Purple Tom's VR6 - bought it back!

[Purple Tom 0]

I've had an ongoing coolant loss issue with the VR6 ever since I bought it, and I've replaced no end of things to try and solve it, to no avail. I've also had a constant steaming up problem with the car too, the passenger side has always been quite prone to condensation, and the windscreen takes aggggeeesssss to demist when it's a bit damp outside. I've secretly always known what the problem is but have been trying to avoid it by just topping up the coolant. You guessed it.............heater matrix :pukeright:

 

To cut a very long story short, I finally replaced it over this weekend. Under the dashboard I found all sorts of horrors - bare wires where an alarms been badly fitted, poor stereo wiring, soaking wet insulation, badly fitted trim pieces etc etc. So what I originally hoped would be about a four hour job turned into an all-weekend mission. However, this is what I've got done:

 

New heater matrix

New 6N ignition switch

Re-wired and re-wrapped the alarm wiring

New ISO plug for the stereo, and re-wrapped the loom

Fitted all the dash trim properly

Repaired the centre console

Fitted a bluetooth handsfree kit

New Alpine 6x4 rear speakers

New plugs and leads

New vacuum operated breather valve (can't remember the name of it)

 

I'm a happy, if tired, person :lol:

 

More excitingly, I've got a week booked off work in a fortnights time to do the following:

 

Chains and tensioners

Clutch

Gearbox

Engine mounts

Fit new front and rear shocks and bushes all round

OBD2 conversion

Headlamp loom

Front wheel bearings

CV boots

etc etc....

 

Really looking forward to getting all that done, once I've had the alignment sorted I reckon it'll drive completely differently to how it does at the moment, can't wait :)

 

I'll get some pics up of the big work when I do it, didn't take any this weekend as I was too busy!

 

Tom

[Leonard 0]

Bloody hell Tom you have been busy!

 

I know where to come when my matrix goes then. Along with begging bowl, fist full of tenners and crate of beer :grin:

 

Wish I had the balls to tackle a few more jobs. Sure I could do 80% of them but there is just that niggling doubt at the back of my mind :lol:

 

So fair play to you, really are doing the C proud. Coming on in leaps and bounds and it wasnt exactly tired before! 8)

 

Any plans for wheels and/or suspension?

 

Oh if you havent seen me around in mine much, I dont work in Matlock anymore. Moved on over to Alfreton :grin:

 

Have to have meet up when weather is bit better

 

Matt

[Purple Tom 0]

Thanks Matt, doing my best for the old girl! It's hard work but worth it when I drive it :)

 

Suspension wise I've got a Bilstein kit with -25mm Eibach springs, and I've got a set of ET35 16x7.5 BBS RC's :) Forgot to mention those, I probably won't fit the wheels until April though, no sense in getting them too salty if I can avoid it! Once the RC's are on I'm probably going to go up to 312's, but it'll mean finding some 16" winter wheels then, as the Speedlines definitely won't fit then! :lol:

 

That'd explain why I haven't seen you walking to work anymore, are you enjoying it over there? Will definitely have to organise a local meet once it gets a bit nicer outside.

 

Tom

[A5 VRX 0]

Drove past yesterday mate and saw you had the bonnet up, this really is going to be a very well sorted VR with the right choice mods, proper good work Tom!

[Purple Tom 0]

Getting there slowly but surely with it Adam, I'm just looking forward to getting the chains and tensioners done next week, will be a load off my mind once they're in and done. Forgot to say I've got 12 new tappets for it too, hopefully it'll appreciate all the work!

 

Speaking of appreciation, it obviously didn't like being taken to pieces over the weekend because I went to get into it after work on monday and the bloody door handle broke :lol: Luckily I'd already bought a couple of door repair kits from Daves16V months ago when I had my 8V, so I set about having a go at fitting the kit to the drivers side. All I can say is once I got the handle off the door (door card off, cut the plastic door seal!) it was a piece of cake. The kit is very well designed and it took about 10 minutes a side to physically fit the new piece into the handle. I can't recommend the kit enough if I'm honest, and I'm pretty confident it'll never break again.

 

Tonight I fitted the repair kit on the passenger side (not that it was broken, but I'm sure it would have been soon), cured a rattle from the rear speaker area (forgot to screw the seatbelt trim down) and also sorted a tiny coolant leak where a clip was slightly off-position on the hose that feeds the AWP from the thermostat housing.

 

Then I took it for a long drive with the heater on full on the feet setting to start to dry the carpets, and it really is driving the best it ever has. Obviously this is all down to the new plugs and leads, but it certainly feels a lot more responsive. The old plugs that came out weren't in the best condition, god knows how long they'd been in for :shrug:

 

I also had a play with an Astra VXR, not sure how hard he was trying but he didn't get past me, which was nice. Of course I didn't go faster than 70 :wave:

 

Roll on chains, tensioners and OBD2 :D

[Purple Tom 0]

Well the time has come...chains/tensioners/clutch/gearbox/OBD2/suspension overhaul!

 

So far I've reconditioned a set of bearing carriers that I purchased, ready to fit new bearings and drive flanges into. I've also partially stripped the front of the car and begun to make note of what does what on my OBD2 loom, which I've inspected and rewrapped with proper tape rather than shitty insulation tape :pukeright:

 

Everything has come apart fairly easily so far, I reckon in a couple more hours I'll have the gearbox and chain covers off and be ready to begin the task of getting it to the correct TDC and replacing all the necessary components. Looks pretty straightforward though to be fair. Here's a few pics....

 

Here's how it looked when I remembered I really should start taking some pictures :lol:

 

 

And how it looked when I left it tonight, all water hoses off, inlet manifold removed, wiring loom partially removed:

 

 

 

Here's the reconned bearing housings:

 

 

The cleaned-up gearbox:

 

 

OBD2 inlet manifold:

 

 

Rewrapped loom:

 

 

And the boxes of bits ready to go on, scary stuff!

 

 

I'll update again soon once I've done some more stuff to it!

[Leonard 0]

How the hell do you remember where everything goes :lol:

[Philuk 0]

i know for a fact id end up with a bag of bits left over at the end and i wouldnt have the foggiest where it all came from lol. good work mate. i want some space to do stuff to the car rather than the street outside the house! lol

[fla 9]

I took a load of pics of mine when i did the chains and also when converting from auto to manual so let me know if you need any, although i'm sure you probably wouldnt!

[Purple Tom 0]

I took a load of pics of mine when i did the chains and also when converting from auto to manual so let me know if you need any, although i'm sure you probably wouldnt!

 

You never know :D Thanks, may be in touch if anything goes a bit pear-shaped!

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[A5 VRX 0]

Hows this coming along bud? Some serious work there!

 

Also found that my motor doesn't have 288's but have found some at a decent price, still need to get the braided hoses and discs yet but how do you feel about fitting them in a month or so, paid obviously. I really dont trust garages thats all, sorry if thats cheeky!

 

AJ

[Purple Tom 0]

Long story to tell which isn't finished yet so I'm not going to start it! I'm having immobiliser issues atm, definitely with the OBD2 ECU as my car doesn't have a factory immobiliser. I was told the ECU had been defeated but I'm pretty convinced that was bullsh*t.

 

Lots of pics and stuff to show you, but the long and short of it is that the car starts and runs but only for a couple of seconds. I'm happy that it does that though, at least it proves the chains are right and the loom is ok etc, but still lots to do yet.

 

Adam - yeah I'm happy to fit the 288's for you mate, let me know how you're getting on and we'll arrange a time.

 

Tom

[Purple Tom 0]

Well the story with the immobiliser continues. I spoke to Vince who originally fitted this OBD2 kit to another Corrado back in 2006. He said it should have come with the key and transponder ring too. I contacted the guy who sold me the kit who had another look in the shell and found the key/ring hidden under the carpet! He's posted it to me so I should have it tomorrow (monday) :) Hopefully I can get it fitted fairly easily and it'll run.

 

But, as the engine is back in now I thought I'd put a few pics up of the work done so far. They're not very exciting, all oily dirty pics, but gives an idea of what's been going on :lol:

 

Got everything disconnected after having a small battle with the driveshafts (will explain later) and I got the engine out:

 

 

 

 

I did a lot of things before starting the chains/tensioners, including fitting the OBD2 loom, which was a nightmare! In fact, it was easy, but getting the bloody servo out of the way was a proper pain in the arse :mad2: Got it sorted in the end though, but I was pretty nervous because I had no real way of testing anything before putting the engine back in. I really didn't want to connect everything up, find a major problem somewhere and have to take it all out again. But, I had to go for it, so got the loom fitted and started on the chains. I got the gearbox and flywheel off and was able to see why it's not possible to do the chains with the 'box on. I didn't realise how all-encompassing that lower housing is:

 

 

Following the awesome how-to guide in the Wiki, I got the engine partially stripped. I used a BL A-Series flywheel locking tool to lock the VR's flywheel (works on small-block VW lumps too!) and was also able to find some 3mm bits of steel that were ideal as cam locking tools! I thought I'd have to make one but didn't want to fork out £15-odd for one that I'll likely only use a few times at the most. These bits worked great :clap: :

 

 

Stripping the engine down revealed that the upper tensioner was broken around the rivets, as per usual, but also that the lower guide piece had broken into two pieces. The 'upper' piece was seperate and sort of floating about on the chain. It couldn't go anywhere but I'm sure it wasn't contributing to the general health of the engine. The guides and tensioners weren't too scored and the chains seemed in good health in general but I'm pretty convinced they were the original ones:

 

 

Once it was fully stripped I whipped the camshafts out and replaced all 12 tappets with genuine ones. I really wish I could have afforded a set of 268's to go in there at the same time but I think that can wait a little while! And replacing the camshafts isn't difficult with the engine in anyway. I fitted the new chains, tensioners and guides, including the mk4 upgrade to the upper tensioner:

 

 

I set the intermediate shaft timing mark to point to the top to aid the fitting of aftermarket camshafts later on. Once the upper was on and the chains correctly tensioned I removed the cam-locks and found that after several rotations of the engine the timing marks all still lined up, so I was a happy chap :lol: So I fitted a new crankshaft oil seal to the lower cover, bunged the flywheel back on with a new clutch and then fitted the gearbox after checking the clutch arm for cracks and fitting a new release bearing. It looks quite good in this pic but I forgot how much stuff there was left to go on!

 

 

Once the box was back on I fitted a new water pump, crack pipe, cooler seals and small transfer pipes etc, just to save having to do it later on. The cooler wasn't showing any signs of going opaque so I think that'll be ok for a while:

 

 

Once I had done that I figured it was as good a time as any to drop the engine back in and start connecting things up! That was a good moment as it was good to finally be getting things back together again! I would have liked to have done some cleaning work in the 'bay but I really didn't have much time so I'll just work around it and get it clean when the time comes. Plus it's a daily so it'll get filthy soon anyway 8) I dropped the lump back in and got things pretty much back together ready to give it a try:

 

 

 

It was at this point, when trying to start it, that the immobiliser problems revealed themselves. However, when switching the ignition on the TB made the correct noises and there was no fire or funny noises, so again, I was happy :lol:

 

About the driveshafts. I did the usual of leaving the front suspension on and locking the front brakes to make it easier to undo the inner CV bolts. They all came undone without a problem but the inner CV's refused to budge enough to drop the driveshafts out of the gearbox driveflanges. When lifting the engine out I was able to release the O/S (long) shaft, but the N/S stayed firmly attached to the gearbox. A bit of persuasion got it off, but what happened was that the inner CV outer casing stayed attached to the 'box, leaving the inner drive section attached to the driveshaft and the 6 bearings on the floor. This meant I had to learn how to rebuild a CV joint, luckily the Bentley manual helped with this. I ended up having to do both inner CV's in the end, fortunately the drive surfaces and bearings were in good condition so some fresh grease should see them last another 130k.

 

The second driveshaft problem related to the longer, O/S shaft. I just could not get it free from the drive flange in the bearing housing, whereas the N/S shaft literally fell out of the drive flange. I got the entire strut off the car with the driveshaft firmly attached by the spline. I knew something wasn't right as if fitted correctly the CV joint shouldn't be an interference fit. Copious amounts of hammering later, coupled with temperatures of 160º+ courtesy of oxy-acetylene and a very poorly fingernail :ignore: saw the CV joint out, and me wondering who the holy-***-****-bugger would loctite a CV joint in! :eek: Unfortunately it resulted in a knackered CV joint, despite trying to protect the threads. Once all of that little lot was sorted, coupled with more expense on a new CV joint, I got the new CV boots fitted to the driveshafts and cleaned them up ready to fit:

 

 

I still can't believe someone would put loctite on a CV joint spline!!!

 

I also got the new wheel bearings pressed into their housings, along with their drive flanges, and fitted the R32 bushes into the cleaned up VR6 wishbones:

 

 

Forgot to mention that I fitted the wishbones to the car before the engine was in, along with new steering arms, steering rack boots, trackrod ends and ARB drop-links.

 

I think that's about it, sorry for the essay, but I've learned an awful lot and I reckon I'll be able to give some useful VR6 related advice now :clap: Thanks for reading, I'll update again when it's running

 

Tom

[mattwelcer 0]

:notworthy:

[Purple Tom 0]

It's alive.... :clap:

 

But it idles at 4400rpm and as it was 23:30 when I started it up I soon switched it off :( I think it's because of the ECU losing the throttle adaptation settings, need to re-calibrate it tomorrow if the method I've found works.

 

Got it booked in at Stealth on Saturday morning at 9am for a full alignment so I really need to get it done for then...no pressure :lol:

[daves16v 1]

Well done Tom, glad you got it sorted. Now I must hurry up and get me a VR 8)

[A5 VRX 0]

Amazing work mate, hats off to ya

 

AJ

[macscorcher 0]

Good to see another member on here thats been bitten by the Corrado & Mini bug !

 

Graeme

[Jon_vr6 1]

Did stealth get it running right mate??

[Purple Tom 0]

Well, it's pretty much sorted now, and I bloody love it :D

 

As I said above, I got it all up and running on the thursday night, and finally test drove it at about 10:30 that evening. Had a couple of disasters that evening, the biggest one being the bonnet release cable clamp coming loose and consequently stopping the bonnet from opening. Thankfully only the N/S pin was stuck, the O/S still opened so I was able to get the grille off and with the help of a couple of mates got the bonnet open again and secured the clamp properly. The other disaster was that though I'd tried really hard I hadn't managed to get the gear linkage in the correct position, so engaging reverse selected first, first was third and third was fifth! Got that sorted too, all part of the major learning curve that I've been on over the last couple of weeks.

 

The cold idle problem has been a major pain since I got it running. Basically, when I started the car from cold the 'idle' speed would be about 4400 rpm, gradually dropping to the correct 1000-ish rpm after a minute or so. Acutely embarrassing at 7.30 in the morning, and also acutely damaging to the engine! It got to the point that the only way I could conceive of starting it without it doing that was to unplug the throttle body plug and start it, which confused the ECU somewhat. If I then plugged it back in and started it the idle speed would be a more bearable 1750rpm until it dropped down. Every time I did that I had to plug in my Vagscanner and clear the fault code, it became a right pain. Another problem was that on high speed, high rpm gearchanges the throttle would hold the rpm at which the gearchange took place for a couple of seconds before dropping, making a smooth gearchange nigh-on impossible.

 

I'd already spoken to Kev about my previous immobiliser problems, and he reckoned it was a knackered T/B, more specifically a knackered stepper motor. I agreed with this, and Vince offered the same diagnosis when I took the car down to Stealth on the saturday morning to have the Beissbarth alignment done. Vince was also good enough to Vag-Com the car for me and found no further faults other than a very old MAF fault which was cleared and didn't re-appear after a lengthy test-drive :clap:

 

To cut a very long story short, I got hold of another T/B from a mate, in a straight swap for an OBD1 T/B, and both the cold idle and gearchange issues were immediately sorted. It felt like I had another 30 lb/ft too :wave:

 

Another issue is that the alternator has stopped charging at low rpm, I have to give it about 2500rpm to excite it enough to start charging. I also have no battery warning light, but I do have 12V at the alternator end of the IND lead. Not a major problem, and it'll be solved once I get a new alternator, but I want to get it sorted soon because without the battery warning light I have no idea whether the drive belt may have broken, and obviously that drives the water pump. Although......thinking about it I would know if it had broken because the steering would go very heavy....either way I need a replacement alternator :lol:

 

The car feels completely, totally, inconceivably better to drive. The engine has go soooo much more low down torque it's unbelievable. Before doing the work it felt really flat below 4000rpm, hardly any torque and you really had to get it high up in rev-range before it would think about giving any power. Don't get me wrong, it was quick once it was moving, but it was always quite hard work getting it to go. I think it was mostly down to slop in the timing chains TBH, so now with new chains and tensioners and the OBD2 conversion the difference is incredible. The extra torque, coupled with the brand-new front suspension set-up has transformed it into a car that makes me smile at every corner and every time I put my foot down. The exhaust note has changed for the better too, probably because I've fitted new manifold gaskets! :nuts:

 

The Bilstein/Eibach shock and spring combination is really good too, firm without being crashy, but also very supple and compliant at low speeds. I really couldn't ask for a better ride given that car is now around 40mm lower than standard, and I haven't had any bottoming-out issues on any of the country lanes where I live. The R32/TT wishbone bushes have made a massive difference, and coupled with all the other new components the car now handles like I've heard a Corrado is supposed to. Turn-in is excellent, very quick without a hint of understeer even in the the wet, and its very adjustable mid-corner with the throttle if necessary. I know the VR6 is a heavy lump but it really doesn't feel like it drags the car wide in a corner. I had a play with a JDM 1.8 MX-5 earlier round some sharp twisties near my house, we were both trying and although the Mazda was obviously more nimble round the corners it certainly wasn't cornering any quicker than me. It was obvious that he was running very stiff suspension though which might have made it a little less chuckable into the corners. Either way, I was impressed with how the big heavy VR kept pace with the light, nimble roadster.

 

I think I'll shut up now, I'll maybe make a list (more for my reference than anything else), I've all the bits I've replaced/repaired in the 6 months that I've owned the car, but it might scare me a bit.

 

I''ve only got one pic of it done, and it's got an odd wheel on but it gives an idea, i'll get some more up soon :) Thats Daves16V's Corrado behind it by the way, a very nice car which'll be for sale soon...

 

[daves16v 1]

I've only driven maybe 2 or 3 VR's in my time and only short distances and if I remember they were running on old worn out components so after Tom let me loose in his VR I can only agree with his comments 100%. I was amazed at how refined it felt, it easily felt as refined as alot of new cars out today. The ride quality was spot on too.

 

I think Tom has done some very good work with his VR and wow does it show :clap: Nice one Tom :notworthy: and thanks again for the experience.

 

My valver will certainly be up for sale in the next couple of days.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The car feels completely, totally, inconceivably better to drive. The engine has go soooo much more low down torque it's unbelievable. Before doing the work it felt really flat below 4000rpm, hardly any torque and you really had to get it high up in rev-range before it would think about giving any power. Don't get me wrong, it was quick once it was moving, but it was always quite hard work getting it to go. I think it was mostly down to slop in the timing chains TBH, so now with new chains and tensioners and the OBD2 conversion the difference is incredible. The extra torque, coupled with the brand-new front suspension set-up has transformed it into a car that makes me smile at every corner and every time I put my foot down.

 

Everyone who compares OBD1 to OBD2 finds the same :D The narrow neck intake manifold and smaller 67mm throttle plate keep gas speeds up in the lower rpms, and combined with the superior software of OBD2, it all adds up to a torquier, smoother and more responsive engine in the midrange compared to OBD1.

 

I think it could get even better with the US spec intake (same as R32, variable runners) and management and the latest OBD2 cams. It was something I looked into briefly ages ago, but never got round to it. Here's how it looks anyway - http://www.gruvenparts.com/website/diys ... %20VR6.htm

 

I don't know about you, but I didn't notice any drop off in power at the top end with my OBD2 setup, so it's the best of both worlds!

 

'Flat below 4000rpm' is the one thing that annoyed me when I got mine 7 years ago. I really couldn't believe there was a 2.9 litre engine under the bonnet. The clapped out D reg E30 325i I traded in for it felt loads quicker and that was 12V aswell, and 400cc smaller. Very dissapointing. Tall gearing and a torque shy engine don't really lend themselves to fun driving and I am amazed (and sceptical) Evo managed to find a 0-60 of 6.2 seconds for a standard Rado VR6.

 

The best way to remove the VR's lethargy is to shorten the gearing. It's how Honda get such quick times from it's Civic Type R, and revs of course.

 

Gearing and LSD are probably the 2 things most responsible for turning a reasonably quick A to B car into a VERY quick one :D

[big ben 10]

great work, glad its been worth all the effort :salute:

[RDH 0]

Fantastic work.........think I might need a VR....

[big ben 10]

Fantastic work.........think I might need a VR....

 

i know you do :lol: