Purple Tom

Two spots yesterday, as per usual I wasn't in my Corrado :lol: Anyway... 1 - 'G' plate silver 16V heading southbound on the M11 near Stansted Airport, about 11am 2 - 'L*** NNH* - dark coloured VR6 heading south on the M1 near J20 at about 1pm First time I've seen any on the road for ages!

If you've got a Halfords trade card and a local TPS then you can get them for a shade over £90... I went to TPS and used my Club GTi discount, which got me the TT arms for roughly £75, then at Halfords my trade card got the Bosch 928S set down from £27.99 to £15.50. Bosch wipers are the item with the largest mark-up on cost vs. retail for Halfords, so your trade card always yields good results :)

I'd recommend taking photocopies of your driving license, insurance details and V5. I've always done this as I've heard that the gendarme have the habit of confiscating paperwork - I imagine the task of trying to get everything back if it's taken away would be huge... Also, don't use any laser-sensing speed camera devices (such as a Road Angel). The gendarme take a very strong stance against these and I've seen them force foreign drivers to put them under their front wheel and drive over it to ensure its knackered - so as soon as you get off the ferry take it off the dash! Sat-navs are fine. I think you've covered everything else pretty much! Enjoy the trip :) Tom

I took my VR6 in for its MOT in the summer, dropped it off with a young lad in the morning and went to fetch it later on. Upon going into the reception area a middle-aged mechanic walked in and asked if he could help. Conversation went like this: Me - "just come to pick the Corrado up mate" Him - "we haven't got any Corrados, do you mean the blue Scirocco?" Me - "no, it's a Corrado" Him - "we DEFINITELY haven't got a Corrado, have you got the right garage?" Me - "Yes, it's definitely a Corrado" Him - "no mate, it's a Scirocco, they'd stopped making the Corrado by the time they got to L-reg" Me - (laughing) "honestly, I promise you it's a Corrado, I drive it every day" Him - "whatever, I'll go and get the Scirocco for you" (wanders off) I wait about 5 minutes, my Corrado comes round the corner, strangely with another mechanic driving...the other guy had disappeared :lol:

Has it had an aftermarket stereo fitted? There's a blue/white wire (blue with a white trace) which supplies the original VW stereo with its 'Gala' signal (automatically adjusts the volume as the speed alters). Sometimes stereo installers don't know what this wire does so they cut it/alter it, and I know that cutting that wire affects the speedo, spoiler and MFA...would be worth having a look at that, along with a wiring diagram!

When the car rolls to a stop can you feel a slight 'pull' as it stops, like the brakes are binding, or does the car roll completely smoothly to a natural halt? If it pulls up then the brake is definitely the problem, if not then it's something else. Is the brake hose routed correctly, i.e not twisted? And is the carrier torqued up to the correct figure? Tom

I'm not sure if they are..yet. I think they're very much a niche car, much coveted by true enthusiasts, but largely ignored or called a Scirocco by the more mainstream car fan. I think the prices of E30 M3's are so high because they're pretty rare but also because of the success of the later M3's - a little like the proper Mk1 Escort. If the current M3 or Focus RS (for example) were a load of cr@p then would there be so much of a following of the earlier stuff I wonder... The Corrado was short-lived and there has never been a successor, at least not by name. The closest successor really has been the TT but it bares no resemblance other than being made by the same parent company (and sharing wishbone bushes :lol:). I'm rambling a bit now, but I think the answer is 'no, not yet'. Tom

Buried - 8/10 given it's limited setting!

Google :) 01455 285888

Here's my favourite pic of my car...taken in Germany just next to the Adenau Forest corner of the Nurburgring :)

No worries mate - forgot to say that the plastic tabs are part of the splitter, you'll see what I mean once you've got it off :)

There are little plastic tabs that sort of clip underneath the bottom of the bumper. I've found the best way to do it is to remove the outer edges first (they just pull out easily), then gently bit firmly persuade the splitter out, working inwards.

I'm gutted to hear about this Paul. It's a lovely car but I'm pleased to hear that you've got an agreed valuation on the car - that'll help a lot. Firstly, I presume you've got all the woman's details but were there any witnesses? It should be cut and dried that it's her fault and hopefully she admitted liability at the scene. In terms of insurance, as you've got an agreed valuation then you can contact them and an assessor will come out, view the car and essentially give their opinion as to whether its repairable. If it is (which I think is a definite possibility based on what others have said) then it's likely to become a Category 'C' damaged car, but that doesn't matter, it will however require a VIC before going back on the road. The next thing to do is to contact your insurance and let them know what's happened. Give them her details and her insurance company and let them do the rest. However be strong with them, do not let them take the car, don't send any of the vehicles paperwork to them and most importantly keep smiling. The enthusiast card is a good one to play and will hopefully ensure it'll be repaired rather than scrapped. Good luck, and if that neck keeps giving you jip then get to the doctors. It looks like a fairly severe impact so some whiplash is likely. I don't like the whole 'claim culture' but if you're injured then some medical evidence will help if you decide to pursue a compensation claim at a later date (sad but true). Chin up mate :) Tom

Hey, I often work in Buxton, Derbyshire and I've spied this car in a garage several times over the last year or so. I don't often get chance to stop but on a rainy day last week it was parked outside and I had a couple of minutes so I jumped out and had a closer look: It has a full spaceframe with a Vauxhall C20XE engine, running twin Weber 45's (I think), RWD with a live rear axle. Looks like it's used fairly regularly but was obviously in the middle of some work when I took these pictures. I imagine it'd be good fun to drive, although nothing like an actual Corrado! Still nice to see someone going crazy with a Corrado shell :) Tom

Scrap that, it appears Vagcat is now working again :) The bolts themselves are the same so all is good!

That's great, thank you :) Out of interest does anyone have ETKA who can check and see if the rear beam securing bolts (and nuts) are the same on the VR as they are on the 8V/16V? Thanks! Tom

An absolutely fantastic build, it's good to see developments being done over time too. No doubt an awful lot of the things you've learned have helped other people with their builds too. Hats off to you :clap: I like how everything is over-engineered and 100% up to the job. I've seen loads of engine conversions or turbo builds where things are all a bit heath robinson and as a result the cars are constantly breaking down, causing the owners considerable stress! Nothing beats doing it properly the first time round :)

Hi everyone, I've been searching high and low for a definitive answer to this question and haven't really got anywhere - what is the difference between VR6 (5-stud) and the 8V/16V/G60 (4-stud) rear beams? I haven't got a copy of ETKA so can't look properly, some people say they're the same and others say they're different. I guess there must be differences because the VR6 uses different rear beam bushes - but what exactly are those differences? The reason I ask is that I want to do a full VR6 conversion on my 8V. The 8V has done 183k and is still on the original rear beam bushes so it's a priority for me to sort this as I've totally re-bushed the front end already. I want to use the rear beam from my VR6 donor car but I need to know if it will just transfer over or whether there are differences with the rear beam mount plates (as in the main supports that bolt to the shell itself). I know the stub axles are the same, as are the ABS sensors etc, but its those axle bushes that're causing me to worry. Incidentally I've checked the rear brake compensator mountings and they both appear to be the same even though the compensators are positioned slightly differently on the 8V compared to the donor VR6. I know the VR6 is 20mm wider in track at the front of the car, but is it the same at the back? Any advice would be much appreciated :) Thanks! Tom

What an awesome selection of pictures. I too an far more interested in the technical aspect of your build than the aesthetic side of it, although it looks like you look after the bodywork almost as well as the mechanicals :) I really like the interior, while it might be full of gauges it doesn't look bodged or busy, just purposeful. Hats off to you for an amazing build, I'm sure with the T/C you'll be able to make even more use of the available torque. Nice curve too :lol: It's interesting to see that you're still running standard CV's and shafts, do you find the outer CV's suffer due to the extra torque? I only ask because I built a hybrid Mini (Vauxhall-engined) with three times the intended power and torque and the outer CV's would last about 5000 miles before starting to grumble. Tom

Dave - can you hear the pump whirring away when you lock the car? I assume it won't lock/unlock from the passenger side either? My thoughts are that either a vacuum hose has been disturbed during the dash removal and therefore the system is bleeding vacuum therefore not working, or that the wiring from the drivers/passengers door switches has been disturbed and therefore not activating the pump. Sounds like you've had a tough time of it mate, hopefully the central locking will be the last of the gremlins in that department!

Bit negative I know!

Well it looks like you've done a good job of getting it out tidily so that's a good thing :) Has the wiring been totally butchered or is just that things are a bit messy? I guess its understandable when fitting accessories with the dash still in access under there isn't great. I'm sure you'll get it sorted though mate :salute:

Well I have now sold this car and bought my old 8V back...I loved owning and working on this car, and hopefully I'll hear the roar of a VR6 again soon! :) The new owner is on the forum so hopefully he'll start a project thread for it. Cheers Tom

Well, in a bizarre twist of fate I have bought this car back! I owned the VR6 for pretty much a year and did LOADS of work to it (see this thread), including a pretty much full suspension rebuild and OBD2 conversion. However I found that my country lane commute was really bad for my wallet, and also that I wasn't really using the car for its intended purpose. I built it to be a bit of a cruiser with the ability to go silly when necessary, but in the end I just used it for pootling around which wasn't doing it much good at all. So I decided it had to go, in the process freeing up some funds for other stuff and leaving me with a bit of a pot for getting a new car. The problem was I didn't have a clue about what car to get next. I contemplated buying a diesel Passat B4, running it for a bit while looking for a suitable Corrado donor and then merging the two together along with an AFN lump to make a Corrado TDi, but for various reasons that wasn't really workable. Then the person who I sold the 8V to got in touch and said it was for sale :wave: To cut a long and complicated story short, on the day I sold my VR6 I went and viewed the 8V (3 miles from my house), made an offer and bought it. It's not really changed much since I sold it apart from a repaired heater blower, seat lifter cable and two new front tyres. Bodywork wise it has grown a small amount of rust but nothing that can't be easily sorted out :) I'm really happy to still be in a Corrado - it might be far slower than the VR but I'm loving the 40+mpg economy and it still looks great sat in the works car part among the boring euroboxes. I considered loads of different cars but the Corrado bug has bitten deep! :cuckoo: I've had it just over a week now, and I've already collected a few parts together for it, those being: R32 wishbone bushes Top mounts Rear discs and pads Rear wheel bearings Uprated headlamp loom Oil and filter TT wiper conversion They'll all hopefully be fitted this coming saturday before the CCGB National Day. I'll get some pics up soon, although cosmetically it hasn't changed at all so the last pics posted are still in effect pretty current. I do however have some plans for it for the future, they include a widetrack conversion and either another OBD2 VR6 lump or possibly a high power pre-PD TDi but I need to do my research into that! I'll keep this updated as an when :) Cheers Tom

I wouldn't have said wearing parts in particular...things like wheel bearings, brake discs and pads, CV joints, suspension bushes and clutches etc are all shared with many other VAG cars so are unlikely to become difficult to get hold of. I would have said things like working spoiler mechanisms, door handles, heater controls, headlight switches, headlamps, indicators, foglights, dashboard switches, bits of interior and exterior trim, window regulators, wiper mechanisms, ABS components (pump, ECU and position sensor), body panels and many other bits are the parts to try to hoard if you can.