JIMMI

Dont forget to order a sump gasket, you need to remove the sump th do the drivers side wishbone !! jimmi...............

Tradex are pretty expensive as far as trade insurers go, their regulations are a lot slacker than the rest go though! They made an awful lot of money over the years by allowing supposed car traders (read drug dealers etc) to drive cosworths etc on traders policies ! Im insured with AXA and they are excellent ! im covered for any car,van or motorcycle either owned,loaned or under my custody up to a single value vehicle of 100k. AXA however need to see audited accounts to prove you are infact in the trade which tradex and tradesure dont ask for. One piece of advice tell them you mainly repair cars rather than buying and selling them, this makes a big difference to your policy price ! Jimmi........

Girl, whats wrong with a T70 ????????? Ha Ha ! Jimmi..............

Need a spot of help guys, i need to remove the doors from one of my corrado's. I can work out how to physically remove the doors but its the wiring that goes through the A post into the door which is a pain. Is there a multiplug inside the A post like on modern cars or will i have to disconnect every component inside the door and feed the wires through individually ?? Any help would be appreciated, i would of had the car painted today if i could of wipped the doors off !!! Jimmi....................

Open the bonnet when its ticking over and listen for a hissing noise coming from the back of the engine ??

I put mine into the brake servo vacuum pipe, and it works spot on, there are even little "capped" outputs on the pipe to no need to put a T piece in !! Jimmi......

Deluk Wrote Its impossible to get runs in the base coat (colour part of a metallic that goes on before the clear coat) unless there is major problem with either the paint or the painter !! The runs are in the clear coat & yes they can be rectified if they are minor and on a flat surface, but you really need to be questioning how good the guys skills & facilities are if he is getting runs in a paint job !! I'd say the price of £1500 sounds about right for the job you have had done, the rear arch is a decent sized job, it will take at least 5 hours to do a good job welding that in, his £400 seems a little optimistic but i'd say you would quite easily pay between 150-250 quid labour for someone to weld an arch in without painting it the £50 someone said is a touch cheap, i'd doubt you will find any half decent bodyshop who would cut the old arch out for that sort of money never mind refit a new one ! on your picture showing the arch, i very much doubt he will of welded that much of the arch in mate, he will of kept the repair as small as possible, however make sure he has sealed the inside otherwise it will rot again really quickly. At the end of the day, you cannot expect your car to be any better than the best job you have seen him complete so if your car is below that standard tell him and dont pay him until it is !! I paint motorcycles for a living and i see some horrific jobs everyday, some people shouldnt be allowed to pick up a paint gun, hope fully your guy isnt one of these monkeys and you will get sorted in the end !! Any more questions, just ask. Jimmi..................

The dust seal part is missing no. 16 on ETKA, but i doubt its that. Funnily enough SUPERCHARGED the cap has just been bought from GSF so its probably that. ill go to the dealers and get a new cap and dust cover. I know the forum doesnt condone it but does anyone know where i could get a copy of ETKA ? replies via PM ! Jimmi.................

Tell them its $hite!! Paint Run's, imperfections, stone chips are they a bunch of trained monkeys ? Do they have a proper spray booth? If you think its a bad job and your not a painter they WILL know its a bad job themselves. DO NOT pay them anything until you are happy ! Jimmi...........

Your clutch pedal is on the floor mate as it has no pressure in the fluid. I reckon your box will be okay its just that it was under pressure hence why you couldnt get it out of reverse. For your clutch, check your brake fluid level first, if thats fine check for a fluid leak under the car, on the bulkhead or on top of the gearbox. the clutch hose goes into a spiral as it leaves the ns chassis leg and into the gearbox, check along its length for signs of leakage. or it may just want bleeding properly which is pretty easy. If you can put your car on the flat where it will sit still with out the handbrake you should be able to get the gears again with no clutch and the engine off. Jimmi.............

As kev said the rear arch has an inner and outer skin, inbetween the 2 skins is a jointing membrane. The two skins are spot welded together around the arch which along with the membrane seal the arch up. When you chop into the arch you will break the seal letting water & salt into the arch leading to the inevitable. The best thing you can do to reseal it is firstly make sure its clean and dry on the arch then buy some 2k stickerflex (like a really sticky silicone sealant but specially for automotive use) and completely seal the inner arch you should be okay with that, however with your wide wheels catching over bumps all you do is rub the sealant off so unless you reseal them than wait for it to dry you are gonna be running about with bare metal arches !! Good luck ! Jimmi........

Bigtartanjudge wrote Best way is to get stuck straight in i think, no point having dead cars lying about !! The car will be painted before new year leaving only the refitting and the drivers seat to sort out ! Mave wrote Believe it or not i dont like working on cars mate, i repair stuffed bikes for a living. i only work on my own cars usually, mainly because nowhere else will work to the standard im after !! If you where closer i would have alook at it for you and show you how to do most of it yourself. Ben16v, i think i have the seat cloth sorted mate, if it falls through for any reason ill give you a shout, cheers anyway tho !! jimmi..........

Should be able to drive it mate, they do look as though they are sitting a little higher than normal but that may be the foto. moight be worth changing them in the future tho, thay arent expensive ! Jimmi

Alright dudes I know plenty about VR corrados but i know very little about the 1.8 16v ive just bought, its the first car i have ever owned with a distributor !! I serviced it the other day and fitted a distributor & rotor arm amongst other things, when i fitted the cap it seemed pretty loose so i removed the complete dizzy from the head but it looked fine, the cap however does still seem a little loose, i can rotate it about 5degrees even when the two clips are on. I refitted the complete distributor the car started and ran fine but i wasnt happy with the fit of the cap and remembered to look at it in the future. All was fine til i steam cleaned the engine bay, the car cut out while i was doing it, i checked the dizzy cap and it was full (1/2 a cup full) of water, the car started and ran perfect again when i dried it out. So im guessing the car is missing some sort of seal inbetween the dizzy cap and the dizzy itself, am i correct ? has anyone a picture from ETKA i can look at ? Jimmi...............

Ive spent a few hours working on the corrado this afternoon, ive mostly been prepping it for paint. I initially thought i was going to be able to square the body work up with a few localised repairs this plan has now been ditched ! I have decided im going to keep the corrado for a long time and im not really into doing things twice so ive decided im going to paint the whole car properly this time around, ill have the time over xmas to get it prepped and painted so i thought i might as well. Im doing a full inside out paintjob including everything but the chassis legs and under the carpets. The window guy is coming tomorrow to remove the rear 1/4 glass and the front & back screens. i am going to paint the inside & outside of the bonnet, tailgate & doors off the car this way i can paint the front panel, wing rails, door & boot checks all @ the same time saving on masking & colour variations. only bit im dreading is the roof as im not very tall so ill struggle to reach into the middle !!! I went over the whole car today in search of every cars worst nightmare, Rust ! Only 2 places have succomed to it which shows how well built corrados are even after nearly 18yrs. the two places are around the fuel filler neck and the N/S wheel arch (strange as the O/S one is perfect) The fuel filler area is a bit of a strange one & it looks a nightmare to repair, im going to have to chop a piece out of a donor car and weld it in, its going to be a full day job i think ! The NS arch i have tackled today, it looked as though someone has cut a bit of the lip off in the past to fit some big wheels but only done one side, the rust has then got in, when i started the lip was bubbling all the way round but the "face" of the arch had two blisters the size of 5p's when i started to grind it out i got a bit of a shock, it was pretty bad ! I had the cut all the rusy parts out which was the whole inner lip, and two 3" sections on the face of the arch, you can see this in the foto below. I them cut a 20mm strip of new steel to make the new lip and welded it in place, i filled any imperfections by melting lead into them, the inside of the lip was completely sealed in UPOL 2k Stickerflex & then stone chipped to stop any moisture getting in, the lip and the rest of the arch was then treated to a skim of SMC filler which is made of Carbon fibre & is water proof (unlike 99% of fillers), a final skim of Dolphin glaze stopper and a quick coat of zinc primer was then put over the now fully repaired arch, it should look perfect when painted ! Ill post another update when i get the filler cap repaired. Jimmi...................

Hi mate i have a nice late steering wheel surplus to requirements. its only done 64k and is really nice. PM if you want more details. Jimmi.......

192k on my 89F valver, everything works and still drives well. 0 miles on my 94L VRT, had done 64k but since im completely rebuilding the car from scratch with every servicable part being changed ive had the clock zero'd, it is in effect a "new" car !! Jimmi......

Yep, i know what im doing and i know they will rust ! I can explain exactly how if you like. I know all about corrado arches at the minute, ive spent 4 hrs making a rear arch from scratch for an early corrado im restoring at the minute. Jimmi............

I'd be tempted to just change the wheels for something that fits, if you are chopping into the arch & stuff i'd be getting ready for some rusty arches in the next year !! Jimmi.....

Id be interested to know if it fits PHATVR6, ive had my oil light come on when ive been driving quickly, i was even thinking of trying to mod my oe one but the oil pump being too long was the main problem i was goin to have to overcome ! Jimmi.......................

Looks like its using a rear axle with no diff judging by how easy its going sideways. Car probably wont be that impressive in a straight line tbh, GSXR1000 has 145bhp @ the wheels & the torque isnt that hot, remember it was designed to haul a 175kg bike about not a polo !! Bit of a pointless project in my eyes, but each to their own, i suppose its one of the easiest ways to RWD a polo !! Jimmi,,,,,,,,

Cheers for the replys guys, Poiple-dude, if i wasnt so much of a fanny with cars you would see it on saturday, i think ill be in my van tho. SlimG60 that sounds wicked, you have a PM Jimmi..............

Ive managed to find and buy one of the very very first corrado's it has a build date of april 89. I found it by coincidence really, for sale @ the side of the road about 3 miles from my house. I had seen the car knocking about over the summer and knew it was one of the press cars but i had forgotten all about it to be honest until i saw it for sale on friday, I arranged to view the car on sat morning. The car was tidy, it has had a bottom half respray done in the past 3 years id say but its a tidy job, it was dent free and had only a tiny couple of bits of rust starting on the front wings, the only other place it was rusty was around the petrol cap. when it has been painted someone has flushed the rear panel which is a pain. The wheels where mis matched and awful but the rest of it was tidy, everything inside works, sunroof spoiler etc & the front end is nice with no chips in any lights, fogs etc. Nothing inside was missing or broken but it was a little damp from standing, it was showing 190k. Under the bonnet it was tidy and the motor was fit, only fault i could find on the test drive was the tracking being a million miles out, it shows no signs of being in a bump at any time and is straight and tidy it checked out HPI clear. On face value the car was in excellent condition for its age, and with a bit of work it could be A1, i was pleased with the car but pleased went to delighted when the guy got out the huge box from the boot with the history for the car, it had FULL VW history, last serviced by mill garages in june @186k, every receipt for anything that has ever been bought for the car was there along with A copy of What Car from 89 with the car on the front cover along with other news articles with the car featured. A letter dated in 97 from VW gave even more history on the car, VW had even sent out some negatives out showing Jeremy clarkson driving and standing next to the car @ pendine sands & a picture of all of the press cars lined up outside MISKIN MANOR for the start of the uk corrado launch. I then realised the car had some excellent history behind it and the car really needed to be restored to its 100% original condition. The owner however wanted too much money for the car, i gave him an offer which he declined, he did however accept it on sunday and i collected the car on sun night. I have already started work on the car today, i took some pictures of it outside in the frost this morning before i took it into the garage to start work on it. i have done a full engine service, changing the plugs, leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm, coil, oil, air & fuel filters. it runs A1 and i cannot believe how quiet the engine is for an 18 yr old car. I then jetwashed the engine bay to clean it up, the engine cut out while i was doing it and now it wont restart, i obviously have water in the distributor or somewhere, im sure it will start when it dries out !! Engine bay is gleaming now though !! Jobs that are planned are. [align=center]Exterior Repair rust around filler cap & front NS wing "DE Smooth" rear badge recess Do whatever paintwork to make it perfect Replace rubbing strips Replace all badges Find & refurb a set of sebring wheels Mechanical Fit the old (but fine) track rods & ends from my VR Fit 2 new bottom arms. Interior Find & fit a period (circa 89-90) head unit Find nice parcel shelf Repair drivers seat.[/align] I need some help with the drivers seat, i have all the other bits sorted or in hand but i need a seat cover in the same fabric as the pic below, if any one can tell me what its the same as that would be great !! Ill update this thread as i go along as i think a few members are interested in this project ! Jimmi..........

Update time guys, ive done a load of work on the VR6 over the past few weeks so i thought id update my thread. Firstly i carefully parked the car up in my garage and set about stripping it down, i removed every single part from the front of the car apart from the wiring harness, the engine and box came out along with every mortal part from the front suspension and engine bay. I headed to my local VW dealer (they love me there) with a shopping list, i bought, Balljoints, track rods, track rod ends, bottom arms, drop links, ARB bushes, rear & gearbox mounts, wheel bearings,CV joints, inner CV boots, Steering rack gaitors, And every bolt, nut & clip from the suspension and engine bay. i spent an absolute fortune but my plan is for the car to be much better than new when its finished, im sure the pictures below will show this ! The front & rear subframes, Eibach ARB, Track rods and a load of brackets & mounts from the engine & engine bay where sent off to be powder coated, while they where being taken care of i prepped and repainted the engine bay along with the wheel hubs & new bottom arms. I rebuilt all of the rear subframe & suspension on the bench and reinstalled it on the car complete, i fitted a reconditioned steering rack @ the same time. look @ the pics, it looks fantastic i know all the bolts and fixings where expensive but it would of been pointless building all the nice new parts up with rust bolts !! I put the oe suspension on back on the car as i didnt want the nice new coilovers sitting on the car doing nothing. A lot has changed on the engine side of the car, I have ordered a load of nice shiny parts from SP performance in the states, A set of 3.0 Forged JE pistons, Special Crank bearings, Another set of ARP engine bolts, Schimmel camshafts, Schimmel head rebuild parts & steel Head Gasket. I had planned to pull my 64k mile engine apart and fit all of these, i did infact however have a little bit of a brainwave. Another forum member TOONVW who is pretty local to me had a poorly engine in his VR and was looking for a replacement lump. We agreed a deal and i fitted my lovely engine into Andy's Blue VR6, my thinking was that i was going to completely rebuild & rebore the engine that would eventually go into my red VRT so i might as well do this to an engine that needed some cylinder work rather than to my perfect engine ! My old engine is now in its new home and is running just as it should so it was a good plan ! I have completely stripped toonvw's motor and sent the block off to be rebored out to 93.5mm (3.0), the crank has been checked and send off to be balanced, the flywheel has also been sent off to be slightly lightened and balanced. The bare head has been sent off to be vapour blasted, pressure checked and have a very light skim a minor bit of porting work is also being done @ the same time. Im hoping to have all the parts back in the first week of jan so i can rebuild the engine. This week i also started the interior, i have fitted some black leather TT seats which was a doddle im now trying to fine some oe looking switches for the heating part of them. I briefly fitted the matching TT rear seats but wasnt keen on them, ive decided that i am now going to have no rear seats, with a flat boot/rear compartment and a nice weld in roll cage instead. To be honest the car would never have anyone in the back so the seats would be a waste and at least the roll cage has a purpose !! I have dropped the door cards off to be retrimmed to match the new seats and i am also having the headcloth retrimmed in black alcantara. I hope you like the pictures, your comments are always welcomed, ive just bought another rado so im going to channel a bit of time into that car while im waiting for the engine bits to be returned for the VRT. Jimmi....................

Cheers for all the comments guys, tbh im not sure what the future will hold for the corrado. I very much doubt ill have time to go to any shows with the car, although i did plan on taking my VR to E38 this year so im sure i could get my GF to drive this valver down as well, so you maybe able top see it there. Any way the most important thing is to get it back to the way it was intended !! Ive took a few pics of it outside my garage this morning covered in frost, not the best but ill take some more soon. Work has started this morning, ive done a full engine service including, oil, air, fuel filters, plugs, leads, coil, rotor arm & dizzy cap & its running ace ! gonna put some track rods on it this arvo & get it tracked up then ill be sorting out the body work. Ill take some pics this morning and start a members gallery. Jimmi........