oneohtwo

Ohh yes, sorry I missed you said G60. I don't know if the OEM fan motor is the same for the G60 as the VR, but it has a smaller radiator doesn't it, so I am guessing it is different? In which case the resistors I have used might not be appropriate. Not sure how it would work without the FCM as well. Likewise unsure about the manual override. Sorry, not the most helpful post, I am not too familiar with the G60 I'm afraid!

All still appears to be functioning well. No issues thus far, fans always come on and temps are kept in check. I drove to Stealth on that hottest day of the year in the middle of the heatwave and they just about kept the water temp below 110 when driving slowly. There are a couple of things I would do slightly differently if I were to repeat: 1) Find a neater way to mount the resistors and plug mounting. The resistors are tucked down the side between the battery and headlight, but it doesn't look the neatest. And where I have the plug housing I can't get the battery out without removing the fan housing, which means removing the front end. Not ideal. The Varta batteries are slightly oversized for the tray so may not be an issue with a normal sized battery. 2) I'd possibly wire speed 1 through a single bigger resistor just to neaten up the wiring. Not a big issue either way though. I quite like this setup because it replicates the OEM exactly, and all 3 speeds work as per the original. Mounting the resistors is a bit of a pain though so it's not quite as simple as the Humble Mechanic setup that ABV posted, but with my car I would rather have both fans coming on for speed 1 on balance.

Missed this before, that's absolutely gutting and a worst nightmare. It's definitely a fear I had living in London. Has there been any news?

Yeah you're right, there isn't really any difference between it and a 40 year old car. I use the car on occasional weekends and trips away. It's not a daily commuter or shopping car and to go to the shops I can either walk or use public transport, but London is very well connected so this makes sense. But yeah, an annoying extra cost and also admin, especially if in a hurry - easy to forget to do and land yourself with a fine. But I can live with it and not sell the car! That's a relief. Interesting documentary, although felt it was somewhat lacking and potentially misleading in the bit about the hybrids. For instance there was no attempt to address why the hybrid's engines emitted more VOCs than the diesels and nor was there a direct comparison to the other petrol engine. (They only mentioned briefly that the petrol was also worse than the diesel). After all these are still ICEs that are being tested - they hybrids are obviously not emitting the VOCs from the electric motors, so what's the difference? Is it that they smaller engines working harder - and if so, is this likely to also be the case with other smaller non-hybrid cars. And they didn't offer a comparison for overall levels of pollutants: is the increase in VOCs offset by a massive reduction in other pollutants, nor did they say what the level of difference in the VOCs was? And then in real world conditions is there a difference over the length of a journey? The hybrid will in part be running on electric motors but the diesel won't so how does that affect things? I think it raises more questions than it answers. Not to say there aren't necessarily issues around these things. I believe I have read that plug in hybrids are particularly bad because nobody bothers to plug them in, so they are just thrashing about on the tiny range extender engine instead. But that's more user error. And the bit about battery life is spot on, there's no second hand market for these cars unless you can replace the battery; it's just pointless.

As I say I don't necessarily oppose it or agree with that characterisation of Mr Khan generally, but it is a shame there's no room for people like us whose cars aren't yet 40 years old and historic but still represents more of a hobby or passion than a means of transport. However, looking into it a bit further I may have the wrong end of the stick. I can't quite confirm but it might be that you only pay the charge if you drive the car, not just how long it is in the ULEZ which would seem more reasonable, and probably an acceptable trade off.

Is anyone else going to be affected by the probably expansion of the ULEZ in 2023 to cover the whole of Greater London? I have only just discovered the plans in place to expand it. I am on the fringe of it at the moment, but if (as seems likely) it goes ahead I'll be well inside. It will probably mean I have to sell the car as £4 grand a year isn't really justifiable or affordable, which is more than a bit gutting. I don't necessarily disagree with expanding the scheme, and the Corrado is always looking more of an anachronism day by day, but it's still a massive personal project and labour of love with huge sentimental value that it's a massive kick in the teeth. I've only really just got the engine where I want it as well, and still had plenty of plans. I've had it 12 years and if I am honest I couldn't ever see myself selling it, but would keep it alongside a more modern daily eventually (plus classic car collection... we can but dream!) The only other option as far as I can see is to tell the gf we have to move house!

The default idle on VCDS should be 720/680 (it flicks between the two), this is the accurate value and reads higher than the dash, which would show 500-600 for this. Vince upped the idle on mine with the remap as well (he said they do it as standard as it runs a bit better) so I can check what mine reads on VCDS at the weekend if I get a chance and see how it compares.

Yep, it's like the Albert Hall in there now! I think those speakers have probably been like since I had the car. But in true Corrado fashion, you finish one job and another, bigger job presents itself. After fitting the dash speakers I went to swap a broken fuel line clip from the underside of the car. Got some new plastic ones and tried to leaver the old one off. About half way through I realised I wasn't pulling the plastic clip off but the body shell around the metal pin had rusted and I was actually pulling the metal away. I stopped, but there is essentially now a small hole in the floor pan. Bah. I'll have to leave it for a minute, but it's not one I can solve. Will need a body shop to look at that.

This is what I have done for the driver's side in the end: I have enlarged the holes in the speaker tabs so the speaker grill tabs slot through them: Second pic shows where they slot though. Had to trim off the ends of one as it doesn't quite align with the tab, but this allows the speaker to sit centrally in the hole. The 4th tab is left untouched as it is well away from anything. Then on the reverse of the speaker I sanded down the speaker tabs so that they were the same height as the spacers on the speaker grill. The speaker then drops into the hole and the cover slots in over it and secures it in place: Not a great picture as it was dark by the time I was able to fit it as had spent all day decorating. Apparently house jobs are more important than Corrado jobs. News to me! Haven't quite got it properly aligned here, but the tabs slotted into place fine and it all works. I'm sure audiophiles won't love it as the speaker isn't very isolated from the surround, but it sounds fine to my ears, and I think it's quite a neat solution. Just need to do the passenger side now.

Absolutely stunning, well done! Lovely feeling when the engine cranks into life first time.

Got around to repairing the tabs on the parcel shelf mounts and refitted with new speakers last weekend. The old speakers were absolutely shot: No wonder the sound quality was awful! Such a difference. I have the front dash replacements, which I need to fit, but I almost think it doesn't need them. It's also a really nice feeling knowing all the plastic trim is in good shape, fitted how it should be and secured with all the right screws. And not jammed into place and broken by some heavy handed spanner monkey. Also found there's a slot for the seatbelt covers to slot into. Nice to have those properly secure and not rattling around! Another small job completed, gradually ticking them off.

Got around to repairing the tabs on the parcel shelf mounts and refitted with new speakers last weekend. The old speakers were absolutely shot: <img src="https://am3pap007files.storage.live.com/y4mKrtIW3IwnMvVqbvw8FpuU5d-eWuGvQVyQCRmg02-Dq0ykucaZ1MEujslOOO0RsvNEoyFaheCvMEwp_HzSNU67ThdLQsWksplVLdfOd9ZPjCxfDVQln9yLUBix9eRvFhjdHsq2V97bHo1f1N66tP36FGes5YeNBs7b9UXUZfPqGScrISohuJZGHVMlyo7jt0O?width=371&height=660&cropmode=none" width="371" height="660" /> No wonder the sound quality was awful! Such a difference. I have the front dash replacements, which I need to fit, but I almost think it doesn't need them. It's also a really nice feeling knowing all the plastic trim is in good shape, fitted how it should be and secured with all the right screws. And not jammed into place and broken by some heavy handed spanner monkey. Also found there's a slot for the seatbelt covers to slot into. Nice to have those properly secure and not rattling around! Another small job completed, gradually ticking them off.

That's a really nice, neat job. Something I really need to do. Every time I open the bonnet the old stuff is shedding itself all over the engine. What did you use to remove the glue of the old stuff?

Ready mixed G13 for me as well. Found there was too much confusion over whether you should use de-ionised, demineralised or distilled water, so gave up. Plus keeping a few bottles handy if you need to top up avoids having to use tap water.

It's a good question. My thought with these is it is probably not a problem either way - yes the anti-seize will perhaps allow a bit more clamping force to be applied but this equally might be offset by the fact that the threads are now probably a bit grubby. Dirt and corrosion in there is going to mean they are not perfectly smooth like new. Additionally, I don't think these are critically torqued bolts, or torque to yield. Different with, say cylinder head bolts, but given these are pretty hefty bolts and grade 8.8 (if memory serves) it would need a lot of torque to get anywhere near yield. Certainly more than the 80Nm odd for these. So you may get some additional clamping force, but in this application - does it matter? Probably not. I imagine there is some tolerance in there from VW as well, acknowledging the fact that torque wrenches may not all be calibrated the same and conditions will vary. On balance I'd rather be able to get the bolt out than have it rust itself in. As for the clunk MJA, I wish I could offer something but I've got no idea. I know how frustrating it is when you have an ongoing, intermittent and seemingly unsolvable problem. It did sound like the brakes were the issue - is it definitely coming from the front? Nothing to do with the rear brakes/handbrake not releasing properly? I imagine you've had a look there already but wasn't sure from the thread if it was just the fronts you looked at.

Thanks, that would be helpful! My current thinking is to either remove 1 tab so it fits in the recess and use the grill to clamp the other three. Or remove two tabs and then expand the holes in the other two tabs to slot the grill lugs through, clamping it again.

I just did a test fit on mine and they drop in OK without being tight. Wonder if there was a slight change to the dash at some point? I noticed my tweeters are Phillips not Nokia. But they are fairly loos, so got to find a way to keep them secure. Bit more thinking required.

Hmm. Sounds like this will need some further thought. Dox posted a picture in a Parts Wanted thread of some factory fit tweeters with metal clips and I initially thought these could just be repurposed for the Alpines, perhaps using the additional ring that came in the box. However, my tweeters have plastic clips moulded to the housing. Think I need to get the tweeters out to do a good side by side comparison with the Alpines. Like you I don't really want to go hacking out the dash. I think Cressa has fitted these in the dash as well, so might have done something different.

I've got these and was just pondering how to secure them once you cut the 4 screw ears off? How did you do it? The factory tweeter housing has plastic clips on the side, but I can't see how you could reuse those... Need to sort out the wire splice as well which is a pain.

True that as well. I replaced mine with felt some years ago - worth doing.

Yeah, it seems mad it didn't. The Corrado cabin always seems to get unpleasantly warm, even when it is fairly mild outside. Small space with a large glass windscreen I guess, plus there seems to be a lot of heat transfer from the exhaust through the central tunnel. I don't know too much about Air Con, so can't really help with that, but a couple of things did occur to me in general - 1 the air being blown through vents (without aircon) always seems to end up quite warm even if it's coolish outside. Either, I think, it is the hot air from the engine bay that is sucked in through the vent because the engine bay doesn't vent that hot air very well, or, even though it doesn't pass through the heater matrix, the level of heat in the cooling system means the air box just warms up in general, so will warm any passing air. Perhaps either of those things lessen the effectiveness of your aircon?

Sorry yes, should explain! The cables should be fine, it's the usb plug on the laptop that needs adjusting. Assuming it is Windows 10 you need to open the Device Manager (easy enough to search for it in the search bar next to the windows button). Then you need to look for "Ports (COM & LPT)" in the long list. As an added complication it might be hidden so go to the menus at the top: View - Show Hidden Devices. Once Ports is visible click on the arrow next to it to see a list of USB ports "USB Serial Port (COM...)" and whichever one you have plugged your VCDS cable into should be visible. Right click on it and select Properties, then the "Port Settings" tab at the top, then click on Advanced. A settings box should pop up and there is an option for Latency Time (msec). Select a lower number for this. I put mine to 5 and it seemed to work with VCDS ok. I had a valve fitted recently, but don't know the size. It hasn't made any difference that I can tell so I am not sure I'd bother... the only thing it did do was leak fuel everywhere at the new joint!

I think it improved things, although I can't exactly remember. I definitely didn't break down again after but I don't think the engine ran brilliantly still. What you've described there sounds quite similar to the issue I had recently where it was idling really badly. Have you reset done the ECU reset? Mine seemed to just sort itself out after a while, which was a bit odd. Also not sure if you know but to get it to scan the ABS properly you need to drop the latency on your USB port.

This was the thread to the crank sensor issue if you're interested: M25 Breakdown - Engine Bay - The Corrado Forum (the-corrado.net) Funny how the memory works, we actually came to a complete stop and I turned the engine off but it wouldn't turn on and I had to push the car onto the hard shoulder.

I changed mine due to some odd running issues at the time. This was all before the engine rebuild. The engine had cut out on the M25 - it was a very hot day and the traffic had slowed due to an incident further up. From memory the revs suddenly started dying/hunting so I made it to the hard shoulder, but it wouldn't start again. I seem to remember having to avoid a fire engine barrelling down the hard shoulder as I limped over! The car did eventually start again after half an hour, so quite possibly was heat related rather than anything. But they were some rough running issues generally as well and someone on here suggested swapping the sensor out. It wasn't long after that though I rolled it into the garage and commenced the rebuild as I could hear the chains rattling, so I can't really say if it fixed anything. There should be a post on here about it somewhere. Maybe even in my thread. I got a Valeo one from Autodoc I think.