My new 'Rado. It's good to be back..

[Overmind 10]

After 3 and a half years I have finally bought another Corrado.

It's a 1996 VR6 in (schwarz?) black. I found it on a well known VW forum around 2 hours away from me, it was in the higher price range for a corrado but had some very promising features and build quality. I bought it home last Sunday and started getting to know it.

 

Pics taken after the first clean.

 

Since then I have fitted a new polished aux belt tensioner, and tidied up s few loose ends in the engine bay. When I bought it the passenger door lock was seized in the locked position meaning it couldn't be opened. After seeing a How to thread on this forum, I managed to open the door and clean out the chrome door lock to get it working again. I also fixed an annoying ticking noise coming from the engine that turned out to be a loose spark plug!!

 

Today I fitted a black sunroof switch and courtesy light surround to match the black faux suade headlining

 

All comments and criticisms welcome. Watch this space for regular updates

[CazzaVR 0]

Saw the ad for this the other day- looks very very nice! Love the interior 8)

[lauraJ 0]

Really nice, love the cream interior. Are you glad to be back in a C? :smug:

[4eyes2wheels 0]

I also love that cream leather.

[iR6 0]

Saw the ad for this too, and thought what a nice example it was.

 

Looks like a great buy, congrats!!

[robrado974 1]

Lookin very nice indeedy . Just swapped my interior to the same spec as yours , fair few people said to me the only leather interior is black [which is what i had ] .soon as i saw the requested pics of it ,i knew i had to have the cream . I also went with the idea of keeping the door pods in black .Very clean car you have there .

[OSV 0]

Previous owners thread on this forum for your reference, very nice looking car.

 

http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?50434-COUPLE-OF-PICS-OF-MY-VR

[axcel01uk 0]

Absolutely beautiful car mate whereabouts are you in Essex ? . Trying to work out where you took those pictures along the seafront looks familiar ??

[Portent 0]

That's lovely.

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

looks absolutley stunning!! i wasnt keen on cream leather until now!! it suits yours realy realy well!!

[emu 0]

looks like very nice example

[Overmind 10]

Thanks for the kind comments guys. I'm really enjoying the car, it's so nice to be back in an old car again. It feels so well weighted and Im falling in love with the vr6 engine all over again.

 

The interior is a great contrast with the black carpets, dash and headlining its deffinetly a keeper.

 

Those pictures were taken in Walton on the naze bud.

 

So my plans for the next few days:

Fit a new cat1 alarm system

Remove the arch liners and clean out any soil etc, polish and wax the arches and refit the liners.

Remove the door cards and lubricate the window runners and door locks etc (preventative maintanence)

Wire in both of the seats (the heaters work but the movement motors arnt plugged in yet)

 

Long term plans:

I am gradually restoring all of the suspension components from another corrado vr6 to use on my car. So far I have stripped, blasted and gold zinc plated the front hub carriers, wishbones and rear brake carriers.

 

My aim is to restore and rebuild all of the suspension and drivetrain components and fit them to my car by the end of the year with all new bushes, bearings, ball joints and engine mounts. I think this should really improve the drive and future proof the car.

 

Cheers guys.

Bryn.

[bmcc 10]

that looks amazing! :)

[Rams 0]

Classy looking C!

 

I also like the balck sunroof switch, where did you get this from? Would like to change mine

[Abdul 0]

Lovely rado, I tried talking my friend into buying it but it wasn't the right colour for him apparently lol.

 

Amazing example imo, everything's spot on, hope you enjoy it mate!

[jbcorrado 0]

You are a lucky man!

Really hard to find them that nice.

[Redfox 10]

Great looking Corrado. Even the original wheels look like new ;)

Exquisite interrior. Put in some new runner bits and reclining back rollers, and those seats ar good for the next decade.

Looks very nice with the black headlining. Prefer that way more than the ugly standard, which looks like a part vw forgot about, when they built the Corrado.

I like the front strut tower bar too. Eibach?

I think your car is an example of less is more ;) Not an overspoiled (overspoilered) one, that looks like an ugly jap scrap, or even worse, the new scirocco ;)

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

[Overmind 10]

Thanks for your kind comments guys.

I think the black sunroof switch might be from an early mk3 golf highline, but I'm not sure about this as it came with the car.

 

Yes the seat trims will be going on after the seats have come out just once more to sort the wiring out. The front strut brace is an eibach one :-).

[DIGGER B 0]

Worth every penny you paid for it mate bargain !!

[Overmind 10]

Just a quick update. Progress has been slow due to funding a new daily runaround so I can get work on the Corrado under way.

 

Corrado in the snow!

 

My Rado with my new mk2 16v runaround

 

I bought and broke a 1992 Corrado VR6 around 6 months ago, from which I kept all of the suspension, subframes and brake components. The rear beam, subframe, front anti roll bar and wishbones are away being powdercoated in fresh factory black as we speak :)

So today I got the Corrado out and washed off all of the salt and crap left over from the snowy period. Then got it back in the garage and got the back up and started familiarising myself with the car.

Straight away I found 3 of the 4 rear bumper bolts were loose, looks like they had never been tightened up after the car was painted.

 

I removed the bumper and then shifted my attention to the wheel arches. Those who know me, know that I am incredibly anal about rust and corrosion. So armed with a scraper I set about digging off the old underseal to see what I could find. I was pleasently surprised to find only minor corrosion at the bottom of the rear arches and a few patches of surface rust on the floor pan around the ABS wiring grommets etc.

 

I removed the underseal from all the common areas and found no more issues so im quite pleased with this. Im going to leave the arches for now until the rear suspension is built up and then cut out the bad metal and weld new patches in. This will also allow me to cavity wax inside the sills and box sections.

 

Rear chassis sections were spotless.

 

The rest of the underside looks relatively tidy

 

So thats it for now but the updates will be quicker from now on. The next jobs are to get the car sitting more stable on the body so I can remove the suspension and rear beam. Then the exhaust will be coming off and the heat shields will be removed for blasting and zinc plating. Then I will treat the corrosion on the floorpan and seal the whole area. By this time the new rear beam should be back from powder coating and my new bolts and brake backing plates back from plating.

 

Cheers guys!

Bryn.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Overmind

[Crispy Squirrel 0]

Where in essex you from bud ? Nice combo of golf & corrado !

[Overmind 10]

I'm near Colchester bud. You?

 

New bolts, nuts, clips and fixings turned up from VW yesterday. Quickly sand blasted them and got them off to the platers to be gold zinc plated. All parts should hopefully be back by the weekend, watch this space.

[Overmind 10]

Next chapter.

 

Rear disks off, quite corroded underneath but generally not too bad. The hubs look good with no signs of damage to the spindle.

 

Milltek exhaust off to allow me to remove the heat shields and further inspect the floor pan.

 

I then removed the fuel tank. The straps and brackets have been sent off for powder coating. Floor pan looking very solid so far so quite pleased.

 

I then shifted my attention to the rear beam. Most of the brake pipes have come off without too much of a fight, however the bias valve is well and truly seized in position. So I am going to cut the bracket off and remove the valve all together. I will of course be replacing it, but with a manually adjustable bias valve.

 

---------- Post added at 4:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 3:51 PM ----------

 

The exciting new parts post!!

 

Rear beam from a 92 vr6. Stripped, smoothed and powder coated. When I finally cut my bias valve off and get my rear beam off I will just check they are identical before fitting this one as it is from an early VR.

 

Really pleased with the quality of the blasting and the finish of the powder coating on this. Excuse the dust :-s

 

Here's my front subframe, again from the early vr6 I broke for spares, stripped and powder coated

 

Rear callipers rebuilt and tidied up

 

eBay bargain cooling ducts for the front callipers

 

Most of the bolts and fixings I should need to put the back end back together..

 

Rear brake disc shields restored

 

Middle exhaust hanger restored

 

Front wishbones were zinc plated and powder coated for extra durability

 

That's it for now. The next installments will be the rest of the parts restored and the floor pan stripped, cleaned and repainted, the. The fuel tank and new rear beam on.

 

Cheers.

Bryn.

[Abdul 0]

Wow. You're not hanging about eh!! Nice work mate!

[Overmind 10]

Update:

Front anti roll bar powder coated

 

Rear hubs restored and abs sensors tested, they are both operating normally so I'll be reusing them for now

 

Fuel tank straps and brackets powder coated

 

I cut off the bias valve and removed the rear beam last weekend and spent a few evenings removing the underseal from the problem areas of the floor pan and tidying up the surface rust. The next steps will be to remove the fuel lines and brake pipes underneath the car and paint the rear floor pan and seal it again. The rear beam brackets are next to go for powder coating, then I should be ready to re-assemble the back end and get it back on 4 wheels.

 

Cheers. Bryn.