The Black Baroness

[CVR6-T-HD 0]

Hi all! I've been meaning to post my project. I'm still new to turbos and could probably use some advice. If you have any ideas or comments I'd love to hear them. So it all started with me wanting to fix my oil leak. The project took a few months of hard work. It's still not done as it needs to be tuned properly and I want to re-do the interior and finally paint it.

I talked to my best friend Scott to guide me through as we figured the leak was coming from the rear main seal. Up to this point I just knew how to change oil, work a tuneup, and tires. Talk about FULL IMMERSION!

Pulled the 92 Corrado SLC into my buddy's garage and began preparation. As we got talking more about the car, I asked him how hard it would be to Turbo it..him being engineering minded person he is was like "Sure, no problem" Little did I know what was involved [LOL]

Took us a while but we got it out. We had all the tools we needed luckily. If we needed anything for a job I bought what was needed and donated it to the cause.

Immediately we could see where the oil leak was coming from.

 

Replaced the Rear and Front Seals. Looked over and replaced suspect hoses and replaced ALL seals. Started with the head.

 

Yea as expected after 100K miles carbon was everywhere.

I began prepping the block for painting, while my friend worked on getting the head cleaned and parts replaced. We installed new piston rings, followers, chains, tensioner, 268 deg turbo cams, gaskets, etc. Only thing didn't replace were the rods and pistons.. I still pray don't regret that.

 

We did run into some issues like removing the ##$@! Crank Bolt. It took my 215lb friend with super leverage to get it off. Crazy!!

Who's your Daddy!!

We took the liberty to port match the exhaust side of the house.

 

My buddy meanwhile continued with the head.

After some creative thinking we got the followers off and finished cleaning up the stems

 

My vision for the car was for it to be my daily driver and provide me with quick sprints when needed. Not designed to be a track car, originally I didn't lower the compression. Was limited to 8PSI but it had great everyday driving feel using the lower rev power of the VR engine and then kicking in the Turbo at higher revs. Since then I've installed a spacer to lower to 8.1:1 mostly to see what the differences were and to see what she can do. I'll post some more soon.. Getting tired of typing

[Yandards 0]

Straight into the heavy work then!

 

The valve spring retainers can be removed by using a long reach valve spring tool, assuming you are still based in the UK in an airbase in Suffolk ;) then your local branch of Halfords will have one on the shelf.

[bristolbaron 11]

i love a black baroness me.. nice project.

[KADVR6 0]

cant beat getting stuck in straight away, and nice little workshop.

[CVR6-T-HD 0]

Yea, my buddy had quite the shop. Of course I added to his extensive collection of tools. My plans for the future after I get some piping reworked is to get the interior donen by MJ Interiors.

 

---------- Post added at 10:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 PM ----------

 

Ok.. CONTINUATION...

 

 

So we continued to prep the block and head for sandblasting. [LOL] We had to fabricate our impromptu booths. Love it!

 

 

 

It was a pain in the **** cause the beads weren't flowing with the weak compressor we had. It kept running out of pressure and we had to wait a bit.. but the beers in between made it all good ;-)We painted the block, manifold, tranny, and powdercoated intake manifold and valve cover. I was really impressed with the black wrinkle powercoat.

 

 

 

 

The prepping for the powdercoat took some time.. had to tape everything precisely. It really is a kewl process using electrical charge and then an oven.

 

 

 

 

But the Intake came out really awesome after we polished and powercoated.

[CVR6-T-HD 0]

 

Putting the engine back together...ARP bolts.. a must

 

 

 

 

Now for the turbo and custom piping. Very important to heat proof your turbo and manifold and downpipe.

 

 

 

Downpipe was a pain with its wicked twists.

 

 

 

 

The Tranny back with new LSD installed.

 

 

The clutch was crap so I installed a Spec Stage II+ and lightened flywheel.

 

 

 

With the engine put back together we lowered her in nice and steady.

 

 

 

If you notice closely, I painted the crack pipe gold and added clear coat of glitter... ahh yes the legendary Golden Crack Pipe of Antioch!

 

 

Still had to get the intercooler fitted so cutting we went.

 

 

And there you have it folks. I ran into some issues with my body kit coming in the post all cracked. Terrible company..never again as they never took calls and never got back to me. We fixed it ourselves. I'll post those pics later. As well as the specs for the car as it stands today.

 

 

 

[v.i.massive 0]

build looking good

[Wild-Animal 0]

Nice, its looking good, I bet you cant wait to get it back on the road

[CVR6-T-HD 0]

Ohh she's been on the road for a while now. The car is running rich at the moment, but it hasn't been tuned. The C2 chip is doing an ok job but I will be taking it to Stealth to get it fully tuned and find out how much HP I'm getting. Since the build I've rebuilt my suspension and installed Koni Coilovers, had a head spacer installed to lower it to 8.6:1 compression ratio, installed rear and front anti-sway bars, and got me a pair of E-code headlights.. I'll install HID kit soon. Here is a list of what I have done so far:

 

Borla 2.5" Cat-back Exhaust

High Flow Catalytic Converter

5 pc. Polyurethane Motor Mounts

Head Stud Kit, ARP

Autotech 10lb Flywheel

Spec Clutch Kit, Stage II+ (395 ft/lbs)

Inconel Turbo Exhaust Manifold

Timing Chain Kit, Dual Chain rebuilt w/upgraded tensioners

Peloquin Planetary LSD

Piston Ring Set, 81mm (Honed out cylinders by hand)

Rod Bearing Set (OEM)

Rod Bolt Set, Complete (Performance)

Suspension Rebuild Kit w/ ZF Tie Rod (HD)

Koni Sport Coilovers

Radiator (OEM)

OBD1 Turbo Software C2 Motorsports

Holset H1C Turbo (Rebuilt in 2010)

Tial Sport 38mm Waste Gate

SSQ Blow Off Valve

Profec B Spec II Boost Controller

Neuspeed Power Pulleys (set of 3)

Intercooler

Custom Piping re-done (2012)

Optima Battery (Redtop)

Full Body Kit RS Style

Neuspeed Spark 8mm Plug Wires

Iridium Spark Plugs

Samco Complete Coolant Hoses

30 lb Fuel Injectors

Rear/Front Neuspeed anti-sway bars

Oil Pressure/Boost Gauges

O2 Wideband Sensor and AEM Gauge

Grounding Kit

8.6:1 Compression Head Spacer

258 deg Turbo Cams

Slimline fans

Ported polished Throttle Body

Shortrunner

Oil Cooler Kit

 

I've probably forgotten some other stuff, but this is the bulk of the upgrades. I've got a ported polished TB on its way as well. And now I'm thinking of changing out my turbo to a Garrett GTX30.. but I'm not sure which runs best in a VR6. Any recommendations??

Edited April 28, 2012 by CVR6-T-HD

[CVR6-T-HD 0]

Hello All.. Quick update. I just want to put out a feeler on any interest in owning a Corrado Turbo. Unfortunately, my project car has exceeded my wife's patience and I've been told I need to find another hobby. As you can see I've invested much time and money into my baby. Since my post it has gone through a proper upgrade in turbo to a Garrett GT35, piping has been re-done, a ported/polished TB installed, quality oil cooler kit installed, slimline fans, and finally tuned. This work was done at Stealth Racing. They've tuned it and we are now looking at a 357 BHP Corrado-T! I'm still working on little side projects such as replacing my belt tensioner, upgrading my Hella Euro lights to HID, and finishing up my subwoofer project. I'm even getting emotional writing this bit..my stereo system is one-of-a-kind as the bass boxes were custom made by my friend; very unique indeed. I also have a short-shifter I never even installed.

I'm posting this here first before I place it in auto-trader/gumtree etc. Of course everyone is wondering how much. PM me for more info. Please only serious inquiries. I'll answer all your questions and send pics. I have my tuning graph as well.

[aide 0]

get a new wife - problem solved :)

 

liking the work, someone will get a wicked motor. glws.

[VR6 0]

Looks great, shame you're selling!

 

A proper advert/price would help no end though.

[coullstar 0]

Just looked at your add. Some nice work but you will not even get close to your asking price. I sold one in similar spec last year for basically £7k and there was one for sale recently with a low comp forged bottom end that was going for less than that. Not helpful for you but a sense check is required on asking price.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I think our friend here is from the states, if I'm not mistaken, and could be thinking in dollars still :D

[KADVR6 0]

I think our friend here is from the states, if I'm not mistaken, and could be thinking in dollars still :D

 

yeh def american, but says he is from suffolk?? and he has been to stealth?? sounds fishy to me.

[emu 0]

Good work and proper turbo but in today market if you get more then 6k for it call yourself very very very very lucky gut. This cars won't sell for good money, nobody appreciate your work and effort to put it together.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

yeh def american, but says he is from suffolk?? and he has been to stealth?? sounds fishy to me.

 

Nah it's not fishy mate. There is a US air force base in Suffolk ;) RAF Mildenhall if I'm not mistaken. I've spoken to him on PM a few times and he's a genuine guy. Just not really aware of the UK market for this sort of thing.

[KADVR6 0]

oh right in that case my bad.

[bristolbaron 11]

I thought i was going to shock the market with the asking price for my R32 once finished and it's not going to be 5 figures!

Good luck though, it's very strong money for a LHD anything over here, but who knows..

[BILLCOR 1]

If it is dollars he's talking, then 12,000.00 USD = 7,394.06 GBP

[Macdaddy 10]

Take it cars in the States though?

 

Theres a left hooker american style Mk1 cabrio in one pciture and also an advert paper in a picture with special offers in Dollars too, and thats just a few of the things spotted.

[bristolbaron 11]

Take it cars in the States though?

 

Theres a left hooker american style Mk1 cabrio in one pciture and also an advert paper in a picture with special offers in Dollars too, and thats just a few of the things spotted.

 

pretty sure its in the uk on an american airbase. i remember there being a welcome post where he'd mentioned having a couple of cars shipped over..

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yep /\

 

The US service men had goods from their home country flown over during their stay at Mildenhall, which may explain some of the American bits n bobs in the pictures. I remember in the early 90s it was almost like a scene from an American film around Mildenhall with all the massive Dodge Ram Pickups and other US cars driving around the area.

[VAG-hag 0]

on some bases the fuel is US price too.... not jealous one bit. Honest

[NewbridgeJob 0]

My Dad lives in Holland near an airbase and there's loads of US people who've had their cars shipped over too, it's really popular. They even have stores that accept payment in dollars