fendervg's VR6, a.k.a "The Shark"

[fendervg 33]

Does anyone have any pointers on how the return spring should be oriented on the door lock? Stupidly it came apart in my hands before I got a good look at it.

[fendervg 33]

Never mind - managed to figure it out with a bit of research - once you know how it goes back together it's easy and makes sense - I'll get some pics up.

i also managed to dig up the lock re-tumbling article from the Wiki on an Internet archive, sadly without the pictures - would be nice to have this back up, but I'll post it in full here just for reference:

"Re-tumbing locks

 

How to re-tumble Corrado door locks to match a different key

This how-to will show you step-by-step how to alter Corrado door locks to match a different Corrado key. Because of a weakness in the Corrado door opening mechanism, many cars end up with second-hand door handles and their associated locks, meaning that the vehicle has a different ignition and door key. The simplest way to remedy this is to alter the door lock barrels so that the car’s original ignition key will open the new lock. This is the procedure detailed in this how to. This can be carried out with a second-hand or new lock barrel. The alternative to this is to purchase a new barrel from VAG (around £10) and get them to tumble it to your required key – people have apparently had this done by VAG dealers for £8, although my dealer wanted a full hours labour for two barrels and couldn’t ‘book me in’ for 10 days so I got the hump and this how-to is the result…

Recommendations:

I would recommend that before attempting this procedure you obtain your cars original key code, order a new key blank through a VAG dealer and have them cut the blank to the original pattern. Your car’s original key code may be on a small metal tag with your car’s keys or can be obtained by any VAG dealer on production on your registration mark and / or vehicle VIN number. (Any VAG dealer should be able to get VIN number from registration mark if necessary). An AH code key blank is around £3 and a £5 cutting charge is money well spent – the picture below shows the difference between my existing ignition key obtained with the car and a new key cut to the car’s key number.

As you can see, not only is the existing key on the left bent, it has little of the detail of the original pattern. This is probably a combination of wear and tear and / or being a copy of a copy. If a lock barrel is re-tumbled to a worn key, it may enable other worn keys to use the lock. Not a definite, but for £8, why take the risk?

What you'll need

You will also need some new tumblers and ideally some new helper springs. It may be possible for you to go to your local VAG dealer and blag some, I would guess three of each type would be enough for one if not two locks. If, like mine, your dealer is terminally crap (hello Priory Park Volkswagen, Hull), worst case scenario is that you get them to order part No. 443 898 041 A pictured below:

This kit consists of forty (yes, forty) of each type of the four tumblers and forty new springs. Remarkably, it will set you back the princely sum of forty (yes, forty) pounds. I will probably make up some smaller sets with enough to do one or two locks.

Remove the Philips screw arrowed above, (be warned - the handle removal screw can be reverse threaded! - this could be just the left door, or both...not sure) carefully rock the handle up and down to release it and pull the lock end of the handle from the outside of the door. Once the locking mechanism is clear of the car door, the handle will slide forwards to allow the front part of the handle to come free. If you are lucky, the central locking switch cable will have enough slack to enable you to perform this whole procedure without removing the handle from the car (the handle will be ‘hanging’ on the central locking cable – take care to ensure that unnecessary strain is not put on the cable). I did the re-tumble and changed a broken striker whilst the handle was hanging from the cable at the side of the car in the rain… If there is not enough cable, the inner door trim panel must be released partly, to allow the central locking cable to be released from its connector which is towards the bottom of the door. It may be preferred to do this anyway, to allow the handle to be worked on away from the car.

Once removed, the inner workings of the handle can be seen. To remove the lock barrel from the handle, the circlip (arrowed) should be removed. This should slide off easily with a pair of circlip pliers or a terminal screwdriver. If using a screwdriver, take care not to slip.

Once the circlip is removed, the striker, spring and backplate can be removed. Ideally, the barrel should be removed with the key in place. This is because the key holds the tumblers in place in the barrel. The barrel may be slid out without the key in, although it may be necessary to jiggle the barrel slightly. Care should be taken not to lose the tumblers and tiny springs, although if they come out of the barrel it is no problem, as they are probably going to be moved anyway.

The picture above shows a barrel with an incorrect key in place. As you can see, four of the ten tumblers are raised – this will not allow the barrel to turn in the lock. All of the tumblers have to be flat to the barrel to allow the barrel to turn and open the door.

As described above, there are four different size tumblers, numbered 1-4. To re-tumble the lock, it is si of checking to see which tumblers are raised with the required key in place, removing the key, carefull offending tumbler and replacing with a different size, until with the key in place all the tumblers lie flat.

The pic above shows how the springs fit under the tumblers (one spring per tumbler). The springs just drop into the round hole at one end of the tumbler slot and the small tab on the side of the tumbler rides on the spring. With the key removed, all of the tumblers should stand proud of the barrel.

If some do not, they are sticking – the pic above shows one of my barrels as removed, all of the tumblers on one side (bottom) are proud, but none of the top ones are – they are all sticking. I would recommend removing all of the tumblers during this procedure, cleaning and replacing with a little white / silicone grease. If a tumbler does not stand proud with no key inserted, it is not preventing the barrel from turning and the lock is therefore not as secure as it should be. It is also recommended to replace all springs to ensure longevity etc.

This is the finished barrel with new key – all tumblers nice and flush.

Re-assambly is just the reverse of disassembly: Place barrel (with key ideally) in handle (will only fit one way) (pic 1). Place backplane over end of barrel (pic 2). Notice that the two ends of the spring stick out from the round part – these ‘ends’ are the parts that actually push against the backplate and the striker and do the work. Place spring over the backplate, with the bottom ‘end’ against the tab on the backplate (pic 3). Stretch the ‘top’ ‘end’ of the spring over the bottom end and the tab, so that the two spring ends are at either side of the tab and the spring is in tension (pic 4). The spring may have lost some of its roundness, do not worry about this at this stage.

Place the striker over the assembly and get it to sit down inside the round part of the spring by ‘waggling’ the striker and if necessary using a screwdriver to push the coils of the spring sideways to make it round again. Once the striker is inside the spring, the groove in the end of the lock barrel for the circlip should be visible. If it is not, either the striker is not sat down properly or the lock barrel is not pushed fully into the handle.

Slide the circlip back into the slot – this should slide in easily. Once reassembly complete, lubricate all of the lock and handle mechanism with white / silicone grease and refit to the car door. Take care not to trap the central locking cable whilst refitting the handle. Connect the cable if disconnected earlier and enjoy!

Whilst you have the handles out, I would thoroughly recommend replacing the handle striker mechanism with one of dave16v’s repair kits. These kits are very highly recommended – I spent three weeks climbing in and out of my passenger door waiting for a kit and was glad I did rather than paying £70 for a new handle from VAG or getting a second-hand handle and risking the thing breaking all over again.

This picture shows the difference between a VAG striker on the left and Dave’s on the right. The original ones break just above the rib (arrowed). The replacement is stainless steel and appears to be much stronger – the handle operation even feels more positive when fitted. His supplied instructions are also very, very good."

Edited April 10, 2020 by fendervg

[fendervg 33]

Something like this.... the spring needs to grab on to either side of the metal nun, so you hook one tab in place and then rotate and compress the spring to get the other tab over and around it, while holding it in place with your other hand. Then a bit of wiggling to get the arms and circlip on - it helps if you push on the lock barrel a bit.

[Cressa 44]

Coincidence,  I had mine apart today to fit a seal on the lock, but only just seen this post. Otherwise I would have posted up.

I did re-tumble my door locks previously but am finding the ignition key stiff. Have you had your ignition lock  out and done it? 

[fendervg 33]

Ah, cool - the return spring is a little bugger. I got one of those lock cylinder seals as well, in the VW repair kit.

My ignition barrel is fine - I think my car is one of the few still on its original set of locks I think the more a key gets copied can mess things up as well.

[fendervg 33]

A nicely refurbished driver’s side handle ready to be fitted - hopefully everything works!

In the past I've found that sometimes even a new striker won't actuate the tab inside the door to open the lock properly, because it can't reach - probably because the latch tab got bent over time. In this case you either need to bend it back slightly (very carefully as you need to go in through the hole for the handle in the door), or for those of us with kids, the little plunger dispensers that come with a Calpol or Nurofen bottle are perfect to cut to size, and fit nicely over the striker when you wrap a little fabric tape around it.

Edited April 10, 2020 by fendervg

[fendervg 33]

Handle went on fine, so far so good. Was working on some rear speaker replacements yesterday - this is why things didn’t sound too good before:



Had some JBL 6x4 I had bought for my old Golf Mk2 that I decided to use - they fit easily with a little modification to the screw holes and spacer. The parcel shelf supports will need to be modified slightly to fit the larger magnet - that’s today’s job. Incidentally, you can remove just the speakers and grille from above by removing two small Phillips screws at the side of the shelf. The VW speaker cable adapters were sourced on eBay - no need to mess with the original wiring.

[fendervg 33]

These are the finished parcel shelf supports, with part of the speaker housing cut away to allow for the larger magnet:



And with speaker in situ:

 

One thing I noticed while working on these parcel shelf supports is how well made and put together they are compared to the Mk2 items (I've had both the standard plastic ones and the ones with carpet lining) - the shelf hooks are metal rather than the plastic that always breaks, there are four mounting points, there's lots of felt to reduce vibrations all over the place, the covering is well glued on and the speaker units themselves can be removed without taking out the whole shebang.

So I guess is this one of those times where you can see that the Corrado was really built to a "premium" spec and the extra care the workers at Karmann put into it.

Edited April 14, 2020 by fendervg

[ABV-VR6 12]

Wow you did a fine job fitting these mate! I know the mk2 is just compressed wood with carpet wrapped around it... How long did it took you to do the modification? 

Cheers 

[fendervg 33]

Thanks. It probably took me a couple of hours each side, including removal, disassembly, cutting with a dremel, a bit of sanding and then a good cleaning and a little bit of repair work to the trim and felt - very happy with the result. Once back in the car, they look completely as before, but the sound is way better. The little speaker connector adapters are a god-send as they just slide on the speaker terminals and you can hook up the original wiring.

[ABV-VR6 12]

Yeah looks fantastic and oem. I figured about that amount of time, if you want to do it right that's what is involved time wise. I will be curious to hear from you how much of a better sound quality you get. Did you do something up front as well? 

BTW, thanks for the write up on the handles as well, Im sure I'll have to do this in the future... 

Cheers mate

[1xshaunx1 27]

Got sound better than stock. Like the connectors too 👍

[fendervg 33]

I have a pair of JBL GTO507c for the door cards - there's a picture of one installed a few posts back in this thread. They are from a set I bought to retrofit to a Mk2 GTI years ago, but never did.

The door card speakers were not really that badly damaged and still working ok, but I thought they could do with an upgrade anyway. The rear cones had completely separated from the surround - flapping, so to speak!

I have some tweeters for the dash, but the ones in there sound fine for now so they'll be last on the list. I've only tested the rears and one side so far, but they sound much better - hopefully should be a nice improvement when driving - I'm not really into ICE, subs and amp builds to be honest, but I hate crackling and popping an the twang of blown speakers.

[1xshaunx1 27]

I know what you mean, I don’t like any sort of job that involves wires, I have to build myself up to it. 

[ger040 3]

interested to see how the jbl speakers sound

i recently changed mine to alpine ones as they were a direct replacement with the exception of the front tweeters 

the originals were like yours were - ripped 

i have a blaupunkt head unit and to be quite honest its still rubbish better than it was - maybe there not matched

my renault kangoo work van sounds 10 times better and it has a basic head unit

[ABV-VR6 12]

I agree with you fendervg, I like to keep things simple too with sound system. I like the sound of the engine too much to crank the music anyways. I think what you've done of bang on. 

I have bought a set of infinity kappa 6-1/2 combo with twitters for my truck that I can't install because my doors are too thin. I was thinking of installing them on the Corrado but it's way too big for it. 

On another note, that's about the comment from ger040 about blaupunkt. In my previous mk2 16v, I went all out with blaupunkt to keep it somewhat oem/era. I had problems with the stereo unit, problem with the speakers. All I had was problems to be honest, disappointing. I've been told that with blaupunkt its better to buy the top of the line or nothing... Hell, they sell blaupunkt at Walmart now, pretty much all they sell... So next unit for the Corrado will be the blaupunkt Bremen sqr46 when it drops in price ha ha. 

Cheers 

[fendervg 33]

The Bremen is lovely, but very expensive at the moment - I have a VW Gamma IV with green illumination and it's 4x20w, great FM reception, has an anti-theft LED, cassette for retro stealth, and you can hook up a CD changer or an aux input box at the back - I run an old iPod mini from the glove box. Also has GALA (speed sensitive volume control) and telephone mute. Previously had a really OEM looking Nakamichi CD-35z (second picture), but that got stolen pretty quickly when I forgot to bring the face inside one evening! It didn't have dimmable lights though or telepone mute, although the 40/45z and more recent Naks have those.

[ABV-VR6 12]

Oh ya, both those units a very nice indeed! Good choice, I do like best the one you got stolen, sorry! I didn't thought people were still stealing that kind of thing, seriously! 

Alright time for me to get back into my engine bay cleaning! Cheers 

[Keyo 47]

Im getting that Bremen when its better value but think its going to be a while until the price drops. its doing very well in the classic market, all the Porsche punks have them

[fendervg 33]

Another nice touch was that the two trim pieces on the rear door card that the seat belts run through have a notch cut out so you can remove them without dismantling the seatbelt.

[ABV-VR6 12]

Oh that's good to know! 

And ya, that Bremen is too hot now, I'll wait a couple of years or when the US dollar falls! 

[fendervg 33]

At last it’s out and replaced - this was not fun!



The place where the offending little brass screw goes is visible on the right I finally managed by getting a slightly flexible computer screwdriver at it from underneath, slightly smaller in size than the screw, just enough to bite and guiding it from above with my other hand. The main thing is a driver with a long, flexible and thin shaft. ;)

Will be easier if it ever needs to happen again - you can’t see a bloody thing in there between the lock housing and steering column.

[ABV-VR6 12]

Oh yeah I've heard it was a biatch replacing it... That and the heater core are the two things that I'm not looking for to do one day... How long did it took you? 

Congrats on getting it done mate! 

[fendervg 33]

Took maybe four hours - but that was with plenty of faffing about and trying different approaches to get to the screw - some just break off the whole lock assembly! I'd say having done it once, I could easily do it again in 1-2 hours.

Heater matrix is a different ballgame - that can take days - can be done with the dash in or easier with the whole thing out. The worst parts are the risk of breaking trim, the bulkhead bolts being seized or spinning and then you might as well take apart the heater box and recover the flaps.

[ABV-VR6 12]

4 hours is not all that bad I guess. And ya, I agree with you, usually doing a job fir the second time saves half the time. You don't have a picture of your setup to remove that screw by any chances? 

The dreaded heater core! Like you said and that's what I'm afraid of is breaking mouldings and such... And also there's something disheartening about looking at a picture of a Corrado dash removed can only imagine doing it... And I agree as well, while in there better fix all those doors and do a major clean up!