Purple Tom's Corrado TDi - gone

[Purple Tom 0]

Day whatever-it-is-now...

 

Had a bit of a crappy week to be honest, on Friday my Grandad was taken into hospital with breathing difficulties, on Saturday they diagnosed a chest infection and acute leukemia, on Sunday they did a blood transfusion and on Monday afternoon he passed away. Being on call with work meant I wasn't able to get down to see him to say goodbye so all a bit upsetting to be honest (the hospital was 40 miles away in Wolverhampton). However I work in the funeral business so I've been able to sort everything out and my company will be doing the funeral so it's nice to be able to carry out the last thing and know it'll be done properly. He came up to visit us about 2 weeks ago for a couple of days and I showed him the Corrado and the work I'd done and he was looking forward to seeing it done so while it sounds pretty cliche'd it'll definitely be nice to get this car finished in time for Stanford Hall, if for no-one else but him :)

 

Anyway...enough with the emotional stuff and on to the car! Although this week wasn't all that productive I still managed to remove all of the chipped/broken underseal from the car and prep, prime and paint the affected areas to prevent the spread of rust. It's surprising just how easily water spreads underneath underseal as there were quite a few areas where it appeared to be fine but a bit of investigation revealed nasty black water underneath so they're all sorted now. I've also used Dinitrol Cavity Wax in all of the accessible cavities, including plenty around the fuel filler area (which I've cleaned and painted) so hopefully the dreaded brown stuff will be slowed down at least!

 

I also managed to get the headlamp loom finished which took a bit longer than I thought - lots of soldering and heatshrinking there! However it's all done now and fitted. All 4 relays are mounted just above the standard fusebox and the fuses for the relays are accessible behind the fusebox so it's worked out pretty well - just got to pop the battery on and test it when the time comes.

 

Today was my first day off since last weekend (although I'm still on call until 8am tomorrow morning!) so I hoped I'd get a lot done. I got the fusebox back into its proper place, mounted the ABS pump, installed the ABS loom and also the alarm and fan wiring looms. Mark came round again to help and we cracked on, getting quite a few jobs done. The engine bay is beginning to get there now, most of the wiring looms are in permanently in place now, as is the ABS pump, servo and clutch master cylinder. The front-rear brake pipes are installed, as is the gear selector and underbody heat shields. The front subframe and ARB are now in place permanently too (although we did that last weekend). Also we've fitted the steering rack and new steering arms/trackrod ends/steering rack boots.

 

Here's a few piccies:

 

 

 

 

 

Still an awful lot to do but getting there now.

 

I've also had a total eBay bargain delivered this week. Every build that I do I have to get a 99p eBay purchase - with the Vauxhall conversion into my Mini I picked up a genuine GM concentric clutch slave cylinder, Vauxhall price £137, eBay price 99p :) With the Golf engine into my mk3 Polo I picked up a genuine VW water pump and cambelt kit for 99p and with this build I've got an OE-spec (Febi) heater matrix for the paltry sum of £5.99 delivered. It's brand new, never fitted and has saved me a good £50, so a good bargain there :)

 

The intercooler has been delivered and I'm well on the way to sorting out the pipework and mounting arrangements for that. I've got a rebuild kit for the front calipers which I'll be popping in shortly (upgrading to 288's) and lots of other new parts to fit.

 

Tomorrow I'm pressing the rear beam bushes into the beam, as well as the front bearings into the bearing carriers and hubs into the bearings. Once that's done then the aim for tomorrow is to get the rear beam fitted, brake pipes made and maybe get the engine in permanently. I've fitted the VR6 clutch to the engine and given the gearbox a clean so it's just a case of bolting the two together and dropping them in.

 

I'll update more tomorrow evening if I get chance to, just thought I'd update and let you know how things are going :)

 

Cheers

Tom

Edited April 22, 2011 by Purple Tom

[Laser Mark 0]

But the most important job before any of that, is to buy more tea bags :suprised:

[boost monkey 0]

Great build!

 

Give Mark a slap though and call him a lazy slag, those rear arches aren't clean! You can barely tell the body colour! :lol: put some effort into it my son!

[Purple Tom 0]

Oh they are clean compared to how they were! 14 years of accumulated crap had built up so it was just the first fix ;)

 

A proper job will be done before the show when its running with a pressure washer, some tar remover and plenty of degreaser...that should do the trick :)

 

As for tea bags, I'll get some in the morning :lol:

[GlosterOx 0]

Great build thread Tom and compelling reading - Sorry to read about your Grandad passing away so suddenly.

 

Ian.

[Purple Tom 0]

Thanks Ian :)

 

Day 12-ish - got loads done today!

 

I got up early and headed over to my Dads unit to borrow his hydraulic press. He bought it 5 years ago and so far I've used it about 7 times to press bearings in and out of things, other than that he hasn't used it at all :lol: Anyway, we pressed the drive flanges into the bearing housings and also the rear beam bushes into the beam itself - thanks to Mark who managed to get a special tool made at his work which made the rear beam bushes very easy to press in :) Here's a couple of pics of the finished items - the bearing housings and rear beam have both been blasted and powdercoated and the drive flanges have just been blasted to remove any loose material:

 

 

 

They look brilliant and the powdercoating will last a lot longer than a standard wet-painted finish - thanks again to Mark and Dave who organised that for me.

 

Here's my 99p eBay bargain heater matrix:

 

 

Also my not-so-much-of-a-bargain-but-fits-perfectly FMIC:

 

 

Once I got back from Dads I had to do a bit of gardening to help my Mum and then Mark came round so we cracked on with the rebuild. Mark concentrated on the rear end (which apparently is his area of expertise, I didn't ask :lol:) and got the fuel tank bolted on with its freshly powdercoated tank straps:

 

 

He then fitted all of the remaining heatshielding back onto the car, using all new springy-washer things which means that the shields no longer rattle in an annoying way. He then refitted the rear beam and its brackets, and then between us we fitted the rear discs, bearings, ABS rotors and new handbrake cables and also got the freshly powdercoated rear carriers on. Dave has borrowed my piston wind-in tool so we'll be able to fit the pads etc tomorrow. It's beginning to look a bit more finished under there now although there's still the hard lines, flexi hoses etc to fit:

 

 

While Mark concentrated on the rear suspension I was able to get on with the front end, so I got the rest of the brake pipes made up which was easier said than done. I've used a modified version of the Passat heatshielding which meant that routing the brake and clutch hydraulic pipes wasn't all that easy, particularly as I'm using the later-spec ABS system that the Corrado was never actually fitted with. I've just had to make the pipes and route them as best as I can...it's not 100% perfect but its very difficult to achieve uniform bends in the brake pipes and also its nigh-on possible to get it completely straight. However I tried and I think it looks ok:

 

 

As well as fitting the brakes lines I got the reconditioned PAS pipes back into position, fitted the R32 wishbone bushes to the wishbones and bolted them into place. I also fitted the front flexi hoses. I've routed the wiring using all new clips and ties around the bulkhead so it's looking reasonably neat under there now. There's still the servo feed pipe to fit and the vacuum hoses for the engine but other than that the messy engine bay bit is done.

 

It got to about 9pm and after a chinese takeaway to keep us going it was time to get the engine in...a bit of jiggery pokery and the engine was bolted into position where it will hopefully stay for at least a little while:

 

 

I couldn't resist putting the engine cover on to see what it looks like :)

 

Loads to do tomorrow, I'm going to get the carpet and heater box back in to begin with which will mean I can fit the coolant hoses etc. I've also got to slightly modify the downpipe to fit the newly made stainless exhaust adaptor (thanks again Mark and Dave!) and do plenty of other small time-consuming jobs but hopefully the update tomorrow night will maybe see it running again :)

 

Cheers

Tom

[GlosterOx 0]

Hi Tom,

 

"He then fitted all of the remaining heatshielding back onto the car, using all new springy-washer things which means that the shields no longer rattle in an annoying way" - Do you have a Part No for the heat shield retaining washers, as last time mine was up on the ramp I noticed 2 were missing?

 

Ian.

[Purple Tom 0]

Sure - the part number is N 903 350 05 and they come in bags of 5.

 

Cheers

Tom

[Walesy 0]

Brilliant thread mate, keep it up it's looking awesome! sorry for your loss too.

[Rob_B 0]

Excellent work. Are those rear discs the right way round though?

[Purple Tom 0]

Rob - yep the discs are correct, the grooves are intended to draw air in to help with the cooling. Not that it'll need it on the back at all, especially with a TDi :lol: It's just that the discs are unworn and were fitted to the VR6 that I broke so it made sense to use them on this project.

 

Day 13 - another good day.

 

I got up nice and early, filled the Ibiza with loads of bits of Corrado interior, including the carpet and heater box and headed down to Mums house. First things first I fitted the carpet, which took bloody ages because of the amount of fixings and I wanted to get it right. I then sprayed lots of cavity wax down into the rear quarter panels and refitted the rear door cards and front seatbelt mechanisms. Then I fitted new bolts to the heater box and got that into place and secured it through the bulkhead with new nuts - I had real trouble with corrosion on those nuts and bolts (particularly the bottom one) when doing the matrix on my old VR6 so I wanted to replace them this time round just in case I ever have the need to take the heater box out again.

 

Mark arrived just as I was finishing this off so he got on with the rear end (again!). He'd brought back my piston tool so the first job was to wind the piston back in to the calipers and fit the pads and secure handbrake cables. He got this done and something on the car worked again (the handbrake that is!) While under there he fitted the downpipe - mid section adaptor, which is a lovely bit of stainless pipe of differing diameters each end, polished and tig-welded and supplied by Daves16V. It's a shame that its going underneath the car because it'll never be seen! Once that was on I was able to fit the downpipe, complete with new turbo - downpipe gasket etc.

 

While Mark was busy working I was getting on with the plumbing under the bonnet. I got the majority of the water pipes fitted and also fitted the new water pump and thermostat, which it makes sense to do while everything is accessible. More on more went back on, including the gear selector cables, wiring etc. I also fitted a little more heat shielding and routed the vacuum pipes along the bulkhead until it looked like this:

 

 

I then got on with something that had been bugging me for a while which was the clean air feed for the N75 valve which mounts next to the fuel filter on the O/S suspension turret. On the Passat/Golf TDi's the N75 has a clean air feed from the air filter housing which is necessary and is plumbed in to a little connection on the air filter housing itself. Obviously the original Corrado 8V filter housing hasn't got this, but I'd managed to acquire a Golf filter housing for free (I stupidly threw away the donor B4 one before realising!) and I had my first go at plastic welding:

 

 

It's by no means neat, due partly due to my inexperience and also my pointy soldering iron! However there's plenty of plastic in there so it's pretty strong. The inside of the filter housing only has a 3mm hole in which I just ran a drill through:

 

 

A quick sand down and it looked ok. Here's how it looks fitted to the car, I think it'll do:

 

 

There's lots of little jobs like this that need doing - another one was the modified bracket I had to make to fit a relay on the engine bay bulkhead (I'm not 100% sure what the relay does actually, I'll have to find out!) But either way it needed mounting so that took a little while - however I like to do things properly so I didn't want it to just hang in mid air. Those little jobs are slowly diminishing now though! :)

 

Once that was all done Mark and I got on with fitting new inner CV boots to the driveshafts. This is a fun job because there's an annoying little circlip that is is fitted into a slot on the inside of the inner CV joint itself and if the slot isn't perfectly clean it can be a right pain to get back in. All went well though so we got the new inner CV boots, along with new outer CV joints and boots fitted to the driveshafts. I would have got a picture but everyone knows what driveshafts look like.

 

We then thought it would be a good plan to get the shafts fitted, along with the front hubs, lower ball joints and struts etc. It's amazing how much quicker and easier jobs like this are with two people, so I just want to thank Mark again for all of his help. Even little things like torquing up the inner CV bolts take half the time with two people! Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of the front suspension, sorry for the dirt on the arches that will be sorted next weekend hopefully:

 

 

 

It was good to get all that back on, it seems like a big jump forwards to have the suspension fitted all round now! I got a few more things fitted to the engine bay area so this it what it looks like when we finished tonight:

 

 

I've got one more day off tomorrow so aim to get a lot more done then, another update to follow tomorrow :)

 

Cheers

Tom

[voo51 0]

Wow, I have been wondering about this the past few years myself as fuel is so expensive now. It is great to see that you are doing it. Looking forward to seeing your outcome. Good luck :)

[Purple Tom 0]

Day 14 - feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel today!

 

I got up nice and early as unfortunately this week is MOT time for the Ibiza. I'd been putting off doing the necessary work but I decided to get it done this morning so it wasn't playing on my mind and it should *hopefully* go straight through without any worries. So I did the rear wheel bearings, fitted new handbrake cables and replaced the O/S outer CV boot. I very nearly fitted a spare set of R32 wishbone bushes that I've got lying around but decided that it would add maybe another hour to the work and I wanted to make a start on the Corrado. Anyway, a quick test drive of the Ibiza once it was done proved that the handbrake now works and the rear wheel bearings aren't making that annoying howl that they make when they're knackered, so job was a good'un there.

 

Once that was all done I made a start on the Corrado. I thought it'd be a good idea to get the rest of the wiring at the front sorted out, as well as deciding what alternator arrangement I was going to go with. You might recall that earlier in the thread I mentioned that the 8V alternator would fit, along with the 8V water pump pulley, to make things easier. This wasn't actually true, and after thinking about it a bit more I've decided to stick with the original Passat setup. Not only is there considerably less mileage on the alternator, it also means I can get on off-the-shelf multi-V belt to fit rather than having to measure with a bit of string or something. The reason for this (which I didn't realise before) is that the diesel engine has slightly bigger pulleys than the petrol, obviously due to the diesel turning at lower rpm on average, so the pulleys are made bigger to spin the alternator/ancillary pulleys at a similar speed. I know that explanation is a little boring but its another one of those things that has to be considered when doing something like this.

 

I got the rest of the wiring done once I'd fitted the alternator and another reason that I went for the Passat alternator setup is because it sits slightly higher up than the 8V alternator, which leaves more room above the PAS pump for the intercooler and its pipework. I got the radiator fitted which was really easy and then decided it'd be a good idea to have a look at how I'm going to mount the intercooler to the car. The cooler itself has three bosses welded onto each side to assist in mounting, and I was a little unsure as to how to do it until I'd got the rad in. Once the rad was in and I could see the gaps around it, it was pretty obvious where the FMIC was going to fit:

 

 

It sits really nicely on the radiator support panel, the three bosses on the lower side line up perfectly on the flat section just above the PAS cooler pipe. Here's a couple of pictures of the car with the front end fitted, showing the clearance around the FMIC. I have had to slightly modify the front panel, but not excessively and not to the detriment in terms of rigidity:

 

 

 

In terms of mounting the intercooler, I managed to use some genuine VW rubber mountings :) They weren't designed for an FMIC, obviously...but they do the job really well and they look neat. The intercooler is secured with some nice stainless M8 bolts through the radiator support panel and is very rigid, here's a (slightly crap) pic of the mountings:

 

 

Here's where the rubber mounts came from, recognise it anyone? :)

 

 

So...I got the FMIC fitted, the front panel modified and painted and then fitted. I was then able to start thinking about plumbing and how its going to work. It turns out that I'm going to be able to use some of the original Passat pipework, combined with some nice shiny silicon hoses which I've just ordered. I'm not a massive fan of lots of joints in boost pipework, but its going to be necessary with this pipework. However I've gone for decent quality hoses and joiners so I'm not worried about any pipes popping off - it's not like I'll be running massive boost anyway (to begin with!). I modified the turbo - intercooler plastic pipe as can be seen in the picture below - it used to point down towards the N/S front wheel (where the standard intercooler was), but I've rotated it by about 110 degrees which means it points perfectly down into the gap between the radiator/alternator/PAS pump. I'm not envisaging any other problems with the pipework, I'm just excited about it arriving because it means I can get the engine running!

 

 

As well as that I fitted the new ignition switch which is a piece of cake with the column off the car, and did a few other bits and bobs. I've sussed out the fuel pipes now and I'm nearly ready to fit the 'H' section restrictor piece into the fuel lines to allow excess fuel to return to the tank rather than over-pressurizing the injector pump. Turns out the plastic fuel pipes can be flared nicely with the brake pipe flaring tool so all I need to do is flare the ends and fit the high pressure fuel line that I've got along with some decent pipe clips and jobs a good'un on that front too.

 

All thats really left to do now is fit the front calipers, make and fit the rear beam hard lines, bleed the brakes and clutch, finish the fuel lines and intercooler pipework, refit the interior, dashboard, interior trim and then headlights, front bumper etc. Easy peasy I reckon :)

 

Cheers

Tom

[smithy220 0]

wish i had gone for a b4 donor,my mk3 loom looks like a big bundle of spaghetti.getting there very slowly,question for you how much room is there from the back of the block to the firewall? i am thinking of using a audi/volvo t3 turbo.

[Purple Tom 0]

Loads of room for quite a big turbo in there to be honest, the only thing that might get in the way is the rear engine mount, depending on where the inlet for the turbo is. I'll try to get some pictures of the clearance down there when I'm next at the garage.

 

Cheers

Tom

[Purple Tom 0]

I'm just in the middle of refitting all of the interior so haven't got time to do a proper write up at the moment, however its pretty much back together and in roughly 6 hours time I'll be driving it to Stealth to have the suspension properly aligned. Wish me luck!

 

Here's a few pics of the intercooler plumbing, as requested, and some other stuff in no particular order:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Tom

[Jim 2]

The most important question...... did you get there? :)

[Purple Tom 0]

Day 17 ish...it is done!

 

The last couple of days have been what you might call slightly frantic! Having the day off for the wedding was good as it meant I could concentrate on getting on with the car, what with the deadline of the show looming!

 

All I really had left to do on Friday was to fit the front bumper and arch liners and refit the interior (all trim, dash, seats etc), fit the wheels, drop it down off the axle stands and then it would be ready to go. It doesn't sound like a lot when you say it but I am a little bit of a perfectionist and those small jobs ended up taking a lot longer because I didn't just refit parts, I found new fixings, greased them, made sure they lined up....etc etc. I like to be safe in the knowledge that the car would stand close scrutiny even underneath in the places where you'd never normally look and not be found lacking - it's all in the detail as they say!

 

So, it got to about 10pm on Friday night and I hadn't even started to fit the interior, I was still messing around with the arch liners! Slowly but surely though I got the interior in, including fitting the stereo and bluetooth handsfree kit that was installed in the Ibiza - which meant I had to take it out of the Ibiza too! I knew I was working late when the birds started to sing, and then suddenly I looked out of the garage and it was daylight - I'd worked from 11am on Friday morning until 6am on Saturday morning. Luckily plenty of water and a couple of pro-plus tablets helped to keep me awake! :) Here's how it looked in the garage at 6am this morning when I finally dropped it off the axle stands. The Speedlines belong to Ian and have barely legal tyres on so were perfect for driving to Stealth - I didn't want to risk knackered my brand new tyres through misaligned geometry:

 

 

The car was booked in at Stealth at 10am, and its about an hour and a half's drive so I thought leaving at 8am would give a bit of leeway should there be any issues. Bear in mind it was now 6am, there didn't seem much point in getting any sleep as I thought it might make me more tired so I thought (in my sleepy head) that it would be as good a time as any to take it for a test drive and see how it felt. Bear in mind I'd put a little under a gallon (maybe 4 litres) of diesel in the tank a couple of nights before and had done quite a bit of stationary running by then, testing the intercooler pipework etc. I moved the car out of the garage, headed down the drive and turned left towards the petrol station about a mile down the road. It felt great, really nice and tight but it was obvious that the front wheels weren't pointing in anything like the same direction; apart from that it was all good.

 

I got the to the petrol station, pulled up next to the diesel pump, got out and a girl came running over saying "I'm sorry, we don't open the pumps until 7am". I couldn't be arsed to wait 45 minutes in a petrol station so I thought "I know, I'll drive to the other petrol station about 3 miles away". You can no doubt guess what happened next....lets just say its the only time I've ever run out of fuel! I felt stupid because I could easily have prevented it by going to that 24 hour fuel station in the first place. Never mind though, my stepdad came and rescued me and I got the car going again, problem solved.

 

Mark had agreed to come with me to Stealth as a support vehicle in his Mk5 Golf TDi so he arrived at 8am and we set off, the plan being to go to a petrol station in Derby to fill up with decent fuel and so I could get my bonus points on a tankful! We arrived at the petrol station, my hands slightly numb from the steering wheel shake because of the misalignment and I brimmed the tank with nice fresh diesel. I went to pay, glanced back at the car and noticed a fluid of some description dripping quite vigourously from the O/S front corner of the car. I paid for the fuel, came back and found it to be coolant - not good.

 

I drove the car round the back of the petrol station where the was a fairly large parking area and both Mark and I got underneath to see if we could figure out where the leak was coming from. It appeared to be coming from the water pump area, which was concerning as I'd fitted a new pump and 'stat and I started to wonder if one of the O-rings was leaking. I decided that I needed to have a closer look and because I hadn't bought a decent jack with me I did the next best thing and improvised using a kerb (that's me in the dirty overalls - I remembered them!):

 

 

 

 

I decided that I'd whip the power steering pump off and have a closer look at the water pump. I started to slacken the tensioner on the pump and as soon as I moved the pump closer to the crank pulley the leak stopped completely - "hmmm" is what I thought. Once I removed the PAS pump completely I saw what the problem was. I'd positioned the pipe clip on the bottom hose to point vertically downwards for easier access should I ever have needed to remove it while the front of the car was still on, which I think makes perfect sense. However, what I hadn't realised was that when I bolted the PAS pump into place and correctly tensioned it, the pump itself pivoted and the body made contact with the bottom hose clip, slightly releasing it and allowing coolant to drip out when it was hot and under pressure in the cooling system. That explained why the leak stopped as soon as slackened the PAS pump off. So, I rotated the clip around slightly so it definitely wouldn't foul on the PAS pump, refitted the pump and belt and we set off again - making it to Stealth at 10.05 which I think was pretty good considering it took about 20 minutes to find, diagnose and resolve that coolant leaking problem.

 

Upon arrival at Stealth I asked Vince if he could bleed the brakes using his proper vacuum bleeder. I've got a Gunsons Eezibleed which is pretty good but sometimes you need something slightly more industrial with a completely new braking system. He did that for me and then the Beissbarth alignment was done - afterwards the car drove totally, inconceivably better then it did on the way down there. I got the proper wheels fitted and then went home for a snooze :)

 

Upon waking up a few hours later (about 5.30 this afternoon) I decided it'd be a good idea to take it to work and give it a bit of a wash been as though its on the show stand tomorrow, so here's a couple of pictures for you of it as it stands at the moment. I have to admit to not being 100% happy with the stance, it seems to sit slightly nose-up which I dislike intensely so I might look at raising the back end slightly to compensate or possibly dropping the front a little more...we'll see though:

 

 

 

 

Oh, and here's the MPG I got on the way to work :)

 

 

I'll update this again with driving impressions etc once I've had a bit more sleep, just thought I'd let you know of the outcome of today.

 

Cheers

Tom

Edited April 30, 2011 by Purple Tom

[boost monkey 0]

Amazing!! I love the build, and finding an easy-to-fix job on a Corrado is cause for celebration! :D

[sexybourbon 0]

The knowledge pace and determination of this build is amazing really good work thumbs up to you man

[moneypit23 0]

Can't believe its done already, hopefully i'll see it tomorrow.

 

Excellent work Sir!

[Pat_McCrotch 0]

Love the engine bay shot, like it's just come out of the factory.

[fla 9]

hugely impressive build Tom. You have a lot of dedication and a very high skill level. Good stuff. Would love to see the car with a turbo! 68.9mpg is a pipe dream for any 'normal' Corrado :)

[8vMatt 1]

Wow, amazing work and a credit to you mate. What a mental good mpg figure!!!

[dragon green 5]

Congratulations for finishing it so quick,keep us updated on how it drives !