pete_griff

dubpower - you can get to their site through storm developments' site :)

agreee with all the above - phenominal cars! here's a link to a pistonheads article on it - damn i want to drive on of these :) http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default ... ryId=18816

tell me about it - thank goodness it doesn't need to be done often! got my gearbox back today - complete with quaife fitted :norty: all new bearings etc - very happy. hopefully get it attached to the engine tomorrow. pete from dubpower is coming down on sunday to have a look at making this manifold up for me, not going to attempt to refurb the cross member/rad support until he has done that - don't want any issues with not being able to get it back on as i couldn't get the new bushes to fit! once it's all back in though, just got to plumb it up, fit my new kw's when they arrive, then i'm good to go! - off down to bristol to see the vag-doctor and drive it back with a very large grin on my face! :grin:

hmm didn't know that, cheers. i'll have to ask the bloke who's doing the wiring for me - not sure in all honesty, just have to wait and see what happens i guess... i have an oil pressure gauge and voltmeter in the bottom of the centre console, i might sort an oil temp gauge if the one on the mfa doesn't work - will have to wait and see! apologies, i didn't get round there today after all so couldn't take any pics - went to pick up my gearbox after meeting a guy to buy an oil cooler and i've only just got back now... i should definitely be going round there tomorrow, so i'll get some pics for you then :D

i'm popping out to the car in a little bit, so i will try and remember to get a photo of the sump then... as for oil temp - my MFA will be wired up on the dash, the only thing that won't work is the mpg; so i'll get my oil temp off that. i always drive with the oil temp up on the display anyway. some more bits arrived today as well :D ...

and some more...

yeah - defo doing that cheers buddy Buts that's the beauty of the 12v! I find it a real shame everyone is turning their back on it, it is one of motorings greats! :( After saying all that your car is looking very nice :D Keep up the good work, you are going to be loving it when its finished! IMO you're right - beauty in the eye of the beholder and all... This more primitive VR6 is the most original legacy of VR's of today, even right up to the very sophisticated Veyron. Which is why I'll never swap mine. Albeit, nice surgery you're doing Pete. :salute: cheers for the encouraging words gents! i realise the project isn't to everyone's taste - i can totally appreciate where the purists are coming from, you're definitely right about the character of the 12v - you won't get it anywhere else! got a bit more done today - swapped the heater matrix/bowden cables/heater controls over - what a tw*t of a job, i hate doing fiddly things with interior trim and suchlike - stabbed myself in the hand with my screwdriver to boot, which pleased me no end! i struggle with the patience for things like that - i have to walk away from the car every so often or i end up just ripping bits out and having to plastic weld them afterwards! the bloke down in bristol (the vag-doctor) who is doing the wiring for me to run the r32 loom/ecu is going to have some real fun with the alarm wiring in my car - it's bloody horrific! it looks like there was another alarm in there at some point which was replaced by the one i have now and whoever fitted my current one didn't bother to remove any of the old wiring - there are redundant plugs/wiring everywhere - not looking forward to showing him that :? anyway, below are a couple of pics of today and a couple from a previous day somewhere near the start of the week. the new engine is looking clean as a whistle - working on it is so easy - everything is nice and new and comes apart as it should - lovely :cheers: there are a couple of close-ups of the ports to show just how nice the r32 head really is, especially with my mileage! also, as mentioned by mr cheesewire earlier, the injectors are also very micely mounted, varying in angle/height for the relevant port - a lovely piece of engineering :D hopefully going to pick my gearbox up from being rebuilt/having the quaife fitted tomorrow. they have turned it around in double quick time for me, so i'm really pleased with that. hopefully got pete from dubpower arriving soon to fabricate my manifold for me as well :D had a mock up of my milltek cats too - there is just enough room for them in the centre tunnel! anyway - pics:

no worries - only thing with that is that vagworx are the only uk importer for black forest industires as far as i know and they took ages to sort me out with a set - in the end i had to get them to send me the last set they had which were already fitted to a car, but unused... also vagworx are impossible to get hold of on the phone which i found very annoying - they did reply to my emails, but the process was certainly not a quick one! the new mounts seem really quite a fair bit harder than the old ones. obviously the old ones would be more squashy now anyway due to a lifetime's use, but the difference seemed pretty big. i'm really hoping i don't have any dashboard shaking issues here... the 24v engine is much smoother than the 12v, so fingers crossed all will be good. the new mounts will definitely be much more supportive than the old ones though - they really were pathetic when removed!

just realised i've got a load more pics from the previous day or two, so i'll get those up tomorrow now. the r32 engine is looking spanking :)

looking good buddy :) nice tyres - i found the t1-r's grip nicely but wear out like buggery if you drive it hard - hope they last longer for you...

thanks very much for the positive comments - the subtle approach is exactly what i am going for :) i got some more done today, not as much as i would have liked, but i was on the road for most of the morning as i took my gearbox up to a place in birmigham to get rebuilt - should hopefully have it back in the next couple of days, then the engine can go back in the car :) swapped the engine mounts over today - the standard ones you can see in the pics really were past their best, the oil filled gearbox mount was very very wobbly! have replaced the gearbox mount with a rubber one off a g60 and i got the poly mounts off vagworx. they took ages to deliver them and i had to chase them, but they seem to be very good quality, with nice fittings etc. (by a company called black forest industries, whom vagworx act as an importer for). i was pretty disappointed with the aftermarket front mount, unsure if it's a VT one or who it's made by, but it hasn't stood up to the test of time very well as it wasn't fitted horrendously long ago. also the fit is pretty bad - you can wobble the whole housing of it around like buggery when it hasn't got the weight of the engine on it - not good. i'm also going to have to wait for someone else to be there to take it off, as it needs holding in place to be able to undo the retaining bolt at the bottom. i made use of the simple flywheel locking tool i fabricated ages ago when i rebuilt the TU engine in my citroen ax! handy little thing. i'm very lucky with the location as the inside of the house is being totally gutted before anyone moves in. this means that for the time being i can store all car parts (even minging ones!) inside the house out of harms way - happy days! offered up my milltek sports cats to the centre tunnel under the car today - there is enough room, but it's pretty close! there's about 5-10mm either side of the cats once they are in place, so Pete from dubpower will have to be cock-on with his welding; from seeing his previous work though, i have little doubt that he will be :) will be getting the front crossmember off tomorrow and hopefully giving it the treatment with the grinder/belt sander to get rid of all the corrosion, then some hammerite to cover it up after. i'm still waiting for various parts to come through the door to allow me the sort other stuff, but i hope to maybe be somewhere near having it all finished towards the end of next month now. it's totally achievable to get it done sooner, but it all depends on when people are free and how much time it takes them to do stuff. short of sorting the heater matrix, suspension and a few other niggles; once the engine is back in and all plumbed up, all my work is done - just need to wait for other people to sort the manifold/wiring etc etc - fingers crossed - want it back asap :D

bmc cda is the way forward :D

24v is the way to go my friend - relatively easily available, cheap and much more useable power :)

got the engine out today, started swapping bits over from the one lump to the other. going to get the gearbox rebuilt asap - just need to find a place i'm happy with... can crack on with the rest of the car (heater matrix etc) while i am waiting for the gearbox to come back - hoping to be somewhere near to finishing come the end of the month as long as all goes to plan.... forgot my bloody camera today which i was annoyed about, though i did get some pics yesterday. i'll try and get some pics posted tomorrow for those who are interested...

hey there buddy, thanks very much :) thanks very much about the seats - yo are totally right about keeping them clean though - mintues after i bought them i was also buying a set of seat covers to make sure i don't cover them in crap when doing things like swapping engines over! unsure what subframes they have got on them, i think they are the existing ford ones that have been modified to fit a corrado (but you would have to ask dazfxvw to be sure). the seat height adjuter is located on the inside of the seat and is currently rubbing on the centre tunnel trim; i'm going to have to bend it a little more flush with the seat when i take the seats out shortly. i think i actually prefer it there though, as it's not difficlt to reach and the first thing everyone did with the old seats when trying to move forward/back was to grab the big handle and bouce their head off the roof! i should hopefully be ready to start swaping the brakes over in the next few days not if all goes to plan - not in any massive hurry as i can't drive the car but it would be one more job out of the way once it's done. plus i want to get the brembos re-coated in black so they don't stand out. hope you manage to get your motor all sorted soon my friend - you are soooooooooooo close, remember just how worth it it will all have been once it's finished :D

cheers buddy :) i'm bloody knackered now - been working for my mum, my dad and then my mate all day - just got in now, having tea and typing at the same time! i'm really looking forward to getting started on it now though - hoping to get the engine all out tomorrow, gearbox split from the lump and start transferring bits over to the r32 lump ready for it to go in. i'm sending the gearbox away to get it rebuilt and get the quaife fitted, so as soon as that gets back i can start putting things back in :)

haha - yes but not for long - and these are very clean exhaust parts! tell me about it - mine has done 12k from new, much newer more refined engine as well - happy days! here are a couple of pics from today - was helping my dad around his house today. he bought it to rent, so while the place is being sorted out so it is suitable to live in, i'm allowed to sort out my motor in the drive - happy days! had to help my dad all day in the garden today, so will be cracking on with the car tomorrow... there are a couple of pics of the car and the new engine sitting next to it underneath a waterproof cover and a couple of pics of my nice new interior :D the car is absolutely minging both inside and out - i shan't be cleaning it until everything is finished though - there is no point as the car got covered in a nice cloud of dust and ash today from the fire nearby! it will probabbly continue to get covered while it's there too... gave it a very quick wash off just with water at the end of the day and i'll just put a cover over it from now on. can't wait until it's all finished, not only so i can drive it around finally, but the paintwork is looking a bit sorry for itself now after being neglected for nearly year on and off now :?

well i'm now officially back! - and bloody pleased about that too :) i've now got 6 weeks off work, so it's full steam ahead on the corrado, hopefully as of the day after tomorrow :D i have had a right saga dealing with the company who delivered my engine though. it was rattling round in the back of one of their lorries for approx 11 days! the delivery driver tried to find the place 3 times and failed each time - it didn't occur to him to use his phone and call the number that he had been provided with though! - i really do wonder about some people... i moved my corrado and my engine to the place where it's all going to happen today - i was really not happy to make a discovery that my inlet manifold got broken as well by the couriers today :bad-words: they also managed to break the aircon pump as well, which i have already been chasing up for some time now! hopefully the manifold will be fine - it looks as though it may not even leak as it is, but i'm going to plastic weld it up and see how i get on... i have let the courier know that i'm claiming for that as well as the aircon pump now, which they were delighted to hear about as i'm sure you can imagine! there are a couple of pics below of moving the engine myself, of the cracked inlet and of the room absolutely full of bits i have now acculmilated to go onto the car :D

hey there my friend absolutely loving the new brakes - what have you got planned with those calipers off mine then? by the by, i will be on my 6 weeks off as of wednesday, so i'll give you a ring in the next few days to sort out swapping them over.... great to hear it's all sorted now though buddy - can't wait to see it :grin: to echo what everyone else has said too - please get some pics up; the suspense is killing us :D

great to hear it's finally sorted buddy - hope you can get some fun out of it now! :)

ditto what kip said - also (it's personal choice) but i don't want to advertise the fact that my car has been modified - quite the opposite - i want it to appear as standard as possible to anyone who takes a glance. as for the r32 engines - they seem to be retaining their prices quite well (i've been after one for a while), so i would be surprised to see a drop in prices unless you go for a high miler...

i normally don't like tints at all, but those look really nice- very subtle. there's something about black cars that makes them take to tints very well. i think they look good - in all fairness i would have had difficulty noticing they weren't standard unless you had said. i would say keep 'em unless they are affecting the quality of your headlights.... sorry about your bad luck with the FPR lovely VR again - good work :)

fair enough matey - it's surprising how much you save when not using the car every day - i also like pushbikes, bit i'm not sure if i envy you riding a hilly 6 miles each way in the uk winter! i haven't actually looked, but i may well have a good reel of the cupro-nickel pipe that i used for my own lines.... i've defo got a fair few end fittings etc. all being well i will have about 6 weeks off at the end of this week, so if i'm free, i'm more than happy to lend you a hand as well - just make sure when getting your old lines off that you retain their shape so you can copy them with the new ones. as usual, hope it all works out :)

when was the maf renewed last - maybe another possibility? how about your injectors?

hey there my friend cheers for the warm welcome - unfortuntely i'm not quite back yet - all being well i should be leaving here tomorrow night and arriving back in the uk tues afternoon/evening :grin: :grin: :grin: cheers for letting me know as well, and thanks to r4-ge too; i just hope my crossmember is in good nick... best of luck getting it all sorted for your MOT. you haven't (or at least i don't remember it anyway...) mentioned new brake lines (talking about the solid ones now). are you bothering with those - it would be a good time to do it. they aren't difficult to make up if you have a decent end flaring tool, just time consuming. if you need to borrow one i have a nice automech one that you stick in a vice and gives good results every time - not horrifically far away from you at hereford... good luck anyway :)