My Corrado VR6

[toledo]

On removing rad i found quite a bit of surface rust on x-member and plate that holds fans behind rad so these were wire brushed, treated with rust converter and hammerited.
BEFORE :

AFTER:
 
This also shows the calipers with their new coat of paint, i toyed with the idea of coloured ones but i would like to keep her as standard looking as possible.



I also decided to change the bearing on the v belt tensioner pulley with a replacement SKF bearing bought online for less than £5 delivered.


Unfortunately my overeager but under-experienced skills reared their head and in trying to torque up the reverse thread bolt that holds the pulley onto the tensioner i discovered that my cheap torque wrench doesn't work in reverse but is very good at stripping threads if that's your aim  :embarassed:

[AudiA8Quattro]

Good work. Everyone loves a corrado, especially a vr6 

[toledo]

Good work. Everyone loves a corrado, especially a vr6 

For me it started when i sold the first one to be supplied by our dealership 'Gildersport' we supplied lots of Gtis, valvers, rados ,golf rallyes and we also ran the VW UK rally car with a golf rallye lhd , i was very excited when the Vr6 was delivered to us and the mechanic got so sick of me lusting over it while he pdi'd it that he told me to clear off on the pre-delivery test drive rather than him, it drove out of this world and even though it was raining and i was driving a customers brand new car respectfully it was evidently powerful, responsive yet sure footed and confidence inspiring, i told myself there and then in 1993 that i wanted one.
Having driven lots of fast and very fast motors i can say that the most fun cars i've ever driven are the Polo GT ( not the dangerous G40 ) the Fiat 127 Sport i passed my test in, Nova GTEs were good fun as well as the mk2 Ibiza Cupra Sport 16v and last but not least the Corrado VR6.
The Ferrari 360 modena and 348TB i threw round a race track were quick but required absolute concentration and were not nearly so much fun.
By the way i've driven many Audi A8 Quattro too, these were v.quick but enormous !

[AudiA8Quattro]

I would consider selling the A8 to get a decent low mileage corrado, i've always wanted one 

[toledo]

Now seems the time to get one buddy, they are as cheap as ever !
The low mileage bit is tough though, depends on what you call low mileage i suppose, i consider my 104,000 miler to be low but htere was one up for sale a while ago with 45,000 miles on it with fsh to back it up, mind you he was asking £14,000 for it which is mental even to a Corrado lover such as me.

[AudiA8Quattro]

I think finding a rust free example would be difficult now, that's a positive about the A8, aluminium so no rust..

[toledo]

True , but does your mobile get a signal while in it   

[toledo]

Anyway i got hold of a tensioner from a nice bloke in wolverhampton and picked it up while visiting the outlaws. was assured that the bearing was good but this make a racket when installed so swapped my bearing onto it, to be fair it was silky smooth spinning on your finger so appeared ok but it wasn't a big problem as i had my new one to fit to it, i fitted it and just manually judged the torque on the bolt.It runs quiet as a mouse now ( how quiet does a mouse run exactly ? )
I also replaced the v-belt with a Contitech belt from ECParts as TPS wanted a fortune in comparison and cotinental make the genuine belts anyway.
So on with the pump and coolant pipe etc, i had ordered all the thermostat parts , housings , o'rings, bolts and pipe from TPS wanting to go genuine as they weren't ridiculously expensive but after being told on the phone they had arrived i made the 8 mile each way trip to their halifax / bradford site i was informed that an accountant had refused the order as my mates account that i use to order TPS parts is with the Leeds branch and even though they are the same company he/she wasn't happy with that arrangement . God i love accountants, they know the cost of everything and the value of f**k all !
So i said, no problem invoice me the bits with no discount and i'll pay cash, OK he says ,what did you order ?
The accountant had cancelled the order leaving no trace of it and as it is done over the phone with me referring to Etka for the part numbers i couldn't possibly remember all the details just like that   I went home and ordered a Topran kit off t'internet and saved about £20 as well ( i had taken the genuine thermostat though from TPS )
They had also not got in my top rad flange bolts so this took another visit to be told that they had got them in but then promptly lost one of them. This was the point at which i gave up on them, after reading all the impressive company mission statements adorning the walls in reception i would have expected more from them but how many times can you deal with them when they've let you down and no-one at their end seemed bothered / embarrassed.
So i go next door to Halifax VW who get me the bolt for the following morning and also offer for me to go thru their obsolete stock bin following their stock-take they were just finishing.A nicer pair of blokes you couldn't hope to meet and they told they regularly got people in with stories similar to mine re TPS.
The following day i went back and picked out  a new radiator temp sensor, oil filter housing,a litre of gear oil and several bags of torx and hex bolts & screws from their old stock pile which they refused any payment for, top guys who will get my business in future, especially as they said they would do deals on any parts i wanted with the % depending on the margin.

By toledo7175 at 2011-06-26

[toledo]

To get to the pump you have to loosen the front & rear engine mounts and with a block of wood on jack lift the sump up on the angle to give you access to the bolts , like this :




Which gives you this :



New pump in place and new v-belt routed round lower pulleys:


Next, thermostat and housing which is in three parts :


Of course the rear most allen key headed bolt on the housing rounded off and i had to smash the old housing up and get it out with locking pliers


I took this photo to remind myself of order of sensors



Crack pipe just slides out and new one slides in


You are left with a bag of bits like this:


I reconnected radiator , filled it with just H20 and checked for leaks - oh ye of little faith - ran it up to temp and the top rad flange pee'd everywhere, i dismantled it CAREFULLY and realised i'd re-used the seal and left the old one in my toolbox, so that was soon sorted and re-tested with no probs on 2nd run.Drained again and re-filled with G12++ / H2O mix.


Time to re-assemble, now which bolt went where ?


She now runs at a steady 90° normal running rising to 105° in traffic or on m/way so i'm happy with that, there is still a slight noise from pulley side and i think the alternator bearing is perhaps running a bit dry.

[boneybradley]

In the first pics I can see a rather nice Passat 




Suppose I should help with some pic's (from the day you bought her!)