Purple Tom's Corrado TDi - gone

[Purple Tom 0]

Thanks for the positive replies everyone, I'm glad you all like :) I haven't been ignoring this thread, just been a bit busy, but I'm in the middle of working out how much the conversion cost altogether so I'll have that figure fairly soon.

 

I don't know if I mentioned about the ride height issues - once it was all back together it was sitting very low at the back - I've fitted Eibach springs with a -25mm drop all round so it shouldn't have sat tail down. It looked more like the rear was -40mm and it was making the car a bit crashy and horrible to drive as it's running standard shocks and obviously they don't like being -40mm. So I contacted C&R (who supplied the springs) who contacted Eibach on my behalf. The guy at Eibach said that some Corrado's, for some reason, sit lower at the back even with their standard -25mm rear springs on. He said Eibach had developed a spring specifically to solve this problem and that he'd send a set out to me straight away. Whether thats a load of old cobblers I don't know, it could be that they've had some QC issues and some kits have had -25mm fronts and -40mm rears but either way I didn't mind. The new springs arrived yesterday so I set about fitting them last night:

 

 

I took the opportunity to check all of the fixings at the back, everything looks good so I'm happy with that. Once I got the car lowered back onto its wheels I was much happier with how it sits:

 

 

 

 

It might not be very 'scene', in that its not slammed into the ground, but it drives really REALLY nicely. The ride is firm without being at all crashy, and the car rides over the bumps very nicely indeed. I think that manufacturers put cars at a certain height for a reason and I can't help but think that the Corrado drives best when its not lowered into the ground. Either way I'm happy with it, its a nice compromise on looks over ride comfort/driving pleasure.

 

I also took a quick picture of the MPG on MFA 2 after 469.7 miles. That has been mixed driving, not just motorway or pottering about, quite a bit of everything. I'm well chuffed with it :)

 

 

More updates to come as I get to know it more!

 

Cheers

Tom

[Laser Mark 0]

Looks loads better now Tom.

 

None of my bolts come undone? :)

 

I bet the garage is looking a little empty without a car in there in pieces?

[KIPVW 0]

Looks bloody perfect to me Tom ;)

[pete_griff 0]

just to echo the comments everyone else has made on here - hats off to you Tom.

 

the workmanship and attention to detail you've put in is really first class and you've made yourself a truly lovely example there. mpg figures like that are just a distant dream to pretty much everyone on here!

 

looks so good - hope you don't get too many teething problems to sort out and it's everything you hoped for

:D

[coullstar 0]

Im slowly coming round to the idea of these with figures like that above. Thats about 3 x the MPG that Im getting from my Audi!!

[wy906 0]

65.3 mpg; that’s almost 1000 miles between fill-ups for a full tank!

 

How brilliant!

 

Great work!

[Supercharged 2]

65.3 mpg; that’s almost 1000 miles between fill-ups for a full tank!

 

How brilliant!

 

Great work!

 

Yep, I forgot he had the bigger tank too... I 'only' get 600 miles out of mine!!

 

The other thing he can do is run it on Veg oil or even recycled stuff from restaurants - I can't do this with the PD engine.

 

Tom - great work, just catching up with your thread now, amazed you got it all done for Stanford hall too and to such a high standard!

[dalhalvaig 0]

Any updates. What's it been like to run? How the handling and ride? Will you need to alter the shocks and springs? Cheers D

[C5 OEM 0]

great work, i`d love my sharan pdtdi 115 dropped into a corrado... maybe we`ll see more of these happening now

[Backbone 0]

Great looking bay mate, you went about this totally differently to me......by doing it properly,lol taking your time with really clean Corrado, not like my ratty daily! I would recommend putting .216 injector nozzles in if you were thinking about future tuning and have no fear about running it on 50/50 clean veg oil and diesel, also mine passed an MOT emmissions test with a blanked off EGR valve and straight through exhaust with only a backbox on and .216 injector nozzles, hope any of that helps,

[smithy220 0]

how have you mounted the accelerator servo? ive been tempted to extend the wiring and run it of the standard cable in the engine bay.

[Purple Tom 0]

Backbone - thanks for the information, I've been doing a lot of research on tuning recently but I need to sell a few bits and bobs to get the pennies together to make it worthwhile! I'm thinking of getting hold of an AHU lump to drop in, along with a VNT and the necessary AFN ECU and immobiliser box, chipped key etc. I have contemplated running it on a mix of diesel and clean veg oil but for the time being I'm quite happy with paying full price for diesel, been as though the car is averaging about 61mpg - it's not costing me a fortune to run around in to be honest :)

 

Dalhalvaig - I am absolutely loving it! The handling is fantastic, I wouldn't expect it to be anything less though been as its all brand new. Its as tight and precise as a Corrado should be, and is a total joy round the Derbyshire twisties. It might only have 90bhp, but its got around 150lb/ft at 2000rpm which is enough to have fun with. It's not what you'd call 'slow', and the torque is in a nice usable chunk right in the mid range which means I can just enjoy it without thrashing it. Refinement-wise its not as quiet as when it was a petrol but neither is it too loud. It's got a bit of a rattly tensioner which I need to sort as its quite noisy at idle but as soon as the rpm rises above idle it quietens out. I do have a slight resonance through the exhaust which I need to sort but its nothing major at all. I'm chuffed to bits with it, and the springs/shocks seem to suit it perfectly - the ride is firm yet pliant without any major body roll at all. The ABS is working well and the brakes feel fantastic, nice and sharp with hardly any pedal travel before they bite - 288's are definitely the way forwards! :)

 

Managed to attack it with some snowfoam a couple of weeks ago for the first time ever (its good stuff!):

 

 

 

 

I did a 500 miles trip up around the North Yorkshire moors over the bank holiday weekend and it returned 61mpg which is brilliant. It hasn't used a drop of oil or coolant and was a very comfy drive up there. The new missus likes its too :D

 

Next on the list is cruise control, as the TDi is drive-by-wire so it can be fitted without any modifications other than using Vag-Com to activate it. Then I'm going to start looking for more power, probably with a set of bigger nozzles (injectors). We'll see how things go :)

 

Cheers

Tom

 

---------- Post added at 10:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 PM ----------

 

Smithy - I retained the throttle potentiometer in its standard position on the pedal box, however it meant modifying the scuttle panel of the car in order to do it. If I was to do it again I would modify the pedal box to move the potentiometer down so it cleared the scuttle. I have detailed the modification in an earlier post. Mounting it in the engine bay using the standard cable would be a good plan and I've seen it done on a Mk1 Golf, however you'd need to make provision on the standard (original) Corrado pedal box for the clutch and brake switches which the TDi ECU needs in order to work properly.

 

HTH

Tom

[smithy220 0]

the two switches for the pedals,i thought they were for cruise control,wondering if i have now bitten of more than i can chew

[Purple Tom 0]

The clutch and brake switches are primarily there so the ECU cuts power to the engine when either pedal is depressed. If you have a VW TDi then give the engine a rev and depress either the brake or clutch pedal, the RPM will drop. Their secondary purpose is for the cruise control.

 

Cheers

Tom

[OllieVR6 0]

lol, the Passat got half a wash.

 

Lovely car dude, an inspiration!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Been meaning to look at this thread for ages and I'm not dissapointed! What a brilliant job you've done of that sir, looks factory! Thanks again for all your info / advice on the MK3 ABS conversion mate :thumbleft:

[dalhalvaig 0]

lol, the Passat got half a wash.

 

Lovely car dude, an inspiration!

 

LOL it's a Bora...stay back for some detention and the I spy books

 

---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:44 AM ----------

 

Thanks for the updates. Clearly exceeding your expectations. It's a long way off but I feel something like this coming on. Driving a TD is so different to a petrol. My wife's got a 2.0 16v TDI Touran - loads of toque low down and can accel well in virtually any gear as a result - just runs out of steam too soon above 4000rpm. But makes for a very lazy/easy drive. In most driving conditions that speed cameras etc permit, that is often more than enough

[Purple Tom 0]

Kev - You're welcome, hope you're able to get the system up and running on yours too :) Glad you like it, will hopefully get to see your motor at a meet sometime in the future!

 

Dalhalvaig - you've hit the nail on the head there really. My mum has the same engine in a mk5 Golf (140bhp 2.0 16V TDi) and it really has plenty of poke for what it is. Lots and lots of mid range torque which makes for an easy, stress free drive. It's plenty quick enough to get you into trouble if you want to but will still return 60+ mpg without a problem. You can even have fun on the twisties with it because it has loads of torque to pull you out of a tight corner while maintaining a decent entry speed. The only disadvantage of a diesel really is the lack of top-end RPM that you mentioned, and also the noise! Nothing beats the sound of a petrol engine on full chat (compared to a diesel), but it really does kick in the wallet. I don't have a huge amount of surplus income so for me the 'smiles per gallon' : 'pounds per mile' ratio of the Corrado TDi is far higher than my old VR6.

 

Of course its not all about cost but sometimes reality has to kick in! I'm also going to enjoy modifying the TDi as the results will be far more noticeable. It'll be a bit like my days of playing with Mini's - when you only have 45bhp, finding another 5bhp makes quite a big difference to the feel of the car. The same will apply when I jump from 90bhp to 120(ish)bhp with the TDi :)

 

I'm thinking of doing a few more TDi conversions and one I'm considering in the future is a PD130 from the Audi A3 'Quattro' or mk4 Golf 1.9 TDi 4motion. They have Haldex so it'll be an economical 4x4 Corrado. They can be remapped up to 170bhp with no problems and will make big torque so I think that'd make an awesome daily driver, especially for the winter with a set of winter tyres on ;) Just a thought anyway!

[Laser Mark 0]

I'm thinking of doing a few more TDi conversions and one I'm considering in the future is a PD130 from the Audi A3 'Quattro' or mk4 Golf 1.9 TDi 4motion. They have Haldex so it'll be an economical 4x4 Corrado.

 

Hmmmmmm, I like the sound of these ideas mate....lol

[PeteL 0]

I can only echo the comments already, fanatastic build thread and car mate.

[Pug Boxter 0]

Lovely looking car Tom, even though it sounds like a tractor ;)

 

Stu

[Leonard 0]

Top job! Awesome read. Must meet up soon mate so you can show off your handy work. Don't suppose you are around your works this weekend?

 

Matt

[Purple Tom 0]

Matt - sorry, I missed your post, although I wasn't around at the weekend anyway, would like to see your new motor too so I'll drop you a text sometime soon :)

 

Just filled up at Shell for the first time in 17 days - 685 miles for £70 :) Put 51.5L in which works out at 60.4mpg - not bad considering its been 100% country lane driving with a small amount of dual carriageway. Really enjoying it still and its coming off the road in the winter so I can do a few upgrades....VNT anyone? :D

[Laser Mark 0]

I don't know what that means, but it sounds exciting..lol

[Danny B 0]

 

Just filled up at Shell for the first time in 17 days - 685 miles for £70 :) Put 51.5L in which works out at 60.4mpg.......

 

:eek: holy cow !!

 

How satisfying that must be and how depressed do I feel ....... iregular use and town driving means I struggle to get out of the teens :(

 

Fantastic work mate - this conversion will surely become more popular as diesel tuning become's more refined and petrol stations become more frequented !!