General call for help!

[mic_VR 3]

Right, to cut a long story short I have to do a shed load more miles these days to do my job and the corrado is starting to feel old and quite tiring to drive. I love my VR6 but its been on my mind for the last few weeks/months about selling it and getting something more modern that I can just get in and drive day in day out.

 

I've thought about getting a 2nd car and storing the C but unfortunately a lack of garage and more a lack of money means its only one car for me :(

 

So with that in mind I have been building myself up to sell the C and get something 'sensible'...........

 

That was until today, been using a mk5 golf TSi for the last week or so as been picking up colleagues and generally carrying loads of files around to clients etc it is a really good car, nice and smooth/quiet etc but that went back this afternoon and I drove the C home down about 20 miles of A and B roads. And the is such a good car, awesome in fact, in a completely different league to the golf. I LOVE my C and my final decision is that it is going nowhere. :D

 

Only problem with this plan is that I still need to sort certain things so that I can use it everyday, and some need sorting fairly quickly. And thats where you beautiful people come in! :D

 

The minimum I need to sort so that I can continue using it everyday is:-

 

Rear axle bushes, all front bushes, rocker cover gasket, all engine mounts, tappet replacement (not sure if worth doing without going on to do the chains and clutch etc at the same time), I've got some kind of issue regard the steering but not sure what (i'll start another thread later), fuel pump is on its way, fuel pressure regulator replacement and more smaller jobs that I'll be sorting as and when.

 

I'm happy to attempt any job on my car but I'm lacking 2 main things - tools and space. So basically I'm after anyone who is able to help by offering space, experience, specialist tools that could help me.

 

I'm willing to provide beer/food/my own help on jobs that they need doing to their own cars. obviously i'm happy to drive although closer to me, Cambridgeshire, is better from my point of view.

 

Anyone able to help/offer me some advise on where to start etc??? All help mcuh appreciated.

 

Michael

 

p.s. sorry for the war and peace esc post and any mods who think this should be elsewhere, please move. :lol:

[stormchaser 0]

I have room and tools and have a friend in the trade.Plymouth any good to you :lol: .

[Sonicriot13 0]

I would gladly offer my services. I have space and really decent tools, and a Bentley manual. We have a big driveway where I am living now in Stowmarket that would be good for most jobs. It's a little uneven so wouldn't want to do the mounts on it mind. I'm not hugely experienced but I've done a head gasket on a valver and loads of suspension and steering type stuff on various cars, including a mk4 golf. My only problem would be time mate. Work is going to be obscene for me in the coming few months. But if you need a hand with anything on a specific day let me know and I may be able to be of some assistance. :D

[Jim Bowen 1]

Hi mate.

 

i'vce been seeing you drive past a lot over the last few weeks :D your car looks lovely, its almost like driving towards a mirror apart from the colour :lol:

 

i have the same kinda worries as you, i want to do all the mounts, bushes, axle refurb, brakes etc etc, seems like a never ending list., The car feels old and a bit unsettled on the roads around here, i also thought of changing car, but everything else looks so boring :(

 

I started getting tools at xmas as i want to learn how to do all this and then do it. I also need more longterm room to keep the car while its in bits aswell.

 

I've often wondered about how much it costs and how do you find a unit to rent off a farmer etc?

[mrbeige 0]

Dude, is Little Thetford close enough?

[mic_VR 3]

Cheers for the offers/suggestions guys, I'm welling up here!

 

I have room and tools and have a friend in the trade.Plymouth any good to you :lol: .

 

I'm sure I could make a trip, I'd rather make the drive and do the work myself than pay so dodgy garage. :lol:

 

Hi mate.

 

i'vce been seeing you drive past a lot over the last few weeks :D your car looks lovely, its almost like driving towards a mirror apart from the colour :lol:

 

i have the same kinda worries as you, i want to do all the mounts, bushes, axle refurb, brakes etc etc, seems like a never ending list., The car feels old and a bit unsettled on the roads around here, i also thought of changing car, but everything else looks so boring :(

 

I started getting tools at xmas as i want to learn how to do all this and then do it. I also need more longterm room to keep the car while its in bits aswell.

 

I've often wondered about how much it costs and how do you find a unit to rent off a farmer etc?

 

Haha it is like a mirror except colour, although I think yours is a little neater than mine after I had a chance to have a closer look when you were parked in the garage in Newport one day. Mine just hides i well! :)

I've often thought about hiring a garage or something, and you can get them in the city centre but unfortunately its luck of the draw and hardly any of them have power so not really an option for me at the moment. Out where you are you might have more luck.

 

I would gladly offer my services. I have space and really decent tools, and a Bentley manual. We have a big driveway where I am living now in Stowmarket that would be good for most jobs. It's a little uneven so wouldn't want to do the mounts on it mind. I'm not hugely experienced but I've done a head gasket on a valver and loads of suspension and steering type stuff on various cars, including a mk4 golf. My only problem would be time mate. Work is going to be obscene for me in the coming few months. But if you need a hand with anything on a specific day let me know and I may be able to be of some assistance. :D

 

Cheers mate, sounds like you're got a pretty good setup there. Time is my main issue is time as well. I really need to sort out what is most urgent (probably rear bushes) and sorting a suitable time. When I need a hand I'll be sure to let you know.

 

mrbeige, as always your help is much appreciate but I know you've already got one shell on the drive and the son of badcrumble coming next week so I didn't want to use up all your space and time sorting my own stuff. Although if you're sure! :wink:

[mic_VR 3]

I think the worst/trickiest job on the list has to be the rear bushes. I know I've mentioned this to Herisites before, but maybe if a few people want to get them done maybe we should all club together and try to hire some garage space for the weekend and just do each car one by one over a weekend?

[herisites 0]

I think the worst/trickiest job on the list has to be the rear bushes. I know I've mentioned this to Herisites before, but maybe if a few people want to get them done maybe we should all club together and try to hire some garage space for the weekend and just do each car one by one over a weekend?

 

Yeah that would be a good idea, but if you do then you would have to come to mine as my car aint going nowhere for a while!

 

We have cleared our garage up a LOT and its now a nice workshop with space for 2 cars (mine is already in there with the engine apart) so i can ask and if you like we could tackle a few of your jobs like all front bushes one day at mine? Im pretty sure it would be ok with the folks as my mates usually come to me for help, got most tools for the jobs, only thing we lack is any sort of press/vice etc that could be used for rear bushes. But all front bushes are easy enough if you replace the wishbones rather than pressing in/out bushes. Up to you mate, im not exactly 'local' but im pretty sure in a day we could get the all the front parts done.

[vwdeviant 0]

Dude, is Little Thetford close enough?

 

I was going to suggest Beigy's garage services! :lol:

[joby 0]

Mic_vr dont worry about the rear bushes too much! ive managed to do mine pretty easily, once youve got the rear axle down the bushes came out with some heavy persuasion from an old socket with a lot of plus gas and a BIG lump hammer :) Most small garages should be able to hash something together to press them in, My brother works for mercedes and he used a couple of old pullers and made something up and they went in no probs, Im in the process of doing all the bushes and all the brakes! It can become a bit costly when you need discs all round and caliper repair kits and so on and on but just think how much you are saving by doing it yourself and the big smile when you drive it and its all nice and tight, And at least you will do it properly which in my experiance is more than most garages do these days

good luck mate :)

[herisites 0]

Forgot to mention we have heaters in the garage now as well 8) OH YEAH!! :lol: I could seriously live in my garage now :lol:

[vwdeviant 0]

Forgot to mention we have heaters in the garage now as well 8) OH YEAH!! :lol: I could seriously live in my garage now :lol:

 

And shagpile too?

 

Strange I thought you aleardy did Robert.... :lol:

[herisites 0]

Forgot to mention we have heaters in the garage now as well 8) OH YEAH!! :lol: I could seriously live in my garage now :lol:

 

And shagpile too?

 

Strange I thought you aleardy did Robert.... :lol:

 

:lol: no shagpile just yet mate!

[mic_VR 3]

Hey you alright Rob, not spoken to you in ages. Corrado still not right eh? Take it you'll be getting it sorted for the shows etc though. All that time not moving you must have been buffing it to a high gloss by now! :lol:

 

I knew I'd spoken to you about the rear bushes but I'd forgotten you'd already done your fronts. Did you get all your wishbones etc from GSF? If I can get the parts I'd be really appreciative if I could come over to yours, probably bring mrbeige along for an extra pair of hands, as your setup is pretty good and garage is nice and flat. If you've got a list of things you ended up changing I'll order everything so we don't get halfway through and need a part.

 

If your folks are ok with it just let me know when you're free and I'll get my act together! :D

 

And as for the rears, I'm happy to give it a go. Best bet is, like joby said, to get the rear beam off and get a local garage to press the new ones in. If Mincy needs to be the test bed for the whole operation then so bit it, gotta get it done and the rear end feels all over the place on bumpy roads.

[mrbeige 0]

It suggest you get you front wishbones from VW themselves dude. Much better than some of the GSF tat...

[Rado k 0]

Mic_VR check your PM's. Might be able to help.

[mic_VR 3]

Yeah VAG original parts would be good, i'm just a bit of a skinflint! :lol:

 

But seriously I want to do the job right so if VAG parts means I won't be doing it again for another 129K miles I'm happy with that.

 

Rado k, got your PM'd and all help appreciated especially if you've got the right tools as I think we've decided the whole pressing in of the bushes is the toughest job.

[herisites 0]

Hey you alright Rob, not spoken to you in ages. Corrado still not right eh? Take it you'll be getting it sorted for the shows etc though. All that time not moving you must have been buffing it to a high gloss by now! :lol:

 

I knew I'd spoken to you about the rear bushes but I'd forgotten you'd already done your fronts. Did you get all your wishbones etc from GSF? If I can get the parts I'd be really appreciative if I could come over to yours, probably bring mrbeige along for an extra pair of hands, as your setup is pretty good and garage is nice and flat. If you've got a list of things you ended up changing I'll order everything so we don't get halfway through and need a part.

 

If your folks are ok with it just let me know when you're free and I'll get my act together! :D

 

And as for the rears, I'm happy to give it a go. Best bet is, like joby said, to get the rear beam off and get a local garage to press the new ones in. If Mincy needs to be the test bed for the whole operation then so bit it, gotta get it done and the rear end feels all over the place on bumpy roads.

 

Im good mate, yep my car's been sat in the garage pretty much for the whole of the winter and Doofy has been getting some stick i can tell ya :shock: but im not rushing it, just waiting for Kev to get his car sorted to come back and give me a hand do the chains then we can put her back together and see if she runs :( Im ashamed to say but if you saw my car at the moment you would be shocked, its covered in about an inch of dust :( which was down to my dad cutting blocks outside the garage, all the dust went straight under the door and covered my car, so once she's done and back running she is getting a MASSIVE clean and polish :lol:

 

Well i will check with the folks and see what they say, im pretty sure they would be ok with it for a day. I got a few VW and few GSF with mine, the wishbones, ARB bushes and all replacement bolts were VW but i think my ball joints and track rod ends were GSF. Also replaced wheel bearings with VW ones as well, but i had to get them done at a garage because i dont have a press and didnt fancy cobbling one together!

 

All the front parts are fairly simple to do depending on whether all the bolts play nice which mine all did apart from my track rod ends which had to be angle grinded and heated up to get off!! So get some PlusGas and just keep soaking all bolts in that whenever possible up until you do them if i were you so you dont run into any trouble! If bolts play nice its simple enough, the wishbones/ball joints/track rod ends are very simple to do, the ARB bushes are a bit of a pain in the arse though as you need to lower the subframe to do them!

[mic_VR 3]

Cheers for the update Rob, I've got a load of Plusgas so I'll get that on there from now until we do the job.

 

I'm hoping to get the bushes and wishbones from VW and I'll order the rest (ball-joints and track rod ends) from GSF. If you find out which weekends are best with your folks and you then just let me know and I'll work around that.

 

Cheers again guys. :D

[tankybaby 0]

hiya, what is plusgas? Are the rear bushes as hard to do on the rado as they are on a mk4 golf?

[djmac56 0]

Whilst I can't help as I am in the same predicament as you, I totally agree.

 

I've recently bought a Mk4 V6 4mo, which is a terrific car, and with the extra torque, brilliant for getting out of trouble and overtaking on the motorway. I bought it because my rado had spent 2 months off the road at the phirm, was unreliable for work having let me down severla times, and being noisy etc.

 

I just got the rado back the other day, worried it might not be as quick, but it is, in a different way - over 4k revs, but the big diference is how it handles. Holy cow the corrado is so beautiful at cornering. It's only when I went back to its I realised what i'd been missing. Around winding roads and sharp bends it really shows its class, and my gmax kit with powerflex bushes all round means its incredibly tight.

 

A mate of mine was saying i was stupid having 2 cars when one is a 4mo and therefore pretty decent, and the corrado noisy and old, especially as i have no space for the rado and am looking for storage too, but I simply cant get rid of it. I think it's important we remind ourselves just how good the rado is, even with the problems and the costs.

 

But basically I'd rather have the rado, than the 2500 id get for it. My long term plan is to have a bigger house with a driveway, and until then I'll have to cope with the hassle, unless someone around the Weybridge area in Surrey can offer me space!

 

Mark