Jonny_L

That's what I was thinking too. I have loads of experience of working on cars, but nobody's ever told me how, I just kind of guessed! Chances are there's quite a few little bits and bobs that i've not done properly in the past, some that I know of, which I caused me more problems than I first started with :oops: :lol:

Doesn't sound too convincing does it, that's a shame. I tend to drive past a few times a week, so I'll try and pop in sometime. with a bit of luck they'll be more helpful in person. If it's run anything like my welding course was, the teacher kind of makes it up as he goes along. Maybe asks what experience people have and what everyone wants to do. Then either gets a majority vote for the class, or everyone splits up and does their own thing. Maybe a group per car, which would be quite good. They might cover cam belts, which are just like cam chains, only much, much easier to get to :) I bet they won't cover auto to manual conversions tho :lol: Edit: Just had a look on the Guildford college site, is the course number XX04CE0B004P, with a 4 instead of the F you put in? wanna make sure we're looking at the same course!

Righto... Since taking that pic, i've put a staintune exhaust on it, which looks and sounds really nice. (the one on there was a cheap one off ebay that didn't fit properly so I got a refund). The new 1200 motor's lovely, had an 1200ST as a loan bike the other day, lovely ride, bloody quick too, shame it's got a face only a mother could love! As for the C, thanks for all the comments, I don't have plans on lowering it, though might do when it stops chewing it's way through my wallet for long enough! Manual conversion is probably in the pipeline first :lol: I wanted an auto to begin with, but now I miss having a manual a bit, and nearly changed it in the summer, but found I couldn't get insured anywhere, since it "wouldn't be standard" :roll: . When I get the money, courage, and the right insurance, I'll do it. P.S. The van in the background has since gone to the great Wolfsburg castle in the sky, in case anyone's wondering. Edit: Found a better picture

I can't believe i've not posted any pics in here yet! Better late than never I suppose... My Corrado VR6 auto, 1994. Completely standard, other than the sound system, and a headlight loom, just as I've always wanted :) It's done just over 80k miles. I bought it with some horrid 17"s on, which I replaced with the refurbed speedlines, and have never looked back. Some of you might be interested in my bug too... Sorry for the small pic, I'll get a better one up one day. It's a 1972, 1200 model, but with a 1600 engine, currently undergoing restoration. Quite a lot of rust in all the usual places, but I've got big plans for it one day. I'd post pics of my bike too, but i'm not sure if anyone on here would be interested. It's a 55 plate BMW R1150R. Yes I know, i'm 22 and own an old mans bike, but I needed a properly comfy tourer that would still be fun to thrash about. If you want to see pics of it, let me know (it's quite a beautiful machine really :wink: ). Jonny

I'm gonna be different... Speedlines 8) Seriously, at first I wasn't sure that I even liked them when I bought my standard wheels, but they're refurbed, clean as a clean thing, and I love 'em. The car handles superbly with them. Tyres are cheap too :lol: That said, I do like the BBS LM's or most other BBS's tbh, give me a black rim with chrome/brushed spokes, or the vice versa, and i'd be happy.

An update. I took the car for a 30 min drive the other day, and the oil temp reached 126 degrees! The the water light came on (turned out it had an air lock :roll: ). Airlock sorted now, and I realised the oil was only about half way on the dipstick marker (that'll be me putting 5 litres in and forgetting to buy another litre!), so I topped it up, and it appears to be running ok now. After 15 mins, the oil was only at about 90, water nice and low too. After 30 mins, the oil temp was sitting at 116, but was showing no sign of rising further this time, though it hit 118 for a second or 2 after I gave it some welly. So to me it seems to be running ok, if a little on the warm side still, though it could just be a warmer engine than my old one somehow, couldn't it? I was also wondering if maybe the auto box is causing it to run warm, since the engine's out of a manual. So unless there's something else that should be checked out, I'm thinking i'll be ok now, and maybe stick an oil cooler on my shopping list when it starts getting warm outside. :D Any thoughts?

Will do. The guy who quoted me £500 is up on ranmore common between East Horsley and Dorking. His name's Julian. He's done a lot of stuff for my family in the past, welding, panel repairs and spraying, so I'll gladly recommend him already. I'll get his number for you next time i'm up there. I was gonna ask him for a price on a full respray, just in case I get a bit of cash anytime! I reckon I'm gonna ask him if he can just do the rear quarter first, then save up some pennies for the bumpers. I bought the car like that, so it doesn't really bother me, just that bloody quarter, every time I look it hacks me off! Lesson learnt: Don't use halfords laquer!

Hi guys, I'm trying to sort out some paintwork on the corrado. I need to get both my bumpers resprayed. Nothing serious, just years of trolley type abuse taking its tole. Now here's where it gets really annoying. I got some cellulose paint to touch up a few stone chips around the car, and using my best airbrushing skills, touched up a nasty one on the rear wheel arch. It looked great, then I gave it a good key, and put some of Halfords laquer on. I had a few spatters from the rattle can, went to rub them down, and the laquer just peels off, doesn't sand at all! What's worse is that i've had to rub it to get the stuff off (coz I did give it a very good key :wink:) , and it's back to primer in more places than it was originally :cry: So generally my beloved rado is looking worse for wares at the mo, and ideally needs the whole quarter touched up and re-laquered to make it look good now. I have sprayed a lot before, but considering the shine on the C, I'm not sure if I should even bother trying! I've been quoted £500 for the quarter and both bumpers from a guy with a small but good body shop, prep included. Does that sound a good deal to you guys? Otherwise, Can anyone recommend anywhere else in and around Surrey to try? P.S. I hope this is the right section, it was this, general or suppliers, so mods, move it if need be, Ta!

Yep. I'd have any 911 up to the early 90's models (before they changed to the new shape) preferably a turbo with the massive great whale tail on the back, but I don't know much about model differences TBH. One day I WILL have one, it's been a dream of mine since I was a kid, to own an old Porsche. I wouldn't say no to a new one obviously, but somehow I don't aspire to own one of those as much. Actually, I'll add a Speedster to that too, even a replica would do. Don't care if it's slow, it's gotta be one of the most beautiful cars I've ever seen. Maybe a sunday driver once i've made my millions :D I've heard loads of people refer to the Corrado as a poor mans Porsche, and in my case it's probably true, if I could afford a 911, I probably would have no need for the C :cry: Good thing I can't then, Innit!

Sweet vid, i've seen it before, but good to watch it again. and again, and again, and again... :) You know, Until now, I never questioned that Tiff isn't a real name, mind you, I wonder if there have been any kids named after him! You learn something new every day.

Oh dear, hard luck mate! Just think though, that stuff usually happens in 3's, so you're sorted for a while again now!

Guildford's good too, I did A levels there, for about 4 months before I sacked them :lol: It might be worth looking into, though it'd suck if you paid to get on a course that only taught you how to remove a drain plug! Keep up the good work, I'm quite interested too now. Would be funny to get a corrado bias in the class, that way the teacher would be forced to teach us all about them instead of crappy cars!

Welcome to the forum. I bought my VR6 last year when I was 21. I got royally screwed with insurance. My advice is to never trust a quote you get on the internet. using the old "named driver on parents' car" chestnut, Direct line quoted me £775 fully comp. Called them up, and they refused to insure me, and suggested I get a 1.4 or possibly a 1.6 car (Idiots, i'd already bought the car!). Also Elephant quoted £800, then said exactly the same. They also refused to accept that my motorbike is my main form of transport (which it was). That really pissed me off, but that's a different story I ended up putting the car in my own name, and paid 1200 with Bell fully comp. It's completely up to you, but I wouldn't insure a VR on third party fire and theft, a Corrado is a lot of car to lose if you do stack it (though touch wood you don't!). The good news is i'm back with direct line this year paying £1000. It's worth trying to add a parent as a named driver, Bell wanted £1600 from me alone, but knocked £400 off just for adding my mum. Doesn't always work though, and i've taken her off again now coz it started costing more! Good luck finding a goodun, they're awesome cars when they work properly :cry: :lol:

Cool. Bet that took some chopping about to get working! I wonder what it handles like.

Thats great! Sounds perfect, good price, history, fitted and your old one's going to a good home too. Good work :D Not that it matters to you anymore, but I can second Vege engines, mate of mine got a new one in his camper, and it was absolutely spot on (shame the rest of the van wasn't!). I didn't realise they did other engines, I would've considered that had i known, works out at roughly £1500 for an exchanged recon engine from what i've just read, can't argue with that.

Now that you mention it, I might be up for doing another course there too. I know a fair bit about mechanics, but since i've only ever done work out of manuals/common sense, there's probably a lot that I could learn still. Keep us posted how you get on. I think anything now would start in January, they're usually 10 week courses.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it bolts onto the bumper bracket IIRC. I'm sure someone else can say for sure. It'd either be a matter of getting someone to put a small weld in, or replace the bracket, shouldn't cost much though the bumper would have to come off. But as I said, it's quite unlikely anyway, so fingers crossed for you.

It means that you can't get the bolt to screw on coz the thread's gone. I wouldn't worry about it until you know though, it's probably just a case of a missing bolt. Unless someone's been at it with an impact driver, it's pretty unlikely.

I shouldn't think it's too serious, it's not like it's gonna go anywhere, just make sure you sort it out. The only thing i'd worry about is why there's not one in there to begin with. Chances are someone just messed up the bolt (it's very easy to do, ask me how i know ;) ), but you want to hope the thread in the hole's not oversized. Only one way to find out tho!

Sounds like the bumper bolts to me too, they hold the engine mount in place as well as the bumper. Quick check on etka brings up part no: N 903 059 01 it says it's an M10 bolt, 73 mm long. they're big buggers, with a pointed end. that sound about right?

It's in weybridge. if you've not been, the brooklands car museum's pretty cool. I'd love to donate my car to a uni, bet he was well chuffed! knowing my luck, mine would get fed to the chavs and come back worse!

Definately worth it, when I went in, i was just blowing holes in everything, came out with a City and Guilds certificate in mig welding 10 weeks later, not to blow my own trumpet, but they said I would've got a distinction if I was doing the NVQ 8) . Nice people there too, everyone's car mad. They were all pretty interested in the rado of course. They've got a decent sized workshop there with loads of tools and machinery. An advanced tip if you do go there... Park in the gym car park on the left past the security barrier, it's just next to the workshop. For 3 weeks I parked in the student car park which is horrible, covered in rubbish and about a mile walk from the workshop!

Blimey, A 40K engine with FSH, and even clocks to prove it fitted for a grand? That sounds good to me. If I was offered that I would've jumped at it I think. I take it you're not tempted to take the 24v route? I thought about it for a while, but decided against it coz if insurance more than anything. I take no responsibility for suggesting it though!

I did an evening course on welding at brooklands college. I seem to remember seeing something in the prospectus about an evening maintainance course. might be worth a look if you haven't already.

That's not as bad a price as I was expecting, though it's still pretty pricey! Just in case you were thinking about it, I'd reccomend avoiding these "engine rebuild centres" that pop up all over the place. I took my old mk2 golf to one that originally quoted me £400, I ended up paying £1400, they really screwed me over thinking about it, and the engine never really worked perfectly in the end. I fitted mine myself to save money on labour, it's not that tricky really, sounds worse than it is, you just need to know someone with a crane, course it'll take a garage a day or 2, it took me about a week and a half! The only proof other than the service book is to get them to write the milage on the reciept. it's not much to go on, but it's better than a verbal contract! As for price of the car, I wouldn't of thought that sticking in a low milage block would make much difference TBH, tho my car's only on 80k anyway. Dunno about a new block.