tony_ack

The lesson is not to pursue small prangs through the insurance if there's no 3rd party involved, if you have an older car...

I've found a cheap second-hand condenser off a MK3 VR6. It looks like I may be able to adjust where the mounting brackets for it attach to the rad, so with a bit of luck I may be able to squeeze it in... I still want the MK3 drier. Once I have that, it's just the compresser and aux belt to go before I can start on the pipework! I've also made a bit more progress on my brake upgrade.... I bought a full 288mm setup (for £30!) a few months back, which have just been sat in the shed. I've cleaned them up now, and started painting the calipers yellow (to match the Konis). The existing discs/pads don't look too bad, but I will probably get new pads anyway. I also want to get some MK4 rear calipers and some goodridge hoses, but it may all come down to money again. The rear calipers are more important as I'm sure one of mine is sticking a little. I don't really fancy doing all the bleeding afterwards though!

Looks good, but you have been to see it before putting a deposit down, haven't you?! Buying cheap is not always worse than buying a more expensive car - especially if you know what to look out for! No matter what you spend, you're likely to need to spend more in the upcoming months/years for putting right the bits that aren't quite perfect. If you're planning to tinker a little, a Corrado is definitiely a couple of steps up the ladder above a MK2 GTI in terms of complexity, but still pretty accessible.

16v is a different bore size to the 8v. If you've got a standard system on the 8v you'll prob need an adaptor somewhere. I'm not too sure how different the golf and corrado systems are, but the 16v system on the golf is routed differently to the 8v system.

A = Straight to the crusher B = non-repairable, may be salvaged for parts C = repairable, fairly extensive and likely structural damage D = repairable, non-structural damage On the one hand there is nothing to say that a Cat C car is as structurally sound and straight as a normal car, but it depends on who has done the repairs and how much was spent to put it right. You'll often find that a Cat C older classic (pre-1980 or so) will have been lovingly restored, but a more modern car will likely have just been put back on the road as cheaply as possible. A Cat C can be a bargain if you know what to look for, but unfortunately even the good Cat Cs will always have that stigma attached to them, so you'll never get decent money back when you come to sell.

May make a difference to the ecu if the water is up to temp but I would suspect warm up mode stops a lot sooner than most people think. I always thought g12 was a 50-50 mix??

I decided to go ahead and do the swap for the new ducting today. Took longer than I'd have liked, and still not 100% but I think progress is the name of the day. Points to note... 1. I'm good a stripping the dash now. 30 minutes from loosening the first screw to having the heater matrix in my hands. 2. I raided the old unit I was replacing for insulation foam. Very little air is escaping now 3. The bottom motor arm still catches on the footwell vent slightly. I think this is because of the evaporator drain pipe hole being a little too low and forcing the unit down a little. I might try shaving a bit of plastic off the arm and the top of the footwell vent 4. The under-bonnet dash nuts are still a nightmare, but it's slightly easier when you know exactly where they are 5. The recirculation unit on the new ducting was faulty... turns out the motor on the old one was too. I ended up taking a motor apart, and found that one of the plastic gears snaps, so that the gear no longer grips the spline adequately (causing the 'clicking' noise as the gear skips over the spline). Bostick to the rescue, result: working motor. It's very fiddly trying to change it in situ... 6. The windscreen vent is a little off the mark, duck tape is a very effective solution. 7. The reason the driver side windscreen clears faster than the passenger side is because the Corrado windscreen duct is biased to the driver's side. Definitely a deliberate design. 8. Make sure all your wires are routed correctly before the ducting is all in place (whoops) 9. Building the dash takes a lot longer than stripping it down 10. Why are there always a couple of screws left over? I'm in London next week so I've left the car at the lockup, but everything seems fine, and it should be ready to drive away when I get back.

Meh... Storms are overrated...

You sure it wasn't me? I saw a dark blue N-reg in exactly the same place that morning as I was coming up to J31 - it was coming from the motorway roundabout and waved as it turned past the fire station - I waved back but not sure it saw me. Problem is mine is green... on 16s... and not a storm!

You have aircon at the moment, so if you're happy with one fan speed, there's no reason to change things. The only reason the fan controller is integrated into the system is so that the correct rad fan cooling stage can be applied depending on the A/C conditions. On the standard clima setup, stage 1 is on whenever the aircon is activated, stage 2 is on when pressure is high in the AC system, and on stage 3 the aircon isn't on anyway as it gets a thermal cutout signal from the brown temp sender. I would suspect that you could if you wanted just send an on signal from the CC to the Diavia relays, as long as you send return signals to the CC from the AC pressure switch and temp sender. The best thing to do is check out the last wiring pinouts I posted, and work out what wires activate the aircon, and which wires return pressure/temp signals back to the CC.

I am guessing you mean the cabin fan controller? It's all part of the unit. The resistor is actually the big red thing on the top of the evaporator housing. You need to completely cut out the Corrado controller and wiring from that to the Corrado fan, and solder/connect the ign live feed to the controller (think it is a thick yellow/black wire) to the blower motor feed (black blue in pin 17/1). If you're being frugal you could reuse the earth wire from the old controller loom and connect it to the earth on the CC unit on 17/6 (not the fan earth as this already has its own wire)

I was driving home today and noticed our local Pirtek dealer on a small industrial estate while waiting at some traffic lights. I thought why not drop in and see what they thought about making up some aircon pipes for the Corrado once I had all the bits I needed. I just wanted to know whether it would be possible or not. The guy had a look under the bonnet, and said yeah, it should be possible and asked what parts I was using (I said MK3/MK3 mixed). He then went away and came back with some pipes and a drier. I thought he was going to see whether they were about the right size, but no, he put them in my boot! He said they'd had them for years, so I could have them for free - to see how far I got with those, and to come back if I needed anything else to finish it off, and they'd sort it out. So Pirtek in Tinsley, Sheffield is highly recommended now! He did call it a Scirocco, but it's funny how it can be easily forgiven sometimes :-)

The top mount should sit on the bearing, not the spring plate!

Seriously contemplating taking the whole dash out again this weekend to fit the replacement ducting Do I need a slap?

Nope I used (almost) new standard VW VR6 mounts

Yep, the rubber bush is the top mount - I think it is either the wrong one or it's upside down This may help (shamelessly plucked of Club GTI...)

What do you mean by 'rubber bush'? Sorry if I mis-read, but it looks like you're referring to the strut turret on the car as the top mount, and the actual top mount as the rubber bush? Absolutely no way anything other than the thread of the shock can push through the (rubber) top mount unless the top mount is completely shot Is the top mount on upside down? It should fit neatly and firmly over the bearing, and then snugly into the bottom of the turret when the car is lowered back onto the ground (narrow part at the bottom, wide part at the top)

Quick one on the heater matrix... I've seen two types - one has round metal pipes looping over the bottom, the other is flat at the bottom. Are both type correct? As far as I can tell, all Corrados use the same matrix, and they also share the part with the MK2 Golf. I only ask as I have a BNIB Valeo Golf MK2 matrix spare (flat at the bottom) and a Corrado that might benefit from it :-)

I don't understand why you would want feather touch brakes and steering. The missus' MK2 has a lovely firm and progressive brake pedal, compared even to the Corrado - you don't exactly have to stamp on it but you need to be fairly firm. To be honest I find the Corrado pedal a little TOO sensitive and over-assisted. As for Power ASSISTED steering, the clue, as already mentioned, is in the name. I want to feel the steering when moving, but also want a little help when turning at low speeds. Over-assistance of the brakes and steering take away the feel of the car

Blue N-reg at J31 of the M1 in Sheffield this morning, may have been a VR6 but I was too far away to see. Got a wave and waved back

Patience!

Yep, sounds like the belt is missing... both fans come on and go off together. One is driven directly by the motor, the other by the belt.

I've got a HTC Desire HD (so big screen Android phone)... I am sure it would be possible to build some sort of custom holder that mounts to the dash. I'm thinking of perhaps mounting it from the fake centre dash 'speaker'. If you get the right cradle, you may be able to supply power in and audio out (or even usb out if your headunit supports it). Wiring isn't a massive problem - there are plenty of ign lives or perm lives you could tap into, though I'd be tempted to use a feed to the radio to keep it all on the same circuit. Then you'd need to modify the cradle mount to suit your needs. Another option may be to try to build a mounting point in one of the spare dash blanks.

Might be the speedo cable wearing also Easiest way to get to the clocks is to take out the radio, switches, heater controls (just loosen them), switch surround, clocks surround and then the lower dash shelf on the driver's side, then remove the clocks screws. You can get to the clocks plugs from under the dash, then I found getting the speedo cable out is best done with one hand through the radio hole and one from under the dash, applying pressure to the clip on the cable plug with a finger from each hand then pulling the cable outwards. The cable might be very stiff if it's not been removed before. Might sound a bit weird when written down, but hopefully it'll become clearer when you're doing it! There's also a vac pipe in the back of the clocks for the MPG which just pulls off. You shouldn't have to remove the steering wheel, though some do. Right! I'm off to get some cake

Congrats on the wedding... we went to my missus' best friend's wedding in Cuba last year, and it was a great, if a little surreal experience, being abroad. Good to see it's running better now. The 'official' Digi CO setting is 1.0-1.5, however 1.8 is where it's at as far as performance goes. You should be seeing 40-45mpg on the MFA on a long motorway run if you take it easy (65mph), and as the speedo tends to over-read, you're probably not far off that. the 239 to 256 upgrade isn't completely straight forward as you need new hubs too, and ideally the larger 16v master cylinder. Depending on what wheels you're running, 280s may be an option - they use the same hubs and MC as the 256s. Good pads and discs will make a difference though - I had grooved vented discs and paigd pads on the 239 8v, and I found the vented dics/cheap pad 256 16v faded a lot quicker. £120 isn't that bad for the cambelt, if you weigh up the time taken to do it yourself, and the cost/time taken to sort it if you do something wrong.