DBP '92 Corrado VR6 (Barney!)

[unclean 10]

Hey all, new to the forum - but it's already been a huge help.

 

Long time VAG nerd, and the family has owned nothing but; including Beatles, Type2 campers (T1, T2, T3), Passats (B1, B3, B5.5), Polos (Mk1, Mk2, Mk2f, 6N, 9N) & Golf Mk3. My daily is a Polo 6KV (estate).

 

After much sleuthing on various forums and classifieds, I took the trek up to Norfolk to check out a nice looking example of a VR6. At this point I was still undecided as to whether I'd end up with a G60 or VR6, further complicated by a nice G60 with stage 4 charger I'd driven earlier that day. It was a bit of a gamble, with the advert's description consisting of two lines; one about a questionable clutch but the latter a reassuring "selling to make room for an e-type". It's an early spec VR with around 140k, but seemed clean and most importantly, for the right price.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]77941[/ATTACH]

 

Joined by a pal, roads went from three lanes, to two, then one and finally what I'd say was half, at which point we were well and truly out in the sticks. We wound through lanes until around the next kink there's a sight to behold, a clean dark burgundy Corrado VR6 just visible form the road, with E-type roadster peeking out from the garage behind. We approach and exchange pleasantries with Brian the owner, an older chap flanked by Monty the great dane. Radio 4 blared from the workshop on this Sunday afternoon with the rare February sun beginning to dip. Well and truly living the dream

 

A brief test drive ensues, at which point I test the brakes; or rather don't, because there aren't any. This alarms myself as much as the rapidly approaching Focus. I make my apologies and limp the car back to Brian and let him know that there might be a problem. I'm sure it's just corrosion on the discs, confirmed when he informs me the car has been in storage for the last 9 months. Brian then proceeds to jump in, "Shall we have a quick check?". I hop in the passenger seat and at this point the car is up to temperature. The road flows through the forest and then opens up into a 1/4 mile or so straight, but with pretty poor quality surface. Brian then proceeds to matt it through 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Fast! Noise! THAT NOISE! Then stamps on the brakes; "seems pretty good to me". This happens again on the return. Hero.

 

Josh and I go for another brief jaunt and the car feels great, definitely some spongy brakes, not much clutch left, slight knocking sound over bumps from the rear left but new stainless exhaust sounds great. No chain rattle. All the electrics work too, the only complaint I can level is the slightly dicky O/S electric mirror adjustment. There's a bunch of history, and it looks to have been only subject to a few thousand miles a year since an initially high milage few years. The front is indeed a little too mint, and on further inspection the bonnet is a very slightly different shade. Then there's the truly great thing about the car, no rust! At all, anywhere. And aside from that bonnet respray it's all dead original. Before I can say "mayo on the oil cap", I'm sold and so is the car. Brian informs me he and the wife are off with Monty the great dane to Sunday roast at the pub and that we can follow him to the nearest cash point to get the deposit. I reiterate, Brian is living the dream

 

After a nervous couple of days after I realise I didn't check the oil cap for mayo, I arrive to pick up the car. Fortunately everything is sound and Brian digs out a couple of extras including some unused floor matts. Turns out this was his third or fourth Corrado, including a previous G60 and VR6 since new (one of which was stolen within a week of delivery!), I'm reassured that Brian knows what he's talking about. That said, he did regale me with the story of his dissatisfaction when his 68mm pulleyed G-lader blew up and ejected itself into the motor whilst "having a bit of a go at a 325i" circa 1993. I'm assured I'll have a very pleasant drive back to London, which I take easy and do.

 

Here's a couple more pictures from the sale:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]77942[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]77943[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]77944[/ATTACH]

 

Over the next few days, I drive the car wherever I can. This isn't all that much given I'm London (it'll eventually live outside town at the folks' house). This decision is crystallised immediately. The early 90mm front splitter scrapes on almost every speed mountain we have in Islington (suspension is stock!), the mileage is atrocious, I wince every time I have to bring the clutch closer to its inevitable demise and sitting in traffic (which is the entire time) seems to overwhelm the VR's cooling alarmingly quickly. The drug dealer spec blacked out ridez of London (120Ds, GTDs & A3 TDIs) are also a constant source of suspense as I find myself caring more about the body work of the 22 year old car than I had intended. My attachment to the car is then cemented when I inform my girlfriend "I have bought a silly 90s coupe in purple(ish)", and she immediately names it Barney after the purple dinosaur of the same vintage. I sigh, but secretly don't mind.

 

After some research, the temperatures are definitely not healthy, so I'm currently in the process of debugging just exactly what is wrong with the cooling. I've followed the invaluable "Definitive VR6 cooling" thread and it seems the fan, although the slave bearings are noisy and shagged, is functional but not coming on at the right temperature when the ignition is on. This implicates the radiator sensor. I'm also at a loss to explain why the aux pump doesn't remain on for the ten minute period the same thread claims it should. Anyway, new sensor is in the post and I plan to fit it next weekend in time for the Pistonheads Silverstone Sunday Service, whilst taking the opportunity to fully drain and flush the (G11) coolant to check for any other gunk. The local VAG dealers recommended replacement with G13.

 

The car also has an original (I believe) early spec red badge on the back, but the front seems to be a late-spec silver badge. Were both front and back badges originally red? It's also only got a single open slat in the grill for airflow, is this an early/late spec difference, too? Either way I've also got a VW heritage grill with all three open slats on order.

 

Regarding future plans, it's all aimed at taking stock and getting the car working in original fashion, and then apply some choice upgrades. Right now this roughly looks like:

 

- Upgraded headlight loom

- Braided brake lines

- Alpine headunit

- NERD: First aid kit to replace the then redundant CD changer (although I love that :bonk:)

- KW Variant 1/2/3(?)

- 50mm front splitter to deal with the drop

- Performance panel filter or BMC CDA

- Replacement driver's seat bolster

- Mocal oil cooler

- Replacement slave fan

- 16" wheels (looking at Compomotive bronze splits or maybe 7J Anni RXIIs)

- Eibach/KW/H&R 22/25mm ARBs

- Helix clutch

 

Finally, a few more pictures of my story with the car so far:

 

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Edited March 12, 2014 by unclean

[Jim 2]

Great first post! Welcome to the forum! :)

[unclean 10]

Thanks! Unfortunately I hit edit and I assume it's gone back for moderation :X

[Leonard 0]

Lovely story :D Look forward to seeing what you do to the old girl

 

Welcome

[mic_VR 3]

Great scene setting, fantastic 1st post. Look forward to seeing how you get on.

[GrahamU 6]

saw that advertised as it was local, looked a bargain

 

Glad your happy with it

[unclean 10]

Cheers all!

 

Have been collecting a few bits and bobs to install this weekend. Replacement radiator temperature sensor has arrived, so that'll sorted along with a complete coolant flush and replacement with G13. I also managed to track down a red front VR6 badge and original 3 open-slat grill. A friend jokingly suggested getting a few of the badges 3D printed with the silly money they can go for now. I've decided this is actually a good idea and have been in touch with a friend who should be able to get it scanned and some printed.

 

Alpine 173BT has also arrived, which is just about inoffensive enough and has matching(ish) green backlight to the dash.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]78013[/ATTACH]

Edited March 11, 2014 by unclean

[unclean 10]

Quite a lot's changed since my last update. Whilst the car was in pretty good nick, it looks like the last couple of owners had been holding off on preventative maintenance a little bit. I'd noticed an outer CV boot split and there were two types of black/brown fluid left on my driveway when the car hadn't been moved for a few days. For some peace of mind I ended taking the car down to John (JMR) in Littlehampton to get a thorough service and checkup.

 

I was really happy with the process down at JMR, John had a through check of the car and was quite happy to point out any problems and explain what needed addressing as a priority, things I could wait a while longer to do and so on, whilst the car was up on the lift. The biggest single thing upsetting the car was the state of the suspension, specifically completely shot dampers(!) at the rear end, which explained some handling inconsistencies and occasional lift off oversteer I had been having, even at low speeds. Given I had planned to fit some better quality suspension anyway, it seemed*a logical time to fit some KW Variants. The source of the two leaks was also diagnosed as the oil cooler gasket, oil sensor and gearbox mount - which was completely shagged. Then as part of a major service, a number of items including air/oil/fuel filters, new Bosch distributor, OEM HT leads, CV joint & boot, etc. were all renewed.

 

With the stamp fresh in my service book, I made my way to the CCGB annual meet at the Bruntingthorpe Cold War jets event. It was great to blast down some country lanes and I've been hugely impressed with how the car handles with the new coilovers. The meet was a great opportunity to meet some new faces and exchange some findings :) Here's a couple of pictures from the day:

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2014 by unclean

[unclean 10]

It's also now been a couple of weeks since I made the journey down to Le Mans. It was the first big roadtrip for the car, so I was pretty nervous and opted to go with the mega++ AA European breakdown cover. I'm happy to say everything went swimmingly, aside from couple of times when I took the precaution to switch the engine off in Rouen traffic and Chunnel queues (the non-driven radiator fan bearings are on there last legs).

 

The first enlightenment of the trip was the discovery of the car's van-like properties. I wasn't aware that you can fully remove the rear bench from the car, which allows the rear seatbacks to lie completely flat and offers up tonnes of room; Van-rado. Plenty of room to ferry low-rent French beer back with.

 

 

We departed at 3am(!) to meet our convoy in good time. Having given the car some stick over the last few days to ensure everything was ship shape, I was surprised to find my tacho fluctuating wildly at the off. It was too late to back out now, so I just had to pray it wasn't indicative of anything properly awry. As we left Le Shuttle, outside temperatures climbed and climbed, reaching in excess of 30 degrees. This definitely had me crying out for AC, although I'm happy to report I am now sporting go-faster tan lines thanks to the sunroof. We extracted ourselves at the other end, a little sweatier than ideal, but dead chuffed with the car.

 

The next day I made it down to the PH Friday service and had a good laugh at the Subaru branded Evo and a fun pair of Cadbury's stickered VX220s.

 

 

 

On the way back to camp, we got the full Mad Friday treatment as my co-pilot thought better than to close his window(!), and we experienced full super-soaker-in-face. I managed to satisfy the mob with a bit of noise and loss of traction ;) Our convoy had seriously prepared for Mad Friday and a little later we brought down our very own set of traffic lights. Unfortunately, an over zealous Bentley managed to clip and driver OVER the foot of one of the group, which later turned out to be broken in two places.

 

Other highlights of the trip were meeting our Houx neighbourhood Corrado friend and enjoying the dubious honour of having to sleep inside the car for a night to get away from the noise of our SXOC neighbours. They had an extremely camp party involving YMCA & Sexual Healing on repeat whilst wearing not much other than hi-viz jackets and glow sticks until 6am. I kid you not.

 

 

Bombing around in a 100cc-engined mobility scooter was a complete laugh, and mildly terrifying, too.

 

 

This year I managed to watch about 17 hours of the 24, called it a night by falling asleep to The Transporter 3 on our campsite TV (with Sky!). Next morning we struck camp and hit the road early(ish). Keen to get back we kept in excess of 0.9 leptons the whole way, had some fun with a Griff 500 and then a well deserved nap on the train.

 

 

It was a great trip, definitely grew a bond with the car and big props to my co-pilot Josh :) Now to fix that dicky tacho and radiator fan...

Edited June 24, 2014 by unclean

[Duck 10]

I'd love to go to Le Mans & the road trip with it, something for next year I reckon.

[unclean 10]

I'd love to go to Le Mans & the road trip with it, something for next year I reckon.

 

Definitely a great excuse for a road trip!

[unclean 10]

I decided to see exactly what was up with the rear brakes yesterday as the discs don't seem to have been clearing rust, etc. properly and don't get very hot even after giving it some abuse.

 

Took the interior trim off, loosened the handbrake cables. Then tackled the rear callipers with some plusgas and they both came off without much fuss. The pads and discs were replaced by the previous owner, but I don't think ever bedded in and then left garaged. Both in good nick but I think I'll throw the pads away as they look to have glazed over.

 

The backing plate on one side was completely flapping around, and I was able to rip most of it straight off it was so rusty. Feeling quite lucky it didn't insert itself into the braking system :bonk:

 

Once the callipers were out I gave it my best shot to move the pistons and they absolutely wouldn't budge, which would explain some of the dubious braking I'd been experiencing! I'm going to make the order for Mk4 Golf rear callipers this week along with new handbrake cables.

 

A couple of questions I wonder if anyone on here could help with, not sure exactly which cables to get, but it looks like http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Corrado_2.9_1992/p/car-parts/car-body-parts-and-car-exhaust/cables/handbrake-cables/?108440798&1&ff6bb7d4e72f083c086acae603abc37b650174ba&000168 should do?

 

And I'd like to fit new backing plates, but it looks like a total nightmare. Is it possible to do this without upsettings the bearings given I wasn't planning to have the discs off?

[fla 9]

if teh pads have glazed, you could rub them gently with some sandpaper to get a fresh contact surface again. Wear a dust mask, mind you.

[unclean 10]

Nice, I'll definitely give that a go.

[unclean 10]

A rather large update from last time! I ended up moving away from where the car was stored, so it became a three hour round trip each time to work on it. My patience rather dried up after a few trips down, twice with incorrect parts which had been sent to me.

 

When I was with the car it was slow going as everything was seized absolutely solid after previous neglect. I had to drill one bolt out, spent hours with a blowtorch, plusgas and Stilsons to remove the rest. However, eventually after stripping everything down I managed to tackle the rear brakes and sort fit braided lines, new seals, handbrake cables, new Mk4 rear calipers, new carriers and OEM backing plates and replacement bolts all round. The backing plates in particular were a nightmare to remove and required lots of time cleaning up the stub axles.

 

Once that was all done, it was time to bleed the system. Loosening the front caliper bleed nipple.... BUGGER. The thing just sheered off. Tried to loosen the hose from the brake line but I could see it was just going to bend the hardline and then I'd have no pressure. All seized solid. It looked like it was time to start faffing with the hardlines and I was hugely enamoured with the idea of tackling that.

 

 

Sludge that came out when bleeding. Barney has had a troubled past!

 

 

At this point it did cross my mind to set the car on fire, but I thought better of it. Given that the car had squeezed through its MOT, addressing the advisories was on my radar anyway. So, I threw in the towel and got it carted off down to JMR.

 

Edited March 17, 2015 by unclean

[GlosterOx 0]

Keep up the good work, the car will appreciate it!

 

Ian.

[unclean 10]

I'd wanted the rear beam, front arms and subframe sandblasting and powdercoating. I was also aware all of the bushings would need doing along with the boots on the steering rack and the track rod ends replacing.

 

A couple more bits became apparent as John was working on the car, so the final list:

 

All hardlines replaced!

Replaced CV boot (again)

Two new OEM suspension arms

Steering rack boots

New brake compensator valve

New OEM bushes all round aside from Powerflex front arm rears

New ball joints

OEM ARB drop links

New OEM track rods + ends (one of last two pairs in the UK I've been informed!)

New front discs

Front calipers + pads

 

and a Vibratech front mount for good measure!

 

I'd already bought the front calipers and had the braided lines for 280mm so I decided to carry on with those. In hindsight it would have been a great time to move to 288mm parts, but I've got plans for 305/312mm Brembos.

 

The original ABS pump was also becoming upset so that's now been replaced with one from an 80k car.

 

With all that work and the KWs fitted mid last year, it's now handling like it's on rails and feels much more predicable. Very happy with the end result, although it now highlights other flaws, haha.

[unclean 10]

Given that the car is DBP, I've always been a fan of the KW colour combo, and that I don't plan on selling the car on any time (ever, famous last words) I'd leave my mark on the powdercoating. Behold!

 

 

And finally, my girlfriend at least pretending to be happy to have the car back ;-)

 

Edited March 17, 2015 by unclean

[unclean 10]

I recently also coerced a friend of mine into VR ownership, sadly his is in much better nick than mine ;-)

 

 

and have been stock piling a few bits to be fitted in the coming months. Uncracked headlights, front indicators, BMC CDA, new gearknob, handbrake grip, SPAL fans and Milltek exhaust.

 

 

Not to mention acquiring a new daily driver. It's quite good really, although not much in the way of character.

 

[KipVR 1]

Great choice of daily! Nice front door too.

[robrado974 1]

Great work on the DBP , well done , I'm doing mine in the summer .

[Philuk 0]

looks good mate. I plan on doing something with my rear beam and changing to mk4 rears while im there but I dunno of that will be this year :/

[unclean 10]

Thanks chaps! It's nice to know it's been done properly and shouldn't need doing for another 15 years or so. Made a huge difference to the feel and ride quality, too.

[unclean 10]

Some pictures from the Silverstone Pistonheads Sunday Service last weekend. Rafe, a recent Corrado convert and I made the trip down and these are a couple of his great snaps.

 

[loepan 11]

love the kw colours on the rear beam mate, great progress looks really tidy, want to do similar to mine next winter, keep up the good work