cata

Beautiful pictures mate, take care of her.

I've been in that position too but was a lot worse off. It's amazing how easily these cars absorb damage. Nice to see you didn't end up selling it.

Glad to see another one brought back from the dead. That plate is awesome mate.

...I would rather get a shop to press in the bushings for me.

Having my C originally with these washers, I can say that they are not that annoying to look at as you might think. On the flip side, I got rid of them because it's not worth worrying about dirty headlights, considering how washing it is part of my hobby.

Thanks for the kind words guys/gal, it would indeed be a shame to break another one of these, it's the same as killing a rare animal. In my book at least. Technically, when it will be back on the road, it will be the perfect Corrado that I've always wanted. Considering how much driving I've done since I bought it, it's almost like waiting to go out and buy a nice car, but not really. M15 VW, now you know why I kept inquiring about the most random stuff :lol: . With your help, that interior won't be so embarrassing anymore, when a passenger comes along.

What's your take on the 2.8L intake/TB setup Kevin, I'd like to hear a different opinion other than what I hear over here. I know that you're running the 2.8L TB. For a N/A setup would you mind giving your impressions of the two? How about when a Schrick comes into play, I'm thinking it would work better if it's mated to a 2.9L TB.

And I happen to be looking for a 2.9L in the meantime :lol: . The grass is always greener on the other side.

I forgot to post back after installing these. Top notch idea! With these shims and new door lock pins, the door closes like a new car. Thanks a lot Dave!! Now for that window rattle :?

Ah! The old ABS disconnect trick. The PO pulled this trick on me and found out about it almost half a year later. It really explained why my brakes were loosing assistance half the time. It turned out to be just a damaged connector on the ABS sensor. Get your car scanned for codes. There has to be something at fault.

By the time I hear about it, it's probably already a repost :) . Stolen from the CCC and thought I would share it anyway. The video was supposedly shot at 10000fps. [Click Here]

Cheers for the helpful post Kev! Besides the initial point of the thread, I never knew that the Bilstein/Febi stuff was lower quality. It's all the little tips that save the pennies.

:lol: my God...I'm crying with laughter. I didn't know they also came with strut braces. They really tried hard on that one didn't they.

Great turnaround mate, cheers for saving one.

Looks like you scored yourself a minter! I really like the top picture on your first page. I'm still chuckling from your avatar btw. Kaputt would make a really good plate idea :lol:

I need to catch up on this thread, again. Awesome work mate, I see it's never standing still 8)

You're holding back Yohannes. Post up the madd interior pics :) I've been following your other thread too.

Hahahah luck was DEFINITELY not my strong point...to say the least. It would be silly money, thrown away, to pay someone to do all the stuff that I did. It's straight-forward but just time-consuming. The problem though is that one needs to draw a line between what's doable at home and what isn't. Now I'm forced to throw away a good amount of money for the mechanical build, because I have zero engine tear-down experience. As much as I hate to do it, it's insurance so that all the new parts won't go to waste. It sucks. I hope to learn how to do that, soon enough.

If only the Corrado came stock with an LSD. There wouldn't be so many debates how the Integra TypeR is faster, which was mainly because it came with one of these from the factory. I didn't get to play with my C as much as I expected to, in over a year of ownership, but when I did, that LSD really eliminated most of the tale-tale signs that it's FWD. There was barely any torque-steer and the wheels weren't eager to break loose, unless I tried to do so, consciously. I know you'll never hear someone complaining about having one but I would honestly take it over a big valve head, even though it makes some awesome engine notes besides the little bit of extra power. Like I said before, a worn out Corrado is a good candidate for this, because it's a great chance to build yourself the "new" Corrado that people been raving about from internet rumors. Why buy a remake of the classic when you can put together your own new car. In this situation, in my opinion, it's best to get most of the drive train redone and get it out of the way so that a car this old will never leave you stranded. That also includes all of the engine components that are attached on the outside. I remember how all the broken stuff and problems took away from the joy of finally owning one. It kills the whole purpose of owning one IMO, if it's always going to run like a POS with one thing going after the other.

From what I understood, Peloquin apparently strengthened the components a bit after cloning the Quaife. Regardless, I have never heard of anyone blowing either one of them. cheesewire, I remember reading through your early posts when you were still fiddling with n/a. Do you regret trying it out before going for the big numbers? How is everything holding up for you so far, you've been boosting for over a year now.

Haha, sorry I wasn't specific enough. Yes, the engine would need to be completely redone with that purpose in mind but I meant to say that a turbo will be the natural evolution. These engines are beautiful candidates for turbo applications because they can put out enough exhaust to reduce a lot of turbo lag. Unfortunately, with a turbo, you can't put it together and forget about it. It will always eat money and as a student, I wont be able to work all the time. I think it will be a lot of fun to go from one extreme to another because I really like these engines. I highly doubt that I will ever consider a 24v or 3.2 24v. Thanks for looking out though. There is no stronger diff. than a Peloquin and the drive shafts seem to last just fine for sub 300chp applications if the driver puts the power down progressively and doesn't let the tires squeal in vain. Most of us can't help ourselves though, but it is an option if the budget runs out too fast. The stock differential itself is recommended to be upgraded, because of it's tendency to self-detonate, even with stock engines. There were many cases where this happened and it took out the bell-housing along with it.

It's hard to tell what the target specification will be, because nobody does bloody remaps for the VR's in this corner of the world. I may be able to convince my shop to get that software in the near future and that alone will free up 10-12 more hp hopefully. If not, I will end up driving all the way to where Bildon Motorsport is located, to get it done. Some of you may have heard about the research that Bildon is doing in getting more out of the VR6 in n/a. I decided to trust him with a few things and I will piece my motor together with his advice. The original specs are in my sig, and the car was a ton of fun to drive. This is what's planned for the next few months: -GIAC 268* cam chip (until a proper remap is possible) -Bildon Stage2 Head port -Cat 272* or 280* cams (depending on how well they get the head to flow) -Bildon balanced & magnafluxed crank (my knife-edged crank is prone to cracking apparently) -Bildon ultra-lite rods -New 2.9L pisonts -Lightweight lifters -Ferrea - valve locks, titanium retainers, HD valve springs, valves -ARP studs -Updated timing chain kit -Sachs stage I clutch -Lightened tensioner and power steering pulley -Decat This is planned out for when they get released and/or funds allow: > -3.94 final drive (shorter gears) > -TDI 5th gear (makes up for shorter gears and slows the engine rpm's for the highway) > -Bildon Motorsport baffled sump (when available) > -Bildon Motorsport intake/exhaust manifolds, if not then a Schrick VGI. The reason why I wanted to continue with n/a is because I love how you can hear the different notes when taking long corners. Since I'm still a student, it will help with reliability but turbo will inevitably be the end result :lol: @Corozin, please do when you find some time. I'm interested what you have learned. This is what I ended up learning after close to a month of research. Stay away from lightened crank pulleys, especially if your crank has been knife-edged, due to the fact that it's missing the harmonic balancer. The head is heading out to Bildon next week 8) Catalin

For some odd reason, I haven't been on here as much as I used to. Thought I would update this, since it has gone through many changes. Within a week after I bought it, a lady slammed on her brakes right when I wasn't looking. I wasn't too happy when I had to end the enjoyment so suddenly. ...this followed shortly after, since I don't have a garage. After that I began stockpiling parts one by one, and in the meantime doing time-consuming things that didn't require a lot of money to be spent. Here's what got done before the face lift: -Converted to red interior lighting. -Installed JSB custom shift light. -Ripped out every interior piece aside from the dash housing and inspected/cleaned it. Backtracked many missing/broken interior pieces and used all new clips/hardware to tighten things up. -Cleaned up the headliner including the sunroof trims as well as the seat belts. -Refreshed the leather and re-glued a lot of it, as it was coming apart from the board. -Fixed rust around the fuel hatch, rear hatch, door handles, a big chunk of rotted metal covered by the door seal and around sunroof edge, then covered it all up with Por15 rust inhibitor paint. -Stripped down the replacement rad-support and repainted it with trusty Por15. -Refreshed the sunroof mechanism and used the VW grease, then switched the poor-fitting Jetta glass over to a Passat one, because the PO had already swapped over the whole assembly. -Switched over to Passat handles. The driver's side broke on the long journey home and was quite embarrassing to ask passengers if they could open my door for me :lol: . -Re-keyed the hatch and glove box. -Fitted a leather cover to the handbrake and made it fit perfectly, by modifying the old plastic cover at my work. -Tinted a new set of E-Codes. -Installed the blue DDI mirrors. -Switched over to braided brake hoses and 11.3" DE front calipers. That covers the bulk of the time consuming things. Things got more involved when summer finally came and began installing everything that got stocked up. Since the car was parked in an alley-way, someone eventually called to get it towed away. It got towed with one wheel on as it was still on jack stands while waiting for the tires to arrive. It looked like a complete wreck in the tow yard without any wheels and appeared to be close to a shell. That's because most of the stuff to go in it, was in my room. Got her back, and with some wheels on. I remember that when I first bought it, it had no working horns and reverse didn't light up :? . Check out the rats nest of wiring that the PO left behind. That was his poor attempt at making an "uprated" headlight loom. It was also a lot of fun to trace many disconnected plugs. Surprise surprise, the new hood would have gotten torn at some point, because of this. The front engine mount bracket turned out to be cracked. With the front clip off, I used the opportunity to tidy up more wiring from the PO as well as replace the: -Thermostat housing + thermostat -Coolant distribution pipe (crak-pipe) -Backup-light switch, the old one was missing the sensor for some reason :? -Starter Another wonderful surprise from the P.O. This is one of the brackets that held the sub-frame into place. It turned out that I drove the car through the middle of nowhere, with both of the left bumper bolts missing :shock: Rad support and rad in. Since it looked brand new and shiny, I remember wishing that it was an inter-cooler :) Louder Hella horns on the bottom right. A useful tool against future threats! Engine after new plugs, wires, oil, fuel rail hoses (one was slowly leaking for who knows how long) When the CF hood had finally arrived, it was missing the holes for the windshield washer nozzles. I had to incorporate them somehow, so instead of cutting the hood up, I molded them into the scuttle panel cover. They work great in that position and they splash everywhere when the wipers get to the neutral position. Handy if I want to get back at a cyclist :lol: VW supposedly updated the wiper arm springs so those got replaced this time around too. The car had a brand new windshield fitted before I bought it...but unfortunately, it was fitted poorly and it leaked in heavy rain. After digging into the seals, it turned out that the windshield frame was rusted to bits. Knowing the unpredictable weather that we get, I had to get a glass fitter to come at sunrise the next day to take the glass out for me, then I had until lunchtime to clean up all the stubborn urethane (it's a rubber compound used for sealing), then the rust, then treat the cleaned metal. Not to mention it also needed to be painted. I didn't want to leave the car like that overnight so I had to have it all ready by 12PM, or else it wouldn't have had enough time to cure until 4pm which is when the glass guy could come back at the latest and put the glass back in. It was intense but managed to pull it off somehow. urethane out, rust cleaned, metal treated, Por15 paint on. The next thing on the list was an uprated headlight loom. Since nobody seemed to bother with them at that time, I ended up making my own and also incorporated the relays to make the bumper side-markers blink. In N/A we have them on the side of the bumper and they just stay lit up, no matter if the car is signaling or not. Here's an image of the harness itself and then a couple with it installed. I also ended up wiring up headlight levelers but I didn't pay this much attention to it. With all the extra wiring supplies left over, I re-did the battery connectors and cleaned up all the grounds. The PO installed some cheap connectors from an audio shop that just locked all the wires in place with a common screw :roll: . In the near future, I will most likely make a grounding kit for it. After all of this, it looks easy enough to do. Canada was the only country that never got fog lights. In order to have this feature, the switch itself along with the interior harness from the switch to the fusebox needed to be sourced. Not to mention the fog lights themselves, we got a pair of dummy fogs instead of real ones. After all of that, the bumper support needed to be cut up, in order for the fogs to fit through. Funny how much trouble we have to go through, just to have these :) Before all of this, I was clueless about bodywork but I'm pretty sure that what I did will hold up against rust until a proper respray will be next on the list. This is also the first car that I'm modifying, so even though many can do these in their sleep, I'm pretty happy that these mods made it through. This is what it looked like towards the end. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to wash it ever since I bought it, one year ago. Well...if you're wondering what in the world happened next, then the simple answer to that is...a mis-shift. The very first night I took it out, after all of that work, I decided to see how it stacks up against my mates 07 Scooby WRX. On the third run, I shifted from red-line in third...into second. That was driver error, due to the fact that I never got the chance to get used to the car. The fun suddenly ended (once again) with a bunch of bent valves and an engine that refused to start. Lucky me. If you look closely, you can see that the paint of the car doesn't match the paint around the front fender edges. That's just a temporary fix, until the replacement fenders go in for a respray, along with the rest of the car. However, it's not a top priority at the moment, but it looks a hundred times better than warped edges with rusting, exposed metal. That was also my first attempt at filler work. It was fun but definitely a job for the professionals. ...and now it's back to this! :lol: Not to worry though, this just means that a thorough "all motor" build up will follow shortly. I guess I can call it "Stage2" ? :?

I'm currently in the middle of an all motor VR6 build, it should hopefully be done sometime in spring. The best candidate for this is a worn down VR that's in need of a rebuild. In my case it was a misshift :lol: Transmission work helps a lot and will be covering that too. If you guys are interested, I can post up progress and the end result. Up until now, it was just in the planning stage.

That would have been a much easier option but not very practical because I wanted to still have heated washers. That's all because of the washer nozzle itself, it's not the washer bottle that's heated.