fendervg

Yes, these are nice and OEM - huge boost gauge pods always tend to look a bit boy racer.

Yeah, they look nice and especially suit the older dash - something very similar used to be available for the Mk2.

Haha - you Recaro owners - so spoilt! ;) Spare a thought for us great unwashed with normal leather.

Some of the US cars had nice seats - there was a "red-dot" cloth trimmed in leather outers from what I can remember - now if they came in a heated/electric Recaro version....

Ah ok - makes sense now. This would be revealed in all its nasty glory with the rubber funnel thing removed then?

Where does this part go?

All VRs had the raised bonnet, it was to provide clearance for the larger engines, other late models had it fitted because it was then the only bonnet that was being made. Bonnets seem to be still available from Classic Parts, but at some price - also not sure if this one is late or early from the picture: https://www.volkswagen-classic-parts.de/en/frontklappe.html Front wings are different, late are wider. The rear outer skin is the same on all years, but the inner section is different.

There's no pictures on the ad any more and it says "awaiting collection". Only way to be sure is to refer the chassis number back to VW. Green ones are easier to fake as that colour/leather combination was available anyway. The ad mentions there's a few things to do, but not what they are...

This is the guy I use for those hard to reach ones: https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Ratchet-Swisstool-Spirit-Multi-Tool/dp/B00LFKZ374

The problem with obsolete parts getting reproduced is the initial cost in tooling up - only the smaller stuff that can be 3D printed is relatively cost-effective. With maybe 1500-2000 cars left on the roads in the UK (here in Ireland only 15 Corrados passed the NCT last year, maybe 100 or so here in total), the market is very small and it would be tough enough to get pre-orders for even 250 units. Anyone on here who has organised a group buy or had something re-manufactured can tell you what a hard slog it is. This is really the preserve of a club like CCGB that can maximise buying power and leverage influence, maybe with other clubs around the world and deal directly with the likes of VW Classic Parts, and not a user forum. I'm not sure what CCGB have done in the past in this respect, but it is how most other classic car clubs approach this issue. At a minimum we would need things like bonnets, wings, slam panels, bumpers and all lights available to repair crash damage, and then everything required for a respray trim wise and also safety critical stuff like the clutch and brake masters. So I think the parts problem should be addressed separately to the issue of preserving the forum and it's future. I'm definitely willing to pay for membership, and more than happy to lend a hand as an extra moderator or IT specialist if needed.

I have no issue with paid membership in order to support the forum - but it should be read-only and searchable for free, with maybe some sections restricted to paid members such as the wiki and suppliers. You need to be able to attract new members and be able to show what's available, otherwise it will just die a death as a closed shop.

I've had some limited success with colour matched rattle cans and clear laquer top coat in the past - this is with the pearl grey metallic on my car. To be honest though, it will never look as good as a professional job, and the key is really in how much preparation is put in, that is the cleaning, sanding, primer and keying and how clean you can keep it. Most of your time should be spent on that versus actual spraying and then it's possible to get small repairs to blend in quite well. Did you get a quote from a paint shop as a comparison for the few bits you need done?

Always preferred a forum to FB (too much ephemeral stuff flying by and needless repetition) - the bulletin board model always worked best for retaining and sharing knowledge. But when I started getting into older VAG cars like the Golf, quattro and Corrado there were only message boards and you had to put a bit of work into them to get anything back. Nowadays someone will just check to see if there is a group on FB and assume that't it and be happy with it. The photo issue a really a question of storage costing money - FB are happy to front this because they have all your data and can target adds and resell that information in return. Free photo archive site were never going to last, so we would need to look at how to provide storage space without allowing cross-linking. Getting something like Tapatalk working again would be a huge help in getting users back on the forum, although I've found you can always post a pic on the forum with the attachment feature provided it's not too large.

Yeah, the Sebrings look cool and retro - would look lovely on a VR.

Thanks for sorting this our - would be shame to lose the forum and all the great information on here. Is there any way in which we could work together to help out?

For the Corrado I have 3 sets, all standard 15": - Speedlines, four need a refurb and one is a spare - BBS RA VR6 Golf wheels, currently on the car - BBS RZ, five stud, also need to be refurbed Would love to get hold of a set of 16" BSS RS226 and the 16" VW Motorsport Speedlines.

I think it is - I remember getting hold of one of the last cable repair kits about 8 years ago, and it had the ends attached to the cable, although they seemed to be of a different metal to the originals.

The passenger side is the one that always seems to break first, so can be difficult to find even second-hand. In terms of reproducing it, did it even come as a separate part originally or was it not attached to the cable? I have a spare cassette at home, but that slider snapped as soon as I tried to operate the mechanism - if you do get hold of, or have, a spare unit, I'd recommend taking it apart and cleaning/lubricating everything before attempting to operate it, just in case.

Yes, I have Mk4 rear callipers with Corrado 1613mm OE length handbrake cable on mine for years. I think the advantage is that the later callipers don't seize and corrode as much and the handbrake mechanism is less liable to sticking, which was common problem on many '80s VWs.

All Corrados use the A2 platform as a base, so the chassis dimensions didn't change over the length of the model run. The main difference was that the VR6 ran 5-stud wide-track "Plus" suspension, so the geometry there is different - maybe the rear callipers sit a few mm further out due to the wider rear beam? Hence there might be two lengths of cable - one for G60, 16v and 8V, exactly the same as the Mk2 Golf, and one slightly longer one for the wide track VR. But the rear calliper and handbrake set-up would have been standard across all A2 platform cars and many other VWs of that vintage. ETKA lists 2 different part numbers and a chassis number break, but they are both shown as being the same length at 1613mm, so it's probably just a super-cession to a later revision part - the base part# is the same.

I can't say much about the cable length - common sense would say that they should be the same length - unless one of the stub axles, calliper bracket/hub were damaged or out of alignment, or the rear beam itself was aligned incorrectly off to one side - but I'm not even sure how any of that is possible. I'd say once the brake lever is fully up and engaged, both wheels should lock and it should pass. Over here in Ireland the NCT tolerance allowed for handbrake imbalance is much more generous than for the foot brake.

The original ones all had the twisted wire on the outside - they were common on all the Mk2/Mk3 era cars that had an amplified base. You can also get a shorter bee sting type that had no twists, this is what I have on my car - you lose a little bit of reception but it looks sleeker and more modern.

Usually one comes up for sale on the same day you see a Unicorn out fo the corner of one eye while simultaneously stepping on some rocking horse poo. Good luck, and tell me if you find a second one. Might have better luck finding a Schrick VGI - they tend to come up every once in a while.

Some inflation there on those scuttle clips - they're a funky colour too.

My take on this is that the Corrado was marketed as a Sports GT Coupe, and so the expectation should be for it to have leather. Same reason they all should have had the additional VDO gauges from the factory.