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Whereabouts were you doing Materials Science? It was at Sheffield Uni, autumn 1997 until the :epicfail:

Not got round to it yet (my heater controls work pretty well!) but do have a skoda set of switches to use. The mounting points are in the same place, though you may need the screws and speed nuts from the Corrado ones as the more modern ones are a coarser thread. The ends of the cables at the control end are different, so you'll need the octavia cables as well, the heater box ends are the same. Only other issue is you'll need to knock up a couple of little jumper cables to go from the heater illumination plug in the C, to the different illumination and re-circulate plug on the skoda controls. Whether the trim panel fits I don't know, it probably requires a little trimming to fit the C's centre console. I was thinking of doing the swap, but was trying to create a hybrid mk4 golf/Corrado centre console to give a double din slot as well.

Either of the above, or there's an actual ground point behind either of the rear door cards - used by the electric window brain (drivers side) or heated seat relays (pass side if fitted).

Audioscape doorpods or build your own if you're handy with MDF and fibreglass. Decent headunit (Nakamichi gets my vote but they're not the most reliable cd mechanisms!) 6.5" components (JBL for budget, Rainbow or DLS if you want to spend more, HAT if you want to spend lots.) 10"/12" sub in boot 3 channel amp to power comps&sub. (Genesis? Old school Denon or Rockford Fosgate?) Sound deadening in doors (and elsewhere?) Look out for second-hand bargains on the forums (especially Talk Audio) and the bay.

I'm a Live Sound Engineer, work for a PA hire company based in Liverpool, gig all over, we do a lot of the gigs in Manchester Academy 1&2 and supplied PA for the last Kaiser Chiefs tour. This summer's been an almost non-stop run of festivals for us, from Radio 1 Big Weekend through to Leeds/Reading so time for Corrado tinkering has been pretty limited of late! I love the job most of the time, despite the money not being great, I got to spend 3 and a half months in Ibiza, working on Ibiza Rocks in 2008 which was pretty cool. Got into sound while I was at uni, studying materials science and had to turn it into a career when I failed my degree...that was a decade ago!

Well, well... this sounds like something I've got - whilst fitting my alarm, I found that the horn would sound when pressure was applied to the left hand side of the fusebox! Pulling the horn relay had no effect, so it must be grounding in the wiring before the relay? Couldn't find any bare wires or obvious shorts though, wondering if it's actually within the fusebox itself...

Possibly! Worth a look eitherway. :)

Yeah, they're standard sizes, most car audio companies should have something suitable - if the oem tweeters are gone then it's easy enough to knock up a bracket to hold a tweeter, or get some tweets to cut up from a scrapped mk3 golf or mk4 polo - they're the same thing as is in the C's dash. The nokia speakers in the rear are the standard ones - if you replace them you may have to cut some of the plastic underneath away, as the nokias have tiny magnets!!

Doors - 5.25 inch Dash - 4 inch hole, but factory fit speaker is a tweeter in a plastic plate. Rears - 6x4 inch oval. I'd recommend buying a set of comps, and mount the tweeter in the factory plate - cut a hole where the factory tweet was. Ideally you want to replace the doorpods so you can fit 6.5 inch mid-basses (or bigger!! :eek: ) but so long as you make sure the speakers have a decent seal against the hole in the doorpod, they'll be a huge improvement on the stock speakers. Personally I wouldn't bother with rears, but there's plenty of options out there if you want. Brand wise, DLS and Rainbow are among those well regarded for sound quality, and JBL are hard to beat for value for money if you're on a budget.

Dark blue M reg VR6, spotted backstage in production compound at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Bangor t'other day? Anyone? I was there looking after the PA on the Introducing stage (so was in a tourbus, not a Rado!) :lol:

Yeah, sounds suspiciously like the ignition switch is on it's way out.

His ad isn't very clear - if he says it won't fit, get a refund and buy one from a reputable retailer!

Does it come back on once you turn the key back from the starter position? The starter position turns off unnecessary items to reduce the load on the cars electrics while starting the engine.

If you can find an audioscape sub enclosure, or fancy making your own, then a 12" in a sealed box shouldn't take up too much room. As for mounting amps, I don't think there's really enough room in the rear quarters - I'd think about a false floor in the boot or a board across the back of the rear seats. Don't think you'll go far wrong with the comps, though I think focal have a reputation for being a bit brighter sounding than the others. Amps wise I'd use the PG Ti's either running the sub and fronts off the 500.4 or running the fronts active off the 500.4 and the sub off the 600.2 (can it run bridged?) though I don't know if they have suitable crossovers. I wouldn't run anything off the amps in the HU. Don't forget a decent run of at least 4AWG power cable too.

Seats won't fit either, mk3's have the seat runners further apart... However, you might be able to pull the seat bases apart and swap the frame over - I've seen a thread on another forum (vwvortex possibly?) that somone on here linked to. Otherwise you'd need to cut and re-weld the seat base to fit the corrado's runners.

Well the power connector is an ISO, so there's a standard configuration for the pins, as you look at the back of the connector where the wires enter, the pins go : (top row) ground, illumination, permanent live, empty; (bottom row) switched live, power antenna feed, empty, empty. VW swap the permanent and switched pins round, so if you find the HU works but loses it's memory when the ignition's off, reverse those two pins (most HU looms have bullet connectors inline so you can do that.) The VW ISO plug will also have the extra wire for the speed signal in one of those empty holes.

Also, the ISO connectors in the corrado have the switched and ignition live wires swapped round in relation to the ISO standard :brickwall:

10A should be fine. The scope for previous owners bodging knows no bounds, on my old G60 I think the previous owner had cut the wire for the front fogs at the switch rather than find out why the fuse kept going...

There have been a few posts recently asking about the headunit wiring in the Corrado, so I reckon it's due a sticky! I've seen a few recommendations to look on the12volt.com, but I have, and it's wrong. I think they've just pasted the info from a mk1 or 2 golf. Also, if anyone's thinking, like I used to, that it's a case of RTFM, because it's in the owners manual... you've reckoned without the perversity of VW themselves since the later your manual, the less info it gives you about the stereo! For example, the following guide is from the manual for my old G60 (91), the manual for my VR (95) has the same page but without the wiring guide, and the 1996 manual I picked up recently has a page which basically says "stereo? go speak nicely to your VW dealership" :epicfail: So here we go: In the Rado, the wiring is on standard ISO connectors (the black and brown 8pin connectors behind the stereo unless some monkey has chopped them off) but not wired according to the ISO standard! VW's swap the switched and permanent live over in the connector for some reason. The wiring code is as follows: Red - Permanent live Brown - Ground/negative Brown/Red - Switched live (ignition) Grey/Blue - Instrument panel lighting Blue/White - Speed signal for automatic volume (only used on VW oem units AFAIK) Don't connnect the blue/white one to anything or allow it to short to the body as it'll stop the spoiler working. Hope this is of use to everyone! CAVEAT:This info applies to both the corrado's I've pulled to bits, so I'm confident it's correct from 1991 onwards. I can't confirm if it applies to really early ones though. Can anyone with an 88-90 radio confirm? 2016 Edit: Glad to see this post is still here helping people! I've learnt since that the speed signal is also known as the GALA signal on later VW's and you'll need it if you retrofit either a VAG OEM satnav or a Becker H/U with navigation like the one I have in my mk4.

Saw these on TA too - nice work indeed... and nice McIntosh aswell... 8)

Thought so, the old HU was just running off the ignition live, so there's no power to keep the memory going when the ignition's off... Have you checked the fuse (no.22 on the fuse box IIRC) for the radio? If you have to trace it the red/white wire should go to the fuse box.

No, the speaker wires going into the door from the tweeters are full range signal, the loom goes from the HU to the tweets, then from the tweets to the door speakers, the LF rolloff capacitor is only on the tweeter itself. As already said though, the standard pods are bobbins, it's very difficult to get a good mounting for aftermarket speakers. Check that the door speakers are all the way home on the mounting pegs, so that there's at least an attempt at sealing the enclosure. If there's a big gap (like there was in my VR when I got her) you won't get any bass. Audioscapes or DIY pods are the only way to get really good midbass up front though. Also - check your midbasses are in phase, i.e. + and - are the right way round at the speaker; If one side is reversed, the midbasses will cancel each other out and reduce the bass - if each side sounds ok, but there's no bass when they're both on, that could be it. Also check the same thing at the crossover end (just realised you're running aftermarket speakers.)

You've got them right, according to the Corrado manual: Red - Permanent live Brown - Ground/negative Brown/Red - Switched live (ignition) Grey/Blue - Instrument panel lighting Blue/White - Speed signal for automatic volume adjustment Don't connnect the blue/white one to anything or allow it to short to the body as it'll stop the spoiler working. Did the old HU lose it's radio stations when you turned off the ignition? Oh and beware if the original ISO connector is still there, VW swap the live and switched live over from the ISO standard. :roll:

Beware the12volt.com, their corrado wiring is wrong. The colours I described above are taken from the manual for my 91 G60, but apply to all C's later than that. (they may be the same for earlier ones but I've not pulled one to bits...)

In the Rado, they're standard ISO connectors but not wired according to the standard! VW's swap the switched and permanent live over in the connector for some reason. The code is as follows: Red - Permanent live Brown - Ground/negative Brown/Red - Switched live (ignition) Grey/Blue - Instrument panel lighting Blue/White - Speed signal for automatic volume Don't connnect the blue/white one to anything or allow it to short to the body as it'll stop the spoiler working.