Corrado No 3 - Blackberry VR6 Restoration

Long term lurker on here and occasion poster, though I would chuck up my work so far on my latest 'rado, a Blackberry VR.

Right, as promised earlier some pictures of said shed of a car.

Bonnet cable has snapped at the stupid little clip that attaches to the release handle, paint needs a lot of work, centre console is snapped as per usual on a late car (got a plastic welding kit on order along with some steel rod to reinforce it) and its generally very grotty right now.

It's had a two stage wash, first jet washed, then foamed with a universal degreaser (Megs universal degreaser 50/50 with warm water) jet washed again and then more foam but this time with Megs Hyper wash, then a quick wipe over with a wash mit before jet washing it all off.

Had a play with some scratch X to see how bad the oxidisation was, not too bad as it is coming up better after one go so it looks promising for the rotary buffer to be able to do its stuff without too much effort. The bonnet is probably a lost cause though - large dent on it, both rear edges have laquer peeling off and there are a lot of odd bits of rust on it. Easier to source a replacement item and then paint it (I am going to have a go myself) although I will get some practice in on this bonnet first.

Interior wise aside from very dirty it's not that bad, all the bits are there including the instrument binacle screw covers (although I have some new ones..) so it's just a question of a good clean and working my way through sticking felt on the back of all the trim bits and fitting new fixings in the process.

Engine, dirty but looks sound, dodgy wiring onto aftermarket MAF needs looking at, luckily I have a proper VAG group wiring repair kit so it should be easy enough, the inlet manifold temp sensor is a new item so that must be a wiring fault and the radiator is completely shot to pieces, date on the sticker suggests and 05 produced radiator so it's not done well..

Running gear, not had chance to give that a good looking at but with a set of factory VR springs on the way shortly and a complete set of bushes and links to fit that's not going to be a problem. My intention is put all the bolts etc through my electro cleaner and then replate in Zinc with a yellow phosphate finish - have to see how they come out!

Anyway, enough blabbering heres the pics..

 

Ok, so today was the first day I attacked the car properly, decided as the weather was ok (ie not raining) that I would have a go at the poor paint to see how much work I had gotten myself into.






After 5 passes with the rotary with my strongest polish and cutting pad I was getting no where fast.



So I decided to try a spot of wet sanding. I soon ended up finding the original blackberry underneath the respray so carried on sanding so I could get an idea of how it was coming along. The plan was to only wet sand the top edge of the wing up to the 1st panel line, from there down the respray is not too bad. I needed to cut back to where the wing meets the door and A pillar so I could get an idea of what it was going to be like.



Suffice to say the original paint is in good condition underneath the poorly colour matched top coat and a single go with the rotary polisher brings it up a treat! I think I will be able to get away with only sanding the top of the wing for now but the door and rear quarter may need more work.





Satisfied that the paint was recoverable and how best to go about that I set to work on the interior, 1st thing to do was to get the passenger seat out, which revealed this:



Not too bad but definitely in need of some serious hoovering, so I cracked on with that and got the passenger side ready for cleaning. It was time for some lunch by then so I went in for a bit, just as I was heading back out the Parcelforce bloke delivered a set of original rear light fittings. As I am easily distracted I ignored the previous job and set about getting the mIngPros off the car.

As I was stripped the rear lights off the boot I spotted some corrosion (or rust if you like) on the inside of the boot, so off came the number plate plinth to reveal this.



Complete with one that had gone all the way through!



It looks like the welding guy at Karmann was having a bad day as both of these points are the strengthing bracket that supports the spoiler mech. So it was out with the dremmel to grind all that corrosion out which left me with this.



Finally all the bare metal was treated with Jenolite Jelly, a corrosion neutraliser, before being painted with Zinga, spray coating that gives a performance equivalent to hot galvanic dipping, prior to filling the bit that had gone through.



Luckily as it all lives behind the number plate plinth I don't have to worry too much about the final finish, which is handy as I don't have any blackberry paint!![/

 

Cracked on well during the last two days, got the drivers door handle lock re-tumbled so I am back down to a single key, rear boot repair filler has been flattened back to look a little better and re-coated with another layer on Zinga.

Got the drivers seat out and had a good hoover of the footwell area, started cleaning the drivers side carpet and the headlining - both of which are coming up ok. So all in all some good overall progress but not a lot to show for it right now.

I also re-electroplated some of bolts that hold the door gubbins in place, both the large screws that hold the inner handle on and the ones that hold the outer handle in place. Door handles have not been refitted to the car and the addition of some lubrication on the striker mechanism now means they both operate nicely -the drivers one was terrible beforehand.

The plan next week as I was on late shift was to crack into the various mechanical jobs I needed to do, both solid front to rear lines need replacing as does the one that goes accross the rear beam. I also wanted to swap all the suspension bits over for the new parts, refit a factory airbox, drop the oil and coolant, replace all the brake line flexis, replace the brake fluid, tidy up the wiring on the MAF and fit the replacement radiator.

However, thanks a unnamed North African dictator I now have to go into work tonight and am on 12 hour shifts for a while - not bothered about the extra work it's just the timing is lousy

Anyway here are some pictures of what I have managed to get done:

 

Back onto usual work pattern so I carried on with the strip out today.

Decided I needed to get the carpet out, rear quarter door cards etc as it would be easier to clean up like that, the car also needs an alarm installing so it's easier with no trim in and I can do a decent job of routing all the cables.






All went according to plan until I got to the underfelt, the passenger side was pretty moist, I figured as the door plastic membrane was a bit of a mess it was probably just leaking when it rains. Closer inspection of the heater control box area showed some dreaded pink goo on the bottom clips - coolant leak



So I am now getting a heater matrix as well as changing the radiator - at least it will have been done and I am going to go for the genuine VW item as I don't want to be doing it again any time soon.

Rest of the car looks ok with the trim off, started removing all the extra wiring people fit for ICE and old alarm fitments just to clean it all up and put it back to factory.

On removing the passenger side boot carpet the rear suspension turret is starting to look a little funky, so it will be out with the wire brush to get it all back down to solid metal and then treated with Jenolite and painted with Zinga. The rest of the panels all ok for now but they will get a heavy attack of waxoil prior to the door card etc going back in.



New/old airbox arrived today so the old K&N cone filter is off the car and a factory airbox now sits in its place. Also had the new Sachs gas dampers for the front and rear arrive, just waiting on the original used springs to be delivered. Ordered 100ml of blackberry paint to see how that works out, the rear tailgate will need it as will the inner rear arch when I have attacked that.



Finally I had a good chat with the former owner who shed some light on a few things, it would seem that the car managed to bake the engine and had a 6 thou skim on the head to sort it out, he still has all the old history so will bring it over next time he is up my way - really chuffed about that as it's good to know what has been done.

 

New battery pitched up and I jacked the car up this morning to have a look at the underside with the view to replacing the 2 front to rear solid brake lines that are currently an MOT failure.

Underneath looks ok, few bits that need attention where the underseal has split but otherwise ok. The car has a set of braided lines fitted which is a bonus - full set of all 6 flexis have been done.

Suspension is nearly new Weitec stuff, shame to take it off but I want the ride comfort more than anything and I already have the 16vG60 for more sporty fun (when that's back on the road ).

No other horrors lurking underneath with a quick survey, the CAT heat shield bracket is cracked on one side, but they usually are, I think I have found the source of the PAS fluid leak and the N/S/R hole where the ABS sensor passes through is a bit grotty but again will clean up ok.

So 1st job was to get the brake lines off, all came undone ok without messing up the pipework or rounding any nipples - there is a copper pipe that runs to the drivers side front caliper so that solid line has been replaced in the past.



Next up was to bend the new pipe to match the old, first shot at this so it's not as good as I would like but it's not too bad and frankly is better than using copper pipe. Then it was onto the flaring process, I recently boughy myself a Flaremaster 2 kit which is designed to be used on the car and is rated to be able to flare OE VW pipe - steel flares. It uses a hydraulic piston instead of just tightening up a nut and after having a play with it when I got it it is very easy to use and gives good flares. Pics are of the assembly ready to flare, flare done but still in the tool and a comparison of the original pipe flare vs the new one.





Trial fitted the one pipe I managed to make up just to see if it all lines ok, pretty pleased with it and I tried making up the other solid line after, unfortunately I have run out of pipe to make anymore but had some more practice on the bits I had left.



Finally for today a quick check inside the car revealed this:



It was all coming from the underfelt I removed yesterday that was wet and had left in the car overnight, as it's nice and sunny I thought I would leave it somewhere to drip dry and get the heat from the sun.



More brakeline is now on order from VW, along with a heater matrix, drivers side bolster and a selection of new trim screws. Plan tomorrow is get the heater controls, dash surround and centre console out so I can prep as far as possible for replacing the heater matrix when it arrives.

 

Spent yesterday making up and fitting the other brake line that needed replacing - it's in kunifer this time as VW couldn't get me the OE pipe quick enough. Not a bad compromise, 90% Nickel and 10% copper - I still think it's too soft and I found a patent for the original stuff when looking for a supplier on the web, it's a very interesting design with all sorts of different metals in it and with a selection of layers to ensure durability and corrsion resistance.

Anyway moving on, bumped into the VW parts bloke while picking up the brake line in Partco, he confirmed that the seat bolster I had ordered was no longer available. After getting annoyed with myself for not ordering any beforehand I set about ripping the Mk 2 Golf seat I had in the roof apart.

A comparison of the seat cusion confirms that there is no way it is ever going to fit a Corrado seat even if you trim various bits. Next plan was to try one of the Recaro seat bolster covers I have spare onto a standard 'rado bolster - again the results were not promising (You can get new Recaro Mk 2 bolsters off ebay for 35). Finally I looked into what other items in the VW range might work, no luck. So it's going to be either canabilise a good passenger seat or buy a block of foam and cut it to shape - going to try the block of foam first. I was going to ring Newton Commercial today but failed miserably, they may well be able to produce some as they are making Mk 1 items.



This morning the priority job was to get the front wishbones off so I could get the bushes replaced, cue various amounts of swearing at the stupid plus suspension and 'what idiot put that sump there' issues that are only associated with VR6 ownership. The use of a 22mm spanner as a lever locked onto the 18mm spanner gave me enough room to get the damn bolt undone; when the car is built the engine is bolted directly onto the subframe assembly which already has wishbones etc on it.




It was then into unbolting the front and rear engine mount so I could jack the engine to get the bolt out, front one is easiest and I can recommend the use of a very very long extension bar! For the rear one you need to remove the nut that retains the lambda and rear knock sensor connections prior to getting at the mounting stud underneath - again the long bar is handy. You can see just how much you need to jack the engine to get at the bolt, beware that the gearbox mounting bolt will restrict your movement so it is also worth backing that off a few turns.






I then had a go at splitting the lower ball joints and track rod ends, my balljoint splitter won't fit on the bottom ball joint and is slightly bent so keeps falling off the track rod end one. So that was one item on the shopping list when I dropped the wishbones in. Finally I bagged it all up around lunchtime to give me enough time to get the wishbones into town and back today.



Dropped the wishbones off complete with new bushes, rear ones are the R32 items obviously, went to Halfords and bought myself a new ball joint splitter and a new airbrush as my old one broke. Got back and started preping the old coil springs that I got (thanks Mark!) for a couple of coats of Hammerite. That soon went wrong as the new airbrush uses a can of propellant, I didn't have an adaptor so I could use my compressor. This problem was swiftly followed by finding my tin of black Hammerite had gone rock hard .

Went back into town to collect my wishbones and pick up a new tin of Hammerite, got some smooth stuff in Satin black so it should be the same finish as the Sachs dampers I have. Wishbones were collected but they had not done the front bushes as they were not sure if they were the right ones, normally most garages have the complete car to check

Prepped the coil springs and the first coat is on one of them however, the tin of propellant is icing up causing the airbrush to have reduced airflow . Not too bad overall and I have an airline adaptor on order so I can use my compressor. For a set of well used springs they are coming up quite nicely, no idea on the durability of the finish but it is being applied very thinly so should be ok.




I then checked to confirm that my new wishbone bushes were the correct item, they were so it was into the garage to improvise a bush fitting tool. A long bolt, a load of washers, a 36mm socket and some Fairy liquid soon saw me armed with all the bits I needed to push in the front bushes. Quite pleased with the result and very easy to do, shame I would need a huge socket for the rear bush to do the same.




Collected more shinny new bits from VW today and 100ml of blackberry paint arrived in the post, so the plan tomorrow is to rip out the heater matrix, refurbish the heater box and rebuild that. Then move onto tackling the rear inner arch corrosion and prep that and the number plate panel for painting.

 

Whoever owned that before you should hang their heads in shame.

Letting a Corrado get into that state is shocking.

Some good work so far.

 

Fantastic work fella I have to say, buying a filthy car is pretty tempting sometimes, as you know it will feel great once you've de-gunged it and made it your own.
Looking forward to updates

 

Got up this morning to find it wet outside

Not chucking it down but enough it make it a bit of a plop day car work wise. Decided to crack on anyway so after a brief trip to Halfrauds to pick up some bits I started modding the numberplate. Picked these up in Halfords with the aim of doing something like this:




Measured the new plastic screws, 4mm so out came the drill and a pair of 4mm holes were put in the panel using the remains of the old plastic lugs. Slight issue with the back of the plastic screw as it has a chamfer so I needed to countersink the number plate panel slightly.







Used the wheel arch liner captive nuts to give the plastic screws something to screw into. Trial fitted it and whilst it looked ok it also just look a bit too much like it wasn't supposed to be like that to me.





Some head scratching ensued as the guide sleeves in the Halfords kit were too small to just put in the holes in the boot; digging through my spares I found some grommits that are used with the door sill retaining clips - they fitted a treat and are also a nice tight fit on the Halfords guide sleeves. I also wanted to use a pair of screws to retain the numberplate panel in the middle area using the same technique as my first test - these will sit behind the numberplate when fitted so needed to be pretty close to a flush fit.





Quite pleased with the overall look, panel is nicely attached, shouldn't get water coming through into the boot and it looks like is supposed to be like that (in my eyes anyway). I also have the added bonus that I can remove the panel at will without needing a new one (which are only available via Classic Parts now ).

Rain was easing off so I wanted to get on with changing the heater matrix whilst the weather was ok, opended the passenger door to see a now familiar sight.



Some tell tale drips and a wet ABS ECU told me all I needed to know, the heater scuttle foliage cover seal was shot. Luckily I had already picked one up from VW as I was going to replace it as part of the heater matrix work.




During this the postman arrived with this:



Yay foam! So in an effort to stop having to keep mopping puddles out of the car I started replacing the passenger door membrane which was in a bit of a state. Cleaned up any signs of rust with the usual treatment of some Jenolite jelly and then painted with Zinga; bottom 1/3rd of the door had a good attack with some waxoil too.




First shot with the self adhesive foam saw it end up in a crumpled mess, used the old membrane as a template only to find it was too short. Finally ended up with a slightly ghetto looking door membrane but I have finally got the hang of working with a large sheet of self adhesive foam that has a tendancy to stick to itself!!



Final job for today was to remove the centre console and heater controls, got loads of pictures of what goes where but will update that little lot tomorrow. Going to be getting some practice in with the plastic welding kit that arrived on Friday, centre console is a usual late Corrado disaster with more cracks than a builders convention...

Oh and the bloody sound deadening is still drying out......