fendervg

Love the "environmentally compatible"" bit! Didn't know that special plastics on the radio could help stop your windows fogging up - I thought that was just the sunroof/boot/door/heater leaking.... When I saw it first I thought that it might be that you could recycle the plastic.

This has been covered pretty extensively in the past. The UK cars were kitted out with dealer fit stereos - mainly Sony, so what was "original" to a UK car would not have been OE in the rest of Europe/US. It depends on if you want modern features or that original retro look, and also on if you want the illumination to match. I've had a Nakamichi 35Z (45X is identical but has line in) and they are nice, but OEM would have to be a VW Gamma IV - all the the Sony's/Gamma units are cassette decks with CD changer control and can be modified for aux in and bluetooth. There's also a VDO CD unit from the Hyundai Coupe that has green illumination and looks good that was mentioned in a thread recently. Might be a good idea to add to the Wiki thread with a photo of each head unit in and out the dash and a quick list of the features and pros/cons..

Nice. Thanks for doing this.

Seriously though, over here in Dublin there was at least a decade where every single taxi was a Jetta or a Vento. Then supplanted by the Octavia.

Not really. It’s a taxi with an 8v GTI engine surely, with some added cosmetics. Now if it had a 16v G60 or VR in there, then maybe - or 4WD.

That's a great photo of it Si. Shows it very clearly - I was originally getting confused with the rears - of course the fronts need to slide, and have the seat belt rail for the bottom as well. Should help sort it out for the OP.

Looks fairly straightforward - large bolt to the rear of the inside seat frame. Might be hard to get to with the seat in place.

Is that for a European or NA spec car? As far as I know only US models would have had a warning contact, and also motorised seatbelts. The buckles are usually anchored into the chassis near the centre tunnel using a captive nut and a large bolt - best way to get at it would be to remove the seat in question (2 securing parts and slides off the rails) as it won't slide far enough forward or back to give good access.

Is the thermostat working and was it tested before fitting? Can happen that you get one that is stuck. Are both hoses to/from the radiator getting hot when properly warmed up? When you says it's not cooling, is it oil temperature and coolant temperature together that are staying high? The oil cooler hoses are really only coolant in and coolant out - not sure how this would be different on a 24v, maybe someone with one can share pictures of their outlet. It's not a very effective cooler anyway, more a way of helping the engine get up to running temp quickly by balancing out oil and coolant temp via heat exchange.

I’m surprised that the duct is even still there after 200k....

I would argue that with the Insurance company using recent sales/auction and current cars for sale as backup. I've done it in the past successfully, and it took a long time but they ended up paying out more than twice the original settlement offer. If the policy holder is not at fault, my opinion is you are entitled to be back in the position you were before the damage - not with your car written of as a CAT and a measly payout. As I said before in another thread, I have rarely had positive dealings with a car insurance company.

No to my knowledge - but you only need to remove the trim at the back, top of the rear hatch and loosen the C-pillars, and the lining will drop a little to give you access. The base/seal is moulded around the aerial mast base and the wire comes through it, so there's no way of doing it without getting access from underneath unless you cut the new seal, which would make it useless - you would still need to be able to loosen the nut underneath a bit, which also needs the headlining lowered. Watch out because there are around four small little plastic clips that hold the end trim on, and these can break very easily. But the good news is that the whole headlining does not have to come out.

Haha - I have the chain and padlock as well - from the seat rail to the steering wheel.

Absolutely - I'd be with you on that one. I'd be upset for sure, but it's a thing, not a life.

Mine was not stolen, but broken into about 6 months after I bought it (2009 or so), but I blame the fact that I forgot to take the face plate off a rather tasty Nakamichi head unit one evening. They did try to start it, but got nowhere due to the immobiliser. Now the retro Gamma IV cassette deck puts them off, and I haven't had any trouble since! There are a few dodgy type hereabouts though who would just tow a car away for breaking in broad daylight. I guess the problem with stealing a Corrado is that with the current low numbers they would be hard to hide or get rid of unless exported - far more likely to be broken and sold off piecemeal I'd say.

Same here. I have the Toad immobiliser, supplemented with a Meta HP alarm install - also gives remote closure of sunroof and windows. The Toad was on the car when I got it, and was probably fitted over 20 yrs ago. Only thing I had to buy was a couple of spare fobs.

On its way to you now - thanks.

Yes, sounds good - I'd be happy with that. That's how the other loom I have sorts out the sidelights, 2 male connectors hooking back up to the factory loom.

I think the GTI mount and the almost mythical "diesel mount" are the same thing, but others might be able to confirm. In terms of performance mounts, I would stick with one for the front and go standard on the gearbox and rear - mainly for vibration transmission reasons. There's also absolutely nothing wrong with new OE mounts all round for a daily driver - I think most people change them out for something else because the originals are shot, and buy uprated ones because they are easy to source.

@Sprinter53 - will the new version of the lenses work with Halogen bulbs? Thanks. I could be interested in a pair, as I have a spare set of housings with cracked lenses in the attic.

Not sure if they were Rs - unlikely. Saw a couple at a show, but only from the outside, and a few more on the Irish VAG forum. There was a classic Beetle restoration specialist who was already importing Beetles and buses from South America, and they also brought a few of these over from South Africa - I guess they had all the import stuff worked out already. I believe they weren't particularly cheap for what they are after shipping, taxes and import duties and retrofitting were taken into account. It would be a great way though of getting hold of a nearly new Mk1 shell and chassis - you could put whatever engine you wanted in to it then.

There used to be a couple of companies that specialised in importing them - there's a few here in Ireland. They need a little bit of extra work to make them street-legal. IMHO it's all lovely until you see that they used the cheapest Skoda dash that they could get hold of! If I had one I wouldn't be able to sleep until I had retro-fitted a proper Mk1 or 2 dash in there.

It’s the pedal position sensor - used by the ABS ECU to tell when the brake pedal is pressed and by how much. Later ABS systems like the Teves 20 did away with it. +1 on the mud flaps - I have them too.

Sent there just now - cheers!

Good stuff - let us know the payment details when you have them.