tandino

Yes they do fit with a bit of fettling just make sure the mechanism is working correctly!, Mk3 roofs still fail in exactly the same way that Corrado's do!, you will have to use the Mk3's trim panel.

this is the right idea, did exactly this to my VR highline years ago, only because i couldnt be arsed to rip the thing off mind..

It shouldnt matter if its used all year round if you get the thermostatic sandwich plate... Behind the grille is where im going to mount mine when i get round to fitting one, you defo need one if you plan to track a VR6 as i found out when i took my last Vr round the ring, oil temps can reach 160'C if you drive it hard!...

Well my experience is different.... I stopped using garages about 15 years ago when i decided that i do a better more thorough job working on my car myself, i also know that parts ive paid for have actually been replaced rather than just charged for. A garage will never lavish the amount of time that i do when tackling a job simply because they cannot charge a customer for the extra time taken when working to 'book' times. I know my cars inside out because i do all the work on them, this is the point i was trying to get across to Skinny, when you work on your own car all of the time you know what is worn and what is going to wear out more so than if you take it to the garage. I may not be a 'properly trained' tech but ive been working on my own cars for 18 years and there is not much i havent done,engine rebuilds, head rebuilds, engine conversions, fault finding, electrics,air con retrofits, ive just swapped an engine out this week on my own VR for instance.. Im pretty sure there are quite a few users of this forum that are well past the technical ability of a trained mechanic but are in other careers, youve only got to look at some of the projects built to see that. Im not implying that you are not a good mechanic but there are people out there in different careers that have at least the ability of the average garage mechanic.

Just fillled up the VR with Tesco 99 Ron and got £71 quid in!, thing was between 1/4 and reserve, f**king ridiculous money. Trouble is unlike the French who would blockade the ports and more we being British with the stiff upper lip just carry on and pay it. I hate to think how hauliers are coping at the moment...

Yes, I sold it to my mate as he loved it and told me that 'if i ever sold it'... He just wanted to own a C900 but it had to be a fast one (he had a tuned 9000 Aero) , he had it for a year and i sold it for him to its current owner who lives on the outskirts of SE London, i did some work on it a little while back for him. He loves it and pampers it, also owns a TVR Griff 500.

9000 Carlsson Alloys :wink: I loved that car, had it for 4 1/2 years which for me is a bloody long time, typically keep cars for about 6 months!

Thats 1/2 a second a mile or two seconds a lap of most UK circuits which is night and day in terms of track times. Also you can see what he potential of the chassis is with the CSL time.. I agree, not much in it in reality but the E46 is the quicker car, weight will always be the deciding factor between those two.

I would have a guess that after spending a grand and contemplating getting shot the OP doesnt want to spend 2 grand getting the car fixed. Personally id just find a 2.8 bottom end and fit that, they are in my experience far less prone to problems than the 2.9 and are cheap and plentiful and dont produce hardly any less grunt, it was the other bits fitted to the ABV that gave the power difference in my opinion..

There is no way a well driven E46 M3 would not keep pace at the 'ring with a E39 M5, Sorry but you cannot get around the huge weight difference, im not doubting the M5 as ive owned one myself but the E46 will run rings round the E39 on anything other than a straight line, anyone who says different is talking shite!

I would suggest that if the head gasket went and contaminated the oil system with water and therefore emulsified the oil this could be the reason why the bottom end is now fooked. How long did you drive it before the diagnosis that the head gasket was gone?, what im trying to work out is if you drove it with 'milky' oil.. shame your so far away otherwise i would have fitted a bottom end if you could supply one..

I know what you mean about the C900, i just don't know if its a practical daily proposition nowadays.. And any chance for a photo of my old one.. KOO (reg no.) was very well known back in the day...

Have a look at this:- http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=55378 I know the guy selling (Paul Kang), he is a perfectionist..

Personally chap for a daily id go for a Manual 9000 Aero all day long, For 2.5k youd be looking at 350bhp and the ability to tune it yourself through T5suite software which you can download and tweak your own map, the trionic engine management is one of the most advanced in its day and still is now. I bought a car for my mate to take out to the Ring 4 up last summer, cost me 450 quid, i sold it to him for a grand and for 1300 quid we had a mint car that was poly bushed all round, lowered, new ebc yellows all round and track ready with 280bhp T5 suite map for 1300 quid. He sold it when he got back for 1700 quid, effectively it was a 165mph waft mobile that would do 35mpg 4 up at 95mph cruise in luxury. Silly value for money and silly quick...

Old Vr6 Engine & box out today.. New engine & box in tomorrow....

As a daily, Hmmmm.. They are reliable providing you dont ramp it up too much and do lots of preventative maintenance, bit like the Corrado. Thing is good ones now are changing hands for 3k and i dont know your budget but expect them to be fairly tired if your looking at getting one sub 1000 quid. Mine had done 190000 miles when i sold it (for 3500) about 5 or so years ago but effectively it was about the tightest and newest to drive that you were likely to find as i had replaced everything that was wear an tear. I also had a 1 previous owner full saab historied car with just 35000 miles on the clock to compare it with. Great cars, just make sure you get a good one, and check for rot down where the front lower wishbones meet the chassis box section, they rot here and its an MOT fail...

Ive had a few of these, incuding what was probably the quickest in the UK a few years ago. TD04 turbo, 2.3 head, US 2.1 intake, 8 injectors with ERL inj driver, Aquamist, FMIC, 3" downpipe etc etc... They are great cars but the gearbox blights an otherwise bulletproof package powerwise. 220bhp is a couple of hundred quid, you wont get 240 for that sort of money, over 220 things get expensive. As i said to keep it reliable 220 or so is the practical limit, the boxes were designed for about 60bhp on the Triumph Toledo so when you start cramming over 200lb/ft throught it they dont last long, Motor magazine even broke a box on road test car back in 1985 when doing the acceleration figures. I went through gearboxes at the rate of about 1 every six months and that was driving with a fair degree of mechanical sympathy, the torque just shreds the gear clusters as the box flexes, or at least it did with over 300ft/lb that i had... Still miss it though......

Preventative maintenance is the key, Skinny, from what ive read you stick the C into the garage most of the time for servicing etc, if you did the work yourself you would see things that might give you an idea they need replacing before it actually happened. I could never afford to run a car if i paid garage rates and i know that when i do a job i will do a better job than a garage because its my car, im also on the lookout for stuff that is on the way out and change it before it gets to the stage where its going to fail, im not so sure a garage would pick up on this sort of stuff unless prompted.

Give me a nice VR6 Corrado with Air Con over a storm any day. As for only using air con a few times a year, i used mine all the time especially when it rained, clears the condensation in no time, you dont just use it when its hot. Storms are nice in an exclusive kind of way but if there were two VR6's, one was storm and one had air con id take the Air Con'd car everytime. Horses for courses..

Big thanks to Cazza VR (Andy) for the bits, very quick delivery and as described! Cheers Matey Pete.

Defo a Mk1. But as you say not many decent Eunos knocking about. Was thinking of getting a 97 UK car and maybe adding a dif at a later date. Not bothered about air con as roof will be down! And roads around me are pot holed to buggery so dont think i will mind std suspension either. Cheers for heads up on rotting areas..... you might say that about the air con thing but having owned a few convertibles i would say that a vert needs it more than any other car, Sometimes its too bloody hot to have the roof down or if your on the motorway with the hood up the heat through the roof can be unbearable, you just havent got the protection of a steel roof skin and roof lining. Personally i wouldnt buy one without air con but thats just me... Also UK cars are worse imho for corrosion.

You should be able to pick up a 6 pot E36 with a ticket for 500 quid....

Nothing wrong with them image wise, anyone who says 'hairdressers car' is a pillock and has never driven a good one... I was looking for one but drive a nice looking shed, i needed a car fairly quickly as i had sold my car so found myself back in a corrado, not for want of trying to find a MX5 but time wasnt on my side. Got to be a Mk1 Eunos though imho, try to get one thats not been in the UK for too long as the salt on the roads makes them rot badly. Also the Eunos came with better spec, air con trick suspension on the V spec and LSD as standard. Id have one but its finding the good ones, check for rot on the rear sills and chassis rails...

To be fair mate after the mess theyve made i think youd be better off with them writing it off. Time you factor in what the repairs are going to cost and the faffing around with the wiring and column and youve still got the damage on the passenger side door and the roof... When you can go and buy good VR Corrado for 2.5k nowadays youve got to think is it worth it to settle for a car that has that amount of work needing doing. All depends on what the insurance companies are willing to pay you though, id be collecting evidence of what good VR's are selling for to submit as evidence in the event of them paying out...

Get those bloody awful lights off :lol: , They look gash!. ZW1's will be nice if you get em!. Looking forward to what you do to this but try the old headlights, is the old uprated headlight loom still there?, she was the only Corrado ive owned that i never felt the need to do anything else to the headlights, my present VR is shocking by comparison that ive bought H4 Bi Zenons for it!