VR6 1992 Aqua blue

[gotvach 10]

Hi,

 

Thought I would start with a post about my 74k LC5U Aqua Blue VR6 that I picked up in May from a VW enthusiast in Swindon. Apparently it was rescued by him from a gentlemen who developed health issues and was unable to drive. So it was sat on a drive for a couple/few years. I do have more of the back story somewhere but it escapes me right now.

 

I took it to VW AudiTec in Chelmsford for a service and checkup. I have been working through those issues as time/money/parts permits. Perhaps a bit of a gamble with a lit ABS light - fortunately this turned out to be two front sensors.

 

Some of what I've done in the last few months.

 

• Fixed non-working fog lamp(needed plugging in)
  
• New Lemförder drop links
  
• Fixed wipers barely touching windscreen
  
• Fixed slightly binding front n/s brake
  
• Replaced air filter
  
• Two new Febi front ABS sensors
  
• Replaced Brake Pedal Sensor
  
• New drive belt (Meyle) and tensioner (Febi, I think)
  
• Re-fitted MAP sensor previously held on by cable tie...
  
• Removed front wheel spacers - new nuts to suit.
  
• Corrected tyre pressures (front left and rear right were less than 20psi!).
  

 

Ball joints, tie rod ends and rear axle bushes on the list things to do; and of course the sunroof is only partly working.

 

Hope you enjoy the pics.

 

This is on the day I collected it and half way home:

 

 

 

This weekend has been great for some cleaning and polishing. The car, or colour, is quite photogenic so not actually as good as it appears :) and hides the stone chips around the front. However, I am looking forward to taking it to the Concorde show in Hampshire in a couple of weeks. Nothing like a car show to motivate some cleaning!

 

 

Cheers,

Grant

Edited April 30, 2018 by gotvach
Fix image links

[[email protected] 10]

Hi,

 

Thought I would start with a post about my 74k LC5U Aqua Blue VR6 that I picked up in May from a VW enthusiast in Swindon. Apparently it was rescued by him from a gentlemen who developed health issues and was unable to drive. So it was sat on a drive for a couple/few years. I do have more of the back story somewhere but it escapes me right now.

 

I took it to VW AudiTec in Chelmsford for a service and checkup. I have been working through those issues as time/money/parts permits. Perhaps a bit of a gamble with a lit ABS light - fortunately this turned out to be two front sensors.

 

Some of what I've done in the last few months.

 

• Fixed non-working fog lamp(needed plugging in)
  
• New Lemförder drop links
  
• Fixed wipers barely touching windscreen
  
• Fixed slightly binding front n/s brake
  
• Replaced air filter
  
• Two new Febi front ABS sensors
  
• Replaced Brake Pedal Sensor
  
• New drive belt (Meyle) and tensioner (Febi, I think)
  
• Re-fitted MAP sensor previously held on by cable tie...
  
• Removed front wheel spacers - new nuts to suit.
  
• Corrected tyre pressures (front left and rear right were less than 20psi!).
  

 

Ball joints, tie rod ends and rear axle bushes on the list things to do; and of course the sunroof is only partly working.

 

Hope you enjoy the pics.

 

This is on the day I collected it and half way home:

 

 

 

This weekend has been great for some cleaning and polishing. The car, or colour, is quite photogenic so not actually as good as it appears :) and hides the stone chips around the front. However, I am looking forward to taking it to the Concorde show in Hampshire in a couple of weeks. Nothing like a car show to motivate some cleaning!

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Grant

Looks good. Mine was a rescue, it had been sitting for 9 years. Replacing bits n pieces as I go. Sunroofs are an issue on these cars.

 

Sent from my HTC One A9 using Tapatalk

[MarkR 11]

Looks like a nice straight example. Congratulations!

[gotvach 10]

Looks good. Mine was a rescue, it had been sitting for 9 years. Replacing bits n pieces as I go. Sunroofs are an issue on these cars.

 

Smashing colour and the rims really suit it. I've been wanting to keep mine standard but lately I keep seeing pretty alloys on other Corrados and I'm almost tempted.

[[email protected] 10]

Smashing colour and the rims really suit it. I've been wanting to keep mine standard but lately I keep seeing pretty alloys on other Corrados and I'm almost tempted.

Ditto. All I've done is changed the suspension and wheels, (kept originals).

It needs is new tailgate, which is in sprayshop at the mo and bonnet and rear bumper doing.

 

 

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Edited April 28, 2017 by [email protected]

[p0l1wrath 10]

Live in Swindon and was about to go and enquire about this car when it was sat on the drive, when I actually got round to doing it the car was gone! Very glad it went to a good home :)

[[email protected] 10]

Live in Swindon and was about to go and enquire about this car when it was sat on the drive, when I actually got round to doing it the car was gone! Very glad it went to a good home :)

The blue one ?

 

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[p0l1wrath 10]

Yeh the blue one, pretty sure it was this one, was an aqua blue VR6, K reg, and had been sat on a driveway for a while!

[Chuggs1 10]

Live in Swindon and was about to go and enquire about this car when it was sat on the drive, when I actually got round to doing it the car was gone! Very glad it went to a good home :)

Swindon ..... the secret centre of the Corrado .. lol

 

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[gotvach 10]

It has been bothering me since I discovered that one tyre was different (SZ80) to the others (TZ200). Also, on that same corner occasionally it would be noisy and almost sounded like a rear wheel bearing going. Didn't help that it was a rotational tyre and not spinning the right way either.

 

After some research I opted for Bridgestone RE002. There's not a great deal of choice it seems and I wanted to stick with a brand. Found a great place called Tyre-Smart up in Witham, Essex. These guys did some extra cleaning of the wheels (apparently the insides were a bit gunky and could have led to slow leaks) and were fitted + balanced for about £65+VAT each.

 

They did a free four wheel alignment check and found the front cambers and tracking was out. Not much of a surprise to me as the car was pulling to the left (although I knew the front n/s tyre had a leak). I figured it made sense to get it corrected and it has made a significant improvement! Handling and road behaviour are vastly improved. That was about £50+VAT. The Bridgestones are a little softer which made ride comfort noticeably better. On the other hand, the Firestones looked quite old and may have just hardened a bit.

 

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]84512[/ATTACH]

 

Apparently there's a guy with an absolutely mint green Corrado that goes there every so often too. Curious to know if that is someone on the forum :)

[gotvach 10]

MOT passed today and I couldn't be more chuffed!

 

First time I've ever seen suspension and brake performance readings at an MOT.

 

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[Geeba 0]

Just seen your thread... really nice looking car you have there!

 

Mine was a driveway rescue too but a tad more neglected unfortunately so taking longer than I thought to get back into shape :(

 

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/Geebaphoto/IMG_20170113_153239.jpg' alt='IMG_20170113_153239.jpg'>

[gotvach 10]

Thanks! I have to say that the camera is quite kind to the blue - stone chips and scratches don't show up :)

 

Yours looks pretty straight though. Great find. Had it long?

 

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[Geeba 0]

Thanks! I have to say that the camera is quite kind to the blue - stone chips and scratches don't show up :)

 

Yours looks pretty straight though. Great find. Had it long?

 

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Looks very clean thou - the sort of condition I'm hoping for mine.

 

Picked mine up in January - done a lot to it, all the interior has been out and wet valeted as it was covered in mildew, sunroofs, windscreens had a fair few adventures already... just about to start the biggest one thou... auto to manual conversion.. I bought it with a blown gearbox and the auto is eyewateringly expensive to repair... so manual it is, yeah its very straight which is what attracted me to it.. 2 owner car and pretty much unmolested and all there.

[SR_Neale 10]

Good to see another c in the Essex area. What part of Essex are you in?

[gotvach 10]

Good to see another c in the Essex area. What part of Essex are you in?

Been living in the Shenfield area for a couple of years now.

 

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[SR_Neale 10]

Shenfield nice. I'm not far away in Hornchurch.

[gotvach 10]

In a cleaning mood today. Washed the front grill and panel. Applied polytrol to the black plastics and a slight polish of the badge to get rid of the worst of the oxidation.

 

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Edited April 30, 2018 by gotvach
resizing image

[gotvach 10]

Took me about 9 months to do all four corners for one reason or another. A combination sourcing the right parts and getting good enough weather to do the work.

 

Here's the rear damper assembly with Bilstein B4 and Spidan 56592 spring, which is the closest I could find to the original size (Kilen, for example were listed as being 10mm longer).

New rubbers, bearings and bump stops.

 

 

If I wasn't sure before about the car being lowered, the butchered bump stop gave it away

 

 

A side by side comparison against what I now know to be an Eibach spring.

 

 

This is one of the front struts fully assembled. Couldn't for the life of me get the nut off the old strut to change the hats over so had to source new ones.

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by gotvach
Resize and link images

[gotvach 10]

Front Bilstein B4 with Spidan 56599 (340mm) vs Eibach and standard dampers.

 

 

Resulting stance albeit with only a couple of miles done.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by gotvach
Resize and link images

[gotvach 10]

The o/s b pillar trim has been peeling away for a long time and really looks bad now. Seems every time I look at it it gets worse. I picked up a replacement some time ago that needed a minor repair and I thought now, given the weather, was a good to time to replace it. Keep it looking presentable. Didn't realise at the time that the rear card needs removing, albeit partially, in order to access the lower screw. With trim removed I was looking at the a & c pillar trim thinking if I just remove those I can possibly slide the headlining sideways and slip it out. Wrong, of course. By now I did not want to put everything back together only to have to remove it again later this year to fix the sunroof. StueyB sold me a working sunroof mechanism last year and since then I have only cleaned, greased it and checked that it worked. I figured it should be a simple case of bolting it in.

 

What I learned from this experience:

 

- The headlining is very fragile and crispy and I was waiting for it to just fold on me but luckily it didn't. Recently I saw a replacement online for well over £200...

- Strong thumbs are needed for the seal on the sunroof panel.

- Dremel or similar required for trimming the sunroof seal to size.

- Not a difficult job but quite time consuming if taking care not to damage parts or break clips.

- Useful to have a mechanism to compare and bolt straight up (especially when not having access to a garage).

- Ingress of water will happen. I guess the 4 drain points suggest that but I did wonder about using oil or some wax on the 'seal' to help reduce the amount of water that comes in.

- It's a small car.

 

What a pleasure to have a sunroof that's now useful :)

[gotvach 10]

Legs are aching today! I try to avoid sitting on plastic or foam parts as I already killed the driver's bolster in the early days of ownership...

 

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[gotvach 10]

The plastic is undamaged so I might have a go at repairing this one. Any idea where I can find the material? Apparently it's black although to the eye I would call it dark grey.

 

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Edited May 4, 2018 by gotvach
formatting.

[gotvach 10]

The closest I've found was this from Prestige but I wasn't entirely convinced.

 

Jet black textured heavy duty faux Leather fabric upholstery Car Seats VW/BMW Fabric vinyl Leatherette Fabrics Faux Leather chair covering Material - sold by the Metre 140cm wide [Prestige Fabrics] *UK DISTRIBUTOR* https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00S3P6E5E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_iIf7Ab93EEBKQ

 

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[fla 9]

Has it actually torn from the rest of the vinyl? If not, could you not just gently stretch and stick it back on with some contact adhesive? If you do, use some clips to hold the drying joint in place.