tony_ack

A pram fits into the back of the Corrado no problem, though there's more space in the missus' MK2. Both are 3 door, and to be honest unless we're all in the same car, the little one goes on the front seat anyway. Even when she needs to go on the back seat it's fairly straight forward. I broke my old MK2 after it was written off. I had to hire a lockup to do it, and it took me 3 weeks in total, spending about 10 hours a week on it. Breaking was pretty straight forward, and I sold the engine, gearbox, running gear and exhaust with the remains of the shell as a GTI conversion donor to make the last bit easier (and to make room for my new MK2 project) Made about £1200 in total from the parts I've sold, but the problem is that nearly a year later, I still have a bedroom full of parts in the house that I can't even give away. I would probably break another write-off, but only because weighing up the effort from breaking versus the cost of repair (and write-off devaluation) make it worthwhile.

New rad is £240ish inc VAT from VW. Hell of a lot of money. It arrives on Wednesday, along with new rad bolts and rad fan switch (£26!) I'm just dreading which part of the cooling system will fail next... at least the matrix was replaced recently

Well, it's been a long weekend wrestling with the car. A battle of wills... Ended in a draw. I started at 10am on Saturday morning. I got the bumper and slam panel off okay, and the radiator bolts came out in the end with the help of the dremmel. Unfortunately almost all of the thermostat housing bolts rounded, which held me up for a while. The crack pipe itself came out with little persuasion, though the end had disintegrated in the block. Dremmel time again to clean up the block connector. Getting the crack pipe in was a bit of a struggle due to the corrosion. I rebuilt the new thermostat hosuing and eventually got it on, but the seal between the crack pipe and block looked distorted. So off it all came again and I replaced the seal. On went the rad, and all the hoses... finally ready for testing! Testing didn't go well. I started to fill the system with water, and immediately water started dripping out of the new housing. So off it all came again. I put some bathroom sealant in the leaky part, and put it all back together yet again. This time I started to fill from the rad pipe before putting the radiator on, so I could test it was holding the water... this time it was fine, so on went the rad and I topped up with coolant. Finally ready to start her up She started first time, and I ran her up to temperature, trying to bleed the system as I went. The thermostat opened when it should have done, but the fans stayed worryingly silent, so I gave up when the water was up to 105 degrees. With the front of the car off, I decided to have a go at fitting the schrick. It went pretty well, though I wish I'd have done it before putting the rad back on. With darkness drawing in and with no lights in the lockup, I decided to call it a day. I also needed to look into the fan problem and where to connect the last Schrick vac house. ---------- Post added at 11:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 PM ---------- Today, I started really early. I was up at the lockup for 7.45, agian full of optimism. I tried the fan by shorting the thermostat switch plug, and it came on like it should, which is kind of good as it narrows it down to an airlock or rad stat. I'd also worked out where the last schrick vac pipe went, so I connected it up, and braced myself for the big switch on She refused to start. She just turned over and over, and I could smell the fuel, so that was one of the triangle of fire ruled out :-) I checked and checked again, and found the problem - the big intake hose for the throttle body wasn't on properly - it seemed attached at the top but there was a gaping hole in the bottom. I resecured it and tried again, but nothing. So off came the manifold and I tested for spark. Plugs were covered in fuel but I cleaned up the first one, turned it over, and got a spark, along with an explosion as the fuel in the engine shot out of the lower manifold. I cleaned up the rest of the plugs in the front bank, put everything back together, and.... hurrah!... the sweet sound of the VR6! The coolant level was pretty high, but the header tank was soon empty, so I kept it topped up. Once the level stabilised, I put the cap back on and let the system get up to pressure. And then the fans came on at 100 degress - more success! Making reasonable progress I decided to try fitting my new Koni TAs and H&Rs. Having done the rear bump stops recently, I was confident that the rears would come off okay, so I started on the fronts. The hub bolts were tough, but they loosened up eventually. Then I got to the top mounts.. problem was I didn't have the right tool to get it off! I gave up - I was already a little pushed for time anyway. So time to rebuild the front end... Everything went back together pretty well, and I was ready to roll after an hour or so. It was getting into the late afternoon now, so I decided to crack on with a couple of other jobs. I replaced my black tunnel trims with the beige bits I'd been collecting, then gave the car a wash. I kept the engine running while I dried it so it would be up to temp and ready for a test drive when I had done. Looking good, and I was looking forward to what the schrick had in store! Then disaster... I noticed a small plume of steam coming from under the bonnet. Great. What was the problem now? I took a look and it seemed to be coming from the top of the radiator. I wished, hoped and prayed it was just a bit of water left over from my various water drops over the past two days, but the steam smelt like coolant, and was coming from a specific point. I checked the coolant level, and though it was a tad low, it was stable, so I decided to take it for a test drive and see how it went. The water temp behaved itself, though I swear the heater is much hotter now. I checked when I got home, and the coolant level was still the same, and the steam seemed to have gone. I haven't had a chance to fully test the Schrick yet, but there is some serious grunt low down now! Another problem manifested itself on the test drive though - there seems to be a whistling coming from the engine - it's more pronnounced on overrun, but it does it all the time. At first I thought it was the ISV, but now I think it's coming from between the Schrick and lower manifold. Now I think back, I don't remember torquing the bolts up properly, and I left the bottom-left bolt out because it was a different shape. I'll need to get it fixed within the next couple of days as it's really loud, and very noticable to people in the street. Hopefully it is just the bolts that need tightening. So here we are after a whole weekend of work. Ass I said - I think it's a draw. Really not looking forward to the replay as I'm going to have to drain the system again and strip down the front end again to change the radiator. At least the car is running again now... I declared the Schrick on the insurance and it cost a whopping £10 extra, so I'll take that!

You're planning to break a perfectly good Corrado because you have no use for it any more, and you don't want someone else to enjoy it??

Hi Andy, Thanks for the pics... the handbrake cover looks like an aftermarket one, and I'm after standard really... thanks anyway

Up early this morning to try and get the Corrado back on the road this weekend. I went up for half an hour yesterday - I still couldn't work out how the bumper slid out - I think I just need to get the arch liners out of the way. I started on the slam panel bolts, but nothing is ever simple... both of the radiator bolts were stiff - one of them ended up coming off its thread, and is now just turning freely, and it looks like a support has broken on the other one, so that's not coming out either. I don't have time to get the bits from VW, so I'll have to get the bolts from B&Q, and order a new support next week to fit later. Hopefully, if all goes well today, I'll end up with a fully working Corrado, with a fully bled cooling system, new suspension fitted, and schrick VGI fitted. It's amazing how optimistic you can feel at 8am when the sun is shining...

Andy - Have you got a picture? as long as it matches the rest of the centre console, which is also a little darker, then it should be okay.. ---------- Post added at 12:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 AM ---------- I was sure I had replied to you but obviously not! Could you do both of the A-pillar/footrest trims then? I also have some black caps to go over the screw holes, if you can do them too. I'll compare the colour to the centre console and see how far out it is on mine

How much do you want for it?

It looks good - how close a match do you think it would be to factory parts (it looks good in the pic but there is no visual comparison)? I only ask as the centre console - centre tunnel bit would need to match a beige centre tunnel and gear lever surround that I already have. Leave the handbrake cover with me, I may have found one in beige - I'll let you know if that changes. Will go for the other two bits though, and I would also be interested in painting the other A-pillar trim/driver's footrest as I have on in beige that's cracked, but I also have a decent one in black that could be painted.

Skinny - I'm going to have one last look tomorrow for the missing mirror trim - if I don't find it I'll have these - will let you know tomorrow Emu - I have no handbrake cover at all unfortunately, but may take you up on the other two parts. How close a match is to the originals, and how much would it cost?

Bump, still needed..

Perhaps I'll have to change my plans... the crack pipe went on the car at the weekend, so that means a front end strip down. Maybe it's a good time to get a condensor and pipework in there. Any ideas for donors for the condensor? Don't fancy tearing big chunks out of the front end, so as small and new as possible really. Seat Leon seems the way to go for the dash stuff... how about the condensor? MK3/MK4 Golf?

Bit of a day from hell today... I planned to wire in the Schrick control unit at home (no power at the lockup) and then head up to my lockup to install my fresh-sparkly-new VT front mount. The idea was to get the final preparations in place for the Schrick VGI to go on. Unfortunately the purchase of the cams fell through, so I'll have to look out for another set. My soldering skills aren't the best, but I had been practicing indoors, and had managed to do a few tidy splices. Outside, in limited space and good old northern rain and cold it was a different matter. The ECU was fiddly to get out for a start, and it took me ages to get a decent soldered join bewteen the loom wires and the Schrick control unit wires, as the wind kept cooling down the iron and the wires. Got there in the end - not as tidy as I'd have liked, but pretty solid. I started it up to make sure it was working - it struggled to start first time but the green light was on the control unit - hurrah! I revved to 4000 and the red light came on so all was good, but then the engine cut out. I started up again and it seemed to be running on 5 cylinders for a while, before the last one coughed into life. Odd... It's been fine since though. I went to the lockup to make a start on the 'easy' front engine mount. It didn't bode well when I snapped the stud on the first nut holding the plate on undert the bottom of the mount. The other two nuts were seized and starting to round, so I decided I had had enough of being nice, and broke out the Plusgas and Irwins :) Other two nuts were off a minute later. I looked at the nut under the mount, and it was nothing like what I was expecting, it was an allen key bolt. Maybe it's not a standard mount? Either way, it came off pretty easy, and I was starting to get some momentum Next for the top bolt. I reached down for it, and caught a pipe slightly, but immediately heard the sound of coolant gushing out of the engine. At first I thought I'd knocked a hose off, then I saw that a flange had sheared off... bugger. I looked carefully, and realised it was the infamous crack pipe! So the Corrado is now off the road. The missus isn't pleased as she'll be taking me to work next week. And it means the half-finished MK2 project is in the car park, while the Corrado takes the lockup space. I started the front end strip down this afternoon. I got my first good luck of the day when all 4 bumper bolts came out without a single one snapping, rounding, or breaking the captive nut.

Did you sell the crack pipe in the end?

Watching this with interest... my heaterbox has broken cable guides and the controls are a little delicate (even for Corrado controls). I also have a new dash to put in so I have to take it all apart anyway. I don't see much point in swapping the heater box and controls like-for-like if Climatronic is an option. Electrics don't scare me that much (maybe they should?!) I'm thinking of doing the install in two steps - first step is to get the dash out and get the heaterbox, fan and ducting wired up, along with any under-dash aircon bits such as the evaporator Then add the aircon at a later date From what I've read so far, a Seat Leon system is the one to look out for as it fits the Corrado dash without too much fettling. As for the engine-side bits... I don't know what's best to go for. Obviously the less butchering required the better, but it needs to plug into the Seat climatronic.

£15 for the first aid kit? Mine is missing, but I can't really justify spending any more than that on one at the moment!

Did/does VW make rubber mats for the Corrado? Got some rubber ones in the MK2 and they're fab for this time of year. Beige mats and winter do not make a good look.

Koni TAs now found, bump for everything else!

Have a look at: http://home.clara.net/hallvw/dating.htm Not sure if it helps, and I don't know where it is on the Corrado. I've seen same-era VWs with barcode stickers on the B-pillar, but not sure if it is the same thing.

I've read with trepadation that you need to cut away at the underside of the bonnet to stop it rubbing against the Schrick when installed. Has anyone got any pics of how much they've had to cut away for a rough idea of what needs doing? I'm planning to upgrade the front engine mount first, so the engine should hopefully sit a little lower (and stop kciking like a mule when I put my foot down) Nearly time to put my dremmel to use.. :)

Are these for a VR6? I am interested, but don't really know what price they would go for second hand. £60 for the pair plus postage? Any way to verify the miles?

Are you planning on putting them back on again? That's the harder bit! Only done the doors on the Corrado, but I've done all the other bits on the MK2 which can't be *that* different... Bonnet is fairly straight forward - undo everything connected to it (washer jets, heated washer jet loom, earth strap), and then undo the bolts that attach the hingest to the bonnet - on the MK2 I think there are 2 10mm or 2 13mm bolts on each hinge. It's best to leave it propped up on the bonnet stay, and to put some cardboard on your scuttle so you have somewhere to rest it once it is loosened and you're taking the bolts out. Not completely sure about the bumper, but if it is like most other VWs of the era, then there are 4 17mm bolts holding the bumper onto the chassis leg and subframe. Can be a bit of a pig to remove if they've seized. There's also a 13mm bolt between the 2 17mm - don't remove this as it is now the only thing holding the subframe to the car! Disconnect the wiring for the fogs and indicators first. Once the bolts are out it should slide forward off the wing mounts Wings can be a bit of a nightmare - there are several bolts along the top, and then a few under the arch liner up the A-pillar, and one under the sill. The tricky bit is cutting through all the underseal between the wing and A-pillar For the doors, take the doorcards off, disconnect all the wiring and thread it through the hole in the door where it enters. Undo the check strap (10mm I think?) then two 15mm bolts hold the door to the hinges. It's really a two-man job, though I managed on my own with the help of a trolley jack to hold the door up. Most panel bolts aren't too tight and should come off okay. Be warned though that it'll take a lot of time to realign the panels when you put them back on.

Sunroof is now FIXED (again) I think it was a dodgy motor. The roof opened fine, but when I tried to close it, there was nothing, not even a click from the relay. It also wouldn't tilt up on the motor, but would tilt down absolutely fine, again no clicks from the relay in the motor at all when trying to tilt up. It must be an iffy connection somewhere in the motor. Luckily I have two spares, so I swapped it over and all is fine now... shame we don't have the weather to make use of it. Managed to get hold of a Schrick VGI last week... I've also got some 268 cams coming. I'm plucking up the courage to fit all this myself, and have been practising my soldering skills for the splice into the ECU. I am currently running the standard engine mount at the front, so it looks like I could do with a VT mount to avoid cutting away too much of the bonnet. When I think about it now, there is a lot of lurch when changing gear, so the engine mount would be a good upgrade anyway. I also need to think about where to mount the vac tank.

Bump, all parts still wanted!

The Corrado is much more bearable as a daily in the winter months than my MK2 was, but it's still a massive relief when you get to go to work on your first warm and sunny morning!