Laughingboy

That was nice of newton to send you one out! Is it adaptable or a total no go?

Right, been doing my research and been out with the measuring tape. As the covers are still on my seats measuring the foam is tricky but the complete side panel including material and seat bolster measure 520mm long 100mm at its lowest point, where the seat back meets 180mm at its tallest point and 70mm wide. These are rough... On checking the wiki guide to replace the seat bolsters and comparing photos you can see they are remarkable similar The corrado seat base appears to sit lower in the frame and dips slightly just past the centre I would lay a pretty good bet that the mk1 bolster would fit well or be easyily adaptable to fit.

When your head gasket goes you can get all manor of symtoms depending on how its gone, oil in the water, water in the oil, pressurised cooling hoses... there isn't one definate sign. The gasket went recently on my mk3 vr6 and it drove just perfect but pressurised the pipes. I'd change that oil cooler but get a compression test done to be safe as that should pick up on any head problems. If it helps, remove the whole front panel from the car and you'll be able to get to the oil cooler very easily and you have to drain the cooling system anyway so its two birds one stone to be honest!

The Mk1 and Mk2 also share the backrest panel so I don't think VW changed the seat design much over the years. I had a nose on ETKA and the first 3 digits are different on the part numbers but otherwise they are identical. Newtons also sell a foam repair kit to fix the bolsters and seat bases which should fit any seat regardless. If its of any use, the cabbies seats are out just now, I can measure the seat bolsters for you so you can compare the rados, even if the mk1 foams are too big they may be fine to carve down for a corrado seat. I'm not sure as she always threaterns to bin them... But I should still have the front seats from the rally spec raddo up at the in laws. passenger side foams are like new on that if you get stuck. On a completely random note, check out http://www.autoleathers.co.uk While you have the seats dismantled you may as well recover them in leather... fews guys on the mk1 forum have used them with mixed results, basically buy the leather kit and a decent set of hog ring pliers and by anyones standards, thats a cheap retrim!

I know newton commercials do bolsters for the mk1... I know the middle seat base is different but the side bolsters are similar off the top of my head, if not it'd give you a good base for ya carving knife! http://www.newtoncomm.co.uk/cars/vw/product.jsp?ref=3198&model=25&type=1

Know that pain, I use to use two trolley jacks and blocks of wood to get the car as high as possible on axle stands but its still tight. Best thing I ever got was a wheeled trolley for working underneth, makes it so much nicer then crawling around in the muck! As for the brake pipes, I was alway told Kunifer was the stuff to have. A lot stronger then the steel and more resistant to corrosion. Does anyone actually know the pros and cons of the various different types on the market? whats your plans with the weitec stuff Yan? I still have the 16v weitec springs stored away if you have a use for them on any of your other projects.

Cheers Kev, The head gasket looks to have been replaced not too long ago but just with a poor quality one. Would you believe they smeared the orange gunk on everything except where it was actually needed! As for the cornflakes... or kelloggs bodge paper as it shall now be know. Was going to use proper gasket paper, didn't think the intake would be under that much strain but better safe then sorry so looks like I'm going to have to go shopping.... maybe some nice orange instant gasket would do the job... ;)

Thats the problem, the lower cover is sitting lower then the block by around 0.5mm so I don't think its sealing down hard enough.

Mind and keep your eyes peeled for sparkly things in there ;) Give us a bell tomorrow, found something very handy for you in the history file. The car had a full shakedown by VW just before I bought it and it makes for interesting reading!

Changing the head gasket today on the VR6 and found a pretty prolific oil leak down the gearbox side of the engine. Seems to be coming from the timing chain covers. After removing the head I noticed that the housing for the lower chain is sitting a fraction lower then the block, around 0.5mm. worried this is causing the leak. was thinking of trying to move up the case but ran out of light. can I remove this with dropping the box? only other option was to either use a section of the old gasket? or may gasket card or instant gasket? What do you guys think? If so what options do I have? Also, on stripping the engine its bloody full of instant gasket! the rocker cover, upper timing chain cover, the gasket was even missing on the intake manifold and was sealed using... you guessed it, Instant gasket!! Shouldn't have any issues with the rocker cover as the rubber looks fine. but is the upper timing chain supposed to have a gasket? Was going to make one using paper but wanted to make sure it was needed. Was also thinking of using a paper gasket for the intake as its only the join between lower and upper. I know I should go and buy a gasket but its a fair trek to VW and I've got paper to hand. would this be ok? Cheers for any advice

Good luck mate, glad to see those In Pro rear lights going back to their rightful owner! ;) As I said on the phone, I've the originals in the shed if you fancy swapping yet again!

Good to see my old Corrado getting the love it deserves. Just to clear a few things up, no I'm not the guy from Ebay, I sold it to the guy on Ebay... last novemeber. Good luck with it Yan, she couldn't be in better hands! I'll get you all the history paperwork up to you as soon as possible. ---------- Post added at 02:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 PM ---------- Not me I hope! ;)

Christ, its like Finbar Saunders in here...

Very Fawlty Towers! "Oh I see, he's a homing rat is he!" Well at least my paranoia is justified! Everytime I go out to the garage I open the bonnet to take a peak just in case the little buggers have snuck back in... maybe I can keep a cat under there.... :norty:

Got a shock the other day which I thought I'd share. My VR6 is stored up just now as I've been away working and not had time to sort her out. Well, thought I'd take it for a run since I was home and it was a nice day. Did the usual for when she's been sitting a while and popped the bonnet to check oil water etc and got a small surprise! My usual 190ish horse power had been joined by an extra 8 or 9 mouse power as well!! Yes, a small nest of mice was living in the scuttle area! They had crawled up the arch liner and through the drain in the side. Thankfully they had made the nest out of a combination of my wifes horse rugs and the foam sound deadening under the bonnet and not any tasty ECU cables! I was all for putting the pressure washer on the little buggers but my wife convince me to save them which proved a fun task! I had to push the car outside and start chasing the little blighters with anything to hand (Vacuum hosing is just the job for this in case anyone else has this problem!) My Rado is now thankfully mouse free and I managed to save all but one. He suffer a little acident, I obivously missed him and he made his own way out... while I was doing motorway speeds!! :?