Tempest

Supercharged: I know the answer!! What can I win? Erm daily drivers: Well the Mk1 Rocco arrived when my daily driver was a breadvan Polo. Needless to say the Mk1 was designated for shows and special events only, apart from the occasional blast, but never to work, as on the work car park there are simply too many tw*ts that would happily sign their sh*tty contract paperwork on the roof of your car (yes, it's one of those posh business centres and conference centres, so lots of importatnt suits walking around, who drive Rovers and Jags, and don't give a monkeys about your pride and joy). The I was intending to replace the very boring indeed Polo with a Mk2 Rocco. Unfotunately it was to be a Storm, which after 2 weeks I realised was too good and rare as a daily banger. So that became my 2nd toy car, undergoing mods etc. at my own pace. Then a Mk3 Goof (sensible this time, I know) was to replace the Polo, until a German mate of mine handed over the keys to his G60 Rado for 3 days whilst over in Germany. Yup, within less than 2 months I had a G60-Rado, but alas again, it was kind of special, in that it was a US-spec model with all the toys and gubbins. Ultimately this was getting ridiculous, the Polo went, and I kept on wlking to work instead. That's more relaxing anyway, clears the mind (inhale the fumes of all those morons sitting in Coventry's lovely traffic jams, aagrressive and all, listening to sh*tty radio stations :lol:), saves loads of money, and I don't have to put miles on any of my now 3 toy cars in stop-and-go-traffic :-) There's nothing nicer then taking the Rado out at night in Coventry and surrounding villages for a nice little cruise :-) Tempest

Have a look here for some more piccies: http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29861 Hope you can still rescue the drivers front wing ... :cry: Tempest

Tiiiiiimmmmmmmmyyyyyyy!!!!! is all I have to say, when looking at those piccies :-) Welcome to the Corradoforum, Sean :-) Yes, those piccies bring back the memories, shame it all went that quickly. Next big meet will now be the Roadstar meet over in the Netherlands again, but that's not until May 2006 ... I would like to point out that the piccie of me and that shopping trolley :lol: does not only contain stuff for me :roll: :lol: Still need to watch and then duplicate Zoran's DVD containing allegedly some interesting material :lol: Tempest

Yeah, that's what made me leave it to the experts, too, as it was and still is my only charger :roll: Tempest

Yes, with naturally aspirated engines you can use the K&N panel filters, or even the Pipercross ones (I have one of those in both my Roccos). Drilling the airfilter box gives a nice induction roar, but be careful where you place those holes, as you don't want to suck in hot engine bay air ;-) I haven't drilled my airfilter boxes in my Roccos, BTW :roll: Tempest

Oh well, anything to get the (stupid) readers in, the more they sell of their newspaper, the better; that's all that counts, never mind the truth/facts etc. :lol: Tempest

Yes, have to admit, I too was and still am very happy with Darren's work on mine. Back in October last year I started noticing some rather worrying oil leaks past the sieve that I have fitted as a precaution in the boost pipe leading oto the intercooler. End of November I took my Rado down to Darren, who, poor sod, had to spend 2 hours to undo 2 b*stard Allen bolts that immediately rounded off, to get the charger out, before he could even begin his work. Still only charged me his usual fee for removal, glad I didn't do that one mysefl (as I was toying with the idea, but I also liked to look the boys over their shoulders, which you're not allowed in many places :-) ). Darren identified the cause for the oil leak in my Jabbasport rebuilt G-Lader: Oil seals on the main shaft had been pressed in too far :-( Caught just in time, before something more serious would have happened. He the also replaced the oil feed line, and all was well again, for me it was also a very informative day, despite having prepared and read up on the subkect in advance, nothing beats actually seeing it. That sounds like so-called piston seal strips or "Meterware", as it's commonly called in German, where you cut off the required length of apex strip off the roll. Needless to say, that this stuff is not the real McCoy, but some cheap nasty stuff that shrinks with heat and time. The original apex strips (either in black - harder wearing, or beige - softer but faster wearing but easier on the actual Lader walls) are precut to length, are of a special material composition that resists heat-induced shrinkage etc. Tempest

Nope, this all dates back to a law back in the 60s, the so-called VW-law, whereby the state of Niedersachsen (yes, that's where Osnabrück is based, too, this state was in actual fact created by the British forces shortly after the 2nd WW) owned a large share of VW. Not a bad idea, as at least the state has an interest in keeping jobs, whereas vulture capitalists (see example of Rover recently) are only interested in short term profits. These VCs would have taken out the best bits from VW (Audi and Skoda) and sold them off for big Bucks, then scrapped the rest, never mind the masses of unemployed that would have created. So far the idealistic version. There is a more rational version, isn't there always? The world is just not full enough of do-gooders :roll: The BBC article picked up on that: Porsche obtains approx. 30% of all the bits and subassemblies for its cars from VW. Now, if VW would be taken over by a VC, then Porsche could well be in deep trouble, if you see what I mean. Apart from that, the model of family-owned businesses, despite all the contrary opinions in the UK and the US, do seem to last longer, see Porsche (majority shareholders are still the Porsche family and Piech, grandson of Porsche, ex-CEO of VW, and rumoured initiator of this strategic take-over) and BMW! Shareholder companies only need to satisfy the short-term needs of its shareholders and VCs, never ever worry about jobs. Tempest

For longevity, and this has been backed up to me by Darren at G-Werks, too, my German mates all use the standard airfilter box and the oem paper filter element, as even the K&N panel filter does not filtrate fine enough for the G-Lader. Unless you like your scroll to look like the moon's surface after some time :lol: I had a K&N and just replaced it with an oem paper filter element, as I value my charger too much ;-) Tempest

Ahhh, toying with the idea of a G60 Rado? Well, if your heart still goes to Roccos as well, why not do an engine transplant :-) Otherwise, yes, G60s are fun (despite my German mate's bad luck string), especially without those graish BK299s featured on that white Rado in Jim's post :lol: Nope, that's not mine, as mine has now got Momo Arrows on :-). Tempest

Yeah, how the hell politicians come up with those ideas, some stupid dumb pedestrian lobby groups "Duh, we don't want to see the traffic when we cross the road, we just want to cross wherever and whenever we like, duh!" probably :roll:

Yes, agreed, the Idea Concept car Karmann presented towards the beginning of the 90s was far more attractive, I thought, although they'll never mkae nice boxy cars like the MK1 Rocco any more :cry: I want corners, not smooth rounded edges and all the windtunnel rubbish. Tempest

This week Europe's largest car show takes place again, the IAA (Internationale Auto Ausstellung) in Frankfurt. i used to go there on a regular basis, when I still lived in D. Anyway, Karmann - for those of you who don't know it yet: You don't drive a VW Corrado, rather than a Karmann Corrado, as Karmann built our Rados :-) -has an interesting concept SUV (OK, why the f*ck did it have to be an SUV, just following the inevitable trend, i guess :roll:). OK, apart from that 452,690 fresh Euros can also buy you a Porsche :roll: Tempest

Yes, I'll gladly support the "Jim get another Rado"-campaign :lol: Well, since a teenager whilst living in Germany I always loved the Mk1 Rocco, especially with a bit of a Rieger bodykit attached to it. After many years I thought I had cured my Rocco-disease (having bought loads of scale models back then, modded them already :lol:, collected mags with articles of the Mk1 Rocco, tuning catalogs, etc), but then at the tender age of 33 I found one sitting in my garage, with custom Rieger bodykit and al :lol: I have never regretted it. Shortly after that I wanted a better daily driver than my Polo breadvan shed. I bumped into a Mk2 Storm Rocco, which within 2 weeks I relaised it was too good to be used as a daily driver shed. The Polo stayed, unsatisfying as it was, leaving the 2 Roccos as Sunday cars, until i decided to get a mk3 Goof as a daily driver, sensible man that I hoped I was :lol: That was just before I visited a mate of mine in germany, who handed over the keys to his G60 Rado for a whopping 3 days :shock:, and yes, I was hooked. This was all deliberately done so :lol: Within a month I had found a US-G60 in Aberdeen, and it was mine. The Polo got sold, the Rado is now my 3rd Sunday car :lol: Since my late teenager days, wehn the Rado came out in Germany, I always liked the styling, the certain similarity to my all-time favourite, the Mk1 Rocco, so I always had a certain weak spot for Rados. Tempest

A frigging mess to use a technical term :lol:, but hey, what have the government got us dumb*ss taxpayers for :lol: To be able to financially afford non-working solutions to their own house-made problems. Ah well, must go into politics then, nice salary for constantly buggering up things :lol: Best of all, it isn't rocket science either. Haven't been to any pump yet, as both my Roccos are fully loaded :-) the Rado is off the road for some more work again (itching fingers again :lol:), so not too worried about it all, as I simply walk into work every day :-) Then again, you wouldn't wnat to drive in Coventry, it's hell! Tempest (Eric)

Oh dear, CNN now eben quoting that gutter press newspaper of all gutter press papers in Germany, Bild :roll: As a cat fan, I must admit I had to laugh :lol: Tempest

What do you think happens if I turn up at the petrol station in my Mk1 Rocco then? :lol: I simply don't care, it make me feel superior over all these normal folks with their dustbins :-) Tempest

That's been my line of argument as well. I just don't get these people. What are they hoping to gain by doing this? 1 week extra petrol over their "competitor" citizens? One week's advantage being able to go to work, the supermarket, bring the kids to school (that's a point: has anyone else noticed that despite the "crisis" those b*stard mommies can still afford to bring their kids to school and clog up the roads every day? Well, petrol prices aren't high enough then ... in my days I had to walk to school ... kids and their luxury today!) as opposed to their "fellow citizens"? Stupid lot, stick 'm in a bag, hit it with a club, and you're bound to hit the right one. I already had an argument with someone like that yesterday :lol: Tempest

Oval Stealth on my G60 Rado, keeping it nice and shiny :-) Twin pipes on my Mk2 Storm Rocco (Powerflow) suit the car just fine, again, keeping them nice and shiny. A Supersprint oval black pipe on the Mk1 Rocco, as those are rare as hell. Tempest

Jim, you're always welcome to join in my Rado (or whatever I might take next year (plans are taking shape of actually taking the max fun car, yes, the Mk1 Rocco :-) ) and do some driving again :-) You weren't even driving! Imagine what it's like for the driver, bit of road rage :lol: @ Dave: Good to see you got back home OK :-) Good to have had you on board of this trip as well. Don't worry, the distinct shift in music on Friday night emerging from the party tent said it all :lol: Did that together with a manifold replacement (Supersprint 4-2-1 branch) on my Mk2 Storm Rocco last winter, patience was the key to success, I have to admit, unfortunately I rarely have patience :oops: Generally the Roccos are still soooo much easier to work on than the Rado, which is why I love them to bits. For me DIY-friendliness has increasingly become a factor by which I judge a car, hence rejecting all of today's modern rubbish, where you can't do anything yourself any more. What? We better take it easy on Chris next time then :lol: Or was it because I turned down his offer to dunk my cookies in his coffee on the ferry to Hook of Holland ? :lol: Anyway, I've just completed an article on the whole event for a future edition of the CCGB Sprinter magazine, and one in German for the German "53" magazine. Tempest

The German AA, ADAC, have just published their findings after having tested several of these devices and what can go wrong in their use in this month's club magazine. These guns, as you know, work on the principle of firing a light beam towards a car (best results only when aiming at the license plate), which then is reflected off a reflective area on the car, such as the license plate, and the returning light beam is picked up by the gun, from which it can then calculate the speed of said car. Just a few of the findings: If the gun isn't accurately aimed at the license plate of a car, behind which there is another vehicle, but a bit higher, chances are high that the gun will actually measure the speed of the 2nd car! This happens particularly when the person using such a gun aims at the A-pillar or a headlight. If the gun is aimed at the windscreen instead of at the license plate, the laser beam would travel straight through the car and would hit any vehicle immediately behind it with a suffiently large reflection area! In the past it's happened that the wrong recorded speeds were associated to the wrong car, and the wrong car could receive the penalty! The laser gun would even work on a vehicle where the entire front end had been treated with non-reflective material, the laser would simply bounce off another vehicle behind the first, no matter how small a reflective area the 2nd vehicle would have!. Bear in mind that these laser guns are aimed at cars anywhere up to 1 km away! Even well-trained sharp shooters without tripods will find this a challenge, let alone a copper or some OAP, none of whom use tripods. The ADAC had also asked a calibration institute how many of these devices were out of calibration. The finding was rather shocking: In 2004 alone, having tested 1687 guns 1.8%, i.e. 30 guns, had to be repaired before they had the required accuracy again. Especially the accuracy of the aiming mechanism was noteworthy: 7% of the guns were found to have inaccurate aiming mechanisms. The plod were still using these guns! The German ADAC is therefore demanding photo evidence to accompany every laser gunned car that's been found to be speeding. If the plod cannot provide photo evidence, the ADAC at least demand the use of tripods to minimise aiming errors. Ideally these guns should only be used whenever the car it is aimed at has no other vehicles around it. Well let's see whether they can lobby this one through, I can't see it happening, as like overher, the German pold and government simply need the revenue from allegedly speeding vehicles, never mind whether the car was actually speeding. Tempest

Chris, it's not the volume of planning work perse, although you are right, it is tiring. Even I was a bit amazed how tired I was after the trip, but that might have just been down to the party atmosphere on the actual camping site, or it's my old age :lol: Driving a car associated with age range 20-30, and being 36 doesn't help make me younger :lol: The biggest problem I see is getting enough people together who can/want to take enough time off work at the same time. Plus the costs involved, if you then throw in a popular UK event like Ed38, it'll be very difficult to get the numbers. I'm glad that that many folks did join me though despite these factors :notworthy: At this point of time I must admit that I'm not quite sure yet whether I'll be going next year, as it for me to a large extend depends on the actual event around Karmann (chance to meet up with my German mates again), whether it'll take place again etc. That depends on Karmann themselves, the contacts within Karmann etc. Karmann on the other hand are notorious for leaving these things right to the last minute just like last year and this year. It was only to the end of July that Karmann allowed us access to both the factory and the car collection. Before that, it wasn't even sure, whether we were welcome at all!! I will stay in touch with Martin and co. possibly also with Breford (now someone do Breford a favour and buy his Rado, FFS! :lol: serious though: see Cars for Sale thread, ultrarare Corrado.), whom I've had some good chats with :-) Coming back to the request for translation of the internal Corrado project completion document (dated 11/1989 BTW): Apart from the highlights which I have already translated on-site, after having read the whole document, I can now confidently say, that there wasn't much else juicy gossip in there. Its contents officially don't exist in public, of course ;-) Tempest

Erm, Zoran, I might have lived in the UK for 14 years by now (is it that long already :shock: ? :lol:), but having been educated in Germany, I still don't know what these blasted imperial units mean :oops:, as I'm all metric :-) I suppose it's a lot, though :lol: Well, judging by my state at the Karmann meet I was drunk :lol: On a more serious note, your plans do sound very promising, and I'm sure the engine will be mental in the end, looking at the proposed figures. I'm sure many a TDi Rado owner here (I suppose there aren't that many anyway ...) will be very interested in the end result :-) It's just that tiny little detail of the engine sound that I would need to get used to: It just sounds strange, hearing a tractor-like engine sound emerging from a Rado engine bay ;-) Good luck with beating the Rado-boys in your Ibiza then ;-) Grab a cheap flight, weekend trip, ask Dirk for details, he's been there, done it, worn the T-shirt and ... enjoyed it, I think ;-) Beginner :lol: apart from the knob bit, I'm sure :lol: As I said earlier, you simply get used to it, I even have no problems any more switching between my 2 LHD and 1 RHD plus the company's RHD Escort delivery van any more, well apart from the Escort, of course, but that's for totally different reasons :lol: I suppose, if I had another in-depth chat with Zoran, we could finally get that stupid diesel van to be a bit faster :evil:, all in the interest of getting to our customers faster :-) A trip to the Nürburgring next year (if there's another Karmann trip, that is), will need careful planning, as it's quite a distance away from Karmann in Osnabrück. Simple, G60s all the way for me :-) Tempest

As I explained to Jim, even that you get used to, as I do it regularly :-) And his Rocco wasn't even wearing the mentally wide alloys :-), which he had on, when he picked me up back in July for some Karmann meet discussions etc. Tempest (longing back to last week ;-) )

Only kidding, Jim, as indicated by all those smilies. Yes, indeed, Jim did an admirable job of driving a LHD Rado on the "other" side of the road, but he also did a good job of actually driving the more challenging RHD, 2cc's Rado, in Germany. Yes, that was done live to a captive audience whilst at the meet. You weren't there, I seem to remember :lol: Oh yes, before I forget, greetings from those Rado folks that we briefly met up with in Nordhorn, amongst others the chap with his 2 Liter 8V Rado, and of course those lovely ladies that took 2cc's Rado for a good spin. I'll leave it at that ... :lol: Tempest