Purple Tom's VR6 - Back on the road..

[Purple Tom 0]

Hi,

 

I've been on this forum for a few years now and some of you might remember the Corrado TDi build I did a couple of years ago, and my old aqua blue VR6 which I owned back in 2010 (both links in my signature).

 

Following selling the TDi I bought myself a 2004 BMW 330Cd which scratched a bit of an itch that I'd had for a while, however it wasn't really very 'me' so I sold it not long afterwards and purchased a 2002 mk4 Golf V5 to run through the winter. By this time, fuel economy wasn't so much of an issue and the V5 was a very nice car to drive - refined and comfortable and overall very good indeed. The engine had plenty of character however I figured that for similar money and similar fuel economy I could easily get back in to another Corrado - so the hunt began :-)

 

It wasn't long before one became available down in London. It was up for a good price but was advertised as requiring some TLC on the bodywork. I went down to look at it and the description was accurate - it was mechanically pretty good with a good amount of history however the bodywork was poor - it needed some welding and a full respray to get it back up to standard. It did however come with a full heated leather Recaro interior and various other goodies so it was duly purchased and I drove it back to Derby - here it is:

 

 

Immediately after getting it home I put it in the garage and started poking around underneath. Unfortunately the bodywork revealed quite a lot of underbody corrosion, particularly on the N/S and on both rear wheel arches. There was corrosion around the rear beam mounting points and also around the rear panel. I soon realised that perhaps it wasn't viable to spend a lot of money on a respray for a vehicle that wasn't in the best condition underneath, even if it did have plenty of new metal.

 

About the same time as this a friend of mine, Ian (B41LEY on here) told me that circumstances had changed and that he was looking to sell his Corrado which had been laid up in his Dad's garage for 18 months. An idea was formed and I went to have a look at his car. It's a 1992 'K' distributor VR6 in moonlight blue. He had spent over £2k on an engine rebuild in 2009 and money on various other bits. A good look underneath showed it to be in pretty good condition bodywork wise, but it was unfortunately suffering with lacquer peel in quite a few areas following a blowover respray at some point in its past.

 

However, it was available at a good price so I decided to buy it and make one good Corrado out of the two :-) I debated for a while about what to do about the paintwork but in the end I thought I'd bite the bullet and pay out for a full respray. Once money had been handed over for the car I set to work stripping it down ready for the respray and discovered that it really was in good condition underneath - Ian had never run it through a winter and I don't think the previous owner had either, as a result the only bit of corrosion was at the front of the N/S/R arch as per most Corrado's. Here's a few pictures of the car as it was when I found it in the garage:

 

 

 

Here's a sample of the lacquer peel:

 

 

A couple of days work later and I got everything stripped off it ready to take it to a paintshop that I'd found locally:

 

 

 

 

It was dropped off at the paintshop ready for a full windows out respray in the original colour, it wasn't long before they got started:

 

 

They said it would be a couple of months before it'd be ready, which was ideal as it gave me time to decide what to do with the red one. After a bit of soul searching I decided to break it. Not only would it provide plenty of parts for other Corrado's, the leather interior would go well in the new Corrado and it would also have been a LOT of work to get it up to MOT standard and even then it wouldn't have been worth much to sell. So I started to break it and started to make a list of what I wanted to do to the moonlight blue one.

 

---------- Post added at 12:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:40 PM ----------

 

So, with the blue one up at the paintshop and me starting to break the red one I decided what I wanted to do to the blue one in terms of spec. I’d been collecting and hoarding parts ready to fit to a new Corrado-shaped purchase at some point so this what was I was looking at:

 

- Passat moonroof – I bought one cheaply and rebuilt it using repair parts given to me by Daves16V.

- 312mm front brake conversion

- 256mm vented rear brake conversion with mk4 Golf type rear hub conversion using Polo stub axles – (more to follow on this)

- Recaro black heated leather interior

- Teves20 ABS upgrade (same as I did to the TDi)

- Coilpack and OBD2 conversion

- Internal relay headlamp loom upgrade

 

I started to gather the bits and bobs needed and I’ll update this thread as the build continues over the next 7 days. To cut a long story short I picked it up from the paintshop on Tuesday 9^th July, all freshly painted. Here’s a small selection of pictures from the paintshop:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only work I had done on it was the deletion of the rear wiper – there was a small bit of corrosion around the wiper hole so I decided to do away with it altogether. The car was already fitted with a third brake light in the bootlid as well.

 

Here’s a couple of pictures of it on the trailer after picking it up on Tuesday:

 

 

 

I’ve been spending the last few evenings slowly getting it back together and I aim to have it up and running, including getting it through an MOT, ready for the national day next weekend. In that time I am going to do the ABS conversion, brake upgrades and get it MOT’d etc. Not too much to do but enough to keep me busy!

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited August 10, 2013 by Purple Tom

[mic_VR 3]

Very nice, and committed return to rado ownership. I look forward to meeting you and seeing the car at the national day.

[BILLCOR 1]

Nice new paint your gonna have to change your username now though... Blue Tom maybe

[Billzeebub 1]

Excellent write up, good effort with the car. I am also aiming to be at the National Day..a race against time this next week!!hopefully see you, and the car, there?!

[seanl82 23]

Good show old chap! Nice to see the dedication to get it sorted in a week, see you there!

[easypops 8]

Well done Tom, looks great 8)

[VR-Sixy 0]

That's gonna look gawjus!! Nice going there Squire.

[Jon_vr6 1]

Nice, i hope the radiator fans are still going strong in it Tom, Ian bought my original ones off mine(i did the SPAL fans conversion) as they are off a Storm model an extra 20bhp i think

[Purple Tom 0]

Quick update - it is MOT'd and back on the road. Had quite a few problems along the way with various bits and bobs, mostly wiring related and involving issues with the Teves 20 conversion however I eventually got to the bottom of the issues (some bodgery by a previous owner) and got it sorted out. Didn't really get chance to take too many pictures of the build as I've been squeezing it in around doing my response driver training at work so was a little bit restricted by time but here's a few that I did manage to get:

 

Partly back together:

 

 

Teves 20 plumbed in:

 

 

Powdercoated hubs and brand new drive flanges etc:

 

 

 

256mm rear brake conversion with powdercoated rear beam etc:

 

 

Recaros and dash almost back together:

 

 

At the MOT station:

 

 

 

Getting there now:

 

 

I've still got the reattach the side rubbing strips and sort a few other bits of trim out but it went straight through the MOT with no advisories and is a joy to drive :-) Still need to sort the final wheel alignment out which is booked for Tuesday and then a quick polish up before taking it to Harewood House next Sunday.

 

Not much more to say really - I'm happy!

Tom

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

256mm conversion! Talk to me please!

 

Also, you wouldn't happen to know where there is a spare abs light for the teves would you?

 

Oh and nice car!

[Purple Tom 0]

I need to compile a list of the parts you need for the 256mm rear brake conversion. Everything is available out of the box but there is a small amount of work required to get the ABS rings to fit on the 5 stud hubs.

 

I do have a spare ABS light for the Teves 20 system but I'm going to be selling it as a package with the complete conversion (loom, module, master cylinder etc). Sorry!

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

You git! How much is the package?

 

The timing is perfect for the 256 brakes, I have the calipers already and the beam is waiting for me to fit everything post paint and new bushes!

 

Those seats I bought of you the other month were spot on by the way! Thanks!

[Purple Tom 0]

Before you worry too much I *think* there is a way of getting the Corrado ABS light to work with the Teves 20 system. I need to look into a it a little bit more but if so it'd make things a lot easier. I haven't thought of a price for the package as its missing the servo so isn't ready to bolt on.

 

For the 256mm conversion this is what you need:

 

- The DRUM brake stub axles from a 6N2 Polo, 6K2 Ibiza, 6Y Fabia or Lupo, but they must be from an ABS equipped car. Stub axles from a later car will not work as the ABS sensors are different. Disc brake stub axles from the above cars will fit but you will need to cut off the caliper mounting lugs.

 

- The 5 stud hubs with cartridge bearing from a 9N or 9N2 Polo (and other variants, probably Ibiza and Fabia as well). Mk4 Golf items will not fit.

 

- The rear brake spacer plates from a Lupo GTi - these were ONLY fitted to the Lupo GTi but are still available from VW.

Part numbers are: 6E0 501 465 A and 6E0 501 466 A.

 

- Corresponding 40mm long hi-tensile bolts for the above, VW P/N - N 908 863 01 - quantity x 8.

 

- 256mm calipers and carriers from either a 2WD or 4WD car. 2WD are preferable as 4WD carriers will require some small spacers to get the spacing right for the disc. Plus the relevant 256mm vented disc and correct brake hose.

 

Once you've got the hubs you will need to remove (using a drift) the integrated ABS ring from the hub itself then machine a thin ring to press onto the hub in place of that ABS ring. Press the ring on to the hub then machine it down to the correct diameter in order to press on the standard Corrado ABS ring. Alternatively you could use other methods (tape wrapped round the hub? glue the ABS ring on?) but I preferred the machining route as it is a fit and forget part then.

 

Then bolt it all together and job is a good'un. I didn't take any pictures when I was doing the conversion as I was in a bit of a hurry to get the car working but if I get time I'll strip one side back down so you can see how it all works.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Purple Tom

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

I understand perfectly, cheers Tom, appreciated!

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

For reference, I bought my entire teves system from Kev on here for 60quid including the servo but minus the warning light.

[Purple Tom 0]

Ok cool, am I right in thinking it was a mk3 system?

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Yeah, not Passat B4, not sure if there are any differences apart from the warning loom and light.

[A5 VRX 0]

This is now sat on my drive after promising I wouldn't have another one but the car was too good to say no to, couple of little things in the pipeline that I want to do but it mostly has been done by Tom so just drive and enjoy really...

 

Adam