James.

Fuel pump ? Can you hear it prime ?

Southport pubs have all the signs in already as well. To be fair though, the clientele are that old, half the time they don't know what day it is. "Christmas lunch in September dear ? So long as it's pre chewed darling".

You're right Jeremy. Somehow, once these cars have their teeth in you, there's no way back. Andy's got first dibs but you're next in line. If there's even a line at this point. Andy, make sure you let me know you're there next year. Nothing better than a standard Oak MK2 in book. Sorry for the thread swerve Jay. Any more noise on the Ultima ? How's the extension going ?

Ran the Campaign as a daily for twelve months, carrying paint and working on a building site. Retired the old girl and bought the 8v. That was sixteen months ago. Took me a while but the car is right where I want it to be. All fixed and set up for the daily commute. We cover about 5k a year, so not a huge amount but I do take it on long journeys with my son on school holidays and weekends. About 3k commute and 2k fun time. Wouldn't drive anything else for the money.

Only time will tell Jay. First Andy, then Gareth and now you. Tatton won't be the same next year as there's some very good cars being re-marketed out of the borough. All this talking of selling has even got me thinking. Just thinking mind.

Cheers chaps. I'm a real have-a-go-hero if honest. Which can be my downfall as well as saving grace at times. But that's the whole reason why I bought the car. To try new skills I haven't done before. What with the old girl being highly immovable at the moment, my options for repair are limited. But considering I've got the tools at my disposal then why not. The main body paint work will be left to the professionals, but I don't mind doing the arches and less obvious places myself. There's a couple of small bits of paint to do ( the passenger door from when I backed into dads car, the week after it came from the bodyshop for one ). The other is a small scrape under the front bumper, a mini scratch on the spoiler and then the rear arch lips. First things first though, let's get the mechanicals all bolted in place and then we can get lost in the detail. Oh and as for the comment from Captain Corrado about being terrified.... Pffttchh, I don't believe that for a moment !

Managed to sneak into the garage for a bit of alone time with the VR this afternoon/evening. What with welding up the arches at the weekend and then undersealing them on Tuesday, I was itching to keep up the momentum. So today I managed to mask off, scrub down, pre-paint and prime the rear arches and under apron. I'll give it another blow over tomorrow, followed by a basecoat on Saturday and Sunday. Giving it a couple of days, before I lay on the topcoat. Hopefully once the rear suspension is fitted, It'll make me feel like progress is being made. Not a feeling I've had for a while.

Good spot. Be careful when you close the bonnet as they can foul and may need a small piece of the under bonnet strengthening bar cutting out.

Well, it looks like it's back to the drawing board on the heatshield (or should that be workbench?). I was quietly optomistic of there being stock somewhere, when I swung by the dealer this afternoon, what with it not showing on ETKA and all that. As it transpires, the reason it was hard to find is it's been obsolete since 1996 ! It's had a couple of revisions, but that particular route of enquiry is dead in the water like a smelly old whale. So as a feel good back up plan, I went armed with other wants. A new rubber boot for the steering rack neck (obsolete) and a new foam gasket, for where the heater matrix meets the firewall (stock). A cheap day at the parts counter then. Must be a first !

First Corrado I owned was white so have always had a soft spot and surprisingly you see even less in this colour. Lad who bought it, did exactly the same and went whiter than a teenager on a bong. Personally I like the side bump strips as it breaks it up, but that's personal taste and yours is a vast improvement from when you bought it. Kudos.

I've been a good boy over the past few weeks. Fixing the toilet, Removing and installing a shower, adjusting the satellite. Saving up garage time here and there. So today I went all in and got a full day of work in the bag. You may recall at my disappointment of finding the rear sill of each arch rotted through. So today I entered new territory... ...Welding. With lance in hand I set to work tacking new fabricated steel where the rusty stuff once resided. The passenger side was as I found it. Unfortunately the drivers side didn't fair so well. Upon closer inspection, the underseal was acting as a structural part of the body work ! After an hour or so, cutting out the rot and prepping the metal, we were ready for the new metal to be welded in. Now I will be the first to admit that i am an absolute beginner at this welding lark. But we all had to start somewhere. And after an hour or so of practicing I was ready for action. I know the welds are rough but once their dressed and cleaned up I'm sure they'll be fine. A good old coat with underseal won't hurt either. Lastly we welded up the heat shield on the exhaust. Tres bon. On another note, I had a bit of a koo. I'd been experimenting with a natty little product called Deox-C by those masters of the dark art at Bilt Hamber. My results at finding a new tank heat shield where proving less than fruitless, so it came down to restoring the one I had. Shotblasting was a no go, so after 24 hours soaking in the Deox-C the results were proving pretty good. Brushed off the old crusty bits and popped her back in for another overnight bath. Today I washed off the final crumbs of red rot from the husk of a shield and then there it was. A PART NUMBER !!! C'est magnifique ! Sadly the shield resembled a tea bag this morning. Guess where I'm off to tomorrow. Der parts counter. So there we are, all ready for some filing , filling and paint. Feel like we're on a roll now.

I've heard of some removing the ABS completely. The car can't fail if it doesn't have it fitted. Early cars didn't have it. On a more basic level, have you checked all the wiring ?

And another returns to the fold ! You could do a lot worse than this Jeremy. Rot free, enthusiast owned, well cared for example. I know if I was in the market for a tastefully modified Corrado, this would well and truly be on my radar.

Got a feeling you were at a modify / OE crossroads with the car Jay. All I can say, is that you saved a fair car and turned into a great car. For that I commend your enthusiasm and passion. Whatever happens next, I wish you all the very best. James

Good price on the cover David and the job on the wheels looks thorough. On a side note, your picture looks like you're on the way to an Altern 8 gig.

Very lucky indeed. Ping me a message when it's off. No rush. Throw some images up when you're underneath as well. Keen to see.

It's easy enough to replace and provides a good opportunity to change the oil. If you want to sell the old one, give me a shout. I'm in the market for a good used one. What's it like under the engine ? Looked at most parts of this car, but could never get underneath to have a look.

Sounds like it may have galled. In that case you may need to carefully cut the old one off and replace it with a new one. I'd suggest getting onto the importer and see what they say.

Love those wheels. Bit too wide for my liking though and I've only ever seen them on one Corrado. BBS' are a wonderful wheel but a bitch to keep clean. I opted for Borbet C's on the 8v. Period wheel and easy to maintain on a daily. I passed up a set of Nothelles which I should really have bought. Decision wise, it's up to you though. Don't rush in, trawl the websites and see what floats your boat. If I remember later on, I'll jump on the mac and photoshop something up.

No worries. Personally the look of your car rocks my world and the RS wheels are the bomb. But there's more and more owners rolling into the factory look. I like both looks so it's all good. All personal taste and only you can make that decision. But do it for yourself. The Campaign is getting pure OE love. Mainly because of what it is. Thing is I have more than a taste for body colour split rims ! Think I'll concentrate on getting it finished first, then look at different rolling stock. Certainly try and get a ride in a standard car though.

Sorry Chris, I wasn't attempting to confuse. Just inform. On a side note, have you driven a Corrado with stock as a rock suspension ? Whilst I and a host of others rate it. Not everyone else does.

Very good point regarding the spring rates. Mine has always appeared lower (If I'm permitted to use that word in conjunction with standard suspension). And obviously the springs will sag the older they get. I can't remember with whom I had the conversation, but the story went something like the later VR6 cars had taller springs ( and a 50mm spoiler) to combat chin rub. Certainly on ETKA or Bentley (can't remember) there's a whole host of colour dot combinations.

Yeah, they went a while ago. Try vw classic parts or vw heritage.

I've just bought Sachs gas struts from AVS for my VR6 restoration Chris. They ran me at about £45 each for the fronts. The springs, along with caps etc were shot blasted and powdercoated. In addition I put them on the daily, along with a host of other new components a few weeks back and am very happy with the quality. The only thing I could suggest is buying a higher spec strut set and having them refurbed to OE colours. Personally I wouldn't bother refurbing an original set as the seals/bushes will more than likely be shot by now. All the best with whatever you decide. Curious though, are you rolling the whole car back to OE ?

I find it's best just to play the straight up enthusiast role face to face. There's an E30 325 and an early 70's Merc pillarless coupe near me that I've been eyeballing in a driveway ebay watched items kind of way. I've got enough on my plate. The Merc does tickle me though. A knockabout Storm would be fun all the same.