Ollies VR6

[OllieVR6 0]

The day I got it, before wash:

 

 

And after a quick hose down, with a much more thorough clean to follow:

 

Edited December 7, 2012 by OllieVR6

[__Andy__ 0]

i dont know if it was a bargain, should of knocked him down a bit on the bumper and the kerbed alloy :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

jokes aside buddy thats an absoloute steal. bargain isnt even the word...

 

im sure you will find all the answers you need on this site..

[Adz The Rat 0]

Car looks lovely and most definitely a bargain!!!

I think they look great on the Speedline rims

[OllieVR6 0]

The pictures make the car look a lot better than it actually is, there are a few chips/small dents/swirls etc that you would expect on any 14 year old car but nothing that can't be fixed with some TLC, and what with the insurance companies being a right pain in butt, between now and being 25 (in July) it will get lots and lots of TLC. Here are some more shots:

 

The results of a busted matrix:

 

 

Interior:

 

 

Engine:

 

[Adz The Rat 0]

And you have leather too??

You bastard haha you really need to put the lottery on as your luck is clearly in

[OllieVR6 0]

Update time. Haven't done anything major yet, but have been pulling things off/buying new bits.

 

Side strips coming off:

 

 

I did loose a bit of paint in a couple of very small areas :censored:

 

 

Rear wiper removed:

 

 

Badges off, going to colour code them:

 

 

perished rubber:

 

 

Edited May 27, 2013 by OllieVR6

[OllieVR6 0]

I have fitted some smoked side repeaters, really smartens the car up - orange is such a horrible colour. Also bought tinted headlight covers and a badgeless grille which I'm still undecided about. I really like the standard grille with either a black or silver badge:

 

 

Sorry it's so dirty!

 

 

These are some of the many scratches I am going to have a go at:

 

 

The start of the heater matrix job:

 

 

More soon!

[jassonvr6 0]

Hi m8.....vr looks ok :D Where abouts are you in Camberley??

Not many Corrado's vr6's in Camberley(i know of 3 now) with yours!! :clap:

[Leonard 0]

Keep at it mate will be hard work Im sure but you get the satisfaction of knowing that you brought a Corrado back from the brink!

 

Think you are probably finding out that you can buy a cheap Corrado but very rarely do you get a true bargain, doesnt take much wrong to make the £ signs spin :grin:

 

As i said though you have a good project on the go and sure you are learning loads about the car as you go.

 

Look forward to seeing your updates and following your progress

 

:salute:

 

Matt

[OllieVR6 0]

Cheers Matt!

 

When I got back to the car after work today it had leaked it's coolant all over the floor. :bad-words:

 

Added to the list of problems to fix!

[OllieVR6 0]

And when trying to find the source of the water leak, my drivers door handle broke and now I can't open the door. :sleeping:

[OllieVR6 0]

Well I tried to use the sites new blog feature, but you don't seem to get any feedback on there, so I'm going to forget that and go back to having a members thread (which to be fair is my preferred way to browse as well). Incoming wall of text!

 

There has been quite a lot more progress since my last post (although no where near the level some people seem to manage!) I'm just struggling to remember it all and I certainly don't have pictures of everything.

 

I have fitted a set of coilovers just need to go around with the torque wrench and make sure everything is done up, then I need to get the tracking done.

 

I have had to drill out 2 of the 4 headlight screws, and I have purchased a longer drill bit so that I can drill out the two middle ones (which should be happening tonight).

 

I have just finished fitting a new downpipe as mine was blowing at the collar. I got a second hand one from ebay and replaced all the studs, nuts and gaskets whilst I was at it. Really pleased with the results but unfortunately this has only highlighted a blow in the suit case that I didn't previously know about. Presumably the extra pressure made it worse.

 

I have had a bad leak since I got the car. After replacing the foliage seal, I eventually found water to be coming in from the top passenger corner of the windscreen. This is going to require the screen to come out but for now I have had to remove the headlining and carpet to stop them from getting ruined.

 

That will do for now, I'm working on the car tonight so I will refresh my memory and take some photos.

 

Pictures of busted downpipe and after the coilovers were fitted.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]46970[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]46971[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]46972[/ATTACH]

Edited May 27, 2013 by OllieVR6

[OllieVR6 0]

In preparation for the RR day next weekend I have been doing some work on the old girl. Last weekend I changed the gearbox oil for some new MT90 and today I have had the wheel alignment done. The front NS was badly off which they have adjusted and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

 

The chap doing my tracking was nice enough to let me wander around under the car and have a look, I've not seen it from underneath before and I'm pleased to say everything looks good. It's very dirty but the underseal doesn't have any rips and I couldn't see any rot. The exhaust is on it's last legs but I knew that.

 

I purchased a new ignition switch from the dealers which I want to fit before next weekend along with some new power steering fluid and G12++. Then I just need to give it a really good clean and wax!

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50187[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50189[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]50190[/ATTACH]

Edited May 30, 2013 by OllieVR6
spelling

[VW_OwneR_85 2]

looks good pal, if you want tips on how to remove the windscreen just ask, i had to do mine...

[OllieVR6 0]

looks good pal, if you want tips on how to remove the windscreen just ask, i had to do mine...

 

Thanks mate. I won't be doing that until about Feb now and even that's pending getting my bonus this year. I might just suck it up and pay someone, not sure my skills are up to it.

 

Sent from my HTC Desire

[OllieVR6 0]

So just been doing some last minute research in advance of a coolant flush/change tomorrow (pre RR day) and now I'm thinking maybe not?

 

In one of threads someone posted that it's common for head gaskets to go after a flush...any truth to this? Don't really want to blow up my engine either on the way to or from Stealth on Sunday!

[OllieVR6 0]

Well first this happened (on Saturday):

 

Well, what a day! Started off by visiting Halfords to buy some distilled water, this was fine, then I headed to my local VW dealership to grab some G12 for a coolant flush and change. I buy the coolant jump back in the car (at VW), turn the key, and nothing! This has happened before, normally 2nd or 3rd go it fires. I thought it was the ignition switch, I had a new one on me, I was on my way home to fit it! So I called my dad who brought me some tools down and I swapped the ignition switch out in the dealership carpark lol. Right outside where all the techies stand to drink tea! New switch in and I'm thinking I'm home free, imagine the words that came out my mouth when I turn the key and....nothing!!

So my dad offers to go and get the work horse and tow me home. I've never been towed before so this was a pretty scary/horrible experience! Lucky home is only a mile or so away. I never asked anyone for help at the garage, they have a job to do and I don't want to disturb them, but they did give me a push out of the parking space I was in (thanks chaps!).

 

Once I got home I was pretty much clueless, I did some checking here to see what it could be but I really didn't know what to do. I suspected the starter motor but didn't know how to prove it. At this point I thought I would have to bail on tomorrow (I have been seriously looking forward to it!).

 

Floppyman PM'd me his number and offered his support and after a quick chat he was on his way to my house to help, with a spare starter in tow! He was only here a few minutes and had diagnosed it, amazing! Once we had ruled out the starter (and tested it) we knew it had to be the wiring, so we bypassed the after market immobiliser (which is **** anyway) and all was good again. Car fires first time every time (so far). We have done enough tonight to get me to Stealth and back tomorrow but I seriously need to sort the wiring out, it's a horrible mess. I'll show you tomorrow.

 

I have to say, Floppyman wasn't the only person to offer help, Portent and Monzablue also PM'd me and offered to come round and help! Simply amazing, thank you all so so much, people like you are what make this place the best community on the net!

 

 

Anyway, I didn't get to do what I planned to do today, the car is filthy and the coolant change didn't happen, but at least I'll be able to actually go now!

 

Sunday:

 

I successfully drove to Basingstoke to meet scarlet_vr6, we got petrol, drove to Newbury to meet chazrad and owen and then the car wouldn't start again!!! It was different this time, it turned over but wouldn't fire. scarlet_vr6 offered to call the AA for me (thank you so much!), as I'm not a member (but will be soon!) and they messed about with it for an hour or so before giving up and towing me home.

 

So today I have pulled this lot out:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50398[/ATTACH]

 

And now the car works again!

Edited May 30, 2013 by OllieVR6

[robo22sri 10]

Dodgy alarm making the engine cut out?

[floppyman 0]

Lol do you see now why I call this alarms/immobilisers a virus for cars.... They get every where

[OllieVR6 0]

It was weird, on Saturday the starter wouldn't turn over at all, but floppyman came over and managed to sort it bypassing the bit that was causing the problem. We thought that had fixed it but then the next day it was turning over but not firing (after having driven it), the fuel pump wasn't priming and the AA guy said the coil wasn't getting any power.

 

The factory immobiliser that's connected to the ECU is still there and still works, I tested it by unplugging it from the black box under the headlight switch and it fired up and ran then cut out a second or so later at least I won't have any problems with insurance.

 

I stripped out the stuff in the picture above and rejoined the cables that had been spliced into, had to drop the fuse box and get behind it, was a bit of a faff. Just need to go back and tidy it all up now.

 

I'm going to take some pictures as I'd like to know what connectors had been cut (I'm guessing fuel pump and coil ^^).

 

---------- Post added at 08:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 PM ----------

 

Lol do you see now why I call this alarms/immobilisers a virus for cars.... They get every where

 

Yeah man! It was all over the place. Think I got most of it tho :)

Edited January 30, 2013 by OllieVR6

[scarlet_vr6 0]

Good to hear you've got it sorted now, but shame for you that it happened when it did...

[pete_griff 0]

also glad to hear the beastie is behaving itself again, real shame for you about the timing of it all, but hey ho; there's always next time!

 

also, i wouldn't be too concerned about the coolant flush. if your car fails once you've done the flush then you can guarantee that it was on it's way out anyway. it's only a chemical flush and should do far more good than harm.

if you find your head gasket blows shortly after doing it, then yes, it will undoubtedly have accelerated the failure, but if a bit of chemical cleaner in the cooling system can cause that, then as mentioned above, it was defo on it's last legs anyway.

 

i wouldn't be scared of doing it, just make sure you give the system a good flush afterwards in order to remove as much of the flush (and unwanted old coolant/crap) as possible and then fill it up with some correctly mixed fresh stuff. if you're really feeling extravagent then fill it with the mixed new stuff, then drain and re-fill it again after that to make sure you've got the correct mixture and no excess water running through the system after you've flushed it all.

[OllieVR6 0]

Small update: Just got off the phone to local company called Old School Windscreens, very helpful indeed. I've arranged to take the C to them tomorrow (assuming I can get it started tonight...so I need to reattach the fuse box). They are going to assess the leak and let me know what they can do for me. He said he can't guarantee that they can remove the screen without breaking it but it's far more likely if they do it on site rather that at my house.

 

The biggest expense will be if the screen has to be replaced as I've heard they can cost near £500 and he has already told me that he isn't an approved fitter for my insurance company.

 

His rates seem good at £55ph and from talking to him on the phone I already have the confidence that he will do a top job it's also apparent that he works on the basis of doing a good job and regardless of cost. No doubt he will ask tomorrow what my budget is and as always there is a difference between what I can afford and what I would like to spend (as much as it costs to get it done right).

 

Any windscreen fitters here who could estimate the time it would take to remove, refit and repair it?

Edited May 30, 2013 by OllieVR6

[OllieVR6 0]

Right, I'm dropping the car off at Old School Windscreens in Longcross this evening, so far I am amazed with the customer service, it's so nice to deal with people who care!

 

I sent them an email via their website http://www.oldschoolwindscreens.co.uk/ and arranged to see them yesterday (they were recommended by my neighbor, he works for Jaguar Guildford). I turned up and they were expecting me and actually appeared to be looking forward to seeing the car.

 

The lady had a look at what I had described and in a nutshell said, "no problem we can sort it". The best part is, they had capacity to take the car tomorrow and can turn it around by Thursday! Amazing.

 

The estimates for the work are also excellent and within what I had budgeted but I'll wait until the work has been completed before I comment as it can still get a bit more expensive.

 

She said that they used to do a lot of work on Corrados and we talked briefly about their exclusivity and how parts are getting so expensive despite the value of the car.

 

All in all, very happy at the moment and I'm expecting to be recommending this company for anyone local to me once the car is back!

Edited May 30, 2013 by OllieVR6

[floppyman 0]

Hey ollie... Nice to see youre sorting it out.