Jim

Zip ties work perfectly well. I know a fair few owners who've refitted the ignition switch this way.

Genuine VAG leads have unscrewable ends. It's supposed to go on the HT lead for cylinder #4 (if I remember correctly) and you should be able to unscrew the plug at the distributor cap end and simply slot the sensor over the lead. The problem is that virtually all pattern parts are not designed with the 2.0 16v in mind so you can't attach this sensor on. I went through this on my old 2.0 16v. Found a supplier on eBay who sold ignition leads, advertised as suitable for the 1.8 16v and 2.0 16v and of course it wouldn't go on as the plug end was not removable. They did a 'premium' set at twice the price where it was removable however. But even then the leads were crimped in such a way that the electrode in the plug was misshapen enough that I STILL couldn't slip the loop over the lead. Ended up having reshape the electrode / plug bit before it would go on. In short - it's a ballache. Buy a genuine set of leads from VW or at the very least by the single lead for that cylinder!

Why is the Corrado such a high grouping? :( I fail to understand why you could pretty much insure something like a Mercedes SL55 for less money than you could insure a Corrado :|

Going to be ignition switch - hot weather seems to be a real killer for them. Or a flat battery (there can be enough juice to drive lights, heaters, etc but not enough to turn the car over). Changing the switch is a pain but you can test it fairly quickly when you buy the replacement by removing the under steering column cowling and just disconnecting the ignition switch from the back of the old one and plugging into the new one and activating it (has a little slot in so just put a key or flat headed screw driver in).

Not sure if it's similar but my VR is a little similar from cold. Not putting my foot down (as thats not a good idea when it's cold anyway!) but for about the first 30 seconds of driving, under any acceleration it's very hesitant and lumpy. Had a brand new genuine coilpack fitted about 8 months ago and that made absolutely no difference so you can probably rule that out.

I think what's fairly shocking is you think he's scrubbed off most of the speed when he's going sideways, but then when he hits the barrier you realise he really hasn't! Is that bit called Flugplatz?

Welcome to the forum. Worth mentioning that the G60 was only made up until 1992... so the last possible plate G60 you could get was K reg. VR6's were made from 1992 onwards so should be plenty in your price range. If you really have your heart set on a G60, you're going to need to go back a few years really in terms of year of registration (G reg onwards) :)

Often while away the evenings watching these video compilations of track action at the Nürburgring. Unfortunately someone is trying a bit too hard in their Corrado and ends up stoving it in pretty badly! Start at about 1:15, and what looks like a Corrado goes flying over the crest of that hill WAY too fast before you hear a lot of tyre squealing in the distance followed by a shunt. They then follow it up with the actual video of it crashing. Ouch!

I think it's definitely stepped into the realm of modern classic. However I could see if the car was perhaps not original and heavily modified that they might be a bit funny about letting it in... is the car relatively original or modified?

What a complete tw@t!! :( Apparently it has the original 16" Speedlines....

Mine has whined very loudly ever since I've had it... that's like 3 years and about 30,000 miles ago. And it's still fine!

Classic Parts are indeed part of VAG and if you live in Germany (and the USA I think) you can order from Classic Parts via your dealer. However it seems VW UK are completely oblivious to this and have done nothing to help facilitate setting up the scheme here in the UK. They want us to buy new cars.. Not keep old ones on the road!

Make sure you're sitting down before you ring VW for a price on a CV joint.. I think a VR one is something obscene like £200+VAT :( I remember finishing up the phone call to my local stealers in a state of shock, shortly before going and getting a GKN one from EuroCarParts!

It's not that clear cut. Look at my VR for example which did have a CV joint with the washer and 6 sided nut on one side... I believe early VR's did have this setup on them. It's hard to take the moral out of this story. I'd have said "always buy the higher quality part where the option exists" but the part they sold SHOULD be fit for purpose. It shouldn't fail like that. And for the guy at ECP to be so uninterested is - terrible. I think you took the right course of action - get the refend then escalate your complaint. Also seems relevant and on topic but read Volkswizards project VR6 'blog' here: http://www.volkswizard.co.uk/carsforsale/n817byb.htm Scroll down to the update on 27/5/13 - about ECP, supplying the wrong parts consistently and basically fobbing the guy off. Insanity because he's a trader / dealer and would be buying parts on a regular basis for servicing cars but clearly they don't give a damn about his custom either. And that is basically what you're up against.

Thanks mate. Tempest and I are going to have an initial look at trying to treat some of the rust, over at his place in the next week or so. Might help take the pressure off a little in the mean time. I also cancelled the respray with the body shop!

If you're using the 12 point star nut, you don't fit the washer. You only fit it with the 6 sided bolt type CV joints I believe!

Some good thoughts in this thread - it's appreciated, and I think only galvanises my thoughts. Sinking 3k into a respray would be lunacy. I may do some investigation over the coming weeks on just - keeping the rust at bay and now just accepting that my car isn't going to ever be some kind of show car ever again. I think I can live with that and am just happy enough with having one as a cool, unusual daily driver! And thanks for the info Hatton VR6 - information on that bodyshop would be useful! :)

I think I will cancel the original place and see about options to just treat the rust to keep it running longer. Thing with dumping 3k on a respray.. The car isn't getting any younger (about 700 miles shy of 190k!!) and who knows what engine issues are just round the corner. I could blow the respray money and end up needing engine work a month later.

Well I went to the body shop. It was a bit of a crushing experience if I'm honest. The chap who went round my car with me was really helpful and genuinely seemed enthusiastic about having something different to the normal bread and butter in to work on - they do get nice things in (seem to do a lot of work for Porsche and so forth so confident in their ability, etc) but largely deal with minor repairs for Peugeot and so forth. Anyway - my car was parked up in the sun and it looked awful. The passenger side was a complete state in direct sunlight - the drivers door was the wrong colour green (never noticed this in 3 years of ownership), the rust looked terrible, baked on polish I'd not managed to get off after trying to polish the car this weekend gone when it was SCORCHING - and he went around and pointed out areas where there was substantial filler under the paint, something I'd not appreciated. He reckoned the passenger side wing is beyond repair, and everything else is do-able - but essentially it needs a full respray. £3000. Honestly? I just don't know that I care enough about the Corrado to sort this out. It's no secret I'm stepping down as Sprinter editor at the next AGM, I've actually been to only one show this year (Stanford) and have no real intentions of going to any others. I just don't think I want to spend that kind of money on the car. I booked it in anyway for start of September but I almost immediately wanted to call up and cancel it after leaving. I'm really, really stuck and I don't know what to do. If I sell the car I'll always feel guilty for letting a Corrado run into decline and not fixing it after YEARS of watching folks do the same on the forum and thinking "I'd never do that.." and I don't doubt I'll miss it. But 3k + whatever I could get for my car as a project for someone (an easy grand?) would buy me something very decent. Or pretty much get me onto the property ladder with the other savings I have. Help :(

Jesus! Not something you'd want to happen at speed! Was it the GKN CV joint you fitted or a different brand?

Damn that looks clean. And LHD is no major biggie... driven a friends LHD Corrado over here a few times and never found it a major headache apart from at car parks and stuff with the barrier on the wrong side :)

That's some great and reassuring advice Judith. Thanks - it's much appreciated. Mine is a daily - I don't want or need it to be a show car. I'm not fastidious enough to be able to detect a 'bad' paintjob to be honest so it just needs to look nice - not MINT. The side door trims I'd probably look to remove when the car was done as I've always hated how they look on the Corrado! Does make me more vulnerable to parking dings but I'll just be sure to park further away from the masses in car parks ;)

Yeah - if you're on about the Peter Russek VR6 book I'd say it looks fairly essential if you're doing rebuild work like what you're doing!

The scraper seals came with the car when I bought it 3 years ago. The previous owner had intended to get the car painted back then so had started to accumulate parts but decided to chuck them in when I bought the car. I then had every intention of getting it painted but just... money, life, other priorities etc just kept getting in the way. I hung onto them as I knew if I kept the car long term it would need paintwork, and that they'd come in handy eventually.

Indeed. I have no intentions of letting them go anywhere - apart from on my own car.