Laser Mark

Andy, since finishing it on Friday I've covered 300 miles or so, and I must admit they have been very relaxing. In the valver I constantly had to change gear to find the sweet spot, but the VR just wofts along, quite content to sit in 5th and tootle around at 40 mph or hoon along at 70......ish. Its also better on fuel than the valver, I managed 37.8 mpg on the way to Tatton and 38 something on the way back. I really struggled to get anywhere near that with the valver, only mustering 31 on the way down to Brooklands. Jim, the entire engine wiring loom was changed, the original fan loom was left in. Tom's the man to talk to regarding the wiring, its all a bit much to me. We'd done plenty of talking and planning, but there where still a few issues which popped up and took us by supprise. The fuel tank isn't the same, so I had to swap the original tank out for the VR tank. The rad panels are different, despite the part numbers being the same. The rad panel I had din't have a bracket for the VR radiator to sit on. The valver has 2 fuel pumps so one was removed and that lead to modifications to the fuel lines. All in all, its been great fun, I've learnt loads, and I'm looking forward to the next project.

Bloody marvalous!!!! Thanks Judith.

I packed for every kind of weather bar sunshine. So again I have a burnt head and lovely t shirt tan. It was nice to go to a new show and meet new faces, although I seem to have missed a few people as they left due to being fast on in the car. Really enjoyed the show, had a good walk round and took far to many pictures as usual so its going to take a while to edit and upload them, but I'll make a start on it this week. I hope the weather is the same for Harewood, will see some of you there. Mark

Well, I know its a bit late but here is the final update on the conversion. Friday morning was spent filling the car with fluids and going down the check list making sure we hadn't missed anything. The brakes bleed quite quickly, 15 to 20 minutes and they where done. We rolled the car out the garage around 2 ish ready to take it to the alignment centre when Tom noticed that the power steering pump had failed. 20 minutes later we had a spare pump on and hadn't lost too much fluid. A slow 3 mile trip up the road to the alignment centre, where they said it would take about an hour. So we popped to Sainsbury's for some well deserved dinner. Once back at the garage (ETS) we where told that they couldn't align the wheels as the camber was out and they didn't have the tools. To say I was a bit annoyed is an understatment, why say you can do and job and then not be able to do it. In the end we took the car back to Tom's garage and set the camber by eye on the floor. The tracking wouldn't have been to far out as the steering rack came off the breaker of Tom's and we'd only changed the track rod ends and I'd been careful not to disturb the setting too much. A bit of back and forth later in the evening and I had both my cars back at home. Saturday the car went to ETS in Mapperley (near where I live) the tracking on the right was 0.03 minutes out, and on the left was 0.4 minutes, the camber was a little further out but not too bad. I've got to take the car back in a fortnight to have it checked and readjusted if necessary. Saturday afternoon was spent hoovering out the inside ready for Tatton Park. I managed to give it a quick wash before the heavens opened and got ready for a very early start. Sorry for not having very many pictures, we tried to do a photo documentary, but as time wore on we started missing shooting times.(we tried to take 1 photo every 30 minutes from the same spot) [ATTACH=CONFIG]68760[/ATTACH] Here's the car on the club stand at Tatton park. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68761[/ATTACH] The natural watering hole of the Corrado en route to Tatton. Myself and Dave16v Just want to say a MASSIVE thanks to Tom for helping with the conversion and doing all the complicate wiring bits, the use of his garage and being patient when imparting some of his knowledge and answering stupid questions when I asked them. Also thanks to Dave16v for ordering a few little bits and mocking up brackets when needed on short notice. I know own a VR and haven't been able to wipe the smile off my face for the last 2 days when driving it. There are a few little job's left to finish it off. Hopefully have them done before Harewood House. I'll try and keep the thread updates as I do them.

Going to need to be there early to get enough coffee inside me to keep me going!!! Will be trundling along with Dave16v

Thursday's Update. The aim of today was to get the engine running. There was still a long way to go. Tom was still working on the fuel lines, filter and tank. As it turned out, we had to use the tank from the VR as just swapping the pumps over wouldn't have worked. I turned my attention to the plumbing under the bonnet. This was going ok until the rad was dropped in. I've always thought that the rad panels are the same for the VR, 16v and the G60's, but having struggled for half and hour to get the rad to sit right, it appears that the rad panel on a VR has a bracket which makes the left hand side sit forward of the top of the panel. 5 minutes thinking about it and I was on the phone the Dave16v to tell him that I'd emailed a photo of a drawing of a part and asked if he could knock it up for the following day. This is only a temporary fix until I can get better measurements and design something a little more substantial. I'll put a photo up tomorrow of it. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68716[/ATTACH] Started putting the inlet together. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68717[/ATTACH] The daily looking more like a delivery van or storage unit lately. Nice freshly painted slam panel. New disc's and pads, new oil, fuel and air filters. And the ever present Bentley manual. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68718[/ATTACH] Inlet all together, alternator on and tensioner in. Not long after this we fired it up and made sure the wiring was fine and everything was plugged in correctly. Happily to say, everything has gone ok. Tom checked and no faults or codes where found. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68715[/ATTACH] And this is how we left it on Thursday night. The disc's and calipers have been fitted and the coolant has been done. The oil has been left to drain ready for tomorrow when fresh oil is being added, along with steering fluid and brake fluid. Also hoping to get the car booked in for front end alignment tomorrow afternoon, and then take it for a spin.

Wednesday's Update. Today's main aim was to get the engine in, but there where a few little job's to be done first. Tom fixed the heater control's and quietly got on with putting the dashboard back in along with glove box, tray, and tunnel plastics. My job was get the front end ready. So, lesson's learnt today 1) When blasting the cross member and painting it, leave the bungs in it. They where a bloody nightmare, luckily Tom managed to mock up a tool similar to the one Kip has made. This helped loads, but still a fiddly job to do. 2) When fitting power steering lines to the rack, its much easier to do it with the subframe on the floor. But my subframe it attached to the car, so I spent a little longer than necessary fitting them. 3) Tom has a thing for copper grease. Every nut, bolt or spline must have a smear of it. It is good practice as most of the front is going to be adjusted for the tracking. Not many pictures at the minute as I've left the camera in the car. I'll edit this and add them tomorrow. I'll also put pictures up of the powder coated bits. But the important one. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68700[/ATTACH] The engine is in, and at the end of today it was bolted down, the drive shafts are in, hub's and front struts are in. The down pipe is bolted in and the power steering pump is back on. Tom has been working on the mod's to the fuel lines as they are a little different on the 16v to the VR6.

Ok, no problem. Will let you know when its done.

Ahh, excellent. Well obviously the 16v subframe is out and will be blasted over the next couple of weeks. (I'm off all this week) Are you still interested? If so I'll give you a shout when its done. Please bare in mind Tom and Dave have both had breakers in the last month so I have their stuff to get on with too.

I spoke with someone at the Brooklands meet about buying my 16v subframe once it was off and powder coated. Unfortunately I can't remember who it was. Could you please make yourself known.....

Thanks, I'm learning a lot by doing this project. Tom's a great help, glad he's clued up on the wiring side of things or I would have been at a loss.

Tuesday's update [ATTACH=CONFIG]68694[/ATTACH] Had to pop in to work this morning and paint the arb as we needed it a bit sooner than I thought. Got the subframe built up with fresh new bolts for the steering rack. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68695[/ATTACH] A fairly clean bay. We could have spent all day cleaning it, but had to get on with other things. New subframe in and engine loom in. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68696[/ATTACH] Freshly painted wishbones and new drop links. I fitted and torqued up the subframe, then undid it to get the bolts in for the wishbones. All torqued up correctly, then fitted the drop links and fitted new bolts and got everything torqued up. I stood back and admired my handy work, and then noticed I'd put the wishbones in upside down!!! :bonk: Never mind. Not much to show today really as its all been wiring, Tom has also been sorting out the heater matrix, heater controls, and the fan wiring loom, as well as the main engine loom. Hopefully the engine will be going in tomorrow.

Im interested if its still available

So at 9am this morning I arrived at Tom's eager to start the engine conversion. Our plan was to have the engine out by the end of the day, and be some way along with getting the wiring loom out. Tom made a start on removing the dash, we could have left it in but I'm changing out my heater matrix while I have the chance plus it does make it easier. I'm glad Tom has taken this job as I have no idea what goes where and would have ended up with a pile of wires on the floor that should have been in the car. My job was to remove the engine. Now, just to put into perspective how little knowledge I have in this department, the only thing I've removed is the inlet and cam cover. And that was under supervision.... All in all, I think I did ok. I just hope I don't have to put it back together as I've no idea how too. At half 3 ish the engine came out without too much hassle, and an hour or so later the wishbones where out shortly followed by the subframe. By this time Tom had got the loom sorted and was able to remove that from the car. After this we gave the engine bay a little bit of a clean and packed up for the day. Must say a big thanks to Dave for picking me up and taking me home.... So here are a few pic's from today. Hopefully there will be some new bits going in tomorrow. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68659[/ATTACH] Tom looking to see what's going off. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68660[/ATTACH] No going back now. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68661[/ATTACH] Drive shafts being undone. Which are being sold with the hub conversion. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68662[/ATTACH] 5 stud hub conversion which will be up for sale soon. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68663[/ATTACH] And its out. 6 hours or so after starting. Engine will be stripped and sold for spares soon. [ATTACH=CONFIG]68664[/ATTACH] Time for a bit of cleaning.

33 and had my valver for 2 and a half years. Next week it becomes a VR! Quite excited.

Loving the red......:thumbleft: I do like Rado's on 5 spoke alloys. I don't know what it is, they seem to suit it quite well.

Right, thought I'd resurrect this thread as its been a while and there is a lot going to happen in the next week or so. Last weekend I spent some time at Purple Tom's helping strip the breaker he currently has, part of the reason for helping is that I've brought the engine. The other reason is that I went to collect all the bits which Tom has asked me to blast and paint. This week I've been busy making sure I have everything ready for next week, I think the only thing I have left to get are new seal kits for the front 288's and a set of braided lines. The slam panel is being painted this week and should be ready early next week, and I have 2 box's of bits at work and another at home. So hopefully that should be everything. Will try and keep this updated daily with a few pictures.

I'm good thanks mate. £60 sounds fine to me. Cash on collection ok?

Hi Chap, Do you still have the rear beam, subframe and front crossmember? How much for the 3? Cheers Mark

How much you looking for? Posted to Nott's?

As the title says. A pair of VR6 Wishbones. Condition not improtant, but must be genuine parts. Cheers Mark

I'm keeping an eye on it. The finish today was very impressive, will see what happens, hope Wiggin's win's. He was unlucky last year to go out.

Had another good day at Stanford Hall. Met some more new faces, and the same regular faces. Well done Judith on the concours result. Here are a few pics from the day .[ATTACH=CONFIG]67629[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67681[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67677[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67673[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67665[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67661[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67657[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67653[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67649[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67645[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67641[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67637[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67633[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67685[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]67669[/ATTACH]

Sure, 8.30 is fine. I think I'll be coming down the 46 as I'm picking a mate up.

That sounds great to me. What time do you want to meet?