1991 Tornado Red Corrado G60 Daily / Project

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Hi guys,

 

Thought it was time I put up a thread on my recent ebay purchase.

 

 

Lovely looking car on the surface, no welding so far but will need some work done to the front passenger sill where its been crushed. Its rotten behind the seal at the top of the drivers side windscrean. Its needing replaced anyway, I just hope the auto-glass man can leave it with me a couple of days inbetween removal and refitting so I can repair it. Its also leaking water somewhere but yet to verify its the screen causing this.

 

Other issues is the interior as its not great and not put together well. Bits missing here and there. Front seatbelts are not mounted to pillar correctly and rear belts not even there. Have Mk2 Golf ones there but not sure they're the same. No parcel shelf or spare wheel and boot carpet. Central locking not working most of the time. Front strut top are hanging off it, ruining the osf tyre on inside edge. Small dent in osr wheel arch. Has a momo steering wheel I want to swap for a standard one and aftermarket rear lights i'm not too keen on. Bit of laquer peel on ns door and a few wee other stonechips etc but nothing major there. Loads of history adding up to 10k+ and recently had a new distributor and fuse box done at Trix.

 

The job that takes priority though is changing the engine as sadly after only the second day of ownership one of the pistons melted. I have one lined up, a 1H Rallye engine which is low miles apparently but has sat for a while.

 

 

 

Obviously i'll need to figure what caused this as usually related to a fueling issue. Poor injector maybe. I'll probably clean up the bay and paint the new engine while its out but all dependant on cost and motivation but morale is low with this just now. At the stage where I wish I never bought it and just kept my tidy mk3 vr6 but I know it'll pass once some progress is made and it'll be worth a good few qud once its done. Just want it running and on the road as it's still mot'd till august. Still waiting on docs from previous owner due to private plate going on retention so cant even tax it until then but its been about 3 weeks so hopefully not long to go. Also need to recieve docs confirming last charger rebuild as left them behind when I collected it. Apparently on a stage 3.

 

So anyway will begin work next week when i've finished other jobs. Currently respraying a rusty old T4 for someone but should have that in paint on tuesday.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Gti_Jamo

[Riley 0]

Love a Red Corrado, stick with it mate, it will be worth it once you're up and running.:thumbleft:

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Cheers buddy, picked the rallye engine up today for it.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Picked up a rallye engine at the weekend. Just a head and block with low miles but has sat for a good whille.

 

Anyway got it on the engine stand and began ripping it apart. The head's fine, real good condition. Will just require stripped, cleaned and rebuilt. However, although the bores are really good in regards to wear as it's practically nothing, some moisture has got into one of them and suffered some corrosion or a build up of rust. This is what i'm left with after cleaning away all the brown mankyness and hitting it with wone wd40 and some 2000 grade wet and dry.

 

 

I'm not sure on the what the next best course of action with this or if it's needing the machine shop. I have a bore honing tool for the dril and various air tools that I could try. It is quite prominent when you run your finger over it.

 

I also had some movment of the same piston so removed it and found the ring to be sticking which after cleaning up seems to be fine. Some moisture got down there too.

 

Other than this everything else appears to be spot on but yet to do any measuring but it is obviously low miles so in general i'm happy aslong as I can resolve this bore issue quickly.

 

Some other pics.

 

 

 

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Right then, i've had the block inspected at a machine and had the bore honed and its much better but still there although much less obvious to the touch. Obviously a rebore would 100% cure the problem but it's not an option just now so i've decided just to build it up and see how it goes. I'm hopefull the rings will sort it out. Basically run it in and keep an eye on the compression and oil consumption.

 

 

It's not ideal but no other option really. I'm confident though.

 

So going to start building it back up tomorrow then commence with the swap.

 

 

[Brunty 10]

I've had a very similar problem with regards to the bore. I had my fingers crossed that the wear wasn't too high in the cylinder as to lose compression. Mine seems to be fine at the moment, but it's a 9A running carbs. Maybe more of a problem for blow by, I put an oil catch can on in case of high crank case pressures, might be an option for you too.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Yeah i'll see how it performs once running and take it from there. Despite the charger, it'll be getting driven very carefully for a while. As you can see the marks on my bore are quite high which is a concern. If it was any higher I wouldn't attempt it.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Couple of the infamous piston nunberm1 now removed from it chamber of carnage.

 

 

The 1H block now has its pistons back in along with some new big end bearing shells. Also stripped and cleaned the head. Its had some previous porting done on the inlets. Just now need to get the various seals and gaskets to build it all back up.

[kerrly 0]

ouch, real shame about that piston, certainly not the best start to G60 ownership!

 

Key question, why do you think you melted a piston? aftermarket chip, too much boost, poor ignition/fueling any ideas?

 

Looking forward to seeing another early corrado being saved to!!!!

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Yeah it's been a laborious jorney so far but we're getting there. As for the key question i'm not sure. Definately running lean and detonated that piston. Will need to run some tests once it running. Bad injector hopefully considering the problem was confined to only one cylinder. I have a spare.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

A little update with how things are progressing.

 

Engine block and cam cover got hit with some wrinkle black.

 

 

Then just started building. Just need to bolt on the gearbox.

 

 

It doesn't look great but not going mad with it making it like new if its all coming out again, which it will at some point after the summer. Just need to see how this runs first. Its had the bores honed, new big end shells, both crank seals replaced, crank bolt, stem seals and valves re-lapped, metal head gasket and new bolts, sump painted / new gasket, new timing belt Also have oil / filter, red coolant, thermostat and new expansion tank bottle, fuel filter also along with a bottle of STP.

 

Also during the build I came across the injector loom.

 

 

 

Quite possibly the cause of my piston detonation. Will need to get another from somewhere as the wiring is split at the base off all the connectors and various other places. I'm surprised it ran at all.

 

Bay given a minor spruce up along with sorting out the rough loom.

 

 

Engine goes back in it tomorrow.

[Brunty 10]

Good stuff. I've had to replace injector wiring before as well. The wires are subject to heat which seems to make them brittle.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Cheers mate. Yeah they were rock hard with the heat. Luckily though i've robbed the one off a mk2 gti I have which is in really good condition. Need to get an oil feed pipe for the charger though now as i broke mine. It was past its best anyway. Engine and gearbox is in now.

[sankysvr6 0]

That injector loom looks terrible, I best go and check mine. Even though it's on my list with getting the injectors serviced at some point.

 

It's always better when things start to go back on, keep up the good work.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Cheers buddy.

 

Yeah the building back up is always the best part. How she sits this evening.

 

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Rado is now running and all apears really good so far. Just need to set it up properly as its running really rich.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

 

 

After spending ages sorting out my over fueling issie I finally got the g60 on the road.

 

 

Rear lights are getting changed back to standard. As for how she runs I can't fault it. No burning oil or blow back issues as yet. Pulls well although i've not strained it too much. Bad news on the charger though as it's a stage 2 not a 3 as advertised when I bought it. Contacted jabbasports with numbers which confirmed this so it last rebuild was actuallt back in 1999 around 40k ago. They don't even offer stage 3's apparently. It does still sound fine and boost well but yet to record an actual figure. It's also developed a misfire after around 100 miles or so on the road, only once warm, which either disconnecting lambda or the blue temp sensor cures it so need to look into that further. I've just left lambda disconnected for now. It's only a couple of weeks old but a non oem part so maybe killed it already. The ohms on the BTS appear normal but I do get quite an increase in revs when disconnecting that regardless of wether lambdas hooked up or not. I'm happy all the major stuffs working fine though, that was my main concern. A much better car from when I first got it, bay looks much happier now.

 

 

Still got to refit most of the interior as its pretty much a dash and seats just now as it was leaking water. Just the door membranes I think.

 

More updates soon.

 

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Not much of an update just a couple of pics. Have done very little to it bar drive it 4500 trouble free miles since it's been on the road. Although without a lambda sensor.

 

 

 

As you can see i've replaced the nasty red/clear rear lights (someone paid me 50 actual pounds on ebay for them) with standard ones and it looks much more original.

 

Engine has been using a bit of oil but was expected and will be sorted over winter. Windscreen cracked in both top corners and some rot behind there too. Plan to paint the whole car over winter too but the screen is top priority as mot is due soon.

Edited June 14, 2015 by Gti_Jamo

[Gti_Jamo 10]

With MOT time approaching my plans were to just put the Corrado off the road until till next year but been enjoying running it so much I thought i might aswell just keep using it.

 

How she looks just now.

 

 

Anyway, first of the 'big' jobs. Ruined windscreen.

 

 

Got myself a bonded screen removal tool off ebay which turned out to be a pile of brown sugar and broke litterally after a couple of pulls so resorted to having to go round the inside with a stanley knife as much as I could around the top and both sides then kicking the hooor out. Worth pointing out i've not covered anything. Well I have no carpets in just now and the paintwork is past its best and will be getting redone. But remember, goggles and heavy duty gloves.

 

 

 

Then went round the frame with a soft chisel and a rubber mallet.

 

 

Knew i had some rust issues and this is what I have to deal with.

 

 

One sides totally rotten while the others not too bad.

 

The other job taking second priority is my crushed sill. What was originally a hole about an inch or two in diameter turned into this. Hence why the wings off.

 

 

Obviously needs to be a good job as it's on display so my metal fabrication skills will be tested on both here and the screen frame.

 

Not much else needing done for MOT, drivers window is held up with a block of 2 x 4, no bonnet cable fitted either.

 

Will update as it progresses.

[GrahamU 6]

I broke my screen removing it aswell.

 

that winscreen surround looks nasty, I needed to do some repairs to my screen surround and the bottom of the A pillar so I bought the panel from VW classic parts in germany, was only £50

 

Edited August 10, 2014 by rado20vT

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Mine was already cracked up in both corners and badly delaminating. Yeah seen that repair A panel on here somewhere the other day while researching as it'll be near impossible to get that area right just fabricating a section. There is a raddo being broke not too far from me so i'm going to check that out and maybe cut a piece out of it if it's any use.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Cut out everything that was rotten and started to fabricate some strips of metal. Luckily the rot hasn't penetrated the lower skin of the frame so just a matter of replacing that then weld in a vertical strip and all should be good. Punched holes so i can puddle weld then grind smooth, also left small gaps between the strips so i can stitch weld then again smooth them off.

 

 

Part of the upper skin on the passenger side wasn't to clever either so replacing with another strip.

 

[Gti_Jamo 10]

 

 

 

Not too much left to do, just delicately weld up and smooth off the gaps. I'd urge everyone to check theirs for rust around these areas. Appears to be quite common.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Got the frame finally finished. All solid now.

 

 

 

 

Just rattle canned it along with a coat of laquer just to seal it. Also used an etching primer along with a base primer to ensure it stays rust free. Rest of car will be properly painted soon. Laquer peel is beyond a joke.

 

Windscreen getting fitted on wednesday through my insurance which saves me a good few quid so all working out well so far.

[Gti_Jamo 10]

Windscreen now fitted. Looks great.

 

 

 

Back to the sill....

 

 

What a pain rhis has been to get right. Managed to chop a section out a breaker further along the sill. Made things a bit easier.

 

 

Then i relised part of the floor section wasn't great as moisture had got in.

 

 

Once i'd cut that out I ended up cutting the whole lip off the bottom and welded a new section to the inner sill and then mated both panels to that.

 

 

Then the rest was all fabricated and welded up so to get the correct shape where it meets the ottom of the wing. Bit more smoothing off. Some etch primer, seam sealer, stonechip and paint and hopefully it'll look good. It's amazing to think that such a little hole ended up with this much work.

 

 

Picked up some cheap second hand coillies.

 

 

I could probably be quoted more than once saying i wouldn't go down the cheap coillie route again but my current front ones are properly past their best and making some nasty noises.

 

Also got one of these from Trimsport for the rear panel.

 

 

Still got all the interior to fit and a few other wee jobs but hopefully get it mot'd and back on the road next week.