Project VR

[bradvr6 0]

Hi Guys,

 

Well, it's been a long time since I bought my pride and joy and for one reason and another I've never had the time or the money to really get my teeth stuck into restoring the car to the standard I would like. So after hmmm, lets see....5 and a half years, I've finally decided to start a thread for the Corrado...

 

First things first, shes a 95 VR6 with 90k on the clock. I've done a whopping 25k of that myself!! :| Over the last few years I've gone through one top end rebuild, a gearbox rebuild, and a parts list as long as...well, a corrado service book! All for a good cause of course :)

 

Back in 2008 I had the rear arches flared, by non other than Mr.Denton at Stylehaus (which was a top top job). On went the 9J's and away I went...Then the rest sort of came to a halt.

 

Plans for the next year or two is a full interior retrim (which I've kinda started already. Hoping to do a diy job on this. I'll be posting some work in progress pics as I go) and a Turbo conversion (probably get stuck into this in the new year when the weather gets warmer).

 

 

This is a couple of years old. Since then, she now has new fogs and indicators, all red rears and a passat moonroof.

 

 

All red rears on at the moment. The OEM tail lights fit sooo much better! 8)

 

[stu37 0]

Very nice wheels my man, Kerscher wheels look so smart and are a fresh alternative to Borbets. Lovely car.

[bradvr6 0]

Yeah, I always fancied Carmonas but with the wide track on the VR plus the ET15 offset, I had to have the rear arches redone. Wanted the shape of the arches as standard looking as possible and they came out great. They are about 2.5 inches wider although you wouldn't really notice. 8)

[bradvr6 0]

Well, here we go with the DIY retrim...Don't know if I've bitten off more than I can chew but we'll soon find out I guess. :nuts:

 

Managed to hire an industrial sewing machine and got the leather so away we go. Decided on black leather with a splash of red. The centre console is going to be red all the way through. Here are the first few bits I've managed to trim up.

 

I thought I'd start with the headliner. Wasn't too difficult to trim but getting it back into the car was an absolute mare! Here are a few piccies before it went back in. I wanted the whole roof to be black so had to paint all of the switches too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On with the centre console as we speak so hopefully I'll have some more pics to post soon :)

[Abdul 0]

Looks good mate. My old mk3 had a Stylehaus paintjob too, his stuff really is flawless...

[RATTA 0]

Nice rad bud :D

 

My mates got those rimz on his rad (there much better than borbets shhhhh)

 

:grin:

[bradvr6 0]

Cheers dude! They certainly are a nice alternitive to the Borbets. Was gonna go down the Borbet route originally but once I saw these...well, some things you just gota have :nuts:

 

Thats one tidy rado too! Do you know if your mate had his rims polished or chromed? Or did he buy them like that? They look the bollox!!! 8)

[Critical_Mass 10]

That looks fantastic mate, again love the wheels. Think i prefer them over the borbets :D

 

Whats with the sunroof switch?

 

Would be interested seeing more on the DIY retrim.

[bradvr6 0]

Cheers Gaz! I've always liked the Kerschers because they kinda remind me of speedlines but with a deep dish.

 

Yeah, I've got all the headliner in now. I'm going for the full black interior look so didn't want to retrim the headliner and end up with grey switches. As far as I know, the sunroof switches were only made in grey. They seem to have come out quite well.

 

Also had to dye the sunroof cover and the surround as I couldn't retrim this without breaking off the rivets on the sunroof sliders. I'll get some pics of the lot installed at some point.

 

As for the rest of the retrim. It's a bit of a learning curve but I'm getting there slowly but surely. Almost finished the centre console. Bit of a ball-ache but just the back section to go.

 

A few WIP pics....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Critical_Mass 10]

Sorry what i meant was the actual switch isnt the normal switch that you see for the sunroof. Unless its an early switch :shrug:

[RATTA 0]

Cheers dude! They certainly are a nice alternitive to the Borbets. Was gonna go down the Borbet route originally but once I saw these...well, some things you just gota have :nuts:

 

Thats one tidy rado too! Do you know if your mate had his rims polished or chromed? Or did he buy them like that? They look the bollox!!! 8)

 

He bought them like it they were off a blue vento show car. There powder coated with this chrome paint iv never sin it b4 works really well + easy to maintain 8)

[bradvr6 0]

Cheers dude! They certainly are a nice alternitive to the Borbets. Was gonna go down the Borbet route originally but once I saw these...well, some things you just gota have :nuts:

 

Thats one tidy rado too! Do you know if your mate had his rims polished or chromed? Or did he buy them like that? They look the bollox!!! 8)

 

He bought them like it they were off a blue vento show car. There powder coated with this chrome paint iv never sin it b4 works really well + easy to maintain 8)

 

I had a feeling they wer'nt originally like that. I had mine on for 4 months and the lacquer completely disintigrated and made a real mess of the dish. I ended up sanding mine back and polishing them. If only I'd have know about that chrome powder coating, would have saved me about 30 hours of my time :brickwall:

 

They look really well like that. I'll just add it to the never ending list! :lol:

[bradvr6 0]

Sorry what i meant was the actual switch isnt the normal switch that you see for the sunroof. Unless its an early switch :shrug:

 

I couldn't tell you mate. This was in the car when I bought it. It's funny you should say that because I went to the breakers for an extra set of switches (just incase I made a mess of mine) and the VR they had in the yard had a set with a large tilt/slide switch on it...I assume this is the one you mean? I didn't bother with it as I thought it was off a passat or something. :confused4:

 

I'll see if I can find out what it's off...

[Critical_Mass 10]

Yeah thats the one thats on mine and others the push/slide switch. Though to be honest im liking the look of that one.

[Olliel 0]

This is amazing self upholstry

 

I am very impressed, how are you getting the curves so smooth?? Chap I know in the aircooled scene used some kinda of steam jet to shrink the leather, made the pieces look shrink wrapped.

 

You are making me think it would be a good idea to try my own headlining now

 

Any more pics of how you are doing this - hats off to you mate

 

Ollie

[swiftkid 1]

Progress looks excellent, the fogs and indicators look like early spec in late spec bumper which look odd but other than that lovely looking car. Been thinking of getting my arches done but want to keep the standard look with the flat edge, how was yours done? and if you don't mind how much did it cost

[bradvr6 0]

This is amazing self upholstry

 

I am very impressed, how are you getting the curves so smooth?? Chap I know in the aircooled scene used some kinda of steam jet to shrink the leather, made the pieces look shrink wrapped.

 

You are making me think it would be a good idea to try my own headlining now

 

Any more pics of how you are doing this - hats off to you mate

 

Ollie

 

Cheers Ollie! It's all down to trial and error really. I've wasted quite a lot of leather but I knew that before I started this. I think it helps if you have a nice soft leather too. I'm on with the back seats as we speak but the black leather I bought isn't quite as soft so it's proving more dificult. I'll post some more pics soon as I have time.

 

Headlining is pretty easy mate. It's tough getting it to sit well into the visor recesses but it will go in without having to sew anything.

[bradvr6 0]

Progress looks excellent, the fogs and indicators look like early spec in late spec bumper which look odd but other than that lovely looking car. Been thinking of getting my arches done but want to keep the standard look with the flat edge, how was yours done? and if you don't mind how much did it cost

 

Hahaha...I knew someone would pick up on the fogs! Yeah, they were in the car when I bought it. Looks like it needs a trip to the dentist!!! I've replaced these now with some brand spankers. Set me back a nice 3 tons for the fogs and indicators. According to the guy at the stealers these were the 3rd to last set left on the database :|

 

Arches were done at Stylehaus by Steve Denton. Top bloke and very very good at his job as quite a few guys on here will agree. Mine was a bit of an experiment at the time but it worked out like a dream. The arches are 1.75" wider than standard but you just can't tell they've been modified. Oh, and he skinned the underside too so they are smooth as! 8) IIRC it was about £600 for the lot but that was about 3 years ago.

[bradvr6 0]

A little update to the retrim progress.

 

Had a freakin nightmare with the black leather I was using. Just not soft enough which made it real difficult to stretch onto the door cards. Luckily the place where I got the leather did a straight swap for some better stuff so here we go again...

 

Managed to get two seat bases for the black finished, plus the two rear cards. Centre bolster and console is now finished frm front to back. Just the rear backs and front porker seats to go.

 

Also managed to install the ddi dials last weekend too. 8)

 

Rear seat bases

 

 

 

 

 

Not too happy with some of the white top stitch on the sides but it's ok for a first attempt...

[bradvr6 0]

Frony door cards are now almost finished. Passenger door done and almost finished the drivers side.

 

 

 

Fixing the leather to the card is such a ball ache...but got there in the end...

 

 

[stereoflaver 0]

Nice !

[Wild-Animal 0]

oh, wow really liking the door cards, the white sticthing just adds that nice little touch. It will make the car look a lot more modern. Nice one !

[bradvr6 0]

Cheers guys...more to come soon. Working on a set of 924 seats at the moment. Pics on their way in the next couple of weeks hopefully!

[bradvr6 0]

Well, finally finished the two Porker seat backs. On with the bases this next week 8)

[bradvr6 0]

Finally finished the Porsche seats and are good to go...