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I've had some limited success with colour matched rattle cans and clear laquer top coat in the past - this is with the pearl grey metallic on my car. To be honest though, it will never look as good as a professional job, and the key is really in how much preparation is put in, that is the cleaning, sanding, primer and keying and how clean you can keep it. Most of your time should be spent on that versus actual spraying and then it's possible to get small repairs to blend in quite well. Did you get a quote from a paint shop as a comparison for the few bits you need done?

Always preferred a forum to FB (too much ephemeral stuff flying by and needless repetition) - the bulletin board model always worked best for retaining and sharing knowledge. But when I started getting into older VAG cars like the Golf, quattro and Corrado there were only message boards and you had to put a bit of work into them to get anything back. Nowadays someone will just check to see if there is a group on FB and assume that't it and be happy with it. The photo issue a really a question of storage costing money - FB are happy to front this because they have all your data and can target adds and resell that information in return. Free photo archive site were never going to last, so we would need to look at how to provide storage space without allowing cross-linking. Getting something like Tapatalk working again would be a huge help in getting users back on the forum, although I've found you can always post a pic on the forum with the attachment feature provided it's not too large.

Yeah, the Sebrings look cool and retro - would look lovely on a VR.

Thanks for sorting this our - would be shame to lose the forum and all the great information on here. Is there any way in which we could work together to help out?

For the Corrado I have 3 sets, all standard 15": - Speedlines, four need a refurb and one is a spare - BBS RA VR6 Golf wheels, currently on the car - BBS RZ, five stud, also need to be refurbed Would love to get hold of a set of 16" BSS RS226 and the 16" VW Motorsport Speedlines.

I think it is - I remember getting hold of one of the last cable repair kits about 8 years ago, and it had the ends attached to the cable, although they seemed to be of a different metal to the originals.

The passenger side is the one that always seems to break first, so can be difficult to find even second-hand. In terms of reproducing it, did it even come as a separate part originally or was it not attached to the cable? I have a spare cassette at home, but that slider snapped as soon as I tried to operate the mechanism - if you do get hold of, or have, a spare unit, I'd recommend taking it apart and cleaning/lubricating everything before attempting to operate it, just in case.

Yes, I have Mk4 rear callipers with Corrado 1613mm OE length handbrake cable on mine for years. I think the advantage is that the later callipers don't seize and corrode as much and the handbrake mechanism is less liable to sticking, which was common problem on many '80s VWs.

All Corrados use the A2 platform as a base, so the chassis dimensions didn't change over the length of the model run. The main difference was that the VR6 ran 5-stud wide-track "Plus" suspension, so the geometry there is different - maybe the rear callipers sit a few mm further out due to the wider rear beam? Hence there might be two lengths of cable - one for G60, 16v and 8V, exactly the same as the Mk2 Golf, and one slightly longer one for the wide track VR. But the rear calliper and handbrake set-up would have been standard across all A2 platform cars and many other VWs of that vintage. ETKA lists 2 different part numbers and a chassis number break, but they are both shown as being the same length at 1613mm, so it's probably just a super-cession to a later revision part - the base part# is the same.

I can't say much about the cable length - common sense would say that they should be the same length - unless one of the stub axles, calliper bracket/hub were damaged or out of alignment, or the rear beam itself was aligned incorrectly off to one side - but I'm not even sure how any of that is possible. I'd say once the brake lever is fully up and engaged, both wheels should lock and it should pass. Over here in Ireland the NCT tolerance allowed for handbrake imbalance is much more generous than for the foot brake.

The original ones all had the twisted wire on the outside - they were common on all the Mk2/Mk3 era cars that had an amplified base. You can also get a shorter bee sting type that had no twists, this is what I have on my car - you lose a little bit of reception but it looks sleeker and more modern.

Usually one comes up for sale on the same day you see a Unicorn out fo the corner of one eye while simultaneously stepping on some rocking horse poo. Good luck, and tell me if you find a second one. Might have better luck finding a Schrick VGI - they tend to come up every once in a while.

Some inflation there on those scuttle clips - they're a funky colour too.

My take on this is that the Corrado was marketed as a Sports GT Coupe, and so the expectation should be for it to have leather. Same reason they all should have had the additional VDO gauges from the factory.

Practically everything is now made in China (possibly assembled elsewhere) - thing is you get what you pay for with the factory and the manufacturing process, and this is reflected in the final retail prioe. A Chinese manufacturer will offer to make the part at a few different price points and levels and although they may look the same they will vary in quality dependent on the price - one thing is for sure, they will not turn business away - so if you ask for e.g. a MAF for 20 quid, it will still get made at that price point, but you'd be taking your chances. So made in China is not necessarily a bad thing at all if it's at the correct price and quality level - the problem is how to ascertains this, and some will rip you off by selling you low grade components at premium prices.

Unwound paper clip for adjusting dash clock! Not really home made, but a hollow ratchet spanner and socket for bleeding brake nipples - very handy and a little Victorinox (Swiss Army knife makers) ratchet handle with a screw driver bit for getting at those hard to reach screws in the dash vents.

Topran are rubbish, nothing but cheap copies with inferior materials and dodgy tolerances - like most things you get what you pay for when it comes to parts. It's why Bosch, Hella, VDO, ATE etc, stuff is expensive unfortunately and becoming harder to get. I've been burned in the past with radiators, heater cores and oil coolers (not on the Corrado, but on Mk2 Golfs) bought from discount European car retailers and had them fail either immediately or within a couple of weeks and had to replace with OEM VAG or equivalent parts from OE suppliers. The problem for us Corrado owners now is that the quality parts are getting scarce and it looks like we will just be left with the rubbish ones.

I guess this is personal preference really - as above, I'd definitely go on the overall condition of the rest of the car first. You can always buy a leather interior or get the cloth recovered in leather, which will be like brand new. My opinion is that a a sports/luxury coupe it should have leather, and makes them more desirable - the cloth sometimes lets the VR down. The US ones had very nice half leather interiors.

No - with the engine not running, nearly all the oil will be sitting collected in the sump at the bottom of the block. I've replaced these and the oil cooler without draining. You might get some slight weeping, just clean it up as you go.

Can you repair it by soldering the wire on?

Interesting - that means it probably sat around unsold for nearly a year. To be fair - once your are talking 20-25 years old, the fact that a car is a year or two younger than another is of little importance unless there is something model specific you are looking for that only became available on a certain date - I'd be much more interested in the first VR6 to be registered in the UK rather than the last! ;)

They were very slow to sell at the end, so there's a few late ones around - it'll be a late 94 or 95 car I;d say.

Yeah, interesting to see - here's another great book that has many of the same pictures and more besides - German only though. https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=9783958431423&i=stripbooks&linkCode=qs

I used to own an 87 Coupe Quattro Type 85 with the I5 KV naturally aspirated engine in it - made about the same power as a 16v Golf, 136 or so. What a car - the only one I'd like to have back. It had the same quattro drive train with a bulletproof k-jetronic engine - not nearly as powerful as the Ur with a turbo, but more practical and nearly as much fun. There were actually less CQs produced than there were turbo cars. The later shape like the S2 always looked weird to me and a little bit dated, but they are a great car.

Those tabs are a real pain - one is broken on mine and I tried to bond it back on, but it broke again in no time. I wonder if you used plastic or fabric/felt washers and made sure not to over-tighten the screws, as they seem to break when unscrewing?