chazrad

Hi mate. I'd buy the audioscape pods and speakers from you if you're willing to sell them separately. Let me know. Thanks. Charlie

Jim, Not planning on gettng rid of the wheels. Isee them going on the Golf in the short term. In to The Phirm for a race cat and some other minor fetttling later today...

Corrado went through the MOT fine last Weds. Amazing given I drove it straight out of the garage after 6 months away direct to the test centre. Off to The Phirm on Monday for a couple of bits and pieces. Some new wheels in the pipeline too...

Thans Andy. That clears it up.

Hi Andy, Sorry, I'm confused. You say you want to redrill to 5x112 but then say further down that the wheels (already) 5x112. Can you confirm whether they are 5x100 at the moment or 5x 112 (bearing in mind the standard Rado fitment of 5x100). Thanks.

Hi Dave, Very interested in this short shifter. Do they only fit Corrados or will they fit Mk3 VR6 Golfs also? Can you send me one out and then allow me to send you mine back when its swapped? Also, what is the handbrake tunnel kit all about? Cheers Charlie

Love these wheels. Super aggressive. Couple of questions: what are the offsets? Are the wheels staggered or the same ET all round? Do you run spacers with them to fit over standard brakes? Were the wheels always 5x100 PCD or did you have them redrilled from 4x100? Thanks Charlie

Awaiting pics, matey...

Thanks guys. It good to be back safely. Looking forward to getting the car in for its MOT and getting some insurance on it - main task for tomorrow. Thanks matey. No is wasn't me, I'm afraid. I've yet to give the Golf a run of note; only going back and forth to the office at the moment. Can't wait for a dr cold day to give the Rado a real blast and remind myself why its such fun to drive.

Back from being away for 6 months. Time to get the car out of the garage and start using it again. Insurance, MOT and tax to sort out and it starts tomorrow...

Give Matt at United Motorsports a call. He has all sorts of maps on file and can write you one to suit your specific set up. His OBD2 map on my VRT is next to faultless. Charlie

Mate, before you fit the Megasquirt, I'd have a word with Crazydave on here. He tried to get it working on his VR (and bear in mind he and Graham set up Midlands based DG Autotech VAG specialists) and struggled to ever get the car running right. To my own cost I found that running an aftermarket ECU is a whole lot of hassle and hardwork. Now, if you're techy and will relish the opportunity to mess around with the settings and run everywhere with a laptop in the car, then fill your boots. Otherwise, at least make sure that the Megasquirt has got all the functionality that you'll need to control the engine properly bearing in mind what you're doing to it. Don't forget that an aftermarket ECU probably won't support a MAF or a number of the factory engine sensors, and that means you've less fail-safes and ways to control what's going (as I found out to my cost). The standard ECU can be chipped to support a turbo and will retain all the factory sensors and therefore off-boost, cold start and stock standard driveability when you're just running around. Even better, convert to OBD2 and enjoy an even smoother driving experience then get United Motorsports to chip the ECU for you. The money you'll spend is probably less than you'll spend buying the aftermarket ECU and getting it working even partially well. Remember that VW spent millions of deutschmarks perfecting the standard Bosch ECU in all climates and weathers. As I have realised the more I've modified cars, blokes in sheds can seldom do better! That's fine and doesn't matter as long as you're willing to accept the compromises that modifying brings. So, I'd say be clear what it is you want the car to do and how much tinkering you're willing to get involved with ECU-wise; Finally, be clear that 400WHP is a huge amount of power in a Corrado. I would focus on the torque delivery rather than the BHP figure. (Remember: torque wins races!!)

Planning on heading up from Wiltshire on the Sunday morning. Via A417 passed Swindon to the M5 near Gloucester then up. Anyone else going who's local?

The 17 x 8 BBS RS reps I fitted to my Mk3 Golf VR6 have to have spacers on the front, as the ET 32 offset meant the 288mm calipers were fouling the wheel. I run 11mm FK hubcentric spacers which push the wheels out and they just clears the calipers. The arches were already rolled but I've then had to run more camber on the fronts as well. Now, there is no fouling and they look ace, especially with the negative camber, so assuming you can get the wheels on with spacers, you should be fine. Charlie

Karl, I'll stick some pics upwhen it is finally finished and fitted. Shouldn't be long now. I'm sticking with beige/cream leather though. ...And the BBS reps on the Golf are Calibre Vintage, fitted with 11mm hubcentric spacers to clear the 288s, and running some camber to get them under the arches. I love 'em.

Happy New Year to you all. Well, the Rado is away for the winter, SORN'd and I finally managed to make room in the garage to put the old girl away. The new interior is not long coming now, hopefully fitted by end of this month. Shame I won't be able to enjoy it on the road until later this year. Delighted with the results of the RR day at Stealth at the end of November: made 378bhp and 403lbft at a bar of boost, so performing well. And I'm loving the smoothness on OBD2 over the issues it had on the DTA. Just the paint left to sort now.

I'd give the Phirm a try. They've worked wonders for me... Website link in my signature below.

This kind of conversion is going to take any specialist moths to complete. There will be considerable amounts of fabrication work involved not to mention rebuilding the engine and getting everything to fit and run just right. Anyone who is capable of doing this kind of work and doing it well is going to charge you an arm and a leg. are you really sure this is what you want? Why? If you want 4wd and 500bhp, either get a B5 RS4 or B5 S4 and mod that. Far better bet for that kind of power, and the car was designed to be 4wd from the factory. The other thing is that anyone who can do this kind of work is likely to be in very high demand and have a waiting list that books this kind of big project work in months in advance. You'll really struggle to have this up and running by next Summer even if you find someone. Be aware that project cars seldom make the specialist builders any money. There is so much more in a remap and filter given the time they end up spending, so you will find very few who are willing to take it on, unless you can promise an open chequebook. Sorry matey; this will not be what you want to hear, but it is near enough reality. Your best bet is to build it yourself, or start with a more modest aspiration, say dropping an R32 in to a Corrado, get that running properly, then go again for the 4wd conversion, get that working, then finally turbo it. Doing these things in stages will more managebale for all concerned. Rgds Charlie

Well done for organising this Eric, It'll be a great day out for sure. A number of met there for a CF meet back in May / June this year. We started early in glorious sunshine and did verything but wonder through Concorde, I think (though some have stayed on for that). If the date coincides with a gathering of classics or some such, it'll be great fun just wondering around the car park. Beware, I recall breakfast was expensive so I imagine lunch will be too - after all, captive market once you're in. I shan't be able to join you next year but I do fancy a trip to Mercedes Benz World at some point. Rgds Charlie

Good photos, Jim. Please thank Steve for me. He did a sterling job there today. There are a number of really good ones there. I love the one of the workbench in B&W. Re the vids, however Steve wants to load them up. Cheers.

A great day out with all you good people and some lovely weather to boot... though the car got dirty on the way up from Wiltshire this morning in light drizzle. So good to see so many Corrados in one place. Just like the old days. at meets and shows, you just don't get 25 or so cars together anymore. So well done to all those that made it, and commiserations to some others who tried (Ollievr6 broken down at Chieveley Services first thing!). Caught up with some familiar faces who I had not seen in a while. Jim, well done for organising the day. It was well run and the Stealth team are very efficient at moving things along. Shame not everyone could get a reading off the rollers (tracking issues, subframe rubbing etc.), and shame Sam's R32 couldn't run as I wanted to hear and see it fly. Thanks to Wendy for sterling work on the BBQ. The burgers and the mince pies were brill. Pretty happy with my results to be honest. Made slightly more torque than I was expecting and slightly less power, but happy all the same. It hadn't been dynoed with the OBD2 setup before so wasn't sure what it would make anyway. Just pleased we could all have a good day out on what could be one of the last bright clear days of the year before the temperatures drop and the Corrado takes up residence again in the garage. Charlie

We'll aim to be at the Esso station in Banbury to meet Wendy for about 0845hrs. So keep an eye out for us Wendy!! Ollie has my number in case of issues, but I'll expect to see the Chieveley gang at about 7.20am... Have a good/safe drive, guys. Charlie

I am planning to travel up the A34 as I'll be coming from Wiltshire (so east along A303 then onto A34). For those that might be coming along M4 to the A34 or coming thorugh Newbury to get there, I suggest we meet at the Chieveley Services on the A34/M4 junction. I'm assuming that we all want to be there for the start at 9am sharp, so that means leaving Chieveley at 7.40 and no later. I suggest we all aim to be there for 7.20am to allow time for a quick chat, fuel and a leg stretch before we head off. If you all agree, then perhaps ollievr6 can update the post at the top of this page. See you all soon. Charlie

Be sure that the ARB is i fact fitted the correct way up. Mine was origianlly fitted upside down and actually only spotted recently. It was fitted by AmD (the original AMD of Bicester) back in 2002, and there was never any indication that it might have been wrong. I never experienced any scraping or rubbing. It was simply a keen-eyed mechanic that noticed. The writing on mine is now upside down.

The weekend is free of family stuff so far, so please stick me down as a runner, Jim. I really hope I am able to make it. Will be good to catch up with loads of friends... Well done for organising this, Jim. And well done to Wendy and Fay in advance for the BBQ efforts. Charlie