Mystic Rado

Yep, looks sweet - unquestionably the best colour, not that I'm biased or owt :D Looks funny seeing it at standard ride height though, I'm so used to the stance on mine that standard height looks really odd. I'm the world's laziest photographer, but now the sun's out, I'll have to get it washed and waxed up and take some proper pics.

Thanks Goldie, OE's the way I'm leaning. I'm thinking VT may not be as harsh as poly bushes, but I like the idea of keeping the rear passive steering thing for normal road use. I'm thinking the current bushes will be well trashed by now, so standard OE are going to be a major improvement.

I'm just about to get the rear beam bushing thingees replaced in my Storm. I don't want poly bushings as they made my Mark 2 quite twitchy, but I'm wondering about the Vibra-Technics pivot bushes and whether they're an improvement on the original VAG parts. I'm going to stick R32 ones on the front wishbone I think, but I'm not sure whether to go VT or OE on the rear. Has anyone used the VT ones? Their site blurb says: The standard rear beam bushes are designed to give some rear compliance steering for safer car control by the 'general' driver. To eliminate this and give the car a much tighter and responsive feel Vibra-Technics have developed a solution using a stiffer rubber bush (making it group N acceptable). These bushes are a direct replacement for the original. What I don't want is harsh and twitchy, which it sounds like they may be?

Ford part number: 7364573 It's the crankcase breather thingee off a Ford Galaxy VR6, costs about £25 or so. Much cheaper than getting the whole inlet gubbins from VW :-)

Based on previous posts on here you'll need around 3.5 litres of G12+ along with 6.5 litres of water, preferably distilled stuff. That sounds about right to me based on when my radiator died before Christmas :( Fwiw, I don't think Corrado's are inherently unreliable, but given that the latest ones out there are now around 12 years old, there are quite a few bits that just tend to die with age and the cooling system gets a bit of a hammering cos it's a big, hot engine in a small engine bay.

I'd just get it from the dealer. At least then you know it's OE and it's not like they're expensive anyway. Welcome to the joys of Corrado ownership, mystic blue's far and away the best colour, obviously btw. The other thing you should be aware of is using the right coolant in the VR6 motor - G12+ is what the dealer'll sell you now and it's compatible with G12 and other coolants, but G12 isn't. Worst case scenario is if your engine has G12 in and you add a normal coolant it can react and form a nasty gel in the pipework. If you're not sure what's in there and mixed with what, it might be worth draining, flushing and refilling with G12+ for peace of mind.

No worries fella, dunno if you noticed, but it looks like one of the guys who used to make forum looms is thinking of producing them again, see one of the million other uprated loom threads :) Actually I quite enjoyed making my own, kind of satisfying and honestly quite straightforward. Have fun.

I am considering having a go at this myself, the only thing putting me of is trying to source all the parts, if i knew were to go in one trip to get the bits and what part numbers i'd definately have a go. Any chance you or anyone who has built their own could give a description of all parts needed and where to get each part. I know theres a guide in the Wiki but it only tells you what you need and how to put it together. Would really help to know you've all the CORRECT parts before you start and don't get sidetracked cause you leave the job to go get that part you dont have :cuckoo:[/quote:1iil7l0g] OK, off the top of my head, you need roughly this: From VW: 2 x 357 941 165 (water proof plugs) 4 x 000 979 407 - 6mm preterminated leads (these are the original headlight plugs and the wires with terminals to connect them, you also need some silicone sealant or suitable plugs to seal the entry point for the wires) From an automotive electrical parts supplier: I used Vehicle Wiring Products, they're good but charge for delivery :( Wire: basically fat wire because you want to keep resistance low and you may want want to use uprated bulbs, I'll check back and see what size I used then edit this. Relays: standard 4-blade ones preferably rated at 30 or 40 amps if you're going to upgrade. Number depends on whether you're just doing the low beams, which ideally would mean two, or dips and lows, a minimum of four, though you can relay the inner spots separately, which is a good idea if you're thinking of running, say 100-watt spots in them. Splash-proof fuse holders - this page, eighth one down with the silicone seal for the lid, number depends on how you wire them but one for each relay basically. Again I used a silicone sealant to waterproof the wire openings.I The rest is terminals / solder / tape. In an ideal world you'd solder and heat shrink all joints and terminals, but you can also buy neat heatshrinking terminals that you crimp into place then heat with a hot air gun, when heated they shrink, but also contain adhesive that melts, flows and seals the joints pretty effectively, I think. I reckon they're a pretty good compromise. You need four spade connectors (female) for each relay, plus two or more big ring terminals for the battery connections. I found that the yellow-coded heatshrink ones would take two wires each. Convoluted tubing is a nice finishing touch, protects the wiring and looks neat too. The other basic is deciding how you're going to connect the loom to the existing wiring. You're using the signals from the existing loom to trigger the relay and feed power direct to the headlights. In an ideal world you'd simply have a plug that matched the OE headlight plug, but as far as I'm aware, that doesn't exist in an off the shelf form, so you'd have to make one if that's what you wanted. I just chopped the plug off on one side and hardwired the new loom in with soldered / heatshrunk connections. I think some people plug male spade connectors into the existing plug but I really wouldn't trust that. Those splashproof fuseholders are pretty good - if you uprate the bulbs, you'll also need to fit some bigger fuses, which means doing some basic maths, I think mine are 25-amp ones, but it obviously depends what bulbs you're running and how your loom is set up. You do want to think about protecting the relays. Mine are wrapped in HD polythene and taped up, but I'm going to stick them inside a tupperware-type box and use grommets and sealant to seal off the openings. That way if one fails, it should be easy to access and change. Tools - soldering iron, decent electrical crimp tool, some sort of hot air gun, though you can use a lighter if you're careful. Hope that makes some sense. It's a while since I made mine, so I'm dredging through my brain cell trying to remember the details. I found this web site really useful on the theory side btw. There's also some stuff in the wiki here and on matey-matey.com. Oh, and trust me, if I can make one then anyone can :)

You can buy the OE plugs direct from VW, if you do a search, the part numbers are actually listed somewhere on the forum - erm, part number 357 941 165, see this post. You need two plugs plus four repair wires which are double ended with the correct connector on each one. You also need the plugs to seal the wire entry points, but I ended up using a silicone sealant instead, which seems to work fine. The only really problematic bits are creating a plug to take the signal from the original loom if you insist on not cutting into your factory loom and protecting the relays. My solution was to solder the new loom in and what I'm going to do is mount the relays inside a sealed food box using grommets and sealant to stop water getting in. I suggested to Andy a while ago that rather than him trying to satisfy and insatiable thirst for looms, it might be a better idea to put together a detailed, illustrated 'how to' post, kind of 'uprated wiring looms for dummies' and I offered to co-operate with him on that. I'd still do that. I'd do it myself, but I'd rather get the technical construction of the loom spot on. I don't really want to produce a 'how to' on something that's safety critical like lights without knowing that it's 100 per-cent right, though maybe I'm being over-cautious :?

Battered Mk2 8v GTi with a TSR enhanced engine, chip, manifold, pipe etc. Looks like a banger on the outside and does all the dirty work like hauling filth-caked mountain bikes and climbing gear around, but still goes like stink in a nasty, grumbly, chuckable, raucous kind of way and surprises a lot of unwary knobs in Mercs and BMWs. The body's getting a bit tired now, so I'm on the lookout for a sound Mark 2 chassis to stick the engine in. Meanwhile the 'rado sits at home with his feet up watching DVDs and waiting for dry days in a suave and sophisticated but slightly brutish sort of way. Both good fun, but in different ways. The trouble with using a nice car for stuff like mountain biking is that the grit just gets everywhere and before long you're hauling half the Peak District around in your boot, down the crevices in the seats, in the carpet etc. Suddenly there's a sand dune in the back with stuff growing out of it, so while I can see the logic of having just the one, I couldn't do that to the Storm :?

The way headlights are rated us fundamentally out of date - it's based on wattage, 60-watt halogen max. HIDs generally are rated at 35-watts, so legal on that basis, but put out approximate 3x the lumens of a legal halogen bulb I think. On normal height vehicles, the very defined cut-off you get with proper HID projectors (and the self-levelling mechanism required by law) kind of mitigates the issue, I think, but once you put them on some poxy great 4x4 it's all academic since once they're within a certain distance of your rear bumper, they're going to be in your eyes. I think that legally they do have to be aimed further down btw, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Bastard things :?

I tried the bixenon kit from hids4u.co.uk which looks pretty much identical to that, in my Corrado and the results were awful, though it worked really well in the round headlights on my Mark 2. What you've got to remember is that reflector headlights are designed to work with halogen bulbs, so they can give quite weird results with HID which produces an arc of light which isn't the same as the halogens do. Anyway, whatever the reason, the Corrado lights seem quite finnicky about working with some HID kits, I think it's down to the metal shield that sits in front of the bulbs. I ended up making an uprated loom and sticking some upgraded halogens in - brilliant. Also, the high beam on the bixenon HIDs was awful, even in the Golf and you do still need high beams if you're driving on unlit country roads imo. Bottom line, legality is questionable, but as importantly, not all kits are the same and while some seem to work pretty well, others - based on my experience - don't.

The B&M kit has a pretty poor rep on here. I was thinking about one, but a lot of people seem to have had problems with them - try a search. Ended up with the Dieselgeek kit which is basically a modded standard one plus a sideways travel reduction as well. Very happy with it, nice, short, positive shift, feels great.

glad you like the car, call in if your passing, i'd like to see your motor. If I'm down that way, I'll drop by and say hello. I'm after a decent local bodyshop, so I might pick your brains on that front also, your paint looks nice in the pics. I have medium-term plans for a full respray, but want to get the chassis 100 per-cent first. How are you finding the poly bushes btw? My Mark 2 has them all round and it's a bit harsh, so I'm havering about using them on the 'rado, might look at the Vibra-technics ones as an alternative :?

Welcome on board, I'm actually just down the road from you in Glossop, I've got mates in New Mills as well, mostly mountain bikers rather than roadies though, but I know they occasionally use Sett Valley Cycles. This pic from your web site made me laugh btw - first time I've ever seen a 'rado used as a lead car in bike race :) Oh, and nice car btw.

Are your 6x9s wired the right way round? I'm guessing you've probably checked that already, but if they're out of phase they will sound crap.

where can I get the glass polish? Also I have a new strip on the drivers side (cost me about £30), i fitted new glass with no scratches at the same time. but new scratches have appeared, could it be something more besides the strip? The new strip sorted mine. I don't know what else could be causing it, unless there's something else catching it, maybe take the door card off and have a look. I got the cerium oxide from eBay. They use it to polish stones in tumblers, comes in powder form, just make it into a paste and use a dremmel with a polishing wheel or similar.

It's the external trim strip that sits against the window glass, the felt wears through exposing metal underneath, which scratches the glass. Apparently it's more likely to happen if they're removed, say for paint, then replaced not absolutely straight. If your glass is only very lightly scratched, don't operate your windows until you've replaced the strip. I polished some light scratches out with some specialist glass compound, er, cerium oxide from memory.

Hi there, I know your feeling a bit like a fish old of cold water & there are alot of copy HID kits so you do need to get wise, check all the specs etc. I got mine through my mate who contacted a guy direct from China, tell you what they are BRILLIANT! If you are intrested in a genuine Bosch kit, that is really good by the way, i can put you in touch with my mate whos currently ordering a batch in as we speak... PM me any time. It takes no more than an hour to fit the kit & knowing that these are fitted to BMWs is a nice touch 8) I don't think Bosch produces aftermarket HID kits fwiw. If they did, they'd be heinously expensive. Far eastern manufacturers are quite happy to knock out fakes by the bucketload. I'm not saying they're useless or owt, but genuine Bosch? For 75 quid a pop, what do you think?

The base level Thule bike carriers are fine btw, the really expensive ones with the single-arm clamp are quite a neat design, but I found the cheaper ones fine and very stable. Prepare to see your fuel consumption figures drop markedly though...

Same wire? http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=65910&p=765712&hilit=loose+wire#p765712

I've seen one and ditto, wasn't happy with the crimped rather than soldered connections and didn't think the so-called waterproof fuse-holders were up to much. I'm sure it'd work fine when new, but there's nothing to stop corrosion getting into the thing and killing it, which you don't really want on your headlights. This was about a year ago, so the latest ones may, I suppose, be different and better sealed, but based on the one I saw, I think you'd be better off making your own or looking elsewhere. These looms have to survive in a pretty hostile environment under the bonnet, where they're exposed to water, salt, etc, so sealing should be a priority imho.

Yeah, I'd agree with some of the above, I run a Mk2 GTi 8-valve with a TSR head, cams, manifold, chip and a Jetex etc as a daily and it's quick as, expecially now I've replaced the shagged breather pipe with a hole in it :) I reckon there are two things going on, one is that the Corrado is just a more cultured, smoother, quieter ride, so it doesn't feel as fast - at 90mph my VR feels like it's pootling, in the GiT you can barely hear the stereo, viz, the Golf feels faster even at the same speed. Second, low down the Golf actually is faster cos it's lighter so it accelerates quicker than a Corrado. Upping a 1.8 valver to 2 litres is meant to make a big difference to low down response, have a look on the Club GTi forum if you don't find everything your need to know here, it's a common conversion on the Mark 2. You're never going to make your Corrado feel like a Golf though, it's always going to weigh more and be a more sophisticated ride, when VW made the Golf heavier they came up with the Mark 3, even with a 2.0 8v in, it's a slug, which tells you everything you need to know really. I do stil keep wondering about sticking my GTi's top-end on an 8-valve 'rado engine though, but I think I might end up with the worst of both worlds :?

Yes, but you'll have to take both wheels off the bike.

Does the fob look like this btw? That's what my Clifford 300 came with, two of them. Anyway, try google images and search for Clifford fob, might come up with a pic of your remote with images on maybe?