Corrado TDI Project: Lightweight Daily Driver

sccaddy said:

You got the dust off the stage 2 and installed yet?

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It still lives under my bed and goes bump in the night The clutch is slipping more but it seems if I run it hard it will stop and then behave for a few days. I ordered a rear main seal and flywheel bolts so that will all be part of my project. It is most likely to occur in the end of August or September.

The new condenser went in with a few minor problems. It seems that the G60 style condenser is different from the MK2 but that is what all the parts places I saw had listed.



The pins are less offset on the base similar to the differences between the G60 and large MK2 radiator.



I ended up cutting off the passenger side pin on the base off the condenser but it was still a squeeze to get everything to work.

I charged the system with propane and I am going to try that out as a refrigerant until I can track down and fix every small leak. Propane is much safer for the environment than any ozone depleting CFC refrigerant and is actually more effective and much cheaper. Please no fiery horror stories!

I leave for a road trip to Minnesota in the Corrado tomorrow. I plan to meet up with JFettig while I am out there and check out the 944 Turbo Diesel project. To prepare for the trip I installed some 100 headlights that go well with my relayed headlight harness for night time driving. I also added dampener to the wheel well liners, apron, and fenders. This cut out a good amount of tire and road noise, even for the Michellin tires, and I am certain my ears will appreciate it.

A/C? added sound dampening insulation? I thought this was supposed to be lightweight?

Gotta balance that and the desire to DD it with creature comforts I guess

Houpty GT said:

My QA rebuild worked great and I left lots of info about adjustment in the thread above.

I split one of the viton hoses on my PD lift pump. I was having starting trouble and air in the lines as if the filter was clogged. It turns out this is not to uncommon. I am going to change the hoses up a little bit and will post a little more info for others to copy.

See it on the right. So sad

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I've had similar problems with that green viton hose in my pump mods. It kept stranding me - in the winter nonetheless - so I switched over to the clear blueish fuel hose like they sell at motorcycle shops. Resists kinking because it has a thick wall and isn't so brittle it rips like that viton. It's very tough though so you might have to heat the ends to make them push over the fittings but once it's on there it's rock solid.

GTiTDi said:

A/C? added sound dampening insulation? I thought this was supposed to be lightweight?

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It is hard to hear what you are saying with all that ringing in my ears from a 10 hour drive in a non-insulated Corrado TDI Balance like baja brewer said. This car is built to be the best daily driver and comfortable road trip car it can be.


I pulled the transmission today. The clutch broke a spring and it was jamming the pressure plate. This made it not shift properly with the engine running since it would not fully disengage.

What clutch was that (pardon me for not reading back)? Stage 2 time?

baja_brewer said:

What clutch was that (pardon me for not reading back)? Stage 2 time?

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That was the stock clutch. I believe that engine shudder is what wore the pocket out and broke it.

My trip to the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick Canada!

3,500 miles, savage bears, 64 hours behind the wheel, 2 beavers, 62 MPG, crazy fox, and an odometer milestone.
First thing I did was drive the entire Skyline Drive in Virginia. The Blue Ridge Parkway is going to have to wait until next incredible voyage.








Nice tunnel in the middle. There was no light at the end of the tunnel after I blasted through it





My very favorite holler.

I hiked down to the waterfall while on the Skyline Drive.



I got to see 5 bears on the way back up the trail. 2 separate sets of momma bears with their cubs.







HampsterDam on the Conecticut river between NH and VT.




A covered bridge in Maine.



I stopped by TDIFest for the car show. There were 10 cars with TDI swaps there. Wow.

Driving through coastal Canada in the early morning, I almost ran over beavers on 2 separate occasions. It was dark and I did not figure out what they were until the second one was in the road. Never even seen a beaver before.
And another covered bridge in New Brunswick.



Finally got to the Bay of Fundy to see the largest tidal changes in the world. I went to the Hopewell Rocks and it changed 36 feet when I was there. That is just about their lowest. It is over 50 feet in some places. Holy moley!

Mount Chipody in the background of this shot.
Before




After




The rocks.
Before




After




It is a really steep coast too. Don't let it fool you!




You can see Nova Scotia across the bay in this photo.



The Bay of Fundy was such an incredible trip. I really recommend the drive to anyone.

There was a lot of overcast days on my trip but it was still incredible. On the way back through Maine, there were torrential down pours. It was crazy seeing a bright orange fox with its huge ears staring up at me as it munched on something right beside of the line in the road. I think somebody wrote a song about this guy My E-codes had it lit up like a flame-thrower.

Look what I did on the way home.



Like I said, "3,500 miles, savage bears, 64 hours behind the wheel, 2 beavers, 62 MPG, crazy fox, and an odometer milestone."

Love that conversion, sound like a great road trip.

Lets find the corrado tdi gtg at h2o

Houpty GT said:

There are also some 8 pounds of sandbags that were supposedly removed but I do not see where these could have been.

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I miss my G60 Corrado... quoted from a pretty old section of your thread - but I would say that the sand bags came from under the carpet? Mine flooded the passenger side several times when debris clogged the drain that prevents water from flowing into the ventilation system. I had to pull the carpets to dry them and there were sand bag sound deadener packets in there.
Very nice car.

Bad news is that my friends got into a crash with their Corrado we were going to TDI swap. Some girl made a left out in front of them. They are left with broken ankles and a femur. They had to cut the roof off the car to get them out so it is toast. It was such a fine Rado and he had painted it himself in Subaru blue. The TDI donor motor was all ready too.



The search for another Corrado body commences and once they get better we swap away once again.

http://charleston.craigslist.org/wan/4128013835.html

My Corrado is getting some more AC and radiator work. The new Valeo condenser was a dud and broke at the brazed bracket. I put a new condenser in but need to make sure it has no stress on it from the hoses. I will have to do some more fabbing for this.

I also installed a Rabbit/Scirocco 525 mm radiator. It fits nicely especially with the MK2 condenser and clears the back of back of the compressor. It cools the car just fine driving around, even with no fans. There is a problem with the hose angle and the AC lines coming out of the compressor. If it had the MK2 AC style end tank it would fit great. The plastic end tanks are swappable but I do not want to do this. The MK4 style compressor does not look to have hoses in a much higher location so I doubt it would help. My best idea at this time to to try and barely clear it with a slightly modified standard stock hose. There are also 1 or 2 smaller sized radiators available in Europe but it would be harder to get parts and I am unfamiliar with the hose and fan options.

Wow, I'm glad they survived. Its amazing they still want to get back in a Corrado after that. It makes me think twice about driving mine.

Maybe they should consider something a little more modern.

That color reminds me of the ICE Grey Violet color that Canada and Europe got.

I was thinking the same thing about the Corrado's safety but he said the damage was not as bad as it sounds. They did not want to move him a certain way after the accident so they cut the roof off. No more Corrado.

As far as safety improvements go, regular 3 point belts are an improvement and 4 points would be great if you don't mind the hassle. I was thinking about wrapping my impact beams in Kevlar. It would not take much to possibly double the strength. There is not much weight to cut by removing aluminum impact beams. I wish the bumpers were aluminum. Audi's have these. Removing my ABS was a safety improvement since I know how to properly operate a brake pedal.

I'm planning on adding porsche front calipers,11" rears and mk4 abs next summer. Good brakes are important but idiots are everywhere.

G60ING said:

I'm planning on adding porsche front calipers,11" rears and mk4 abs next summer. Good brakes are important but idiots are everywhere.

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This is true. You can't engineer them out of the equation. But at the end of the day its ultimately in God's hands. A while ago i was driving and realized i wasn't too sure i liked the idea of shuttling my children in the car. I don't any more unless i have to.

Bigger brakes do not necessarily make you stop faster. They may if you were under braked before but mostly they are for racing purposes. They have higher heat capacity to convert more HP into heat before brake fade sets in. Bigger brakes could also upset the brake balance and increase braking distance. If they increase or decrease unspung weight this will also have an effect.

Houpty GT said:

I also installed a Rabbit/Scirocco 525 mm radiator. It fits nicely especially with the MK2 condenser and clears the back of back of the compressor. It cools the car just fine driving around, even with no fans. There is a problem with the hose angle and the AC lines coming out of the compressor. If it had the MK2 AC style end tank it would fit great. The plastic end tanks are swappable but I do not want to do this. The MK4 style compressor does not look to have hoses in a much higher location so I doubt it would help. My best idea at this time to to try and barely clear it with a slightly modified standard stock hose. There are also 1 or 2 smaller sized radiators available in Europe but it would be harder to get parts and I am unfamiliar with the hose and fan options.

Click to expand...

I think I have my AC and radiator hose clearance issues solved. I put the remolded hose in the car but it pretty much slowly worked it way back to the original form from the heat of the coolant besides it lacked the enough room anyway. I built a 3/4" spacer(2" dia. x 10.x mm hole) from aluminum and put it between the front motor mount bracket and the rubber mount. This gives me all the clearance I need.

The brake setup that I'm planning to install is on a friend's mk3 tdi golf, it stops so quickly that you may want to have 5 point seatbelts installed.

Finally bought my EGT gauge and have a replacement for my buzzy boost gauge.



I have been to busy to finish any of my AC work. I was able to pick up a bunch of engine parts that I needed such as a cylinder head, intake plumbing, and a spare exhaust manifold to drill for the EGT probe.

I installed a Flexalite 365 fan. The main purpose of this is for AC and it adds some security against overheating.





I had to move my intake plumbing around but this is temporary till the air to water intercooler goes in. The intercooler should arrive tomorrow.

Unfortunately the AC lines are short about a 1/4" of clearance behind the fans. I am going to put some curve on the lines and they should clear. Then I must make the custom line to the condenser. It will be my first time brazing aluminum.

My fuel gauge started reading incorrectly. Unfortunately it did this the same time I had pulled the battery and reset the tripometer so I had no real idea of how many miles I had gone. I ran out of fuel in my parking spot at work. It read about 2 gallons too high.
It was good to see the PD lift pump work perfectly. The tank and the lift pump canister were nearly bone dry. Quite a brilliant design as DanG had explained.

I also got some really nice coconut floor mats for Christmas. Red Dot!

I got the air conditioning finished. Brazing aluminum was neat but it did not flow like solder. This will be a good skill for my air to water intercooler components that I have machined and need to put together. I already polished up the intake pipe, the cooler, and the smaller euro EGR cover plate.


Here is something interesting. My spare tire in the trunk decided to explode.



I restored an old badge-less G60 grill and added a european TDI badge. I have not decided how much I want the black to be polished. I believe this should be more aero than the VR6 grill that was designed to help keep that motor cool.



My starter went out on me and I had been thinking it was the battery getting weak over the last year.

Updates? Maybe a little.

Last year the Corrado went back to Canada and Porsche Parade in Vermont. It also made it to the top of Mount Washington on a beautiful day. Pictures to come, I promise. After that trip the Corrado went to New Orleans at the bottom of the Mississippi River. It then took the entire Great River Road through 10 states to the beginning of the Mississippi up north in Minnesota. Whoa!!! https://experiencemississippiriver.com/



Nothing stops the Corrado! Well almost...

The engine and transmission have over 300,000 miles on them and I started getting an intermittent metallic noise from the drive train last week. I am replacing 1 inner and 1 outer CV joint along with a axle with worn splines. I am also rebuilding the transmission. The pinion head bearing on the output shaft has spalling on the outer ring raceway and the rollers don't look so good either. These bearing are special and only available from the dealer. There are other bearings with the same base part number that fit but they do not have the right suffixes and special internal geometries and are not designed for using in high load transmissions. I recommend bearings from the dealer if you plan to run your tranny long term.

Of course a limited slip is going in and a very tall 1st, taller 2nd, and a slightly taller 3rd gear. I am also adding a 5th gear oiler and a 1/8" or 1/16" hole for draining the 5th gear oil into the main housing during oil changes. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=299083&highlight=5th+gear+oiling+update
I am thinking Peloquin is the way to go for the LSD. Who has the best deal on one for an 02J which is what the CTN 02A uses?

Houpty GT said:

I am thinking Peloquin is the way to go for the LSD. Who has the best deal on one for an 02J which is what the CTN 02A uses?

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Peloquin is the best deal out there, wouldn't hesitate to get another...the eurotuning sixth is a nice add-on if you can swing it...

I don't think I've seen many discounts on Peloquin. It's a made in the USA product. Gary is located in Athens GA.

Oh and for a spare tire I've been running a tire from a smart car. 25 year old spares are dangerous.

So who wants to raft down the Mississippi?

I am also installing an 02J shifter with the upgraded base piece and shift tower shaft from an ETA 1.8T transmission for a little bit tighter and positive on the side to side shifting.



02J shifter into a Corrado thread: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...nto-an-02A-lots-of-pics&highlight=02j+shifter

I am skipping out on the 6th gear because of weight, right. :\

Peloquin is going to take about 2 weeks to make the LSD but I should have everything else ready.

I'm in the same boat on that 6th gear....weight or lack of in my pocket. Did you install the shifter yet in the tunnel? I just put mine in last weekend.