Kevin Bacon

DOT4 is fine.

Can't beat a bit of TAR OXO cube action! Agree with the Mic one, Pagid RS15s are mental.

"What's the matter Dillon? They got you pushing too many pencils?" :D

Put "Tacho signal converter" into Google, loads of them about. It's what I used on mine.

It just takes a signal from one of the coil trigger wires.

Just keep the bit of blue pipe you cut off and rejoin it at a later date it if need be. Can you see yourself going back to a 12V though? :)

Golf R trying too hard? Not trying hard enough imo :D

It looks youthful and nimble, in keeping with our young and spritely members :lol: It also has gen 4 or 5 Haldex, 320+hp capable from just a remap, excellent quality cabin, super rigid bodyshell. What's not to like!

The A5 looks like a rep's car. It's just a big barge for people who feel they are too young / too good for a Passat.

Sounds the ticket. Do you reckon Vince could take care of that. And what parts do I need to order from where? I have all the original breathing apparatus for the car.

Absolutely he could do it, but if it's the full works (I.e. relocate battery to the boot), I have no idea how long he'd take or how much he'd charge!

Something else worth considering is this type of arrangement, designed and built by Canadian VR6 turbo specialists, HPA Motorsports :-

http://www.hpamotorsports.com/vr6-typhoon.html

Just ordered a MK4 triangulated rear brace from Eurosport Accessories in the States. They're a good company, fast shipping and decent products for the money.

Used to have their front stress bar on my Corrado many moons ago - http://www.eurosportacc.com/collections/mk2/strut-stress-bars

Agreed Jim. Further evidence of Britain's failing education system :lol:

Well it's definitely not the later Stealth Racing enhanced kit, so this car has limited appeal imo, but it does have the TT installation plaque to please the originality whores. Turbo Technics just used the cold start injector to provide the boost fuelling and they always detonated as a result. 180hp tops. Stealth's revised kit made around 210hp and was a whole lot smoother!

For those interested, here are the basic specs:-

Decompressed with 1mm offset drilled gudgeon pins

Garrett T25 turbo running 7psi in low boost and 10.5psi high boost (if dual stage fitted)

RS Turbo intercooler

Stealth Racing's improvements were:-

4 x VR6 supplementary injectors

K Star KS-301 mini-computer to adjust the timing and run the injectors

Helix Autosport clutch

2 x exhaust cams

Plus some other minor stuff

You could build a 16V turbo now that drives a lot better than this ever did for less than the asking price, so it really does boil down to whether you specifically want a Turbo Technics original install or not.

Good news! So is it up and running now then?!

J.C, good question. Have a read of this thread - http://forums.fourtitude.com/showthread.php?3014162-Misfire-Detection-How-do-I-turn-on

Otherwise those fuel trims are very low indeed, which is a good sign.

None of the above because I'm sick of the sight of them clogging up Essex roads. It's always base spec white A5 TDIs with the 19" gunmetal wheel option ticked. Meh & double yawn.

As Jim said, the S5 I would definitely consider.

I'd get a Golf MK6 R personally.

This video explains how to set the freeplay nicely. It's not a Corrado but the principals are the same. Note the grease packer as well. Very useful for taper bearings!

A checksum error would indeed lock the ECU down! Pretty sloppy work from SWICT that!

The ECU checks it's software every time it boots up to make sure it hasn't changed since leaving the factory. People who know what they're doing clear that error before handing it back to the customer!

The hunting is more than likely casued by you not having a straight inlet track to your MAF. The Charger causes turbulence and this makes the idle choppy and prone to stalling.

I ran an 80mm tube from the charger to the passenger side (along the cross member) and mounted my MAF by the front engine mount and an airfilter in the corner of the passenger side bumper. My idle is now smoother than a standard VR6 and I have poly mounts......that is smooth!

Yeah that's the way to do it and also make sure the MAF still has it's air straightener on it.

If I had the kept the charger on mine, I would have relocated the battery to the boot and run the pipe up into a proper air box where the battery used to sit. Open cones under the car where it's filthy and wet half of the year, hmmmmm, not great. I lost a few MAFs because of that!

288s are a lot better than 280s although I also did my hoses (steel braided) and upgraded the pads too. Pedal still travels a fair bit before they really bite. Some folks on here have said that is how they like them as the braking is progressive. Althought I drive a MK7 golf as my daily and when I get in the Corrado I always crap myself as it feels like the pedal drops 2" before any braking happens in comparisson ;)

Yeah 288s have bigger pistons which displace more fluid, which then requires more pedal movement! To keep the OEM pedal feel as well as adding more power, you need the MK4's 24mm MC as well, but VW in their infinite wisdom decided to give the Corrado's brake servo a unique 45 degree stud axis for the Master Cylinder, when all other VWs have a horizontal stud axis. Yeah, cheers for that VW.

Problem 1: Foot completely off the gas or partially on it? Sounds weird. Mine never did that. You could just throw a new MAF (from VW, not a shyte fleabay job) and see if that does the trick. I don't think they're that expensive for MK5s/4s. Check for vac leaks too.

Problem 2: That sounds like piston slap perhaps. 12Vs do that as well. What oil are you using. The R32 is known for a bit of little end tapping when cold if you don't use longlife III or a decent 5W/30 like the Shell Helix Ultra. Mine has a similar tap / rattle but only when hot, which Vince has put down to either a lazy lifter or dodgy roller. I think I'll worry about that when I fit some cams :D

SAI runs when it feels like it, which is why I had mine disabled in the maps.

They do suffer with that. I think it was "MysticRado" or "MysticStorm" or some such chap fitted them to his Corrado and did a lot of work / research on it. He also concluded beefing up the loom with better bulbs was the way to go.

Thanks for clearing up the legality of aftermarket kits! I suspected the Ministry of Transport would try and banish them as they can distract people and cause accidents if the beam isn't projected properly! Cars fitted with HID as standard are annoying enough as it is and it's been done properly!

Well I'm well and truly stumped now guys

 

Swapped the ECU relay from a 109 to a 30, as Mark suggested, now we have the live at pin 3 of the ECU plug, also found a single red/yellow wire which I found a home on the fusebox for, now have a live at pin 62 of the ECU plug too, happy days I thought!

 

Fuel pump still doesn't prime, check for power at fuse, all good. Checked for power at the pump, yep all good, no fuel comes out when cranking but there IS fuel in the rail, so it must have worked at some point? It can't be left from when the engine was removed as that was over 6 weeks ago!

 

Tried a genuine VCDS, it connects up but won't communicate with the controller, try's a few times then gives up, same with a non genuine slightly older vagcom cable.

 

OBD has all the correct feeds etc, tested continuity between the OBD port and the pin on the ECU plug and it was ok.

 

Also pulled a coilpack and there isn't a spark

 

Throttle body is still beeping also I think it clicked a couple of times

 

Need to speak to Mark again tomorrow but I just don't know where to go from here tbh :(

The joys of R32 conversions!

Yeah you don't want a 109 for the fuel pump, it's not man enough! All you need is the R32's fuel pump trigger wire fed to relay 167 in the Corrado fuse board, simples :D

Which VCDS lead do you have and did you join the R32's K-line wire to the Corrado's? Think it was a grey wire with white tracer if memory serves.

I would suggest at this stage you find a spare *standard* ECU on ebay, for 2 reasons. 1) To prove the wiring and 2) it's not unheard of for ECUs to go bad after someone's been at it to deimmobilise it etc.

Kev, I'm not sure, it's just how the previouse guy did it so I havent looked into it,

Re. when people say the throttle body "beeps", mine makes a high pitch faint whine, definatly no beeping, I also have trouble with controller not responding (VCDS) and a lumpy (slight missfire) idle, any more info would be great,

Whilst on the subject, is it normal for the timing to jump around (mostly at idle), I goes from values like -8 to -17, I've been thinking this is why my idle is lumpy but cannot find the cause of why the ECU is adjusting the timing.

I've been presuming that if you disconnect varios sensors (MAF, Lambdas) it would then failsafe to a base tuning map

I've disconnected the Lambdas and MAf/AIT and there has been no change in the uneveness at idle

I'm sure it's not the usual "VR6 rough idle" you hear about, it's like a intermittent missfire.

if someone could check their timing at idle and record the values, that would be a great help

Yep that's a normal throttle body check. The whine is the frequency of the DC motor that lives within, which is approx.10Khz. The clunk is just it opening and closing, perfectly normal.

These failures to connect to the ECU concern me. What leads are you using chaps? I bought a Rosstech HEX+CAN-USB lead eons ago which has been perfect for me.

Yeah the timing does move around a lot at idle. The ECU will try to maintain idle speed with timing before it will move the throttle as it's less aggressive. The lumpiness will be down to a vac leak I suspect. They can be hard to trace on 24Vs as there are many places unmetered air can leak in. Blowing cigar smoke into the intake is an old favourite. Where there's smoke, there's a leak :D What are you idle and part throttle trims in VCDS? Measuring block 32 IIRC. +1-2% is one happy engine. Greather than +5% could be air leaks or a duff MAF.

Have a look at the misfire detection measuring blocks too, although I can't remember what number it is. If it's zero, it thinks everything is rosey.

Having had 12V, 2.8 24v, MK4 3.2 and MK5 3.2, none of them have ever been 100% dead smooth at idle. The MK5 one was with my standalone idling at 800rpm though. On ME7, yup, rough idle!

Out of interest, has anyone fitted HID's to their rado? Way brighter than normal lamps and draw less power.

 

Rog.

They work well in modern projector lamps but not a Corrado's refracted lenses. I think the requirement for self levelling and washers is also a legal grey area.

I posted some info about that in your build thread which may or may not be useful :D

J.C, I don't think it matters if they're joined together! I'll try and confirm what the second wire does but I think one is for the clocks and one for the ECU or power relay circuits.

Nice blower!

If memory serves, the fuel pump trigger wire in the 12v harness is a thin yellow one with blue tracer. Drop the fusebox down and look at the back of relay 167 and you'll see it. The trigger wire from the R32 harness joins onto that wire. On MK4s/5s the main prime is triggered by the door open signal and then the pump only runs during cranking and / or there's a crank sensor signal. If you turn the ignition to stage 2, you just get a quick pulse from the pump and then stops. I think it's a quick "Are you there Mr relay?" "Yes I am ECU sir" kind of check.

The lack of door switch priming wasn't an issue for me, it always fired on the button :D

Cheers Kev, I've used the bottom pin :)

 

Forgot to ask Mark about the speedo, I didn't think it needed to be changed from the VR one, maybe Mark thought I was using the audi gearbox, although he knew that was DSG so obviously not! Speedo is the least of my worries at the minute anyway lol

 

Nice one. If the dash battery light doesn't go out with the engine running, switch it over to the top pin :D

Alternator wiring, I'm using the 24v Alt, it has 2 pins, the 12v Alt only has 1 pin, is it as simple as just using pin #1 or does pin #2 need to be used also, if so where does it go to? I've read about this somewhere but can't find the info again!

I used the R32's 2 pin plug but with just the 12V exciter wire on the bottom pin. Worked fine. I think the R32 has 2 pins because it controls the voltage output. You get an "Alternator Workshop" error on the display if there's a problem with it.

Before fitting the alt, make sure the pulley spins freely in both directions and there's no clanking sounds. The Valeo R32 alts are more reliable than the earlier Bosch ones.

 

The speedo circuit is autonomous from the engine harness and you don't need to do a thing to it. If you're using 12V clocks and gearbox, nothing needs changing.

I think that's fair point.

 

Of my cars, the best ride for the state of our local roads is probably the Dolly, then the Rocco, the GT6 and finally the Corrado!

 

But get the Rado on a decent road and it's a lovely drive.

I never could fathom why though. I mean, taking a late VR6 for example, it has monumentally long springs (we need to dig out that picture of Dinkus' after his rebuild!), nice comfy 50 profile 15" tyres, reasonable suspension travel and yet, it just seems to lose the plot over broken surfaces!

"on a decent road", yeah that's the problem. I kind of like cars that aren't a one trick pony now, but then I am getting on a bit now.

Anyway, I think my old Corrado's ears are burning and I've offended him enough :D

Did the mk4 comment hit a nerve chicken? :fondle: hahaha

I can take it....and give it, so it's all good. Just watch your back E Gay :D

But an MX5 isn't crashy and harsh on Britain's shyte roads though. A car can quickly lose it's appeal if you cringe at the state of the road ahead of you.

Dont get me wrong, it has no soul and doesnt make me grin like a Corrado.......but it is quick due to massive torque, handles great due to the new MK7 suspension and does it all with no fuss what so ever!

Exactly that. I don't look back at my microfiber footed MK4 when I park it up. I looked back at the Corrado EVERY day for 9 years. It was a passionate love affair and the attraction never wore off :D

I suppose the R32 is like an efficient German secretary who occasionally throws you into the stationary cupboard :D

I don't mean to sound harsh about the Corrado, I am just realistic about it's limits. I had one for 9 years and loved it to death, they're brilliant cars! But unfortunately their 80s technology really does show now, and pretty average cars can not only out handle it, but out pace it as well. And it's just the whole crashiness over bumps thing, rust starting to set in, parts being made obsolete....it can eventually wear you down.

Same can be said of other hero cars. Cosworths, Clio Williams, RS Turbos, R5 GT Turbos, etc etc. They would all be murdered by a MK7 GT TDI 150 now :lol:

The world has moved on. Cars are faster, pace of life is faster and these 80s icons are pure enthusiasts cars who love them for what they are, not what they could be faster than :D