Simon's Corrado 1.8T

[16vStyle 0]

Hi guys, I've been a member of this forum for ages and have been meaning to do this for years!

But this has been one of those projects where its hard enough to find time to work on it - let alone document it!

 

But now it's time.. it's going to take a few posts to bring the thread up to speed as I’ve got 3 years of project to uncover so may take a while! But as things are starting to pick up again now so I thought I’d share it with you guys - Get some feedback and motivation to get it through the MOT!

 

I bought the Corrado back in 2002 as a 2.0 16v and ran it so throughout my Uni days going to as many shows and meets as possible, everything at the time was done on a student’s budget so nothing was ever too drastic! I used to like to run it low on coilovers with either 15”s or 16”s, had a pretty clean engine bay, a boot build, smooth rear bumper and custom s/s exhaust.

 

Here are some pics from way back

 

CCGB Woburn 2003

 

 

 

Some of the bootbuild I made..

 

 

 

 

and a few of the bumper..

 

 

It had been through several different sets of wheels and interiors etc before I decided to go travelling so I put it to bed for a year at my parents place.

 

When I got back in 2006 I used it as my daily until the engine decided to give up 12 months later– It was obviously time for a new one ;)

 

So I bought a daily and began stripping down the Corrado. I’m sure a few of you on here will understand me or would have done similar when starting a project and having a vision of what the car could be.. You end up ripping everything out you don’t think you’ll need, selling it and then wish you hadn’t! Pretty much what I did – but it didn’t matter as I had a plan :norty:

 

I stripped the car and began smoothing the engine bay, it seemed like a good place to start whilst I saved up for a donor car and everything else I would need!

 

 

 

I wasn’t going to cut corners and it couldn’t be a credit card car so it was going to take time..

 

Unfortunately the project slowed down when my job took me to London; I couldn’t really take the car the state it was in so ended up leaving it at my parents place near Cambridge. Brilliant idea I thought until a few months later they told me they were moving to Germany for 5 years!

 

It did for half a second cross my mind whether or not to sell the car – but it was only half a second so I found some containerised storage in Berkshire where I would be able to lock it away until I found somewhere better. Work on the car really slowed down at this stage, travelling 1 ½ hours each way to work on your car is not convenient!

 

Moving the car to the container..

 

 

More to follow

 

Cheers

Simon

Edited May 7, 2013 by 16vStyle

[dukest 0]

tasty, cant wait to see more!

 

where was this storage in Berkshire btw and how much was it?

[greasegriff 0]

Looks like some hard work has gone into that!!

 

Is this another Jay Renshaw in the making?!

[big ben 10]

wicked, look forward to more updates :norty:

[16vStyle 0]

After a massive search and found a suitable donor car for the right price!

 

A 3dr Golf Mk4 1.8t with an AGU engine with 70,000 on the clock which had been shunted up the arse - written off, but everything I’d want from the car was intact. It also had some stuff I could sell like the cream leather Recaro interior – make some money back!

 

 

 

 

 

I moved out of the container to a rented workshop which I decided I could afford for 2 months. Here I could get both cars in and work late with power (finally) and get the engine bay finished!

 

The Mk4 could drive once I’d removed the rear bumper and had beaten it around a bit so I test drove the car around a field, then reversed it into the workshop and started stripping it down. At least I knew the engine ran properly beforehand!

I finished smoothing the engine bay and stripped down the Mk4 and got the engine mounted in the Corrado.

 

 

 

 

The plan was to install everything from the Mk4 - Engine, Dash, Loom, ABS, Air Con etc.

As the Corrado was just a shell so it was the best way to complete the conversion and by installing the entire wiring loom from the Mk4, complete Dash, all switchgear and Climatronic etc I would have a Corrado with all the benefits of running a newer car with all the mod cons.

 

 

 

Mk4 Heater Box Mounted in the Corrado

 

 

Trail fit of the dash..

 

 

 

and a couple of dusty ones from when the bay was nearly there..

 

 

 

 

 

Once I’d got the dash properly mounted I disposed of the Mk4 and moved back into the container, where I was able to push the car in and out every now and then to do some mechanical work on it.

To be continued...

 

I'm missing images which I've got on a old memory card, but have nothing to read it with at the moment!

 

Will give some more updates soon when I get chance!

 

Cheers

 

Simon

 

 

 

tasty, cant wait to see more!

 

where was this storage in Berkshire btw and how much was it?

 

The storage I used was on a farm in Wokingham, they had containers and workshop units, a few stock car teams were based there.

This is them..

http://www.ninemilerideindustry.com/

 

It was £80 per month for the container I think - but that was a few years ago now.. much bigger than a normal garage.

 

Simon

Edited March 26, 2013 by 16vStyle

[swiftkid 1]

How much work was involved in doing the mk4 dash? im mostly interested into the physical mounting of it as i know it needs trimming at the back to get it to fit right. Do you need to hack anything off the corrado to make it fit?

[16vStyle 0]

Yeh, it needs trimming at the back, but I've not touched the Corrado. Made 3 brackets up which bolted to existing points on the Corrado.. I welded these up but theres no reason they couldn't be rivited together.. makes for a pretty solid dash!

 

I do have some pics somewhere, if not i'll get some more soon..

 

Simon

[shaunVR6 0]

Good effort mate looks like itll be really nice when fin :D

[lilfuzzer 1]

Nice work there matey good luck with the rest of the build :clap:

[The_Dude 0]

I shall watch this with much interest. Looks like its gonna be stunning. 8)

[bristolbaron 10]

added a "Notify me when a reply is posted" to this one.. dont let me down! :lol:

[16vStyle 0]

added a "Notify me when a reply is posted" to this one.. dont let me down! :lol:

 

Haha, I won't mate!

 

Met you up at ed38 last year, hung out for a while and you kept plying me with cigarettes! think it got a bit messy after that.. :nono:

[coullstar 0]

Nice one. :clap:

[bristolbaron 10]

added a "Notify me when a reply is posted" to this one.. dont let me down! :lol:

 

Haha, I won't mate!

 

Met you up at ed38 last year, hung out for a while and you kept plying me with cigarettes! think it got a bit messy after that.. :nono:

 

hilarious! No wonder I always run out..

[Craig 0]

looks like a great project mate, are you based in bournemouth now? have to keep an eye out if your driving about...maybe not too soon tho? 8)

[16vStyle 0]

looks like a great project mate, are you based in bournemouth now? have to keep an eye out if your driving about...maybe not too soon tho? 8)

 

Hi mate, No I did when I first bought the car but live in London now.. need to update my profile!

 

And yes you're right it will be a little while before i'm driving anywhere :(

[pete_griff 0]

looks nice, you seem to be doing all the right things here - will be watching with interest :)

 

just do it a bit faster please! :lol:

[OllieVR6 0]

Popcorn is on, lets go!

[8vMatt 1]

You've got some great car skills there mate, looks like you're making an awesome car.

 

We need lots of pics of the mk4 goodies being installed, you could do a 'how to' guide. There would be alot of people interested to see how you get on.

 

Best of luck with everything mate.

[Abdul 0]

Awesome project! Can i ask why you didnt keep the mk4 recaro's? They're pretty comfy tbh!!

[lilfuzzer 1]

Forgot to say yesterday the boot build loooks superb I love the spare wheel access 8)

[16vStyle 0]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, I'm a bit further on in the project but just need to spend some time bringing the thread upto speed! hopefully get chance over the weekend..

 

 

Awesome project! Can i ask why you didnt keep the mk4 recaro's? They're pretty comfy tbh!!

 

Sold the seats at the time to recoup some costs, although they are very comfortable if not a little big for the C imo.

 

Simon

[Abdul 0]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, I'm a bit further on in the project but just need to spend some time bringing the thread upto speed! hopefully get chance over the weekend..

 

 

Awesome project! Can i ask why you didnt keep the mk4 recaro's? They're pretty comfy tbh!!

 

Sold the seats at the time to recoup some costs, although they are very comfortable if not a little big for the C imo.

 

Simon

 

I guess they are a little on the large side!!

[16vStyle 0]

Thanks for all the positive feedback :D guys

 

As it's pissing down outside I thought I'd post a few more pics in an effort to get the thread up to date!

 

So once I'd got most of the engine bay smooth I mounted the engine and begun extending the wiring loom so that it would all be hidden.

At this stage I also ran the wires to the relevant places in the car, wired up the original 16v Fuel Pump and connected the battery.

 

after a couple of small issues with the immobiliser (I forgot about the Ignition ring in the ECU, Clocks & Ignition ring setup) I was able to start it.. Chuffed to bits as it was starting first time on the key with no throttle!

 

 

 

 

 

Once i was happy that everything was running as it should I took the engine out again and began prepping the bay for paint..

 

 

 

 

I couldn't afford to get it sprayed proffessionally at the time so I settled for Satin black and sprayed it myself using some rattle cans..pretty happy with the finish but would like to get it done properly to match the exterior when it eventually goes for the respray.

 

 

 

 

 

After that I fitted the Subframe which I had shot blast and powder coated and the New OE wishbones shod with Poweflex Bushes.

 

 

I also lucked out and found some New (Old Stock) OE VR6 Caliper Carriers so bought some New VR6 Calipers to match.

 

 

After a few busy months doing other things I spent some time cleaning up the engine before I put it back in the car, I dint go too extreme as I didnt want to get involved with the internals at this stage. I thought it would be better to get it roadworthy before I started tampering too much! I think I will do some work on it though when I begin to look into a bigger turbo.

 

I only really stripped it to the block cleaned all the ancillaries etc and fitted everything with new gaskets and seals before mounting it in the Rado again..

 

 

 

I picked up an intercooler and got that mounted too, I'm going to treat myself to a couple of 12" Kenlowe fans because of the 3 cores I don't want any overheating issues and as they're 2 speed they should fit nicely inline with the OE management.

 

 

I wired up the engine and made sure it all started again - which it did :)

The entire engine loom now enters the bay over the front engine mount so there's not many visible wires.

 

 

It was all a bit tight what with the condenser and drier getting in the way too but got there eventually!

 

 

also fitted a Seat Ibiza turbo downpipe which fits perfectly - used this as I need a CAT for the MOT and it was quite a cheap way of getting it running!

 

It's still quite a way off i've got to sort out the brake lines and power steering lines next - think I'll do the A/C once its through the MOT!

 

Simon

[harryc 0]

Wow looks great, can see ALOT of time and effort has gone into this! Good luck getting it up and running :salute: