corrado33

Perfect, thanks for the information. Pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. Unfortunately the only thing I have is a front strut bar. (Came with the car and looks pretty.)

Car is already OBD2. We did that a couple years after I bought the car. In a crazy weekend my brother (the mechanic) pulled apart 3 VR6s and made 2 working OBD2 corrados and one random parts engine. He then drove 6 hours home the next day (in one of the cars he pieced together) with the front bumper literally strapped to the roof of his car. Fun times. I've read that it's not worth trying to find the Schrick VGI and the stock manifold is already pretty good? Or too complicated to replicate, I forget which. Eh, personally I think the car is just a tiny bit too slow stock. Maybe... maybe if the car had come with 225 HP stock it would be good enough to be left alone, but it's just not... "fast enough" to be anything special. That said, its stats say otherwise, but in the modern day, it's nothing more than a slightly quick go-cart when compared to modern equivalents. The car already has some of the mods you mention. The car has monte carlo rims and good coilovers. Corrado brakes are already pretty good for the size of the car, and I'm unsure if I'd want to change them. Unacceptable. No but really one of the best parts about that engine is the noise. I'd rather go turbo if it meant keeping the noise relatively unchanged even if it resulted in a slightly more modified engine bay. My corrado has been... surprisingly problem free over the last 18 years, barring wires eventually shorting out for interior things. Nothing has really gone wrong with the drivetrain at all. The car starts and runs easily and doesn't overheat at all. I've been told that my VR6 is "one of the good ones" because of how cool it runs. Even sitting in 100+ degree traffic the car never gets to 230 on the gauge. However, when I refurbish everything, I plan on either A. reinstalling the normal temp thermostat, or B. coming up with some sort of electronically controller "shutter" system to block airflow to the rad so that the car can be allowed to heat when driving on the highway or in cool weather, but still have the additional cooling capacity offered by the lower temp thermostat when needed. (Yes I know that's not how it works, but it does help.) I'll probably just go with solution A, but it depends on what I do with everything else, plus B would block airflow to the condenser as well, and I want to get the AC working again.

I'm going to be rebuilding my 12V VR6 soon and replacing all of the consumable bits and whatnot and I want to know a few things. First off, how much power can a relatively OEM+ (new suspension, etc.) corrado handle and still be comfortably drive-able? I've been in corrados with 400+ HP. I've been in corrados with 700+ HP. These were wonderful cars... but too high maintenance and too much to worry about. (Yes I know I'm exaggerating, but I want to keep the car as stock as possible... just... more power.) So, what amount of power do you think is perfect for corrados? How much power would be good for someone who just want's a "faster than normal" corrado. Is it worth trying to build a NA 12V VR6? My research says they can really only get to ~200 (wheel??) HP. I've read that it takes goobles of money to get a NA 12V VR6 to ~200 HP, when in reality you could just install just about any turbo and get the same power, or much more. I'm not... 100% against a turbo. But it certainly wouldn't be one of those flashy, "rearrange everything in the engine bay and cutaway half the bumper to fit a front mount" builds. Probably a smaller (than normal) turbo hidden as best as possible tuned back to ~300 hp. Basically a sleeper build. I want to build a corrado that for all intents and purposes, looks stock, but is faster, more powerful, and better handling. Basically what we all wish the corrado was.

I've read the whole gambit from "Corrados are stiff" to "Corrados are flexy," so I figured I'd come here and ask. What are all of your opinions on aftermarket sway bars? What about strut bars? In my research so far I've read the following: Front struts are very close to the firewall, so the strut bar up there isn't super useful as it's already pretty stiff. Front sway bars, on the other hand, can certainly help improve grip if the car is pushed (say... around a track). Rear struts are in the middle of nowhere, and the corrado has a much larger opening than modern cars do, therefore a rear strut bar could (theoretically) be useful. Corrados aren't as stiff as we all think. (At least compared to modern cars.) If you jack up the car the door on that side is difficult to open, meaning there is certainly SOME flex. I've also heard (second hand, so I'm unsure of its authenticity), that the rear strut bar for corrados is ugly and/or takes up a lot of room. A quick google search shows a MASSIVE, multi link rear strut bar, and or a very simple top bar only setup. What I DON'T see, however, is the rear shelf plastic mount side things, or the rear shelf in any car with the rear strut bar installed. So what are all of your thoughts?

Doubtful. It'd be more fun to put it in a longitudinal AWD conversion anyway, plus that would help with weight distribution. I just thought it'd be cool if it were near identical to the VR6, just... longer, therefore everything for the VR6 would just bolt right on (ignoring things like fuel rails and the like.)

It was weird though, when I was checking out every item had a warning "This item only ships to these countries" with a link, and behind the link was a list of nothing. So I just took a chance and ordered stuff. I got a shipping notification yesterday so apparently the US was one of those countries.

I always thought that if this was possible... it'd be supremely badass. You know how they make VR8 heads for the W16s in various bugatti cars? Anyone ever try to make a single VR8 out of it? As in just an extended VR6? Would it even be possible? Obviously the hardest part would be well... MAKING the VR8 block... considering they don't exist. But... COULD it exist? Could one be custom made? Would a VR8 work balance wise? Just spitballing here. I wonder what such an engine would perform like.

I was thinking of the 2.8l 24V in the old R32s, not the 3.2 in the newer ones. Can the 2.8 24V really make 280 BHP just after a chip tune? The main advantage I've seen of the 24V over the 12V is variable cam timing and the 6-speed. While the timing is nice, the 6-speed CAN be mounted to a 12V... you just have to order the bell housing special order from germany... and it's about a grand IIRC. (My brother's rado has a 12V VRT mounted to a 6 speed.)

Yep, heritage is apparently selling in the states, cause I just ordered a crap ton of parts (seals and the like) so I can make the rado new again this spring. (I also ordered the chrome w/ black background badge.)

Na when I googled I found replacement corrado strikers so I just ordered those. Plus they're made out of... better materials so I shouldn't ever have to do it again.

Yeah the mechanism works perfectly fine. I can operate it with my fingers very easily (as I usually do when removing/installing my door cards so I can "lock" the door and have the lock pin screw thing out of the way. It just takes a lot of travel to actually get the door handle to "open" the mechanism, even when the mechanism has been operated with my fingers (and therefore the door is actually open... but the mechanism is closed.) I think you are right that it's a striker problem. I just ordered a set, but I probably won't bother fixing it until this spring. Thanks.

You mean the 24V VR6 over the 12V? Why? They're pretty much the same engine and can usually be substituted for each other if you REALLY wish, but there really is no point considering the MINOR jump in power that can be made up for in a number of other ways. Besides... 12Vs are so much cooler (and easier to work on.) And they sound better IMO.

Is there a fix for door handles that are nearly impossible to open? I'm not yanking on them cause I don't want them to break,(I'm doing the "thumb plant over lock cylinder then use fingers to pull... technique) but it seems that over the years my car door has gotten harder and harder to open, now to the point where nobody can open the car except me. Is there a reason for this? Can I fix it?

When I bought my car many years ago, the rear VW badge had been "shaved." Eh, now that the bondo filling that hole is starting to come out, I'm debating just buying a rear VW badge and replacing it back to stock when I get the car repainted. So, my question is this. What was the default color for the rear badge on satin silver rados? From pictures online, it LOOKS to be chrome with a black background... or black with a black background. I've found both and I'm unsure. Anyone know?

My corrado has been good to me, but as it gets older, more and more things have been blowing fuses. First it was the infamous fuse #14 which controls freaking everything from power windows to interior lighting and whatever else, then it was the fuse for the spoiler... then it was the fuse for the rear defroster, then it was the seat belt fuses, etc. etc. etc. Now, I know that some of these things are blowing for good reason. Gummed up motors, etc. but some aren't. The rear defroster fuse should not be blowing when I turn on the rear defroster. I'm guessing the wiring is shorted somewhere. I'm tired of it. I've finally secured a good job and this spring/summer I'm going to tear the rado apart and build myself a new wiring harness. It's worth noting that I've had this car down to a shell before (at least on the interior), and when I did so I rewrapped all of the wiring harness with nice harness wrapping tape, but I guess the old wires have finally caught up with me. I'm unsure if I'll use harness wrapping tape again. I know for sure I'm going to use something with a bit more protection in the pinch points (door jams, etc.) Likely some plastic wire loom (yes, it's ugly, but it'll be hidden, and it'll protect a hell of a lot better than just a bit of tape.) So my questions are this. Has anyone ever done this? Anyone know all of the wire/striped color combinations for all of the wiring? (Aka what colors do I need to buy?) How much wire (roughly) do you think I'd need to do this? A secondary reason for doing this is so I have an excuse to take EVERYTHING down to nothing and make sure EVERYTHING works and will work for the life of the car. At this point, I'm restoring this car. I've had it for 17 years, and the last few up in the brutal winters of canada haven't been kind to it. I also want to do some other repairs/upgrades while it's apart (like better seat heaters.... can't even feel mine anymore despite the relay 100% kicking on when I turn it on.) I do plan on re-using the connectors... for obvious reasons... no way in hell I'm sourcing all of those. That said, I do have a few donor harnesses from other VAG products from a similar year (even most of a Rado harness and fuse box), so I'll be able to scavenge connectors off of those if I break one. That said, anyone know if the metal inserts inside of the connectors are standardized in any way? (And by that I mean "are all of the connectors on the wiring harness the same style?") I'd love to replace all of the metal inserts inside of the connectors... That way I don't have to worry about destroying them when I pull them apart. Anyway, any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Worth noting that if the bottoms fall/break off of the strap, you can just slip a washer over the top of the strap (the looped part), then feed the entire thing UP through the parcel shelf. They're marginally shorter, so they stretch a bit more, but it seems to work fine. Both of mine have been like this for 10+ years.

That.... is a good idea. ha I'll ask him.

You are correct. He said that the speedo was only 4-5 mph off. He REALLY wanted me to take a look at the tach, cause apparently that's off as well? But the tach signal comes from the ECU so if I had to guess, I'd say it's likely just a varied voltage as that's much easier to generate than a specific frequency.

It's worth nothing the OTHER reason why the switch is hot. VW decided that it'd be a good idea to run the wiring for the lights.... a very high current device, literally through the switch. No relay, nothing. Just big ass wires going to and from the switch. If you know anything about electronics, this is a REALLY.... REALLY dumb idea. The way to fix this is to put relays before the lights in the engine bay of the car (and then insulate those relays from the elements.) This accomplishes two things. 1: No more high currents going through your headlight switch meaning there isn't any chance the switch/wiring will heat up/catch on fire (because that happens...) and 2: Slightly brighter lights since the lights are now being fed by a relatively shorter wire coming straight from the battery. (Long wires have a decent amount of resistance...)

So as most of us probably know, the rado came with a few different types of instrument clusters. Some of them had a max speed of 140 mph... some of them (likely from the UK) had a max speed of 160 mph. While I have no intention of switching the cluster in my car, my brother who has built a VRT rado with 700 HP wants to use the 160 mph version (for obvious reasons), but obviously it's not plug and play with the normal 140 mph cluster cars. (At least I don't think so, even if it is, I still want an answer to my question.) So being the electronics nerd I am, I've been tasked with building a little converter to make the 160 mph version accurate in a 140 mph cluster car... with no extra steps (other than plugging/soldering my adapter box in.) At first I thought, "Meh, it's probably just varying the voltage which translates to a certain mph using a map in a ROM somewhere." Yeah, I was wrong. I stuck a voltmeter on the speed sensor wire on the back of the speedo (white wire according to the bentley) and connected the black voltmeter wire to the the grounding block behind and to the left of the cluster, and while the voltage DID change... it was very erratic. It seemingly went to 2.6-2.8 V while you were moving... and with no real pattern. It didn't increase when I went faster, and it didn't decrease when I went slower. Even more interestingly, the white wire would either go to 0V OR it would go to 5.3V when stopped. And it would do so interchangeably. So if I stopped at a stop sign, it'd drop to 0V, then I'd start moving again, then stop at the next stop sign, and it'd go to 5.3V, next stop sign, 0V, next stop sign, 5.3V. So... obviously this isn't voltage. It can't be current or resistance either as that would still have shown to be relatively normal behavior in relation with Ohm's law. Although it COULD still be these just with the tiniest of ranges, but I doubt it. I suppose it could also act like a PWM signal and change the duty cycle, but that'd show up in a cursory voltage measurement. Anyway, so if it isn't voltage, current, or resistance... then I suppose it could be either one of two things.... frequency.... which I find likely considering the look of the speed sensor itself, or actual digital data communication. I find the latter unlikely as it's too complicated for cars this old, although the 0V or 5V behavior has me worried that it may be. So if anybody actually knows what kind of data the speed sensor outputs, then I'd be happy to learn. If anybody has a speed sensor handy (aka not installed in the car) and wants to attach a multimeter to the terminals while spinning the sensor with a drill or something, I'd be very grateful. Also, while the manual transmission kind seems to be... well... physically activated, the auto trans types seem to be a hall sensor (since they're completely sealed and don't physically interact with the transmission at all.) I would imagine these would HAVE to work by outputting a pulse for very pass (and therefore a variable frequency for the speed.) Anyway, any help is appreciated. EDIT: On second thought, it's almost definitely frequency. Since when moving the voltage is ~2.68V and the maxes are either 0V or 5.3V, it's almost definitely just frequency and I just got lucky with it stopping on 0V and 5.3V interchangeably. With it just being frequency the voltage when moving will ALWAYS stay at 2.65V or so since the on period and off period are likely roughly equal and both are reduced when frequency goes up. Oh and for how I plan to adapt it? Well, while I am an electronics nerd, I'm not an electrical engineer. I'd probably just program a little atmel microcontroller to input the frequency or whatever from the sensor, then output the "corrected" signal on another pin according to a "table" stored in memory. If I'm lucky.... the speedo will work on a linear relationship with the speed sensor, so I could just use some math and an equation. But if it's not linear, then I'd probably have to use a table as performing complex mathematical equations on the microcontroller every 100th or 1000th of a second isn't the easiest thing to do. Regardless, I'd also make it have a few calibration pots, and maybe even make it fancy and give it a little USB interface so it could be programmed from a computer with putty or something. If I were to get fancy with it, then it could become universal and not just for corrados... which is attractive. Oh and if I made it adjustable like this then we could print out own speedo backing plates and just use this to make the needle accurate to it.

I don't know if my Rado is special or not, but it has never once left me stranded.... anywhere. Sure, I've had issues occasionally, like my window fuse blowing in the middle of a 106 degree DC summer... then I had to park and roll the windows up (with the key), and I subsequently had to drive home 2 hours in 106 degree heat with no windows and no AC. (That was a hot day.) But really, my corrado has been super... super reliable. (Knocks on wood.)

Inspired by Philly-R6's comment above, I've tried to think of a few things one could put inside the "empty" switch bays on each switch. Some Ideas; Central Locking Cruise control speed up/cruise control speed down I'm unsure how the ecode light "motors" work, but those buttons could control the motors if need be. Ignition shut off switch (relayed of course.) Seat belt release for people who don't know about the rado moving seatbelts and will inevitably hit their head... Oil Slick Rockets Passenger ejection seat Camouflage

Do it!!! That'd be awesome. I'd love to see it.

I did BRIEFLY look at my heated seat switch. The lamp is NOT LED, unfortunately, it's another one of those tiny incandescents. It actually looks to be identical to the white ones in the switches above, but it's tinted green. Honestly even non-wide dispersion LEDs are bound to be brighter than those bulbs, so I'd stick one in there just to see what happens if yours is broken.

While I'm not entirely familiar with the old (early) style, all of the lamps in the interior of the rado are incandescents. Meaning they burn out eventually. Luckily, they still sell them because they were still used on audis for years to come after the rado was done. If it's not lighting up at all, but your other interior lights are (like the ones for the aux. gauges or door mirror adjust knob) this is likely your problem. If you WANT them to light up brighter, you can likely find an LED replacement for the bulb (post a pic here and we'll help you) and it'll be a bit brighter, but it likely won't match the reset of the lights.