blackberry vr... 17" rs199's

[zak 0]

the rh's were 8x17 et35 running 205/40/17 toyos, when the car was at the height in the pics on page 1 it never caught. In the pics on page 3 the car is a touch lower and would catch once in a while. The tyre plays a big part too, although toyos are quite good for clearance Bally has falkens on his and they give loads of clearance.

 

 

Anyhow, wheels are gone now, im riding around with the car at standard height with the speedies on

[Jim Bowen 1]

thats extremely nice indeed, just how i'd like mine, it really is a very nice colour that, the one i looked at before buying mine was that colour but i walked away :(

[jackflash 0]

 

Anyhow, wheels are gone now, im riding around with the car at standard height with the speedies on

 

How come?! They looked lovely!

[junkie 0]

Liking all the rear 3/4 shots, best angle on the corrado i think.

[zak 0]

I don't usually write up my maiteneance work on the corrado but made an exception this time since rear beam bushes is a hot topic at the moment and thought the pictures might be usefull to someone. So... i had some spare time last weekend so i decided to replace my rear beam bushes. It was on my list of things to do for some time, initially because the back end was loose compared to my last c and more recently because the rear beam bushes had deteriorated to a stage where the ride had become affected. Im running around on speedies with the kw's raised to a modest drop now the zw1's are gone and the ride was crashy over the smallest of bumps. This had become irratating to the point where i did not feel like driving the car any more and felt like selling up. Anyway i decided that was not the solution but that i should change the rear beam bushes instead :lol:

 

So to begin with i had already ordered new oem bushes from vw along with new fixings that i would require for the job. Getting the beam off was not an issue as the bolt on the nearside holding the beam to the chassis had already been removed at some point in the past and it had been inserted from the outside in, so i did not need to remove the load biasing valve which usually gets in the way.. Once the beam was off the car removing the bushes was not much of an issue, the inner rubber part came away easily as they had deteriorated so badly. The outer metal shell was carefully drifted out with a hammer and chissel ensuring not to cause any damage to the beam.

 

Since the replacement bushes were oem they had to be pressed in, as i was doing this diy stylee without a press this was the main issue for me. It is not possible to hammer the bushes in as they will be damaged. As per the advise of the forum i decided to use a m12 threaded rod with two nuts either end to use to insert the bushes but this brought up some further issues. Namely that you cannot apply the force to the bush in from the centre because this will distort and then damage the rubber part of the bush. The bush has to be pushed wih the force applied to the outer metal shell. This is difficult in itself as the face of the bush is not flat. I overcame this by using a carefully placed door peg i found lying around this just happened to be the perfect shape as it matched the contour of the outer shell. So when placed against the bush casing it compenstaed for the differences in the profile of the upper and lower parts of the metal casing. The other issue was that the bush has to protrude by a set distance on the inner side of the beam so if you are using something to hold the threaded rod on the inner side of the beam this won't allow that to happen as the bush will only go so far as being flush with the lip of the beam on the inner side. I worked round this by using some old mk1 golf spring top caps to hold the threaded rod against the beam that were the right size and allowed the bush to come through by the right amount (see below pics of my homemade tool). Once my tool was up and running it was a simple case of winding the nut on the end of the threaded rod and the bush went in easily enough. I was carefull to allign the bushes rotationally with the beam as per the factory position.

 

When refitting the ream beam i replaced a few of the brake pipes that had become rusty, Once everything was back together i had to bleeed the brakes, when doing the front, one of the calipers bleed nipple was seized i wasnt able to bleed the system fully so i left the car for the week as i was away. This week i replaced the front brakes for 288mm items and changed the front metal brake lines at the same time. Today i managed to fully bleed the brakes and was able to take the car for a test drive, the bushes have made such a difference to the ride. All the crashiness has gone and im no longer swerving drain covers!. I havent been able to push the car yet as the brakes are bedding in so cant comment too much on the handling yet. all in all im rather pleased.

 

Below are a few pics

 

The tool i put together along with the old deteriorated bushes

 

pics of my bushes installed in the beam

[zak 0]

also found this pic on my photobucket, runs a similar theme to how my c looked

[stevef182 0]

SHWING!

[Jim 2]

Nice work. It makes a real difference getting these done if they've never been touched. The chaps who I did the work with said that the transformation isn't immediate but rather something you notice as you progress down familiar roads. Didn't notice an improvement on my way home but as I got closer to home I went round familiar roundabouts, etc and could not BELIEVE how the rear of the car just followed me round the roundabout like how it is supposed to.. was so used to the rear end "slop" :)

 

Rado is looking awesome in the photos too! :)

[Goldie 2]

This is a job im wanting to dover the winter so quick questions.

 

Which bushes did you use, do they come as a kit from VW and how much did they set you back and how many have you replaced? Hope you dont mind me being nosey..

 

Car looked cracking at E38, well worthy of your trophy...

[zak 0]

thanks i only changed the rear beam bushes, as apart from the bushes at the top of the strut thats all there is at the rear end. I purchased the bushes direct from vw as i wanted to stay oem so as not to comprimise the ride in anyway. Each bush was £29.96+vat so two are needed one for each side. There is no kit as such just the bush but i purchased new nuts and bolts to make the job more complete.

 

In a few weeks Im going to be changing the wishbone bushes with a combination of r32/oem bushes and replace the top mounts with new oem item,replace the sump gasket and rocker cover gasket and that should be my maintenence for winter done.

[young dub 0]

you forgot to mention your exhaust..

[zak 0]

oh yes, i was forced to change the oe exhaust which i liked as the middle box started leaking and a like for like replacement wasn't viable with vw. I now have a magnex which i thought i'd hate expecting it to be too loud but its perfect, quiet on tickover and very slightly louder while driving. No boominess when on the motorway... highly recomended to corrado owners. also the best fitting exhaust ive had experience of fitting.

 

Youngdub also kindly makita'd the bonnet and wings to get out the final mopping marks from the c's trip to the bodyshop last month so the painwork is looking as fresh as the car feels. I'll get some pics up of the car soon, as its looking a little different to the previous pics ive had up

 

also took the car for a quick spin at lunch, the car drives so diffently on the roads that im familiar with and now i can drive on the inside lane and not swerve drain covers :lol:

[zak 0]

last winter i was running speedies this year i decided on bbs rc's

 

had them on for some time, just managed to get some pics today....

 

[A1 VR6 0]

Looking rather sweet Zak, it's too good to drive over winter TBH :) Guess you'll get to that way of thinking eventually like I did. What colour have you painted your calipers, they look kind of bronze in the pic, oh and the car's a great colour but then I'm slightly biased :lol:

[MK1Campaign 0]

BBS RC winter wheels lol. Awesome 8)

[zak 0]

seriously guys, the bbs are practical.... as they aren't polished theyre easy to maintain 8)

 

The calipers were painted copper in the home of getting an oem look... still not sure about them.

 

Just realised still dont have pictures of my interior up :shock:

[Bally 0]

looks lovely on the RC's.. myn are my winters infact all year round!!! :D

[zak 0]

cheers bally im loving the ride and handling on the rc's

 

Saw your motor at prept but i was only there for 5 mins in an avensis as i had to collect some wheels...

[Bally 0]

cheers bally im loving the ride and handling on the rc's

 

Saw your motor at prept but i was only there for 5 mins in an avensis as i had to collect some wheels...

 

Were did you pickup the RC's from?? look mint in the pics...

 

Yeh I poped down was a good meet, shame abt the poop weather!!

[nemesis360 0]

Looking good fella RC's are a great choice for the C

 

Graham

[zak 0]

thanks guys, wheels were sourced from a local guy, then my bro youngdub did a quick refurb on them.

 

I swapped the tyres to dunlop sp9000's at the weekend and now the profile of the tyres is smaller i might have to lower it a touch 8)

[young dub 0]

excuse the phone cam pic, just a slight tuck required on the front I think ;)

 

[Bojmobile 0]

WOW!

 

Stunning car - wheels really suit it!

[scarlet_vr6 0]

zak, that looks lovely and is making me unsure (again) about what wheels I want on mine. What is yours dropped by?

 

Can't believe that's a winter car, looks far too good..

[fla 9]

Had the pleasure of seeing this over the weekend, Zak good to see you again. Absolutely superb, and pull very well too. A nice ride on those KWs and generally a very well presented car. The paint looks like a new respray, when in fact its just been properly detailed. A credit to you and your brother Zak. When mine's running i'll prob need to drop it off to you for a shine :wink: