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

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

lloking good bud,bet you cant wait now!

[Super-G 0]

The Nugget's going well cheers Pete. Took her on a rolling road day the other week. Showed up a few issues that are now taken care of, but a respectable result. (Must update my thread really) No where near as much power as you'll be kicking out, but it keeps the tyres scrabbling as it is. Am thinking of tucking her away soon, as it's getting cold her and I'm fed up with trying to keep her clean. :brickwall:

 

Hope everything goes to plan over the next few months and the 32's up and running soon.

 

Andy

[pete_griff 0]

another quick update on progress.

 

got the tracking all sorted by the boys at vw; they were pretty patient with me considering they had to push the car everywhere and watch me back etc while i was driving the truck. got the tracking camber all squared with new camber bolts too.

 

after that i went and dropped the car off with the vag-doctor down in bristol - what a nice guy! he was younger than i expected, but he's a real enthusiast; didn't mind waiting around for me to turn up at all and he had a couple of friends there to help unload the car. everyone there drove a vw!

i only asked him if i could come down on friday (the day before!), so it was pretty good of him to make the time for me.

he won't be able to get started on the car until the end of the week, but that's only fair really as he had no notice whatsoever.

hoping to have the car back and all sorted within 2-3 weeks. i'll get it booked in for an mot so i can drive it away from his place, then just get the tax sorted and all will be good. once all the mot/tax etc is sorted i'll get it booked in at stealth for a remap for the final piece of the puzzle! :)

 

here are a couple more pics of the car on the low-loader in the daylight, with me looking fairly pleased next to it :D

[young dub 0]

wow, you don't hang about, will finish that conversion in no time. Look forward to its completion!

[KIPVW 0]

Very nice work there Pete, a real credit to you for taking the time to write such informative posts too if you dont mind me saying.

 

Really hope it all goes smoothly for the finishing touches :)

[pete_griff 0]

howdy all, just a quick update -

 

swung by the vag-doctor on the way back to work today to drop off a couple of bits - he started it on thurs and it should hopefully be ready for his coming weekend :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

 

he said it dropped a small amount of coolant which i'm a little concerned about (i'm normally pretty thorough and everything is new!) - might have just been a spill from somewhere after filling it, but he's going to run it up in my absence, so hopefully all should become clear... (i'll just pretend that it's starting for the first time when i go down there!)

he also offered to take a few pictures for me as he goes along which i thought was a really nice offer as it will finish off the last chapter of the conversion for me :)

 

i'm still waiting for my original MAF and the pedal (from the donor car) to arrive through the post - i have been chasing the guy who sold me then engine and associated bits for months now - getting pretty hacked off with it now in all honesty! - if i have to get the vag doctor to buy a pedal for me so he can finish it, then i'll be sending the other guy the bill!

 

he agreed with me about just how horrific the alarm wiring was - not good. he's a really nice bloke though and he seems unbelievably switched on! he had the answer to all my questions instantly - will give an overall vedict when i get the car back, but going on what i've see so far - he's absolutely spot on!

 

i got a couple of pics of it today - i'm still cringing over the paintwork, but i'll get it mopped when i get it back - also got the shockers height, compression and rebound to setup when i get it back - just the last few pieces of the puzzle i guess...

 

below are the two pics that i took today...

[boost monkey 0]

Awesome updates Pete! glad to see it's coming on so quick :D

 

I can see what the coolant problem is: someone's swapped your hoses for red liquorice :shock: :lol:

[pete_griff 0]

I can see what the coolant problem is: someone's swapped your hoses for red liquorice :shock: :lol:

 

 

haha - maybe! :lol:

[Chris 0]

looks awesome :D

 

looking forward to the day when its on the road

[MK1Campaign 0]

Awesome Pete Awesome!

[KADVR6 0]

not long to go now then Pete 8) you will be like a dog with the proverbial 2 dicks then very soon :lol:

 

if you need a MAF straight away, i have the one from my r32 you can use if its any good 2 ya.

 

karl

[pete_griff 0]

cheers for the encouraging words gents - i really can't say just how excited i am about hopefully geting it back this weekend. it's been quite sometime now and i'm pretty fed up of pottering round in a 205 diesel!

 

 

not long to go now then Pete 8) you will be like a dog with the proverbial 2 dicks then very soon :lol:

 

if you need a MAF straight away, i have the one from my r32 you can use if its any good 2 ya.

 

karl

 

thanks very much for the kind offer karl - very good of you :D

i've managed to sort a MAF for the time being - what i do need is the pedal from a mk5.

 

i'm getting pretty annoyed with the bloke who's supposed to be sending me the bits now - nice enough guy, but so unreliable - very frustrating! :bad-words:

[boost monkey 0]

hang in there mate, you will soon be out of the french tractor and in the plush germanic efficiencies of the Corrado :D

[Fraiser 0]

Just wondering what size cooling fan you are using and will only 1 fan be enough for the cooling??, What fan is it etc etc??. Reason being if i can get away with one fan that would be great as using the original rado fans is quite tight.

 

 

thanks

 

Faiser

[herisites 0]

Just wondering what size cooling fan you are using and will only 1 fan be enough for the cooling??, What fan is it etc etc??. Reason being if i can get away with one fan that would be great as using the original rado fans is quite tight.

 

 

thanks

 

Faiser

 

Get some SPAL slimline fans mate 8)

[pete_griff 0]

Just wondering what size cooling fan you are using and will only 1 fan be enough for the cooling??, What fan is it etc etc??. Reason being if i can get away with one fan that would be great as using the original rado fans is quite tight.

 

 

thanks

 

Faiser

 

Get some SPAL slimline fans mate 8)

 

 

you could go for some spal jobbies - people on here seem to rate them....

 

personally i've gone for a single 12" davies craig item from g-werks. i've got a friend who's used both spal and kenlowe in the past (kenlowe are supposed to one of the best) who says he would go for kenlowe out of the two as they are better made. he actually changed his mind when he saw mine - said it was better than both. it's powerful smooth and cheaper than the kenlowe - very happy with it. soooooooooooooooooo much lighter than the original fans too :)

(also it's been confirmed in the past by people on here that a single fan will do the job just fine. i've also got a dubpower lower temp thermostat to help keep temps down too :))

[pete_griff 0]

well i spoke to the vag-doctor again today....

 

i'd like to say what a thoroughly nice guy he really is - hasn't been able to help me enough and he is unbelievably switched on with his subject - would recommend him to anyone without a seconds hesitation - top man :D

 

anyway - as my thread title suggests, i'm still not quite there yet :(

there was a chance of me being able to pick it up today - typically it being a corrado, that didn't happen!

 

the pedal for the drive-by-wire that the breaker bloke sent me finally arrived...

turns out that it was working intermittently - when the vag-doctor took it apart it looked like it had been stored in a very muddy puddle while it was waiting to be delivered to me - great! needless to say i'm going to have to get sorted with another pedal now before the car can move on...

 

also, randomly - my alarm has started playing silly buggers.

i changed my heater matrix and one of the first things i did after that was to test the alarm to make sure that i hadn't accidentally destroyed any of the wiring in the process - worked fine. the alarm has never missed a beat the whole time i've had the car; but randomly one day a few weeks afetr it just started misbehaving and working very very intermittently and not doing it's normal thing. the vag-doctor has gone all through the wiring and can't find a fault, so the alarm has got to come out and go off to the manufacturer to get repaired - more good news!

 

also, he still hasn't been able to trace the coolant leak - he hasn't donated loads of time to that yet though, so hopefully with a pressure test it will instantly become obvious - we shall see!

 

he has managed to finish the majority of the wiring now, so all i'm waiting on now really is the pedal and the alarm. the earliest i will probably get it back now is tuesday night once i've finished work - so i've got my fingers unbelievably crossed until then!...

i was a little disappointed not to get it back today - but then i wasn't holding my breath either as there's invariably something that always goes wrong with these sorts of things. :|

 

i spoke to him about the take off for the oil temp on the MFA - he's going to leave the wiring all setup and ready for me - i'll have to get myself sorted with an in-line sensor in the lines to the oil cooler. but once that's sorted i'll have the reading as normal on the MFA, so no extra unsightly gauges needed in the car - happy days :)

 

i'm just itching to write that post after the first drive - can't wait to experience what the result of all my hard work will feel like! :onfire:

 

(and breathe after typing all that! :lol:)

[pete_griff 0]

also - was going to post up a list of everything that's been done to the car since i've owned it - the list below (typed while bored at work!) is somewhere near. i'm sure there will be things i've missed out, but hopefully i've covered most things...

 

Mk V R32 Engine with 12k miles on at time of purchase

Gearbox rebuild with brand new Quaife LSD

New

[bruny 0]

Impressive list Pete :notworthy: Bet you dont want to do a cost to date list, :shock: bit frightening I guess. It will be awesome to drive something something you've done right through. Big up to you mate, now get back to work and start earning some more cash :lol:

Will catch up with you sometime, really want to see the finished item :wave:

[KipVR 1]

That's a mighty impressive spec Pete!! I Can't wait to get a spin in it, but hope it doesn't temp me into buying more bits for mine... Can't begin to think how you must be feeling right now :lol: :lol:

 

Hopefully with a (more or less) new car now it'll remain reliable for a few years, but I'm sure in true Corrado style it'll find a few more bits that you need to add to the list :D

[pete_griff 0]

cheers for the comments gents - believe me i'm looking forward to showing it to you! - just want it back.

 

i won't be getting it now until saturday - got another pedal and "hopefully" resolved the issue with the alarm as the vag-doctor found some dodgy bits in the wiring when re-checking it and it now seems to be behaving itself... (time will tell!)

 

the snag that has been hit now is that the ecu is apparently a very late one. he's completed plenty of immobiliser defeats and rev counter codes etc before, but this one has him a bit temporarily stumped. he's going to find out the codes he needs etc and then hopefully it will be a runner asap after that. he has said saturday morning now, just so i can collect it in the daylight in case of any more faults etc and to give him time to make sure all is well (no further running issues etc) before i drive it away.

 

hopefully there's not much left to go wrong now and i should be able to hear it running over the phone in the next day or two...

 

god, it's soooooooooooooooooooo frustrating having to wait longer though! :roll:

[pete_griff 0]

aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh - it's still not ready!!!!!!!!!

 

there's a chance it might be ready tomorrow.......

 

according to the vag-doc, my ecu is very very late and the immobiliser e-prom on it has changed as is no longer a bosch chip. this means that his normal codes etc that he flashes on to remove the immobiliser aren't working...

he's said that he knows someone who says they can tell him exactly what codes etc he needs to flash on and that they will hopefully get back to him tomorrow morning....

 

so i'm playing the waiting game now! everything else is done - new alarm fitted, all wiring done etc - really all good to go now, just this fecking immobiliser.

 

fair play; he's kept me really really well updated as to progress as the car has come along which is good (save me ringing him all the time! :lol:)

 

the factory immobiliser lets the car start for approx 1 second and then cuts it out. so he's had it running for all of 1 second each time, and he said that when it starts it sounds like the end of the world! :crazyeyes: that's really not the angle i was going for, so i really hope it's quieter once idling and running correctly etc

it looks like i will be having to whack another silencer in the exhaust system sharpish! :lol:

 

really really hope it all comes together for tomorrow now though - all i can do right now is wait to hear from him tomorrow morning - much frustration! :scatter:

[KADVR6 0]

oh that word might dont ya just hate it :( and dont worry pete, mine sounds like a whailing banshee with a hot poker up its arse when it fires up, but then sounds like a banshee without the hot pocker up its arse at idle. :lol:

 

dont forget what you have been saying to me mate

 

IT WILL BE WORTH IT

 

karl

[CoxyLaad 0]

open air filters and R32 engines = extremely loud!

I am going to have to do something with mine, its obscenely loud. It sounds brilliant, but still...

[coullstar 0]

I would have thought the BMC would be reasonably quiet. It will be worth it. The noise is great, soemtimes it does get a little annoying but then sometimes it is brilliant.

 

Will be interested to see you thoughts on the quaife and thats probably the next big thing for mine I think.