair. Vorvend - yes, it's matt. I would never chose a matt paint for a Corrado myself, but since I wanted the bodykit, + lights + suspension, that's saved me quite a lot in after spend. If I can't get on with the colour, I may well give it a vinyl wrap (which sounds like a crazy idea, but it'll cost less than £500 to do myself, plus will help protect the paint work as it is, so re-sale will come with perfect paint rather than chipped) (perhaps).

Haha, Elise was last year's purchase - and I thought enough to quell the need for a Corrado... Now, anyone want an '51 plate Audi A3 for £2K? Puts the VR6 to shame at the lights...

Not that I ever stopped owning... my poor Storm is sat under a tree where it got parked up two years ago quietly rusting away to itself. :( Anyway, after two years away driving a diesel A3, I figured my daily driver needed to be more fun and I missed driving my Corrado so much I bought another one, and it looks stunning! Well, I think it does, I know most people don't like modding a Corrado so much, but when I decided to get a new one, I wanted to bung on a body kit, angel eyes, crystal fogs & repeaters and M3 style rears just to tidy the look of the car and make it that little bit more modern and less dated (it's the lights, really) and this one came with everything already on it. She's running on Spax height adjustable suspension, fully resprayed twice by the previous owner (once in original colour, then in the current bullet black) and has a remote start Clifford alarm, and starting the engine as I am walking up to it just is not getting old! Here she is :)

Personally, I am trying to work out what is so good about the private plate? Is that super smooth too?

Since tomorrow is the 29th of Feb, it just got me thinking.... For people born on the 29th, each non leap year sees them lose a day, so they are three days younger than everyone by the end of every 4th year. However, people born on a normal day of the month have to endure an extra day in their life, so become one day older than the leap year birthday people every 4 years. This means, by the time you are 80, 20 leap years have passed. Those born on a normal day are 5 days older than those born on the 29th! However, those born on the 29th of Feb are 6.66 days younger. This is conclusive proof that anyone born on the 29th Feb is evil! Eeeeeeeeevil!

Are the colours built into the dial, or are they determined by a gel between the dial and the light source? In other words, once I have one, is it something I could modify and change colours on certain parts of it myself? Definitely wanting one of yours instead of DDI's reverse glow cluster - mainly because I have never been keen on seeing DDI where I would prefer VR6 and Corrado!

Having SORNd my Corrado a couple of years ago and only now getting back to either buying a different one or going down the repair route for mine, I'm only just reaeding this forum again, so only just seen this thread... Having missed the opportunity to get in on a group buy deal, I am very interested to know how much a late VR6 set consisting of the gauges, needles + centre console gauges (are there glowing red needles for this, too?) would cost? And before I commit to white glow, I would dearly love to see them with a blue glow... One more question - with your artwork already sent, how costly would it be for a one off at this stage? I ask because I would prefer to keep KPH on the dial for those occasions I drive in Europe. In summary: 1> Cost for a complete set now the Group Buy is over. 2> Photo of a blue reverse glow if possible. 3> Additional costs for a new artwork to be used. Great work, by the way. I looked into making a set up myself a number of years ago. Done my artwork exactly how I wanted it, spent ages getting all the dimensions correct to fit the existing dials. Spent ages finding the right materials I could use at home to print them myself (would have been a multi-layered technique with a lot of scissors and double sided tape!) and then fell over as soon as I started looking into the EL paper to make it glow...

Hmmmm.... how much does a penny cost and where can I buy one?!

I had a half-hearted attempt at getting the interior rattles out of my car a few years back and simply used a roll of draught excluder. Took off some of the dash panels, stuck on the excluder where they looked like they might be knocking and screwed them back on. Worked well with the exception I didn't do enough. As for the quality of the Corrado, handling, etc., I haven't driven my Storm for almost two years now. I decided fixing it would cost too much and it would take it off the road for too long so bought bargain '01 diesel A3. Now, if you want to know the epitome of poor handling and soul-destroying driving, then this is the car to show you. In the meantime, I've bought myself a Lotus Elise, a car famed for it's handling and I will say it is exceptional - but the car is so different to the Corrado, there are roads I simply can not drive fast on in the Lotus, but could monster my way over them in the Corrado. As completely brilliant as the Elise is, I have come to the end of my tether with the A3 and am now stating the long haul into getting the Storm up and running again (although, economics are screaming at me to simply buy a cheap VR6 and let this once fine example of a car die peacefully - seen quite a few VRs recently going for £2K or less and I think mine will cost me about that to get it satisfactory again!!). So, in summary, that Corrado's handling is awesome to the point I miss it like hell even when driving an Elise!

Does an Elise count?

I only bought the Mazda for my wife until she found something she'd like more. Turned out not only did she not like driving, she is also the worlds worst driver (despite her insistence the the contrary and stories of how good she is, but how many people turn right onto a roundabout?). I liked driving it around in the summer, so I kept it a couple of years, but my Lotus itch really needs scratching and as nice as an MX-5 is to drive, they're nothing compared to the Elise. Not that I've ever driven a Mk3 MX, mind, but top gear tell me it's the same as driving the Mk2.

I will admit, I did think about sourcing another 2.9 VR6, but a 2.8 VR6 didn't pop into my head in 12V format, but if I was to stick with a 12V engine, I may just as well sell my Storm for £2K, and buy a VR6 that's covered a whole lot less miles for around £3K. That way I'd not just get an engine that's done less work, but would have to effect repairs on my current car to make it saleable (about £500, I reckon). Right now, I'm quite into the idea of popping in a 2.8 24V engine, if I can get one around £500 and can get my brother to do the work, I doubt the entire job will go much further than the cost of selling and buying a different one. But you are right, simply replacing with a 2.8 12V would be the cheapest and easiest way. But I hope it won't come to that! First I have to sell my MX-5, then I can get my loan for the Elise. Once I have that, I can sell my A3, at which point I'll have all the money I need to refit the Corrado and end up with two cars to be proud of owning, I think? Certainly better than saying I drive a diesel A3 and my Corrado is permanently off the road. :(

And the insurance, once the engine was changed? I imagine the normal insurers hate such a mod and push up the premium to silly prices... The more I think about this the more I want it. Come on spring, hurry up already!!

coullstar, I'd love to know what mpg you get out of your more powerful, refined and slightly lighter engine? In the VR6, at best, I could manage 40mpg when driving Miss Daisey on a long run, but normally I'd average about 24mpg, or 28mpg when I tried not to drive like an idiot all the time.

I like it, it sounds good still! Was that with an induction filter or standard panel? Had a bit of a result tonight. My brother, who normally has no interest in being a mechanic outside of business hours, is a bit strapped for cash and wants to take his new girlfriend on holiday this year and has agreed (in principle) if I want to do this, he will help with the loom & engine. He a VW Master Technician of some 20 years or so. His fee has not been discussed yet, but I know it will be a damned site cheaper than a garage (and Jay, for that matter!), so nowall I need to do is asses the winter damage and see if it's worth doing when the weather gets a bit more friendly. In the meantime, I guess I'll start looking for engines with full looms and a dashboard.... Anyone taken the 6 speed 'box across with the engine? h6 vwc - why the accelerator pedal, too? Is this engine fly-by-wire?

Interesting points about the 2.8 over the 3.2, I had read someone saying once the 3.2 was a bit on/off and difficult to live with? One thing I'd love to know (have asked before, but no one replied) is if the noise is any different from the 12v to the 24v engine. I love the noise of the 2.9 with a K&N fitted (in fact, it's that noise that made me drive it in the most uneconomical way possible for years!) and I would lament the loss of this very rewarding part of the VR6 engine.

If I stay I am sure there will be trouble, but I must say almost 14 years of owning a Corrado in one form or another hasn't been fraught with problems, to be honest. However, my Storm is just shy of 200K on the clock and has seen much better days. The bodywork took a beating in the cold snap end of 2009 start of 2010 and then I bought a diesel A3 around March and sorn'd the Corrado in July with the intent of getting an Elise (not happened yet since I have a very specific model/colour/etc., in mind and only two became available in my price bracket all last year, both of which were sold before I saw the adverts!). The plan was to sell the Corrado for about £2K after having it repaired, serviced and MOT'd, but instead it still sits in my driveway looking very sorry for itself next to my also sorn'd MX-5 I'll be selling in the spring. But, my god, I miss driving it! This damned A3 may be saving me tons of money per month in fuel, tax and insurance, but it's just not worth it for the tedium of driving an insanely boring car. Soooooooo..... what to do about the Storm? I can make it roadworthy again for about £500, but find myself this year for the first time since owning a Corrado, with some spare cash I could use to upgrade it. Top of my wishlist for years has been a 24v 3.2 V6 to replace the worn out and down on power 2.9, with the full loom wired into a TT dash (thanks to Jay Renshaw for making me need that mod!). The dash I could probably do myself, but the engine... no way. With all your collective knowledge here on the subject, does anyone know any garages that would offer the conversion? And at roughly what cost? I'm guessing £3K won't go far enough to get a whole engine with loom and gearbox, plus have that properly fitted, which I'm sure also requires at least a new exhaust to go with it? Of course, I still have the option to leave Corrado ownership altogether and just enjoy the Elise when I finally find the one I'm looking for, but I think I would really prefer to stick with the Corrado and get shot of the A3 (despite its intended use to be the sensible car to the Elise). Guess I need to know then engine conversion costs before I get too carried away. I've read through the (loooong) definitive thread, but as definitive as it may be, there's not much in there by way of prices - especially when you don't have the talent to do it yourself!

Well? Did it last and what was it?!

Okay, thanks for those replies - looks like it's a dash out for me, too! My biggest problem there is resisting the urge to change to a TT dash and the world of trouble I will cause myself... :gag:

I have to replace mine now after having a mobile sauna on the way into work. But what is all this about replacing it without removing the dash? Can someone link me to a 'how to'?

I have been wanting to do this mod to mine for ages, looks so nice. If I ever get round to it, I'd like to try the Halo angel eyes A4 lights. The only problem is, I'm not that handy at making things and a set of A4 lights are a lot of money only to end up ruining :shock: I've read through the write up on how they were done, but I always thought I'd buy a set of Corrado lights at the same time and figure a way of getting the A4 cluser to fit into the Corrado housing??

Arrived in post today, less than a week from payment. Great service - thank you!! :clap:

Hello - may I please have both driver's and passenger side repair kit, please? Passenger side is dead so need at least that one if the driver's side is in short supply?! PM me payment details and I'll get the money to you automagically :) Many thanks, Chris.

Buy the Lotus? :wave:

I was in Halfords the other night buying some lightbulbs and noticed these things http://www.ringautomotive.co.uk/product ... 8&cat3=207 Ah! thinks I, not the most attractive things around, but one of them may be just the right size to swap out the always broken fog lights... only upon closer inspecion, they're not. But I went trawling the interweb after that looking at lights that could possibly fit in the fog light space and be a decent replacement over the OE ones. And found nothing. I am usless :( So what does that leave us? Original one, guranteed to crack, or those crystal one from In Pro (I think)? Anyone know of anything else that can be persuaded to fit in there and look like it's supposed to?? On a side note, anyone tried an LED replacement bulb inside there yet?