Twilight Violet VR6

[_Matt_ 32]

Hi,

Starting a thread to document progress now I am back with a Corrado(s).

Background:

Sold the white Corrado, missed it after a few weeks. Sold mk2 and mk3 on (don't miss at all a month later so right decision then). I looked at a few "highly" priced examples but wasn't happy with the bodyworks or history (i.e no chains etc). Decided, sod it, will buy a project and sort it out myself. 

Que Corrado number 1. A Twilight Violet Corrado VR6 appeared on eBay as a project but came with a lot of parts nice parts as well as the original parts to put it back to stock. She looks rough but had 107k on and I thought man maths that I could sell the parts I didn't want and put towards renovating the car. The only sticking point for me with the car was that it had zero history.

It needs the jacking point welding and a repair to the top of the windscreen + a repaint. The trim rubbers are nice though and the parts meant I couldn't refuse the car as it means I've managed to get some parts I had always wanted (oil volt dials, recaro interior and a few other bits).

I had psyched myself up to get rid of what I didn't want and start to sort the bodywork. 

 

[_Matt_ 32]

Corrado Number 2 

Or 4 actually in ownership count. I had seen the car advertised on Facebook but was so disheartened from other cars I had viewed that I discarded it without even looking at it. Later the owner and I were trading some parts and by chance I gave him an incorrect wiring loom for a leather interior so went up to see him to swap over looms. 

I saw the Corrado and it had virtually none of the issues I had expected and it was a very nice car at a very fair price. 91k, VW and specialist annual servicing from 1994 - 2021, a long term owner between 2005-2021 and all original. The car had sat for over a year out of MOT as the previous owner had picked up abother dream car. I could see the car had some bush and brake line type MOT advisories so I asked for it to be MOTd and if it passed I'd buy it... it did pass.. so I picked it up on Sunday.

It does have 2 areas of the rust - see pics - little scab on the wing and a scab in side in the fuel door area. I will get these fixed with new metal before they get worse. 

The car was resprayed in 2009, for £2350 inc VAT - how times have changed - and came with old style photos to show windows out, back to metal in areas. The paint is excellent in my eyes, just some swirl marks to polish out. No imperfections under my LED garage lights. It had new window and trim rubbers all round back in 2009. I felt confident if the paint had lasted this long and still looked good it must have been a decent job too.

 

[_Matt_ 32]

Immediate Plans

Make the project/part Corrado financially viable by selling off what I don't want and moving it on as a reasonbly priced project otherwise I'll be forced to break it. 

The new Corrado has very heavy clutch so will get chains and clutch done as the first job. At the moment I am debating leaving the car as standard as possible and unlike my white one not replacing parts of the sake of it. It does currently have a brand non res miltek and sports cat though my other corrado came with a spare resonated miltek section which I could swap over to quieten things down.

I did have 263 cams in my last one and I can feel the difference however I don't drive that hard much of the time so verdict is still out. 

Stock suspension rides incredibly well on our roads. Possibly me eyes but this car (93/94) does not sit as silly high as my last one did at the rear on stock suspension (late 95 car). 

I have a Recaro interior to fit and the oil volt dials to figure out. The MOT man said the rear beam was looking rusty and it's bushes are tired. I have a spare axle to build up off the car so will do that as well this year.

 

 

 

 

[fla 9]

You'll work your magic on it in no time Matt! Certainly looks a good purchase and look forward to seeing the progress pics

[_Matt_ 32]

Cheers Hasan, will try and keep things in check on this one and do only what is needed. I have booked it into Stealth end of summer (earliest booking - they are busy) for the chains and clutch (heavy pedal - the main motivation to do the job). Also requested a tune whilst it is there so I guess the gate has started to open on mods... 

 

I did consider a more local place I've heard good reviews of but decided to stick with what I know and there is the potential for 263s and a head refurb whilst it is there... if it needs it.. did like that mod last time.

 

 

[1xshaunx1 27]

2nd one seems to be the way forwards as you say. 
Seems you have a good game plan to me, good luck with it

[rolex 0]

On 5/16/2023 at 10:56 AM, _Matt_ said:

Immediate Plans

Make the project/part Corrado financially viable by selling off what I don't want and moving it on as a reasonbly priced project otherwise I'll be forced to break it. 

The new Corrado has very heavy clutch so will get chains and clutch done as the first job. At the moment I am debating leaving the car as standard as possible and unlike my white one not replacing parts of the sake of it. It does currently have a brand non res miltek and sports cat though my other corrado came with a spare resonated miltek section which I could swap over to quieten things down.

I did have 263 cams in my last one and I can feel the difference however I don't drive that hard much of the time so verdict is still out. 

Stock suspension rides incredibly well on our roads. Possibly me eyes but this car (93/94) does not sit as silly high as my last one did at the rear on stock suspension (late 95 car). 

I have a Recaro interior to fit and the oil volt dials to figure out. The MOT man said the rear beam was looking rusty and it's bushes are tired. I have a spare axle to build up off the car so will do that as well this year.

 

That sounds like and good place to get it as a sort of base level to see how you want to go with it. 😎

 

 

 

[_Matt_ 32]

Seeing as people are coming back to view the forum I thought I'd add progress. 

Car has been to stealth for some works - chains, headrefurb, clutch, 263s, some bushes and abs repairs. She made 223hp on the rollers which i was pretty chuffed about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40sexRMjzbo

The koni and H&R suspension turned up last week (waiting since June) so plan to fit over the winter. Couple of pics from today on where I am at and the wheels I plan to put on it. 

 

 

 

[_Matt_ 32]

Prior to taking it to Stealth I installed new discs and pads, bearings, hubs and refurbed the front cast knuckles with new backing plates. I failed to take any photos though. 

As well as the Koni fitting over the winter I also hope to take the rear beam off and rebuild it. 

[ChrisL 20]

Cars looking really tidy there Matt. Bet you glad you kept the Audioscapes 👌

How much difference do the Cams make? Think I have some lined up for mine but interested to know what the extra power feels like.

[_Matt_ 32]

Thanks Chris. I am gald i kept them but in all honesty they don't really give much bass output when the car is on the move - I reckon upgraded stock speakers and subtle small subwoofer somewhere (perhaps one of those underseat ones hidden somewhere) would give a better audio experience. I'm going to add a sub at some point.

I decided not to stay stock in the end. Longer term plan will be some H&R roll bars, will try powerflex rear beam bushes (only becuase Vince recommended and they're easy to change if i don't like).

The car currently has a miltek resonated and a miltek sports cat + the 263s. I felt the power delivery was a bit "flat" when I got it, flat as in missing some sparkle rather than broken, compared to my white one which also had 263s. With 263s you do get used to the additional power quite quickly but it gives more urgency from c2500rpm and feels more muscular. 

I'll grab a pic of the power graph but it gives out more torque at the 2500-4000rpm window than a Schrick/VSR on stock cams and puts out more power and torque over 4000 than a schrick/VSR on stock cams (schrick/VSR torque tails off back to stock levels after the midrange and doesn't give any extra power). £pound of £pound the cams are great mod - they cost £560 and fitting is free with the head work I had done. 

Of course 268 cams + Schrick would be even better but that's £2.5k ++ more and I don't think you'd get % increase gain 263s offer on a standard engine. 

As from the rear beam and suspension work I am going to leave it there for a while as had to to buy 2 new daily cars over the last 3 months - my trusty Seat Exeo broke it's steering rack and after 3 months of being unable to source (obsolete at VAG germany) I sold it spares repairs. Bought my wife a 2020 Audi Q2 (1.0 TFSI - great little engine) as we needed something for holidays and assumed at the time my Seat would be repaired when I got back. I've just bought my self a 2019 B9 Audi A4 Avant Quattro 40 TDI. Cars are very expensive for what you get comprared to when I last bought a newish car (2014 - the Seat). 

 

  

 

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

i have those cams too Matt, as well as a BMC & Stealth map - the new map Vince did was a vast difference compared to stock

as for the audio side, i have JL audio 6.5's in my front audioscapes & infinity kappa 6*9's in the rear shelf - id say for most that combination would be sufficient

i did find that you have to be careful if upgrading the front door stock speakers as if the magnets on the new ones are too deep they will push the door membrane back & allow it to leak - it took me a lot of figuring out where that water was coming from before i got the audioscapes

i did also have a Pioneer slimline amp & sub but found it too lack so managed to grab a bargain 2nd hand Infinity Basslink, which is over twice the size of the pioneer but it is leagues for what i was after

[_Matt_ 32]

I''ve got a BMC but haven't fitted it. I don't have a bracket it for it.

Where did you mount your sub? I'm looking for something hidden but all i can think of is the back of the rear seat. I've got JBLs in the audioscapes, touch wood it's ok the membrane but it never sees wet weather so I don't know for sure!

[g0ldf1ng3r 15]

18 hours ago, _Matt_ said:

I''ve got a BMC but haven't fitted it. I don't have a bracket it for it.

Where did you mount your sub? I'm looking for something hidden but all i can think of is the back of the rear seat. I've got JBLs in the audioscapes, touch wood it's ok the membrane but it never sees wet weather so I don't know for sure!

the BMC are superb & sound great

drop daves16v on here a PM & see if he still has any of his polished BMC mounting brackets, thats what i have on mine & he has been back on here recently

the sub is in the boot, it is an integrated unit so has the infinity amp & 10" sub all in one casing

i have put a square of mdf kind of board under the boot carpet & then screwed the sub feet onto that, it stands in the front right hand corner of the boot & allows most of the boot to be used

the audioscapes are designed to allow you to fit a much deeper speaker magnet, i had the issue with the OE door pods when i had infinty 5.25's in there as they were very deep

[daves16v 1]

Hi, yes I can help with the BMC bracket, drop me a PM if interested. 

Dave

[_Matt_ 32]

Thanks Dave, will do

[Cressa 44]

Matt the car looks great 👍.  I like to hear about the head work and cams as this is on my dreamlist 

Everyone needs a wheel stand in their garage for all our extra sets 😂😂

[_Matt_ 32]

Changed the injector seals on the Corrado today. Attempting to solve the too many cranks when it is warm and sat for 5mins.

Didn't solve the issue though of course the injectors may need a service but it was a cheap job to try and see. There was red grease around them so at least I've cleaned that up, I just used a smear of fresh oil on seals to seat them cleanly.

Will try the crank sensor next but out of time for messing around.

Also changed the coil. It starts normally and drives fine just takes longer than you'd expect.



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[_Matt_ 32]

Matt the car looks great .  I like to hear about the head work and cams as this is on my dreamlist 
Everyone needs a wheel stand in their garage for all our extra sets

Missed this sorry Cressa. I've only had the head refurbed rather than modified. The cams I find brings it life more and it has a slightly deeper bellow on full throttle. Idles like oem.

Cams are a great reasonable mod compared to say a schrick

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[oneohtwo 8]

Do you have your power charts you could post?  I have the 263s and a remap as well, so would be interested to see how they compare. 

I had the head refurbed as well, and took the time to grind off some of the worst casting flashing in the inlet runners (although I suspect this wasn't worth the effort!)

Let us know if you have any luck with the warm start issue! I had a good chat with Vince @ Stealth and in all his years he's never got to the bottom of it, other than a suspicion it's somehow the ECU. 

[_Matt_ 32]

Power chart - thanks for reminding I had been meaning to post it for a while. Hot day too at 32 degrees..

I really appreciate the torque at lower revs, 200ft pounds by 3500 rpm, if i recall 180ft pounds is the stock peak figure, which with 263s 180ft pounds is being made at around 2400rpm.

The warm start is a pain. I feel it is solveable (I hope) as my last one did and once Vince had done the head, chains, injectors and fuel pump (also had 263s + a remap) it was solved on that car. Unfortuntely it was all done at the same time so we don't know what sovled it! Prior to all that work I did the cam, crank, ecu temp, 1 way valve, HT leads to no avail.

I've got my injectors booked in at Mr Injector end of October and will report back their findings. Luckily they are only a 25min drive from me too.

Before I take them out I'll install the 1-way valve on the outlet pipe from the pump (did that on my white one too but didn't solve). At the moment I am fixated on solving the issue though the car is useable and isn't anywhere near as bad as my white one... I just fear if I leave it, it will get worse.

[oneohtwo 8]

Ah thanks, looks nice. Similar curves to mine (as you'd expect), although peaks are a little bit higher. The graph is in my thread if you're interested. Mine was 215 HP and 209 ftlbs peaks - I can't say I am disappointed with the results as like you say it drives so much but I remember hoping it'd hit 220!  Stealth re-bored my block and added new pistons and rings which I thought might provide bit more oomph. 

I always wonder what accounts for these little variances - mine was also a hot day, 27C but a bit more humid, so that might make a difference. Just the vagaries of engines I guess!

Mr Injector is great for injectors, he did mine as well. On the warm start issue I think the only things I haven't done to mine that you did to your white one is the fuel pump and the cam and crank sensors - so maybe that would narrow it down a bit?  

[_Matt_ 32]

With yours having a bottom end rebuild I'd reckon with a few miles under its belt it would loosen up and produce more. My bottom end is 91k "run in" 😄. My white corrado did 219.7hp and 211 ibft, again orignal bottom end but with 150k on it.

Interesting on the warm start, are you suffering as well? Given your parts list changed vs mine on the 2 I have had it does start to point towards the fuel pump. Although it could be ECU as well. Reluctant to buy one though as they are expensive for a vdo unit. 

 

[_Matt_ 32]

Bought a VDO fuel pump from autodoc but cracked like the others I've seen on this forum around the screws.

They have agreed to a refund but just wondering if it is massive problem? 4bar pumps are hard to find so do I suck it and see. 

 

[Cressa 44]

I wouldn't have thought a crack at the fixing point would effect the actual pump to preform how it should. It is just housing and the pump is sucking from the bottom. 

But I also get that something will always be niggling at you for if it is okay. If it came off and blocked the filter.butvit won't. 

At the time of the discussion on here last time, VDO was as rare as hens teeth and the price of Gold, about £170.

I opted for a different decent branded pump that was 4 bar ( Lucas i think) and NO issues but readily available.  

It's a ball ache, but whatever you do will be fine 👍