Jacko's 1.8 16v Corrado

[jacko 0]

Hey everyone,

 

Ive been lurking around this forum for quite a while now but never got around to starting up my own thread about my Corrado. Its my second rado that i've owned between a couple of mk2 golfs, an 95 audi coupe and a 83 austin mini.

The first corrado i owned was a lovely dark blue VR6 with leather mmmmmm, it was awesome and the noise it made was unforgettable but cost a lot more than i was expecting to run so it had to go :(

 

I got this 1 just over 2 years ago now and what fun it has been! This is what she looked like when i got her, for some reason she was sitting really high at the front :/

 

I got if off my mates, brothers friend so managed to get it for a reasonable price, it was in pretty good condition, just the usual 18 years of stone chips and dings. It had 178k on the clock so was a bit worried about the reliability but the service history was huge and it only had 2 owners before me so i had to get it.

 

For the first 6 months life was good with the rado until christmas eve 2009, i was driving home from work and noticed the temp guage was at about 115 degrees!! I pulled over to let her cool down so i could have a look at what was going on. Opened the expansion tank and the water was oil, no mayo, just oil. This made me very sad as i was poor from buying last min xmas shopping.

I really didnt think there was much point replacing the head gasket as the engine had done so many miles so i got looking. After a couple of weeks researching on here and trying to source a new engine, i found a nice ABF lump with about 60k miles on from a mk3 golf gti for £300, it came with half the engine bay but all i was intrested in was the block and head.

I managed to talk my unemployed friend to come over and give me a hand swapping the engines over. it was the dead of winter with only my drive way to work on. I do have a garage but the door is only wide enough for the lotus which my dad owned when he built the garage!

 

I'd never done any thing like this before and i had no idea how long it would take but we got going early thursday morning with only a little fan heater to keep us warm. it took 3 days to get the old engine out. every nut and bolt had to be heated to losen them off, it was a right pain in the arse but good fun

 

Somehow on the 4th day we managed to get everything back in and fired up with very few problems other than 1 cylinder was full of petrol for some reason. 2 days later she flew through the MOT too, i was well happy.

 

Time for the next project! The suspension

 

This was a pretty easy job to do tbh. went without a hitch and improved the ride and handling more than i was expecting and i love the look of a lowered rado!

the only problem is that 2 of the shocks started knocking soon after :( they nearly failed the MOT and the begining of this year but i should have a fresh set of spax on their way any day now :)

 

I had also been spending my spare time fabricating a touchscreen into the centre console of the dash to display a small PC in the boot. i should really get some up to date pics of this as i havent taken any since i made the dash. More information can be seen in my signature but will get some new pics.

 

Other than those few bits ive been mostly trying to keep it on the road. It got to a point when every month something went wrong so i spent more time fixing it than o did driving it. Ive had many burst water pipes, a head gasket change on the new ABF, problems with it idleing which turned out to be the most simple fix after replacing most of the ignition system. it was the little washer that lives on the idle screw on the throttle body!!

I have also recently had a problem that i still havent got to the bottom of. every now and then the rev needle will start bouncing then the engine will refuse to rev. it only last about 5 mins and happens once every coule of months but its still a pain in the arse!!

 

I recently swapped some D90s for a mint set of Azev a's and today i finally managed to get them on the car!

im still trying to get used to them but im sure i will soon enough.

 

ive still got a long list of things that i still need to do so i will do my best to keep this thread updated as much as i can. im forever taking hundreds of pics too so there will be lots to look at lol

 

Thanks for all the information this forum has supplied over the years

 

Pete

[Wild-Animal 0]

I have got to admit your last picture looks pretty sweet, nice ride height and those wheels, they go so well with the colour !

[jacko 0]

cheers for the comment mate,

 

ive recently picked up a brand new set of g60 caliper carriers so will have 280 fronts but have no idea what i can use to upgrade the rear brakes.

 

Would anybody be able to help me with my paint code? the label in the boot is missing and ive called VW but they dont have my vin number on record any more :( i also posted in the Paint code sticky but havent had a reply on there :(

 

Do i smell or something? lol

[Wild-Animal 0]

hmm for your rear brakes you could do the Mk4 conversion, you can pick the callipers up pretty easily from scrappies, reseal them and then you need the different brake lines, but if you get everthing sorted out before hand you could do it to a low cost.

 

The standard rear brakes ,are well a nightmare the spring for the handbrake is on the outside of the callipers, so they are always bad for having problems, as I know first hand. There should be a guide for the MK4 brakes on here.

[jacko 0]

So, a little update for you all... Last week on the way home from work in the cold and wet I noticed I had steam coming from under my bonnet and the temp gauge was rising rapidly, I was in the middle of nowhere and it was pitch black.

I managed to coast it far enough to stop under a street light so I could have a look and see which hose had burst. After taking off and inspecting most of the hoses (and ruining my suit in the process) I discovered that they were all fine. Luckily, I always carry a 2 litre bottle of water in the boot just in case so I emptied it into the expansion tank to see it all end on the road shortly after. Somehow 1 of the core plugs had popped a 5mm hole in it, I’m guessing the previous owner of the engine didn’t put coolant into the system and just used straight water so it slowly rusted through. I didn’t think about changing the core plugs when the engine was replaced so it’s partly my fault.

After spending several hours with screwdrivers, hammers, pry bars, bits of wood and a lot of blood trying to get the old plug out I gave up as there is absolutely no room to swing a hammer hard enough to make a difference to the shape of the plug to make it pop out, never mind getting the new plug in there.

 

I thought, if 1 plug has rusted then the other 2 are probably on their way too so I arranged to borrow an engine crane and rip the while lot out and replace all 3 plugs. Started early Sunday morning, me and a couple of mates managed to get everything out the engine bay, replace the 3 core plugs and get it all back in and working again

 

So here is a pic of the 3 core plugs... as you can see the 1 with the hole in it was the original failure which i made worse by trying to get it out the middle plug is close to failing too as there is a small hole at the bottom and the 3rd plug looks pretty new. It must of been replaced before i got the engine out of the mk3 gti.

A job well done me thinks! 8 hours work for 3 little bits of metal that cost £6. Imagin the cost if i had taken it to a garage to get done!

[jacko 0]

my car is now for sale in the classified section. Special discount if somebody from the forum buys it. I need it gone as i have already bought a new car

 

Thanks for all your help and advice ove the years guys! No doubt i will be back at somepoint as i intend to get another corrado in the future