lesarcsneil

Does anyone know the size of the 2.0 16v fill/drain plugs on the gearbox so that I can get the correct hex socket? Cheers, Neil

Is the 9A broken? Or are you after a little bit more power and fancy a project? I admit that replacing a tired 9A with a low mile ABF makes a lot of sense if you're handy with the spanners. I've just rebuilt a 9A and with hindsight I wouldn't go down the same route again (it cost quite a bit more than I originally anticipated with lots of consumables like con-rod bolts and gaskets). There are some interesting threads over on ClubGti about 16v cam profiles. The 9A cams are pretty mild, some people on here are running 9A heads with KR and ABF cams to give the engine more of a top end. Swapping the ABF cams into the 9A head would be considerably less work. It depends what you're trying to achieve. Neil 94 Flash Red 16v

From memory (from a few years ago): The throttle body has a 3 pin sensor and 2 microswitches. One of the switches is closed at idle, one is closed at full throttle. I measured the resistance between 2 of the 3 pins. It should be close to zero Ohms when each switch is closed. As there are only 3 pins it's pretty easy to figure out which pin corresponds to which switch. If the resistance is not constant then it's likely to be a broken microswitch. I sourced another one from a breaker a few years back. Neil

I run a 07 Passat 2.0TDi estate for the other half. The handbrake 'button' drives me to distraction whenever I drive the car. If I were looking to replace it I'd go for the Skoda which has a normal handbrake. Better value too, for what is pretty much the same car under the skin. Neil 94 Flash Red 16v

The obvious engine replacements are the 1.8 20vT from a mk4 golf/leon/audi or the 2.0 16v ABF engine from the mk3 golf, both of which are a well trodden path. It depends what sort of car you're after, a torquey turbo lump or a revvy normally aspirated engine. Neil 94 Flash Red 16v

You can't go too far wrong with Synta Silver 10W40 semi synthetic from the dealers. It's pretty cheap these days Around £20 for 5 litres. Neil

Just re-reading your first post, if it's been refurbished then the valve guides and stem seals have probably been done. Neil

It's the hydraulic cam followers that make the tappety noise, my new ones are a lot quieter. They just lift out once the cams are removed, I think I used a magnet to lift them out. I got my head professionally refurbed so the valve stem seals and valve guides were done. The car was on 138k miles and the valve guides were worn and in need of replacement. I didn't do this work myself but the bloke had the valves out and on the bench within 15 minutes of me arriving as he wanted to check the head over (I'd already removed the cams). He did have some specific tools for removing valves which made it look very simple, it's probably not quite so easy when you're doing it yourself. Neil

Hi, The cam followers are £6 each from vwspares, 16 of them will set you back the best part of £100, you may as well put on a new cam chain whilst you're there and budget to replace the cam cover gasket and the inlet manifold gasket too. http://www.vwspares.co.uk/corrado_valvetrain.php It's a reasonable amount of work: 1) Set engine to TDC, mark timing belt to pulleys with tipp-ex in a few places. This helps with re-assembly 2) Remove inlet manifold and pipework 3) Remove cam cover 4) Remove aux and timing belts 5) Remove cams, the cam caps are matched to the head and you have to retain position/orientation for each cam cap. There is an sequence to follow for undoing the cam cap bolts as the cams are removed/reinstalled to avoid putting too much stress on the cams. 6) Remove lifters, they just lift out without any special tools. Removal is the reverse of assembly to quote the Haynes book 'o lies. There's a very good guide on how to change 16v cams on ClubGti in the 16v engine section which should give you an idea of the amount of work required. It's time-consuming methodical work, so worth chatting to a local VW specialist to get an idea of price. Neil

Hi, There is a good guide over on Club GTi: http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?186796-How-to-setup-static-timing-Useful-after-major-engine-work The intermediate pulley drives the oil pump so orientation isn't critical. There is also another timing mark on the flywheel that lines up with a mark inside the gearbox bellhousing at TDC. There is a plastic bung on top of the bellhousing that you can remove to see this. Neil

Flywheel bolts are stretch items so should really be replaced and torqued up correctly. I'd buy them from a main dealer as they aren't that expensive. Sorry I don't know which bolts would fit, I assume that you are using a 1.8/2.0 flywheel? Depending on budget and how long you plan to keep the car I'd consider replacing: all engine/gearbox mounts new clutch and release bearing (I assume you're doing this) front crossmember bushes water pump Neil

Hi, Is your timing belt a tooth out? There is a very thorough guide on how to set up static timing over on clubgti: http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?186796-How-to-setup-static-timing-Useful-after-major-engine-work I assume you took the cams out to remove the head bolts, are the cams in the correct position in relation to each other? Check for vacuum leaks, did you disturb the metering head/injectors? Cheers, Neil

I'm almost finished putting my car back together after an engine out job. 1) Take lots of photos of how things fit together, you think it's going to take a couple of weeks and you find yourself putting it back together 6 months later.... 2) Buy some zip-loc bags from the supermarket. For each part or small job put the bolts in a separate bag with a clear label, this saved me no end of pain. 3) I used masking tape to label up wiring loom connectors, water pipes etc. I found that with the engine on a table/stand I could support the weight of the gearbox using an engine crane and then it would slide on/off the engine quite easily. This was with a 2.0 16v. Neil

Thanks Jim, From the picture you posted you can just make out that there is nothing installed installed in that hole behind the coolant flange. I was concerned that coolant would start to pour out once the engine was running. Cheers, Neil

Morning, I'm putting my 2.0 16v back together, it's taken slightly longer than expected. On the distributor side of the cylinder head there are 4 holes for sensors. I've got 3 sensors and a blanking plate fitted which I'm pretty sure is correct. Does anyone have a picture, or can they tell me what is fitted to the hole marked on the attached picture? I've got a hunch that it might be a bracket to hold cables but cannot find an exploded diagram on the web. The pictures I took as I took the car apart aren't much use, the cam cover gasket was leaking and everything was covered in oil/grime. Thanks, Neil 94 Flash Red 16v

I found this annual in the summer, finally got around to posting the pictures. Link to album here: https://picasaweb.google.com/109322610184191243521/20130804?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNimjPTCreG99AE&feat=directlink Neil 94 Flash Red 16v

There's more info here: http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?t=81840&page=2&highlight=ken+lark It's good to see Ken and the car racing again. Neil

How about this? Neil 94 Flash Red 16v (engine back in)

The rattle might be a broken heatshield on the exhaust manifold. I had this on my car when I first got it. There is another heatshield above the catalytic converter that can also do this. If your exhaust manifold is cracked badly then you can smell exhaust fumes in the cabin on startup. Once it's warm then the smell goes away as the manifold expands. The 1.8 exhaust manifold fits a 2.0. I checked the exhaust gaskets against the head and the manifold and they're the same. It fits the exhaust downpipe ok too. No problems in getting it to fit in the car. Neil

It fits, but doesn't have the threaded hole for the exhaust sniffer tube. I'm 99% certain you never need to use the exhaust sniffer, but someone on here will know for certain. The 2.0 exhaust manifolds are prone to cracking (my old one had a fairly substantial crack) Neil

Gumtree can throw up some unusual bargains, especially in the weeks before Christmas when people are short of cash. The plus side is that cars are local so you don't have to travel far to view cars. Are there any car auction places nearby? This is where traders will dump low-value trade-ins. You might be able to find something that is broken that needs fixing and an MOT for that sort of budget. A couple of years ago a colleague and I bought a £500 Saxo VTS which managed a couple of track days but required quite a lot of spannering to keep going. Big thirsty barges with expensive road tax could be a good idea considering the budget (V6 mondeos, vectras and lagunas) Neil 94 Flash Red 16v (mid restoration)

I've currently got my 16v apart, the original clutch was made by Sachs so I got a replacement from Euro Car Parts for about £100. I bought the car with 56k miles on the clock so I'm 99% sure it was the original, there was plenty of wear left in the friction material at 137k miles. It's not worth fitting an uprated clutch unless you're planning on a big power upgrade in the near future. Neil 94 Flash Red 16v

I've got a set of these that have been surplus to requirements for a while. I've sent you a text message Neil

Hi Mic, If you're in the Cambridge area you'll save a lot of time/hassle by driving up to Kiddicare in Peterborough. They've got pretty much every child seat on the market and are very helpful with fitting. Neil

I used to go to watch the VW cup quite a lot 'back in the day' as there are 4 of the circuits within an hours drive. There are 4 corrados that I can remember entered in the series: Ken Larks VR6 run by Grant Motorsport The sister VR6 of Ken Larks, destroyed in an accident by Lee Wharton (?) Another VR6 run by Dan Thackeray who was 16(?) in 2005, he was mighty quick but the car rarely made it to the end of a race due to mechanical problems A corrado with a 2.0 16v was run by Alex Dziurzynski in 2006, and a couple of years after that. It was red/white and his brother ran a Golf at the time At the time the regulations were that everyone ran the same power/weight ratio so there was an interesting mix of cars. Lighter mk1's were quicker around the twisty circuits e.g. Brands Indy whereas Ken Lark really favoured the old Snetterton circuit with the long straights where the aerodynamics were a big advantage. He was running somewhere around 220 bhp from a blueprinted VR6 that revved to 8500. The car had a Gemini sequential gearbox and 18's to fit over the massive brakes. None of the cars were run by VW motorsport at the time, they were run by independent teams. You had to see how much speed the Ken Lark car could carry through the old Coram at Snetterton, he was visibly quicker than anyone else at the time. A grid of VR6's taking off at the start of a race was also pretty spectacular. VW's influence on the series was obvious. One year Rob Carvell turned up in a Jabbasport prepared Scirocco which was superbly prepared and very quick. VW didn't seem to like the older cars beating the newer ones so he kept losing points on technicalities and didn't win the series that year in what was clearly the fastest car. All IMO, I'll take off my rose tinted spectacles now. Neil