Pete Griff's 'Rado R32 - (Not quite!) Alive at last! :D

[pete_griff 0]

quick update from today, got the front crossmember re-bushed and all sprayed up now. just got a couple more coats to put on and all will be good. same story with the rad support panel. thanksfully there were no holes in either! the rad support panel was fairly flaky on the offside, but it hadn't gone through, so happy days. got them both to fill with waxoyl on the inside shortly too; all in good time.

 

got my rear shocks off the car today, rear strut brace fitted and rear eibach arb fitted (surprisingly easy to fit once you get started!). engine is also back in now, just waiting on my front engine mount then i can get the exhaust welded up and i'll be getting there then! will shortly be plumbing it up and then the car will be trailered down to the vag-doctor for the final piece of the puzzle! hope to have it finished in a conservative time of no longer than 1 month from today as i go back to work then...

 

i can't touch the car over the weekend now as i'm off to see the girlfriend, so i shall be nowhere near it.

 

below are a couple of pics of the crossmember and my rad support panel - not brilliant, but the weather was crap today, so decent pics were impossible. also got a half decent pic of my manifold minus the flange for the cats on the end.

[KIPVW 0]

looking fab matey, what have you painted the cross member and rad support with? thought you would have had them powder coated or something!

 

Also a very silly question, what do the bushes attach to? i didn't realise they were any there.

 

I should know better but i'm better at cleaning than taking them apart and if you dont ask you dont know Lol!

 

Ps, Cant your lady come up to yours to help you ;)

[pete_griff 0]

looking fab matey, what have you painted the cross member and rad support with? thought you would have had them powder coated or something!

 

Also a very silly question, what do the bushes attach to? i didn't realise they were any there.

 

I should know better but i'm better at cleaning than taking them apart and if you dont ask you dont know Lol!

 

Ps, Cant your lady come up to yours to help you ;)

 

cheers! :D

 

the bushes don't actually attach to anything my friend - there is a piece of metal in like an m-shape - the two outermost parts of the m go down through the two bushes on either end and serve as sleeves for the front bumper bolts. (those bolts not only hold the front bumper on, but provide support for that crossmember). the centre leg of the m serves as a sleeve for a bolt that goes through and holds the crossmember to the rad support panel. the rad support panel then bolts onto the chassis legs and holds the whole lot on in the absence of the bumper, if that makes sense...

 

i would have preferred to powder coat the crossmember after getting it dipped; however time is of the essence as is cash at the moment, so the next best thing is hammerite and waxoyl. in all honesty, where i would definitely have preferred to get it dipped/powdercoated, the hammerite/waxoyl will still make it last infintely longer than in it's previous state.

 

also be warned if you are replacing them - those bushes are a tw*t to get in! i tried for a while then just thought bugger it and got my friend who works at a garage to do it with a press the next day.

 

the place i'm doing my car is out in the middle of nowehere and the house is not only empty and deserted with no furniture, but it smells from the disgusting people who lived there before. it will shortly be getting gutted, but in the meantime, i can use it to store all of my car bits :norty:

i don't think my girl would appreciate me taking her out there very much!

[KIPVW 0]

Thought as much regarding the bushes, i took the bumper off when the Vr was in the boyshop and seeing you write that you replaced them foxed me a little.

 

Well in that case have a good wk end sir ;)

 

Catch you soon.

[antonio_b12 0]

no more narrowband technology for you mate, its wideband all the way. 8)

[boost monkey 0]

awesome pics Pete! yeah CM bushes are a MOFO aren't they! gave up on mine and got the garage to do them too :lol: the CM itself cleaned up well too, those VR ones are getting rarer and rarer these days, unlike our 4-pot ones which are shared with Mk2s.

 

do you have braided PAS lines or do you run an oil cooler through the PAS cooler's cutouts on the rad support? that is actually a genius idea! :D

[pete_griff 0]

no more narrowband technology for you mate, its wideband all the way. 8)

 

dam straight - wideband is very much the way forward! lambda's ain't cheap though so it's a good job i got the ones off the donor car delivered with my engine!

 

 

awesome pics Pete! yeah CM bushes are a MOFO aren't they! gave up on mine and got the garage to do them too :lol: the CM itself cleaned up well too, those VR ones are getting rarer and rarer these days, unlike our 4-pot ones which are shared with Mk2s.

 

do you have braided PAS lines or do you run an oil cooler through the PAS cooler's cutouts on the rad support? that is actually a genius idea! :D

 

cheers, didn't know the corrado crossmember was a one-off! good job mine was in reasonable nic then!

 

ummmmmm, unsure exactly what you are getting at with the PAS system - just running the normal system, with the cooler pipe that runs throught the rad-support panel as standard....

 

no braided lines on the car anywhere unfortunately (save the goodridge brake hoses). as for the oil cooler, not a bad idea i guess if there's clearance - haven't offered it up yet; will hopefully get the opportunity in the coming days - gotta wait until my exhaust manfold is all sorted first, then can get the inlet manifold back on and start with the rest of the plumbing...

[boost monkey 0]

Sorry, didn't open the pic and the thumbnail looked like they were braided! :nuts:

 

AFAIK, C VR6 CMs are different to the Mk3 ones so treat it nice! :grin:

[pete_griff 0]

more progress - got the rear KW's on now, rear ARB and rear strut brace.

 

engine has come out and gone back in (hopefully for the last time now!) - got some rust sorted on the battery tray as well - a spray job with halfrauds cans, but it's not too horrific a job and nobody will ever see it, so i'm happy, had a small scab the size of a 5p right in the middle of the bulkhead on the back by the heatshield as well, so that's now gone too!

 

had a friend round today who blobbed a couple of very rough welds onto the manifold with ARC - very rough, but it will do just to hold it together. hopefully got a friend who will do a proper job with the TIG set and weld it up nicely this weekend. :D

it's looking lovely in the flesh - really really nice - just don't want to move it too much until it has been welded properly!

 

also been making up my new driveshafts - the nearside one was really really rusted and the offside one had hardly been touched! anyway, sorted all the rust on both of those and fitted my new CV joints - all looking very nice :D

 

tomorrow i'm hoping to get my new fuel pump fitted and get the front shocks off, maybe depending on time look at fitting the KW's on the front as well...

also - was a bit pissed off to discover that the tracking/geometry place that i use, who are normally very good, had buggered one of my new steering rack boots. when they did the tracking and wound the track rods around, the boot followed the one through every revolution and looked like a corkscrew once they had finished! consequently it's now buggered and i've got to fit a new one! still, the boots didn't look to be amazing quality, so i've got some genuine jobs for both sides to go on, so all should hopefully be well from now on!

 

anyway - pics...

[nemesis360 0]

Good progress there mate, it should drive like new when it done :)

[boost monkey 0]

pics look awesome!! :notworthy: to you for making up new shafts, that's very cool. They can be fiddly with the circlips though huh! Well worth it though IMO.

 

Glad other forum members are taking on larger restorative / preventative works on their cars too :salute:

[pete_griff 0]

Good progress there mate, it should drive like new when it done :)

 

thank you very much - that is most definitely the idea!

 

 

pics look awesome!! :notworthy: to you for making up new shafts, that's very cool. They can be fiddly with the circlips though huh! Well worth it though IMO.

 

Glad other forum members are taking on larger restorative / preventative works on their cars too :salute:

 

cheers buddy - i have to admit, i hate the restoration side of things as it's such a pain in the arse (IMO!), but i do it just for the love of keeping the car mint and on the road for as long as possible. plus obviously once you have done something, you know it's done right and that (in theory!) you won't have to touch that area of the car for a long time again.

circlips were a bit annoying, but i guess they are always like that! once you have done one and got "the technique!", the rest are always easier!

i have a friend who works for the stealers who is hopefully going to borrow the proper VW crimping tool for me for the CV boot clips - also going to use it as the steering rack boots ahve the same style clips on the rack end - 2 birds with one stone if he can get his hands on it :D

 

 

 

got some more done today - it now has the KW's on all four corners - was really surprised just how simple it is to change the shocks on the rado - very straight forward :)

 

also changed the fuel filter and got the pump out of the tank. pump is the old pierburg style unfortunately - i have got a new VDO pump, and i'm looking at getting a fuel gauge sender for it off here - only thing is, the pierburg cap that seals the access hole in the top of the tank has got cables on it which have specific ends for the pierburg sender....

haven't seen good enough pics of the VDO sender yet, but i'm really hoping that i can just snip the cables and solder new ends on, allowing me to keep the pierburg cap and associated cables as the stealers want £95 just for the sealing cap! :pale:

 

really looking forward to this weekend when i'm going to get my manifold welded up - once that is sorted i can plump up the rest of the coolant/oil cooler lines etc and i should be somewhere near ready to ship the car off down to the VAG-doctor so he can sort the wiring for me :D

 

anyway, below are a couple of pics of progress from today. (and by the way, for those of you who haven't been working outside recently - i can advise against it - it's f*cking cold!)

[coullstar 0]

Nice, anything special about the Bonrath top mounts?

[pete_griff 0]

Nice, anything special about the Bonrath top mounts?

 

yes mate - well not amazing! - but the standard VAG top mounts while good, aren't supposed to last when you have coilovers due to the increased stress.

 

bonraths are just much hardier replacements which will stand up to much more abuse.

 

i didn't want to go solid top mounts (e.g. the MED jobbies like Kev etc have got) as i want to, (within reason) retain as much of the OEM drive comfort as possible.

 

i looked at a set of top mounts at the dealer the same day the bonraths came through the door - bonraths are just more quality and a bit harder - all there is to it really :)

[boost monkey 0]

awesome updates pete! Drive-Thru ratchets are soooooooooooo good :D

 

yes it is a bit nippy outside at the mo isn't it! I'm wearing my boiler suit purely for an extra layer, let alone to keep the muck off! :nuts:

 

circlip pliers always seem to be that non-essential special tool, until you do your rack and CVs at the same time ;) well worth having in the toolbox I reckon, still not got mine (rack and CVs are zip-tied :pale:)

[chazrad 0]

Another good update, Pete. Keep it coming. Not long now... :D

[rmn 0]

Savage Project there Pete,

where did you get the exhaust manifold done?

Very impressive work

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Coming along well Pete! I'm going to have to catch up with you once i'm back and get some advice/info regarding carrying out this little work of art!!

[pete_griff 0]

Coming along well Pete! I'm going to have to catch up with you once i'm back and get some advice/info regarding carrying out this little work of art!!

 

no worries matey - you're more than welcome to have a gander when you're back....

 

 

 

got a bit more done over the past few days. fuel pump and sender have now been replaced with new ones, mounted my aeromotive FPR, had the manifold welded up, test fitted it just on the engine out of the car and wrapped it. sent my shifter-mech away for doctoring before it goes back in the car. finished off sorting my new CV joints, using the proper clips etc and not nasty zip ties. also fitted my new steering rack boots, again with proper clips. fitted my gruven cack-pipe and new vr6 thermo housing plus sensors. lastly got my vr6 grille badge sprayed up as it was looking very sorry for itself.

 

really hoping that the manifold hasn't moved at all while it's been welded - shouldn't have done for any reason, but i'm a bit paranoid. i'll know as soon as i fit it when i get back from paris over the weekend. i might have to get a support for the cats welded onto the bottom of the car as they are pretty heavy and will probably pull the flexi's down too much.... we will see!

the manifold welds are good, but they don't look especially pretty on the flexi's - my friend who sorted it for me didn't have a grinder to hand, so he went over the top of the ARC welds. also the metal on the ends of the flexi's wasn't amzing quality, so that would make the welds look a little nastier - they will hopefully hold just fine though and you don't see them with the heatwrap. the welds around the lambda bosses and around the bottom flange are much nicer as the stainless is of much higher quality.

i was thinking i would spray some of the high temp paint over the top of my heatwrap - just to help preserve it a bit and to help keep it together. have seen this done on a few other cars too - any thoughts or comments from you guys on that would be more than welcome...

 

got the engine back in, hopefully now for the final time. had to take it back out to make access to the steering rack boots much easier - could possibly have done this without, but it was just as easy to take the engine back out while it wasn't plumbed up at all.

 

oh - also managed to get hold of a barely used mahooooosive record vice for the princely sum of £16 off local fleabay - very very happy :D

 

 

below are a few pics of progress as usual...

[pete_griff 0]

and some more...

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

Looking good mate,i would not bother with the painting over the wrap,it would just flake of,the wrap keeps thing very cool and its cool enough to touch by hand.

 

keep up the good work bud!

[pete_griff 0]

Looking good mate,i would not bother with the painting over the wrap,it would just flake of,the wrap keeps thing very cool and its cool enough to touch by hand.

 

keep up the good work bud!

 

cheers for the advice here buddy :)

hope to have it sorted as far as i can get it in the next week or so - will go off to get the wiring done straight ater that.

 

 

by the way - i should have menitoned in the post above - massive thanks to waynos off here for sending me the fuel gauge sender at very short notice - top man :thumb right:

[KipVR 1]

Hey buddy, all looks good, not long now eh? Always good to pics :D

 

Did you ring these guys?

 

http://www.culimeta-saveguard.com/therm ... efault.htm

 

The thermolastic covering is really good, bonds to itself to form an 'elastic skin' a bit like self emalgamating tape over it all and protects the heat wrap. We used it at work and it's shit hot stuff.

 

Not much use to you now but the heat wrap was also the best out of the 16 different types we tested.

 

I'll be going up to do some more on mine next week, can't wait :)

[pete_griff 0]

Hey buddy, all looks good, not long now eh? Always good to pics :D

 

Did you ring these guys?

 

http://www.culimeta-saveguard.com/therm ... efault.htm

 

The thermolastic covering is really good, bonds to itself to form an 'elastic skin' a bit like self emalgamating tape over it all and protects the heat wrap. We used it at work and it's **** hot stuff.

 

Not much use to you now but the heat wrap was also the best out of the 16 different types we tested.

 

I'll be going up to do some more on mine next week, can't wait :)

 

 

hey there buddy - i did take heed of what you said and i did look at the site for the saveguard guys; i would like to use some of their stuff, but i don't think i've got enough room back there really - it was difficult enough wrapping the manifold with the relatively thin heatwrap, let alone the other stuff. also i had already ordered the stainless ties instead of the twisted cable stuff you showed me - i would have preferred to have done it your way without a doubt, but what i've got will be good enough (i hope) and if it isn't then i'll just change it in future...

 

glad to hear you are going to get some more done on yours - really shouldn't be too long for you now either should it? what will you be doing on it when you go up for the weekend?

 

any chance you could send me that plumbing diagram you were on about. off the top of my head i'm confident where all the hoses go except for the one unique to the r32 that comes off where the aux pump originally mounts in the lower middle of the block, and also the little jobbies that go to the throttle body originally on the VR. reasonably happy with where all the others go just from memory.

 

cheers :)

[KipVR 1]

Hi pete, not worries about the saveguard people etc, it was just suggestions :D , I've asked Jon for the diagram, he's going to email it to me when he gets back home, I'll forward it straight on......