James.

Would a mk2 set up fit ? Would a mk3 set up be more suitable ? Only ask as I'm in the market for some shocks and they don't list a Corrado in their listings ? Thanks, James

You can re-tumble the drivers lock so it matches the others. It's a simple enough job to do. There's a few articles on it somewhere on the forum.

Kudos for having the foresight to rescue this lovely unrestored example. Please tell me your going to keep it fairly standard ? And also keep those excellent trade stickers, reg plate tabs ? Surbiton, isn't that where they filmed " the good life " ? Well done all the same ?

Where are you based ?

Couple of years back, we nipped out for a bite to eat to a local restaurant. Was out of the house for about a couple of hours max. Came home to see that the garage door had been ripped from it's fixings, all power tools missing and the top box ( that was bolted to the workbench) had been peeled open like a tin of sardines and relieved of all my hand tools. The worst bit was that they had stolen some 50/60 year old bumper badges (BARC, VSCC, Bugatti owners club, club Lotus) that grandad had left to me. Tools not bothered about, but the badges really upset me (and still does). Was insured, otherwise it would have been three grand up my shirt. Hence the reason why I'm now more suspicious of passers by than before. Hope you get fixed up and without any issues. Never a nice time for this to happen. Especially at Christmas. All the best, James

Thanks for the praise but the pictures do flatter the paint somewhat. I gave him a good wash with an extra cap full of turtle wax. Then after allowing time to dry, applied a good coat of Harley wax. Wonderful stuff and not priced out of reach for the home enthusiast. I'm no detailer by a long chalk, just a regular guy who likes to look after his cars. I'm still very much learning with all this cleaning lark. Had a short drive out to a friends house last night and he attracted quite a bit of attention. Show off ! I'm itching to get the new wheels on though...

Dressed up nice at Christmas

Feeling the Christmas love for Arthur. I thought it only right to iron out some of those small "faffy" jobs. You know, the ones that in your head start out as taking a couple of minutes. But end up taking an hour. First port of call was the rear number plate plinth. The small nodes on the rear had become detached. A small blob of black silicone and it's back stuck again, waterproof styleee. Next was the under dash fuse cover. The small obsolete black squares had never been in place since acquisition. Cue a spare, cut down speed clip and an interior screw. Et voila ! lastly was a real annoyance. I'm not sure if the bean counters at VW had omitted them from the design, as part of the 8 valves price point. Or whether they had been taken out at some point, but the small plastic inserts from where the front seat belts attach to the rails were missing ??? I called down at Corkills VW Wigan and wasn't surprised to learn that they were obsolete. A few days prior I'd been given some old till rolls (don't ask) and I immediately noticed that the black plastic tubes that the rolls were coiled around would be almost perfect for this task. I cut one down to about an inch long, cut a slot the length of the tube, prized it over the rail (it won't fit over each end), wound some double sided around it, inserted it into the seat belt opening and the seat belt no longer "sticks" to the rail when it's unclipped. A triumph ! Arthurs pampering was completed with a deep wash and wax. Happy Christmas Arthur.

What with all the family having presents bought, and smiles with miles of wrapping paper. A certain someone has been left out in the cold (literally) over the festive period. Having yet to strike a deal where I am allowed to replace the front door with a garage door. It remains that I am unfortunately forced to leave the 8 valve outside. So what with it being the time for giving, I thought it fair to spread a little yuletide love to that sometime forgotten arm of the family... Arthur the daily. A couple of months ago, I managed to source locally a leather interior from BigAdam. Since its procurement I've dutifully deep cleaned and conditioned it with the quite wonderful Gliptone. Replacing a couple of tired bolsters along the way, and re attaching any seams that have come away. What with having a four year old boy and the car being used for all duties, leather is a much more user friendly material over the light grey fabric. One wipe and any marks are gone. The leather is far from perfect (like the rest of the car), but commensurate with the vehicles age. And as such I'm not going to get too upset if anything serious happens to it. As with all things Corrado, the amount of jobs that "should" be easy, can be counted on the one hand. I refer to replacing a rear bench seat with a humped one. Fortunately as Adam is stripping his car out, we managed (with the aid of an angle grider) to remove the rear seat bracket. Once the bracket had been transfered across I set about pulling out the rest of the carpet set out. A generous oil spot treatment and wash down with shampoo and conditioner (because he's worth it) and we're on the right side of a spotless interior. A few days later and the carpets are quietly drying out like a recovering alcoholic in the corner of a room and the seats are ready to be installed. Fortunately when I came to re-install, Adam had very kindly given me the rear part of his tunnel trim (to allow for a humped rear seat), luckily in the same colourway. Today I performed a small interior refresh (hoovering, cleaning etc). Here are the results (with the gift of leather added:

Can't help with a diagram, but what I do know is that my dads Z3 has a light fade. Maybe you could look at sharing some of the bits from a donor car. Kudos for bringing the thread back to life. May do this myself, as I've already done the lights on buzzer mod.

I use the 8 valve for all family events. From filling the boot with rubble, to stapping ladders on the roof and weekends away (Did an eight our weekend round trip to Whitby a few weeks ago and it performed flawlessly). We've got a four year old boy and he has loads of space in the back. I enjoy driving the car so much that I want to use it all the time. Yes there's a few small things that I would change (shorter doors as Davidwort mentioned). But on the whole I wouldn't drive anything else for the money. There is no way you would see me into a eurobox human transportation device. I upgraded to TT wipers/arms, uprated headlight loom for obvious reasons. And apart from that I changed the interior to leather (so it can be cleaned easily). All I need is some OE mud flaps and my daily will be perfect.

Merry bumpmas. Mudflaps still needed.

People actually read that part ? I thought it was just there to fill the page up ! Well done that car !

Mums Lupo had a similar issue. Turned out to be a dirty airflow meter.

Sky 1. Jack Whitehalls Christmas cracker. Blue storm parked up on the left hand side of the road. Solitudes and quite tidy. Featured in the last few minutes of the programme. Shows how few Corrados are about when the last two I've spotted were on TV !

Last time someone mentioned it, wishbones (oe) were about £100 + vat each. Plus the bushes on top. Powder coating shouldn't rush you more than £20/30 a pair. They would have to be seriously rotten, to not be able to be saved though. Had mine done recently and I thought they were bad. They came up like new.

Blagging people for favours I'm not too hot at. Paying for stuff I can manage. Let me have your paypal details and I'll send you the pound notes. Hopefully the jailor will appreciate your Christmas good will and reciprocate the favor accordingly. Well, that's the idea anyway.

Well it is the time for giving and good will towards all men. Hopefully that extends to mud flaps, and not just five golden rings.

I have a full, late grey interior (seats and cards) in very good order. It's a pattern that I've not seen before. Maybe due to being one of the last ones made. I can get some images if it interests you ?

Not enough room in the "quick reply" box. I'll say "mudflaps", and leave it there for the moment.

I thought as much. Thanks for letting me know you have a set you don't want to sell either. Cheeky monkey.

Weekend bump

One of the year nine kids at school asked if the Corrado was new, because he hadn't seen one before. I said that it wasn't, and asked "why do you like it" ? He replied, "yeah, it's cool and looks like something off Top Gear". Strange, but he couldn't comprehend the fact that the car was older than him.

Top banter

I agree, 16 valves have a bit more bant than 8 valves. There's nothing better than being on a quiet country road though, holding it at about 3.5k revs and blipping the throttle every so often. Knowing there's loads more left in reserve.