Purple Tom

On a Corrado you should have: Clock Time since ignition on Distance Average Speed Oil Temperature Outside Temperature All Corrado's should have the same features, G60's/16V/8V/VR6 all have the same functionality. I've got a set of clocks you can have if you like. Came out of my Corrado when I did the TDi conversion and you can have them for £15 posted if you want them - they're only gathering dust in my garage!

I've done a few jobs on some cars, sold a few bits and earned a few extra pennies in the last week or so, so I decided to invest in something that I've never had on a car before - cruise control :) The TDi engine is DBW (drive-by-wire) with an electronically controlled injector pump and a variable potentiometer in the throttle pedal which basically means cruise control is a pretty straightforward fit. The plug is ready and waiting in the engine loom, so all that's required is the correct stalk and a wiring loom. A quick look on eBay revealed VW Teeside were selling some retrofit cruise control kits, so I bought one on Sunday. Pretty good service too, it was delivered to work this morning so I decided to fit it tonight: Here's the original Corrado L/H stalk next to the retrofit C/C stalk. It's a genuine VW part and as you can see is totally identical to the non C/C stalk except for the obvious extra switch: It's dead easy to retrofit, just a case of removing the lower dash trim, steering wheel and column trim, routing a bit of wiring and job's a good'un, all fitted: A quick drive up to my mates house later, we activated C/C on VCDS which is a two minute job, tested the clutch and brake switches, both of which proved to be working properly, and I had fully working cruise! I'm hoping it will improve the economy even more on longer motorway journeys, I currently get about 63-65 mpg when cruising at 70-75 mph, but hopefully this will tweak a little bit more economy. Plus, it's nice to have another function to play with :-) All in all about an hours work!

PM'd

The Corrado is fairly dated compared to modern cars when it comes to displaying the temperature reading on the gauge. The gauge is linked directly to the coolant temperature sensor and as such will give a pretty accurate reading of the engine coolant temperature. It's perfectly normal for the temperature to rise slightly when you slow down and enter traffic - the engine is still running and there is little or no airflow through the radiator. Most fan switches come on (first stage) at about 94-95 degrees, but if you look at their position on the radiator compared to the position of the coolant temperature sensor then you'll see why the gauge often reads higher. The fan switch is located at probably the coolest part of the cooling system when you factor in convection due to hot water. More modern cars take their coolant temperature gauge readings from the ECU, which specifies 'normal operating parameters' for the engine coolant. The needle will sit bang on in the middle (often 90 degrees), providing the coolant temperature is within those specified normal operating parameters. So even on a modern car the temperature will fluctuate when stuck in traffic, it's just that the gauge won't show it. That's why its common for VAG 1.8 20V engines with knackered thermostats to read 65deg on the gauge until they sit in traffic for a while and suddenly the gauge jumps up to 90deg - the coolant just gets warm enough to enter NOP and the gauge indicates normal. As soon as the car starts to move again the gauge will drop - 99 times out of 100 changing the thermostat will cure that fault. Don't forget as well good old Boyles law - gas and liquid under pressure. The coolant system is pressurised for a reason - the fact that water (or any liquid) has a higher boiling point when it's under pressure. So providing your cooling system is in good condition with no leaks, and everything is working as it should (stat, pump, rad and sensors), then there shouldn't be a problem. I hope what I've put has made sense - I learned a lot about cooling systems when owning Mini's - those little buggers love to overheat! I built a silly-race-spec (as in lumpy cam, big head, almost totally undrivable and completely inefficient at low revs) 1293cc A-series engine and had to keep it cool in traffic as I needed to drive it to the Nurburgring! HTH!

Hi Ian, I've got one in good working order - £12 posted ok? Tom

Yeah, I'll pick the best ones with decent pins and boots so all you have to do is swap the carriers and bolt the calipers up. Paypal is good for me, I'll PM you the payment details.

Gaz - they're yours if you want them, not too heavy so how does £25 posted sound? I've got another item to pack tonight and post tomorrow so will do the same for the carriers. I have several pairs so I'll pick the best ones for you, I've been reading about your slider pin woes! Pm me for payment details.

Yeah if you want to do the full 5 stud conversion you'll need:Wishbones Steering armsHubsAnti roll bar and linkagesBalljoints DiscsCarriersCalipersBrake hosesOuter CV jointsRear discsI think that's it. It's a pretty easy conversion, just time consuming. The above is all assuming your GTi is fitted with the later 288mm discs with the relevant carriers and calipers. HTH ---------- Post added at 06:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:42 PM ---------- Grrr stupid phone isn't formatting it properly....hopefully you can translate!

I think you might want an upgraded headlamp loom if you haven't already got one. I'm sure you know Corrado headlights are notoriously poor even when everything is top notch so I imagine painting things can only reduce light output (even if its only the non-reflective areas). Put up a few pics once it's done anyway, would be interesting to see exactly what it looks like.

They're a 7 x 16 ET31 wheel. I run 215/40R16 on a 7.5 x 16 ET35 wheel with no rubbing issues at all, the car is down 25mm. 215/40R16 is what I would recommend to go on those wheels, providing you're not mega low, in which case you could go with 205/45R16. HTH

Excellent news, fantastic service too :) As soon as they become available I shall be purchasing one!

Did a couple more modifications yesterday. Since doing the conversion I've not been happy with the scuttle area; the ECU gets dripped on if the bonnet is opened when its wet, and the modification I had to do to the inner bulkhead is visible if you look closely. It's also a prime area for leaves to collect and as I live near lots of trees it inevitably means it fills with annoying little leaves/pine needles quite quickly! I've been looking around for a solution for quite a while and I found a couple, notably the mk2 scuttle cover, however I wasn't keen on it because it didn't cover the full length. Then I was at a local meet and spotted on another Corrado a full length scuttle cover which looked quite nice. Turns out it was made by a company called SWG - I really liked it! A couple of phone calls later and I'd ordered one, they're made to order so it would take a few days. They come in black, in normal gloss gelcoat so when it arrived I decided to paint it satin black for a slightly OEM look. It arrived on Friday, I painted it on Saturday and got it fitted, have a look: I'm pretty pleased with it, I think it finishes off that area quite nicely and just hides all the gubbins underneath - exactly what I wanted. I also found time to do one other little useful mod - Passat B4 centre sunvisor :)

PM'd - ta

Just popped and got a picture of it in case you want it:

I've got one, removed from a 1995 VR with 117k on the clock. Excellent condition, £25 posted if you want it? Cheers Tom

Might be worth looking at Audi A3 heaterboxes too. Same platform as the Mk4 Golf and Leon but the Audi A3 came first so might be more compatible...just an idea?

Yep. Fairly common for the bulbs to blow but they're easily replaceable. However even with the bulb working the illumination isn't that great :lol:

Its very straightforward, the ABS loom is almost plug and play into the standard CE2 fusebox, but I found on my loom (which was from a Passat B4), power was drawn from a slightly different point on the fusebox. I used a wiring diagram to figure out which one it was and then simply spliced into that wire once I established it was safe. No problems and worked first time. Cheers Tom

You could always upgrade to the later type Teves 20 ABS as fitted to the last of the Mk3 Golf GTi's/VR6 and Passat B4's. Fairly easy upgrade if you have the abs removed already, a tiny bit of wiring to do and it all works easily. I've done it to my TDi and its great. Also means you can remove the crappy rear brake compensator valve from the rear beam too. Just a thought...

I did a nice little mod to the car on Saturday - fitted a shortshift. Daves16V very kindly modified the gear selector from the VR6 that I broke, basically moving the pivot point upwards by 15mm, reducing the throw of the stick. It's made a really noticeable difference to the experience of changing gear as you don't have to move the gearstick quite so far - lazy I know :lol: Here's a couple of pictures of the modified selector - modified on the right, standard on the left. It took about an hour to fit and I'm very pleased with it :)

Kip - yep, advanced tickets booked so if there's room that'd be brilliant :)

Hi Kip, Sorry to jump onto this so late but I'll definitely be coming to this show...if for any reason there are any more dropouts then I'd love to be able to put the TDi on the stand, I'll even wash it special-like :) No worries if not though! Cheers Tom

Yes they're all pretty much the same, there might be a slight variation in terms of which company made them but they will all interchange.

:lol: Read the post above dude, although I have to admit to thinking the same thing for a couple of minutes!!

Thanks for the comments guys, I have to admit it is nice to be not worry too much about fuel costs anymore. Last weekend was the Corrado Club National Day so although I knew I was only going for a couple of hours I decided I'd spend literally all day (12 hours!) on Saturday doing a full clean, deeper than its ever had before! The arches have always done my head in, I hate having a shiny car on the outside with all dirt/crap on the underside. The arches have been totally ditched since last winter, when I used the car as my daily driver and it ended up in conditions like this... So, I decided it deserved a proper wash. I took it to work where luckily I have access to some really good cleaning facilities, and got cracking. I also wanted to try out some new cleaning products that I'd bought, including some GTechniq trim treatment and some wheel wax which I should have used on the refurbed RC's when I first fitted them! Anyway, here's a few piccies of the progress: There are some pictures of what the underside of the arches looked like somewhere a bit further back in this thread, but after a few hours of tar remover, degreaser, car shampoo and lots of elbow grease I was able to get them looking like this: Once I'd done all of that I gave the bodywork a good clay treatment, a couple more washes, dried it and then put the wheels back on, reversed it into the garage, jacked it back up, took the wheels back off and got on with the polishing/waxing/sealing/trim stuff etc, I think it looks ok: By the time I'd finished it was dark so I wasn't able to get any pictures of it finished but you all know what it looks like :lol: I'm taking it to the Nurburgring at the start of September so the cruise control mod is definitely next. I also need to MOT it but hopefully that won't be too much of a problem :)