1995 Corrado VR6 - 'Ralph' - now F/S

[Paul]

So you all know about the horrible Summer myself, Dr Dick and Hairymel suffered - enough of that - and despite losing a fleet of Retros this was still parked at home. I'm actually a little embarrassed to find that I hadn't started a thread about her...

Obligatory 'arty' shot

Purchased in February this year - a Corrado has always been on my bucket list, and a VR6 was the obvious flavour...



Totally bog standard, original alloys, standard ride height (!) etc. etc. Sadly no first aid kit in the hump of the back seat, but everything else is pretty much as it should be. Or it was.


Present to myself from a recent trip to Wolfsburg - sadly they don't do a Corrado-shaped one.


Well, not all standard. No idea what these are from but I DO know they don't belong. They're not even accurate.


Love a retro feature...


Pulled the old, original stereo and CD changer as they seemed to be broken. It turned out that the HU was earthed to itself (!) and the power aerial wasn't wired up, hence nothing working right. It might actually have been fine, but sadly it's a black plasticky mess in the sky now.


An impressive amount of history including a bill of sale going back to '98.


142k young...now on 144ish...


Yuck.


Mmm...that badge...that sound...mmm...

[Paul]

So I've been driving her around pretty much doing very little to her...she's got a minor oil weep from the oil cooler (I think) and an annoying water leak that I can't quite put my finger on - but it only started after I changed the old stuck open thermostat. I'm saving up for some silicon hoses to do a nice tidying job of the engine.

But then today was strike day - so what better way for a public servant to spend his day than working on a car? A job which wouldn't have been possible without the generosity and support of the RR community.

I was lucky enough to have some tools left over - a combination of laziness and luck meant that most of my sockets were still in the back of the Corrado, and other bits and bobs had been brought home for me to work on and never returned (Mel still has his engine pressure tester and a wide selection of 'O' rings thanks to me ;-))

With your generous help I was able to consolidate all my tools into a shiny shiny roll cab - and even some of that slinky nonslip matting.

Mmm...sockety...

Mmm..ratchet-spannery (courtesy of RR and Lidl - might have been Aldi - I forget...). I am well aware that this may generate feelings of irony in Mel as I never put any of HIS tools back in the right place. I'm a changed man officer, honest!

Mmm...screwy (courtesy of RR and Homebase)

Mmm...measury...

And the piece de resistance, my very own windy gun! I don't know how I survived without one before! (courtesy of RR and teh internetz shopz)

Now, these uber-rare OZ Fittipaldis were destined for the Corrado (rare only because I'd never seen a set before or since), but they didn't make it.


Two of the Speedlines had cracked tyres (a symptom of a car that's only done about 2000 miles in the last 3 years) but these Halfords specials survived the fire (again - laziness - on another day I'd have shifted them to where they were supposed to be). Sadly my stock of tyres has been hit (who knew they burned so well?) but I got some nice Continentals fitted locally for not too much moniez. These were my Winters but I've been running them all Summer too. No, I haven't washed it for about a season.

Then these appeared:

Made-for-Volkswagen (Mk4 Golf/Bora IIRC) Votex Rave alloys. For me these are surprisingly subtle...I like them. They're in dire need of a refurb (the pictures are very kind) and I've bought some sand paper, paint etc. but I think Ralph was crying out for 16" wheels as 15"s just don't fill the arches enough.
Now the more savvy amongst you may have noticed a slight 'dip' in the arch. That's because today was spent fitting these:

Mk3 Golf VR6 JOM coilovers.

Perhaps I need to lay off the lowering stick a wee bit - my first attempt was a bit too 'scene' for me.

I spent quite a while fiddling with the ride height, using the digital calipers to measure the threads (thanks RR!) to keep it level. Unfortunately the nights are fair drawing in and, with the footy on, I've had to leave one of the old struts on for now. Worry not readers - I'm not driving anywhere like this. I'll get it completed tomorrow.

And, whilst we're on the topic, these may have appeared after a trip up the M6...

Next job!

[MK2VR6]

Corrados - they're a bit special aren't they? Great to see such a perfect starting point, with nobody else's buggering around to sort out. I keep on having silly thoughts on shifting my mk2 Golf vr conversion with the eventual plan of replacing it with a vr 'Rado. What sort of clearance do you get on the subframe with the front sat that low? Looking toward to seeing where you go with this.

[Paul]

I've fiddled with the coilovers to the point where they're about 2/3 of the way down at the front, rears are very similar but still a bit too high for me. I can get a low-entry jack and block of wood under the subframe. When I've finished all 4 corners and tested it I'll get a pic up!

I've had my fair share of Mk2 Golfs and in many ways they are a superior car-rear visibility for a start! The mk2 always feels quite nimble and anxious, whereas in this you know you're in more of a touring car. But you can cruise along at 90 and not know it, whereas in the Mk2s I've had you really felt the speed.

Swings and roundabouts I guess-but I think the exterior styling is stunning, always have.

[dave80]

love the car i had a mk2 golf that colour,vr6 rado has to be one of the coolest cars vw ever made.

[styleheck]

Great color, Also diggin the ''please do not stroke'' sticker hah.

[nofrills]

i love a corrado and this colour looks great.... also on my list :-)

[Porsche]

I think that V6 badge is a Ford Cougar badge.

[hairymel]

I am absolutely gob-smacked to see your neat array of tools

puts my recent attempts at organisation to shame

i suspect, whatever flavour of ocd rich has, it's very contagious

you appear to have bought the same (£2.70) multimeter as me! (and another one just to be flash )

need to have a go of your cordless impact gun as i have been wavering about getting one for weeks now


glad you are on track with the lowering as it was all a bit wrong last time - not least 'cos of my poor tinfoil socket assploding - and i guess me being involved can't have helped

[drdick]

Tools *sniff*, I used to have some tools....

Whats the quality like on the Halfords roll-cab?

[Paul]

Oct 3, 2013 5:52:51 GMT drdick said:

Tools *sniff*, I used to have some tools....

Whats the quality like on the Halfords roll-cab?

It's the 'professional' range not the advanced one - but it does still boast ball bearing runners and one of the lower shelves has got a full VR6 clutch and pressure plate in it - holds the weight fine.

Needs moar stickers mind.

[Paul]

So nearly two weeks after starting the lowering I finished it today - the main problem being that my car parking space has quite a steep drop and it turned out the heat shield on the cat was catching (two of the brackets were snapped and it was hanging a bit low) - so I took it off!

The net result is a bit higher than I wanted originally...



Apologies for the crappy pic - I'll get some better when it's washed (and light) but you get the idea - it's not crayzee sick lowz but it looks a little more aggressive, and the 16s fill the arches much better.

[Paul]

So she went for MOT today...and passed! Not even any advisories...

I'm a little confused tho - by his own admission the tester said it was "missing its off" - not good. Now I'm hoping it's just a dodgy coil pack/HT lead or spark plug but I know she's burning a little oil and slightly lower on compression on an entire side of the engine...

On the plus side I have now purchased this...

Which is rusted to hell but will act as an organ donor for the Corrado, as isn't even two miles from my work - low(er) mileage VR6 lump that runs sweet and pulls well, as well as new brakes all round that I can harvest - and a HID kit that I might nab too. Picked it up cheap - hoping that the eBay special coilovers and smart interior could be worth a few bob, help me to break even.

More importantly, I can nab the leads, plugs (although I might even stretch to some new ones!) and coilpack tomorrow when I collect her and plug them straight onto Ralph - see what happens.

[Ian]

Love VR's miss my mk3.
Are they both obd II cars? Some of the late 2.8's out of the golfs made the same power as the 2.9's in the corrado. Mine was a 97 and was running at 200bhp with the six branch fitted, other wise you would be about 20hp down with the golf engine.

[Paul]

Nah all Corrados were OBD1 and Golf VR6s OBD2 - the Corrado is 2.9, the Golf 2.8

However it's a late Golf ('R' plate puts it around 97-98) and having done a lot of reading about it the power difference isn't always that massive - I'm thinking about keeping the manifold from the 2.9 and putting it on the 2.8 - apparently there's a little less low-down grunt (the 2.9 being less restrictive) but makes up for it further up the range, and will close the gap power-wise.

I'll take a healthy 2.8 over a sickly 2.9 any day - it's just converting from OBD1 to 2 - and the associated wiring - that's giving me cold sweats atm.