Jim

In terms of original Corrado ones.. no, you can only do DIY tinting I'm afraid! :(

I thought a little update about the fleet would be in order. I spent a lot of time trying to work out what I wanted to do for my next car. I'd initially imagined I was going to get something like a late 90's BMW 5 series as I've always been partial to German barges. Then I came to the conclusion I'd probably be no better off running one of those compared to just driving the VR - fuel economy would be equally dire, I was sure it'd need fixing just as much, tax would be as expensive, etc etc. I pondered the idea then leasing something new and small. Cheap tax, cheap insurance, good fuel economy. But I hated the fact I'd be paying over say 2 or 3 years and have nothing to show for it in the end as I'd have to hand the car back! I finally settled on just buying something nearly new and still small / economical. I looked at the usual stuff - Ford Fiesta's, Polo's, etc. None of them interested me much. And then I thought about the Fiat 500 which I've always liked. I found a 6 month old example just near me at a dealership with only 777 miles on the clock at the right sort of price and after a test drive was really happy so did the deal. Have had it a few weeks now and already doubled the mileage. It's the newest car I've ever owned by far and I have to say 50MPG, ride quality, £30 tax and insurance at less than £300 is just fantastic. I did a 240 mile round trip last weekend and felt just as fresh as I do whenever I hop out of the Corrado after a long drive. And it's got air conditioning and a USB port so I can just stick a pen drive with MP3's in and go.. It should mean now that my outgoings are predictable and I can start to squirrel away money for the future of the VR - like a respray. The VR is now in the lockup as my weekend car and will most likely go SORN over winter and I'll just put the miles on the Fiat. I'll get a picture or two up when I feel ready to receive a barrage of abuse for driving a Fiat ;)

I might have an old 9A throttle body or two spare in my garage. I'm heading over there this weekend so if you get no updates, I'm happy to dig one out for some pictures for you.

Surprising how elusive these are given how many Corrado's were being broken over the last year or two!

There you go.... :)

Patiently waiting :)

Jesus H... Size? Make? Speed rating?!?!

Hm.. don't recognise it... wonder who's it was?

The rubber ones with chains in should be man enough for the job!

That'd work.. see you there for about.. 8.00am / 8.15am on Sunday morning?

I was going to head down through Oxford as that's a more direct route but I'm willing to entertain detours.. going to cost a fortune in petrol whichever route I take!! :) I could pick you up on the A429 somewhere - like if there is a petrol station or something near Cirencester?

I just find it sad that a company as massive as VW simply can't set aside a shred of their clearly mahoosive profits to try and setup programmes / schemes for people who are enthusiastic about their old cars and trying to keep them on the road. I guess that's what happens when all you care about is answering to shareholders who have very little room for sentimentality and only care about the bottom line.

Cheers, Gareth. Seems a very reasonable price really given the cost of a new one! Another one to get sorted longer term I think.

They look good! Nice garage too!!

I'm looking to drive down to this, early, from Warwickshire. Anyone fancy convoying or meeting up on the way? :)

Do you mind divulging what it cost you? Might help give some of us who are debating whether to go for it or not an idea! :)

Cheers Kev - was hoping you'd spot the thread. I'm quite keen on the idea of doing tappets but was steered away from it by garages as they suggest it would most likely be a fruitless exercise. It's not a mega expensive exercise though so I'm quite keen to do it but it's a fair wedge outside of my skill range I think...

Regarding this thread from 2003... http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?3520-Lower-Timing-Chain-Tensioner-VR6 I've asked a few places about it now and now have a thread running on VW Vortex about noise I get from my engine. It's a ticking / tapping / fluttering noise that seems to occur beyond about 2000RPM and then comes and goes higher up in the rev band. Traditionally used to quieten down a little after an oil change but it does seem to be getting worse. I'd ruled out anything to do with chains or tensioners because I know they've been done in the past AND the noise seems to come from the other side of the block... However.. just been advised on Vortex that it might be worth doing as described on page #2 by Mr PhatVR6... is it as straightforward as it sounds? Can I simply remove that bolt, submerse in oil and follow the bleed procedure and reinsert? Kev - did you ever get around to doing this on your engine? I've had comments that my engine is just "noisy because it's old" which I do accept.. but frankly the noise is driving me crazy. It drives beautifully and pulls like a train but this noise is like having something gnawing away at me every time I drive it and there's obviously a reason for it. I need to get to the bottom of it. Anyone? Vortex thread is here if anyone is interested also -> http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5423249-Odd-noise-from-VR6-%28not-chains..%29

And the worst thing with those kinds of situations is that the driver at fault, then usually gets incredibly defensive or aggressive.. no doubt he was glaring at you or even beeped for having the tenacity to want to turn into an entrance, and because he wasn't paying attention! As you say, standard of driving is getting worse and worse and the biggest problem is people simply not accepting they're at fault - it's always someone elses problem!

Sounds like a decent car if that's all that needs looking at!

I'd imagine you'd get quite a few takers for that!

Fancy writing up a how-to guide when you, inevitably, do this install on your new motor? :)

The price looks more ridiculous these days when you can get cams and a remap for half the price and achieve similar if not better levels of performance!

It's better because you don't have to remove it to swap spark plugs - which you do need to do with a Schrick! And it's just a nice desirable piece of original kit :) I think any performance difference between the two is negligable.

Wish these weren't so desirable. Sadly the price to performance calculation just doesn't add up and would just want one of these for the originality / OEM+ / rarity factor!