Kevin Bacon

If the manual states 5W/40 is OK to use, then use it. I think for temperate climates like ours, a 10W/40 is recommended.

Buying a turkey twizzler to replace the Corrado really is throwing the towel in in a less than spectacular way :D

It's a weird trait of the engine for sure. When mine was standard it was the same. Piston slap when cold, followed by tapping when hot. Pretty much how they all are. It wasn't until I imported a big valve head from Schimmel, used Schimmel cams and new INA followers that I was finally bestowed with a silent 12V engine.

Interestingly enough, Golf Highlines always purr like kittens and my imported head was from an OBD2 engine. I wonder if there's a link?

In order of cheapness:-

Main water pump

Aux Pump

Radiator

I remember a few years ago replacing my radiator (with a genuine one - which are no longer available) and it just ran sooooooo much cooler afterwards. So much so I binned my Mocal as it was no longer required (over cooled the oil). The radiator is always overlooked because it's a static part and sat out of the way minding it's own, but it's absolutely crucial on the hot running VR.

I sometimes wonder if people fit mocals to cure 110+ motorway oil temps when all that's really needed is a decent cooling system overhaul.

The Golf only handles worse because of it's pensioner spec damper and spring rates. I've never done it, but I imagine if you were to fit Corrado VR6 suspension to a Golf and also mirror the Corrado's geometry, they would behave in a very similar way on the roads.

MK3s do rot (from the inside out) badly though. Aside from that, the MK3 has to be the dullest looking Golf ever made.

The MK3 does have a few redeeming features though, such as proper factory A/C, a glass sunroof (that actually works), better quality interior (no crumbly heater dials) and cheaper parts because it's so common.

One other thing I noticed about Highlines and late Golfs is they purr when they cruise past. Corrados rattle and tick and sound very unrefined.

If you ever produce a MK4 6spd dimple gear knob, I'll be down for one :D

Never been in proper VRT on the blast but this is much faster as was my S3 on GT28RS.

 

273 PS per 1 Tone does the job :)

 

That's a little turbo dragging 1500kg :D

Yep that's a good hp/tonne. I couldn't believe the grip and cornering speeds of my mate's. Insane cars and good fun :D

We're not doing too badly... my old man has an R reg Merc C240 estate. Only a cheap motor - can pick these up for next to nothing these days. Central locking pump packed up today and looked on eBay - found one from a breaker for £30. Out of curiosity I rang up Mercedes Benz - one of those 'wish I was sitting down' moments when the guy quoted me £500+VAT. The pump is similar sort of VAC system to the one the Corrado uses... not sure where Mercedes plucked that price from but seriously what a joke!!

That old blanket "£500+VAT" price again.

I've been pleasantly surprised how cheap parts are for my R32 though.

My mate had an IX FQ360. It was slower than my VRT in a straight line but on B roads, nothing could touch it. My god the HKS exhaust absolutely drones like hell though. Normal conversation in the car at cruising speed is difficult. Suspension is stupid hard as well. Defo not a daily car. Absolutely drinks fuel as well.

The discount varies from part to part. You can see on their screen what the discount code is for each part on your order. Max is 20%, min is 5%. Dealers you get on with tend to apply the max discounts but obviously it's discretionary. Service items tend to get a higher discount code, such as Quantum Longlife 3, which is now £52 a tub, but you can get for around £35 if the dealer is in a good mood :D

And VW seem to have fixed price on airbox to throttle hoses now. No matter what the engine: £100 please sir.

I seem to remember it was:-

Sensor > O ring > Plastic ring

Does it? I'd speak to Gaz about that! Mine had the same amount of clicks on each side.

In my signature mate, a MK4 R32 :)

The funny thing is, it's everything I strived to get from my Corrado in terms of handling balance and spring / damper rates. Still, I learned shed loads (as you are now) tweaking my Corrado and I loved every minute of it. Not going to go as mad on the Golf though. I definitely now know where money is best saved and spent!

So you're 9:1 at the moment?

It's hard to say with the pullies but it's likely 80mm will take you to 15psi, or a little more. Bobbi would know as he ran 18psi I think.

Yeah Vince will need to tweak the map if you up the boost!

I don't remember the yellow sender ever being less than £20, even 9 years ago.

You can get a BTS from ebay for a fiver but I'd rather put butter in my engine.

The thermostat is expensive though, for what is essentially the same thing Ford Cortinas had in the 70s.

I put my battery under the rear armrest. Who ever uses it anyway? :)

As for the loom, nothing really changes. You're just extending the positive lead into the car and instead of a battery terminal under the bonnet, you just have a splitter.

Yeah my Golds had good ride quality too and really good damping. It was just the quality of mine that let me down. The rears seized up within a few months and the driver's side front piston rod started shedding chrome plating! I hope you get on better with yours in that respect. I got mine back in 2006ish, so things should have improved since then.

Yeah if yours are the ones with the ally adjustment knobs on the bases of the dampers, then yep, I know what you mean re the adjustments. My V3s were the same.

My Golds didn't have helper springs for some reason, so when it was jacked up the spring fell down! Great! I ended up getting longer springs in the end, lol!

Halfrauds sell it. You can also get the factory stuff from VW in spray tins, but you need a special applicator gun to go with it, it's not aerosol unfortunately.

Good Corrado wings are scarce now and not available new anymore, so do everything you can to protect them ;)

You need to bin the stub axle and fit the mk4 rear hub. JMR welded his on I believe (or fabbed an adaptor or something) but it's not a direct bolt-on onto the Corrado trailing arm. I think some of the guys on here researched a Polo or Lupo rear hub that apparently has the same bolt pattern as the Corrado stub axle but I think there were a few caveats with that also.

Bear in mind MK4s don't have a bias proportioning valve. It's all done electronically (via the ABS) according to suspension angle so I don't know how effective they'd be on a Corrado. I know most of us with the 280mm conversions didn't really notice a lot!

How are you finding them? What spring rates did you go with?

The arch liners and aux belt covers are there to protect daily used cars (VW didn't put them there for fun), especially over the winter months but most of you don't daily your Corrados, so the risk is mitigated.

If you're peppering your wings at high speed with grit, no amount of waxoyl will help. Personally I would cake the impact areas with greystripe, which is the rubbery compund they use on the floor pan, sills and rear arches.

My gruven pulley had a bit of slack in it (the bearing wasn't a tight fit like stock) which might help with your belt alignment issue.

Vince is good with looms and can sort your aux pump but the pump trigger is the same on OBD2. Pins 1 & 4 of the yellow (or green/black) trigger the pump, which is powered from the red/black wire in the T14 connector in the fan controller. If you're getting a signal from the sender and nothing out of T14, I'd say the controller is dead. If you're getting 12V from the black/red wire across ground, then the pump is dead.

24v sump is baffled inside, it does fit straight on.

It's the MK5 R32 sump that has baffle plates inside. The MK4 R32 / 24V just has a couple of fins in it but is still better than the plain steel one for oil surging.

Make sure you use the proper VW white sealant for the sump. It cures to more of a latex consistency and over spills don't peel off and get sucked into the oil pump like normal sealant does. The VW stuff cures very quickly too, so you don't have long to get the sump up and torqued down. 20 mins tops.

They're good noise deflectors too.

I also found the Corrado felt slower than the Speedo said, but then again, Corrado speedos aren't known for their accuracy :D

I found the VR6 with cloth interior to be easily on par with modern cars for cabin quietness at speed. The only thing that let it down was no bulkhead sound deadening like modern cars have, so with the windows up, you get a lot of mechanical noises coming through into the cabin.

In terms of chassis, I'm afraid the Corrado is eons behind the modern stuff but it always was a car that was greater than the sum of it parts. I really miss mine some days!

Aural or oral? :D

The OBD2 2.8 always was the best 12v.