Corrado VR6 - K22 BRW

[ben_wooduk 0]

So after 6 years of Corrado ownership and finally scratching that itch, i finally own a VR6. :dance: Its only took me 6 years to start my own thread!

 

My first car was an 88 passat and after searching the net for various vw related thing i cam accross the Corrado. I brought myself an 8v on my 20th birthday, the insurance for anything other than the 8v or for when i was 19 was crazy at the time! With no knowledge at all i brought the first 8v i found in a respectable distance from myself, luckily it was a goodun! (Very old old phone camera photo, one the size of a house brick :lol:)

 

 

 

After being in the family for 5 years between me, my dad and my brother, its now in the capable hands of James (and looking even more shiny).

 

I viewed so many rust buckets searching for a 16v and got very used to the bag of lies people tell just to get you to view their car! I distinctively remember viewing a silver valver in Wolverhampton which he told me over the phone was a minter with 88k on the clock. I started to travel to Wolvo 2 days in a row for him to call and cancel both times!! (I should have told him to stuff it then) but being very eager on the 3rd day I finally got to see it. He was a dodgy dealer and didn't have a clue! All he said was "its got a VR6 grill". Great! It had been broken into at some point, every panel was keyed, wires were hanging out of the speaker pods and the centre console and there was 138k on the clock, 50k more than he stated!! Couldn't get any worse your thinking . . . . . the glove box was open with a stubbed out fag end on the rear side of the glove box lid!! How much effort would it have been to move the fag end and shut the glove box!! You have to laugh sometimes!

 

I also viewed a black rado in Wolvo which the paintwork was described as the best on a rado! When i got there the drivers door had a 1cm high by 25cm wide slit in the door, just a gaping hole like a letter box!?!? Again, I left pretty sharpish!

 

The valver has been to the south of France among many trips and had thousands spent on it.

 

 

 

I hadnt finished with it really but one night i told my brother he could have it when i found a VR. 4 months later, a few VR viewings and the thousandth time of hearing "Can i have your car" from the bro I gave in and seriously started looking for a VR.

 

I finally found a black VR in Nottingham that was making all the right noises, almost a full respray and alot of money spent!

 

When i got there he had the engine running already which is a HUGE no no for me, but I was there for over an hour with the seller debating whether to buy. One long test drive and 3 sets of eyes checking and checking again i finally took the plunge! It had been sat for at least a year doing nothing which is why the seller said he was running the engine, he seemed genuine but you never know! Thankfully it has proved to be the right decision.

 

This is how it looked when I brought her.

 

 

Temporary change to standard lights and loss of eyebrow.

 

 

 

Paintwork is lovely, plently of receipts (lots from AMD, 3k in one go on magnecor leads, big bore TB, etc) and rolling road readout of 205.8 bhp (but that was over 6 years ago now!).

 

Since then its had:

Swapped for standard lights (had them from previous car)

90mm Splitter - Swapped my 50mm with Pete. Also got to work on the bar that sits behind the splitter as its seen better days! A nice coat of Hammerite later . . .

 

 

 

Fitted an original steering wheel (Had a Momo one fitted)

Brought a set of TT speedlines, i quite like them but they are only temporary, i had to get rid of the OZ's, i was embarrassed to drive with them on! Not my thing at all.

Full service by Midland Vw. They changed the fuel filter which was full of 'gunge' as they put it. I cant believe how much smoother it is to drive now its been changed!

Gearbox oil changed too which also makes a huge difference!

Lots of other stuff that i cant seem to remember!! :scratch:

 

 

If anyone wants a set of red rear lights you absolutely MUST buy them from Leon263 from this forum, top top bloke who provides an excellent service! This is my 3rd set i have owned and never seen a set in such mint condition. He sands down all the markings on them and sprays the lot, not just the top half. The quality of finish is outstanding and by far the best money i have spent on a Corrado to date. After a quick polish and wax this is what they look like:

 

 

Then I thought i'd perform my own light test. Standard lights first which are very red and not very suitable!

 

 

Then the Green bulbs. Whatever or whoever tells you green bulbs work . . . . . they dont! Too be honest they dont look too bad in this pic, but on the road they are dangerously dim! My brother was very close to driving in the back of me because he didnt see the indicators! Two corrados, one crash, that would have been bad!

 

 

Then the LEDs, so much better when compared to the other two. For the sake of £15 and a set of £3 resistors it really is soooo worth it!

 

 

 

 

The only worry really is the rear axle bushes need changing, poly ones i reckon and the injectors will need to be replaced in the future. Have i read correctly that they are £95 each?!?!?

 

To do list:

A few areas of paint work need attention, nothing major

Coilovers, Weitec GTN i'm thinking

Would really love black leather seats mmmmm, not really a priority though!

New roof strips will be needed soon.

And either BBS RCs or Azev As. Not setting any records for being different i know but i love both sets!

 

Anyway i have waffled on for far too long now and i'm impressed you got this far . . no wait, you just skipped to the end didnt you :lol:

Edited July 6, 2018 by ben_wooduk

[stevef182 0]

Looks lovely! All reds look awesome!

[yacobwood 0]

I think you should go for the BBS RCs. Of course there is no hidden reason why i think this :)

 

O and here is a nice shiny pic of the 8v for any 2.0 lovers

[Jim 2]

If the injectors are dirty you can just get them removed, flow tested and cleaned and get them refitted with new seals. Will cost you a hell of a lot less than new ones!

[aide 0]

Latest looks lovely, very mint and good write up. As Jim says try getting the injectors serviced, I got 6 done for £70 i think it was, which delivered a 30% flow increase and basically confirmed they were still within performance parameters. You can buy the service through ebay, I used a guy called Mr Injector, had them sent and returned within a week, well worth it.

[James. 9]

Some great pictures there Ben. Shot with the cleaning cloths hanging out to dry is a familiar sight round this way.

 

I really like those TT wheels though. They're really smart, in an OE kind of way.

 

But what I'm most interested in, is the green Robin parked across the road !

[ben_wooduk 0]

Cheers for all the responses. Jim/Aide i'll definitely have to explore the injector cleaning service you mention but i'll need to call the garage and ask them if its relevant. The car went in due to a hot start issue, it never fails to start but when warm it takes just a little bit longer to kick in. Midland VW have told me the injectors are at fault as they are losing pressure. For the short term they have advised me to turn on the ignition 3 times (when hot) then start to build up the correct pressure (I wasn't sure it would make a difference but it actually seems to work!).

 

James, :lol: he must be an enthusiast! He drives to work on a powerful motorbike he keeps in the garage and the Robin is a weekend car i think, although it has broke down and been recovered twice this week! He drives it round corners way faster than Jeremy Clarkson did, as he hasn't toppled it yet :)

The wheels are really cheap, plentiful and a direct fit! Cant be bad!

[yacobwood 0]

Just received my Red Rear Lights from Leon263 and i agree that they are the best ive ever seen. The guy is a legend of the light spraying :)

[stevef182 0]

How much does he charge? They do look very good!

[CazzaVR 0]

Very nice VR mate! You've already made good progress. I would go for standard rear beam bushes- poly ones make the ride a little harsh/skittish imho + you'll lose the passive rear wheel steer.

[ben_wooduk 0]

How much does he charge? They do look very good!

 

PM'd

 

---------- Post added at 05:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:59 PM ----------

 

Very nice VR mate! You've already made good progress. I would go for standard rear beam bushes- poly ones make the ride a little harsh/skittish imho + you'll lose the passive rear wheel steer.

 

Thanks Mate. Regarding the Poly bushes, I never even gave that a thought, I suppose I was just thinking about the longevity of them. I’ll stick with the standard ones in that case. Do you know if we have the pleasure of these still being available from the stealers?

 

---------- Post added at 06:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:00 PM ----------

 

Had a few private messages regarding the LED bulbs i fitted so thought i should probably post them here. I brought them from here:

 

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/

 

I brought and paid for SKU: 382LED36SBA which are £15.99 for the pair however they sent me SKU: 382LED60SBR-1 which are £11.99 each! Not complaining but dont know if they would do it again.

 

The resistors i brought off ebay from here but any resistors from ebay will do:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2608569329...ht_2412wt_1140

[CazzaVR 0]

Re: bushes, yep should be available. Not cheap, but should be cheaper than Powerflex. They'll last at least 10 years.

[ben_wooduk 0]

Re: bushes, yep should be available. Not cheap, but should be cheaper than Powerflex. They'll last at least 10 years.

 

Sold :)

[ben_wooduk 0]

Saving up for a set of coilovers is very boring so just been doing a few things around the car that doesnt cost and also maintenence (Service, tyres etc). Midland vw told me the Tarox discs were the wrong way round, rather embarrassing. I must have said i didnt fit them 20 times to cover my back :LOL:

All better now.

 

 

Whilst the car was at Midland VW they changed the fuel filter for me. Apparently it hadnt been changed for a long time and it was full of rather nasty 'sludge'! Anyhow, the weekend just gone was the first time i have had chance to take it out and my god!!! What a transformation! The difference is like night and day, its drives so smoother and generally power feels better, never thought just a filter could make that much difference.

 

My lastest as she stands favorite pic :)

 

 

And couldn't resist this, Just makes me want to quote Back to the Future. "Where were going, we dont need roads" :lol:

 

 

Are removing the injectors easy on a VR? I know the MK3 Golf is OBD2 but if i buy a VR Golf haynes manual is it likely to help? Not too fond of the bentley book.

[yacobwood 0]

Selection of hammers at the left there :D

[ben_wooduk 0]

Removed my dashboard today to replace with a shiney new one and rather alarmingly i was greeted with this.

 

 

Am i right in thinking i'm lucky this hasnt caused a fire? The brown wire has melted quite far up too.

 

So the first thing on my list is the DIY mod to put a fuse on this wire but the whole wire is pretty shot! Does anyone know how to replace the whole wire from the block connector? Is it a matter of brute force to pull the wire from the block and replace or do i need *to buy something? Bit of a dumb question i know but i dont want to yank on it if there is a certain way it is removed.*

 

And what do people replace the gray sponge around he wires with, mine is litterally falling to pieces!!!

[dumptyboy 0]

I replaced the whole dash wiring loom on my VR recently and had to remove a few of the cables from the connectors as I didnt want to just botch them.

I used two large paper clips and pushed them in from the pin side of the connector to remove the cable, you should see two small notches where the paper clips need to be located, if you straighten the paper clips and push them as hard as you can into the slots then the cable should just pull out fairly easily.

Once you have managed to get one cable out the rest becomes obvious. I would personally see if you can find a replacement section of loom first and possibly just replace this section from the fuseboard to whatever its controlling.

 

Pm me if you want more details on how to remove the pins succesfully. There is also a tool designed for removing them but its not cheap.

 

Rob.

[Dox 23]

Wear gloves when handling burnt wiring insulation, nasty stuff, it can lead to amputation if it gets under the skin.

[ben_wooduk 0]

I replaced the whole dash wiring loom on my VR recently and had to remove a few of the cables from the connectors as I didnt want to just botch them.

I used two large paper clips and pushed them in from the pin side of the connector to remove the cable, you should see two small notches where the paper clips need to be located, if you straighten the paper clips and push them as hard as you can into the slots then the cable should just pull out fairly easily.

Once you have managed to get one cable out the rest becomes obvious. I would personally see if you can find a replacement section of loom first and possibly just replace this section from the fuseboard to whatever its controlling.

 

Pm me if you want more details on how to remove the pins succesfully. There is also a tool designed for removing them but its not cheap.

 

Rob.

 

Cheers mate, when you say not cheap, how much we talking? Do you know what the tool is called? I only ask as I am making my own head light loom also so could come handy, my wallet likes the paper clip idea though :)

 

Never thought about replacing it, I have a spare from the Rado we are breaking so that wouldn't be an issue. Do you recommend this because its easier or because there could be other issues?

 

Cheers for your help mate, much appreciated.

 

---------- Post added at 5:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 5:38 PM ----------

 

Wear gloves when handling burnt wiring insulation, nasty stuff, it can lead to amputation if it gets under the skin.

 

So dont use my teeth then :lol:

[Wendy 0]

Wear gloves when handling burnt wiring insulation, nasty stuff, it can lead to amputation if it gets under the skin.

 

Why ? More detail please.

[ben_wooduk 0]

Anyone replaced the gray wiring sleeve? There is nothing left of it and i'm considering using so much felt i'll double the weight of the car!

[yacobwood 0]

ive found a couple of different products that would prob do the job but nothing similer to the standard foam stuff

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/sleeving/heatshrink.php#adhesive

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/sleeving/sleeving.php#twistwrap

[ben_wooduk 0]

I like the first one but I cant get it on the loom without detaching the complete loom!

 

I think the best bet is to wrap it in the VAG fabric tape (the stuff found under the bonnet) but i'm worried it may cause more rattles with no foam :(

 

Take your Audi to pieces and tell me what they use 18 years later :lol:

[yacobwood 0]

I like the first one but I cant get it on the loom without detaching the complete loom!

 

I think the best bet is to wrap it in the VAG fabric tape (the stuff found under the bonnet) but i'm worried it may cause more rattles with no foam :(

 

Take your Audi to pieces and tell me what they use 18 years later :lol:

 

They use the tape........100%........no need to take anything apart........ :(

[ben_wooduk 0]

Got back home yesterday in the glorious sunshine, unfortunately the car was jerking at lowish revs and sounds like its lost a cylinder :brickwall:

 

Contacted Vince at Stealth, he reckons it sounds like a coil pack but i probably shouldn't drive over an hour to Stealth if it is.

 

So my options, take it to a local garage or try and do it myself . . . . .how easy is it? I've searched the forum and cant find much apart from buying options, Beru being the favored purchase.

 

Is it a simple bolt on bolt off job or is there more to it?